Projects
SI Ilkley Projects
Each Soroptimist International club identifies the needs of its community, then establishes specific projects to address these needs. All our projects relate to one or more of the six Programme Focus Areas: Economic and Social Development, Education, Environment, Health, Human Rights and the Status of Women, and International Goodwill and Understanding.
More information is available in the Our Workpages, where you can read about the current Programme Focus, Goals, and Objectives supported by all clubs in the Federation.
The projects listed below include some of the local and international issues we research and support in SI Ilkley:
Kanengoni School. Zimbabwe
Ilkley members support SI Vabatsiri, Zimbabwe.
By paying the capitation fee for the Vabatsiri club Ilkley members have released funds to help support The Kanengoni School. This rural school has no facilities and the children study under the trees. The school gives education to children who would not normally be given the opportunity to go to school. If children are considered clever enough they try to fundraise to send them to senior school.
The Ilkley club has been able to provide benches that are now in daily use in the school.
Updates
18/10/07: Vabatstiri Soroptimists took 314 ’schools in a bag’ to Kanengoni School in the slums of Harare on January 16. The smiles on the faces of the children, most of whom had never owned an exercise book, was the reward.
President Georgina Imbert Terry drove out with the bags which had been partly commissioned from a self-help womans co-operative and also purchased at 20p each, an exercise book, pen and pencil for each child.
Also delivered were rubbers and pencil sharpeners for the teachers, some library books, teachers aids and 16 wooden benches, which are initially for the little girls, as they sit on the bare earth for their lessons and many cannot afford knickers. Part of the money for the donations came from the Ilkley club.
Programme Action
Soroptimist International of Ilkley works to make a difference,through programmes and projects locally, nationally and internationally. They use “Awareness, Advocacy and Action” to further their Programme Action.
Awareness: All around the Ilkley area are Help Line posters,prepared and distributed by club members. These posters give contact numbers of organisations that can offer a variety of help and advice to people who find themselves in trouble, anxious or distressed.
Advocacy: The Club has a Writing Group which takes up the cause of victims of human rights abuse by appealing to those politicians and leaders who are in a position to take action to remedy the situation
Action: Over the years, the Ilkley Soroptimist Club has been instrumental in setting up projects that are giving long term benefit to vulnerable sections of the local community. Notable amongst these are the Ilkley Talking Newspaper, established by the Club nearly 25 years ago; and the Wharfe Valley Project which regularly brings together isolated and lonely older persons.
The Ilkley Club works internationally and with other non-governmental organisations. The members contribute aid to women’s groups in Africa by the provision of haberdashery supplies for income generating projects.They also co-operate with Rotary International by filling Aqua Boxes that will be vital to preserve life in disaster areas.
Helping to save the environment
Help to save the environment by refusing additional packaging in shops
Following the resolution passed at the annual conference in Nottingham asking for a ban on free plastic bags in supermarkets we are urged to take our own shopping bags with us to the supermarket and to refuse plastic bags in other shops.
Updates
05/02/07: In conjunction with members of SI Aireborough the Programme Action Committee members will hold information days at Tesco supermarket on June 9 and Morrisons supermarket, Guiseley on June 3o 10am until 4pm.
Letters have been written to local MPs and other publicity is in hand
19/02/08: In order to highlight the amount of packaging we use three members collected the packaging accumulated in a week. What a pile was photographed seven days later!
Playing our part in saving the world’s resources.
In our efforts not to waste the world’s resources we collect the following
Books (to buy and sell)
Medicines (in date)
Mobile Phones
Stamps
Toiletries
The Aquabox Story
Soroptimist International of Ilkley members fill two Aquaboxes.
The gift of clean water…the gift of life
Picture a disaster situation. We’ve all seen them, beamed into our comfortable living rooms via the magic of the television set. Thousands of stricken people: shocked,dis-orientated, perhaps cold, perhaps grieving and more than likely desperately short of something we all take for granted-clean drinking water.
Which is where the aquabox comes in.
The Aquabox is a strong plastic box. It’s initially filled with a selection of useful- possibly lifesaving items-including warm clothing, hardware and hygiene items.But crucially it also contains a filter cartridge and a matching supply of fourteen water treatment tablets.
Water that’s fit to drink.
Shipped out to a disaster zone, the recipient removes the contents.The Aquabox’s filter cartridge is loaded with its supply of treatment tablets, add up to 1,100 litres of polluted water and ‘hey presto’ we’ve delivered a safe, pleasant tasting supply of drinking water.Truly the gift of life
A worldwide life saver.
The Aquabox was an original Rotary idea. Introduced in 1992 it’s now a major contributor to disaster relief worldwide. It got the thumbs up from the World Health Organisation and has been used in disaster zones from Albania to Zaire.
Women Walkling for Women Walk
SI Ilkley monitor the Dalesway and help support Project Independence.
Members and friends braved high winds to monitor the state of the Dalesway riverside path between the town and Farfield in Addingham.
Walk planner Fran MacAulay said:”We have checked this route in summer so last weekend we could experience how slippery many parts were.
“We reported also on a section where the railings beside a steep flight of steps has fallen away leaving barbed wire too close to the pathway”.
Ilkley Soroptimists undertake this task on behalf of the community and report their findings to Bradford Council.
This year the walk was sponsored and more than £230 will be sent to Project Independence to help womwn survivors of war.
Soroptimist International has already raised over £43.000.
The money will be used to help women affected by war rebuilding their lives by starting small businesses.
It is hoped that the four year project will raise nearly a million pounds to help nearly 2000 women in Afghanistan,Bosnia and Herzergovina and Rwanda.
World Water Day
World Water Day 22/03/2008
To mark World Water Day Ilkley members will once again be turning wine into water. At the speaker meeting on 28/02/2008 glasses of wine will be sold and the proceeds will be sent to Water Aid.
The speaker for the evening will be Robert Smith: Yorkshire Water: it’s only a drop or two
Updates
22/03/08: With snow on the ground outside, Ilkley Soroptimist Jo Taylor and children Max (10)and Bridget (8) took 4 plunges each into the icy waters of the White Wells pool to mark UN World Water day and to raise a magnificent £350 (and counting) for Water Aid.
Well done all three of you, a great family effort.
Project Sierra
2007-2011 Quadrennial Project
With our Quadrennial Project partner Hope and homes for Children Soroptimists are striving to improve the health of women and girls in Sierra Leone.
In Sierra Leone, of 1000 children born, 283 will die before their 5th birthday-the highest mortality rate of under-fives in the world. Malaria and diarrhoea are particularly dangerous killers. The maternal mortality rate is also the highest in the world-one in six women dies of childbirth related causes.
Project Sierra will help to boost the general healthand strength to combat illness of young children living in extreme poverty, by improving living conditions and nutrition. All of the children and families in the programmes have access to medical facilities,medicines and treatment through Project Sierra.These are made available to other vulnerable children within the host communities also.
Carers and young mothers are taught about health, nutrition, disease prevention and child care.Sexual health and HIV/AIDS education is included in the education of young mothers.Local partnerships with specialist health and preventative health service providers give Project Sierra the benefit of suitably trained experts.
Soroptimists around the world are taking Project Sierra to heart. A great range of events- concerts-quizzes,sponsored walks, meals, fashion shows, exhibitions- have already been held or are being planned.
Do check the website www.projectsierra.org regularly for updates