2008/9: President’s Message - Gill Brannan
Having hung around SI Liverpool since my late teens I thought I had a good understanding of what Soroptimism was all about & I was happy to help out whenever I could. Little did I know or even imagine that now I would be here as the incoming President now.
When I joined the club three years ago I thought I knew what being a Soroptimist was all about, but how wrong I was. My eyes have been opened so wide to many things, from outpourings of love & generosity, to the unbelievable atrocities that women and children are subjected to around the world.
It is a privilege to be a part of this worldwide organisation doing our little bit to advance human rights & the status of women.
As they say “every little counts” & I would like us, as a club, to use our senses during my year to work together. We can do this by:
- Talking to one another & hearing what each other says; &
- Touching the hearts of woman & children through our service commitments;
By doing this we will SEE the fruits of out labour & smell the sweet smell of success.
We have had the most successful two years that the club has had in a long time with the NSPCC project & the partnerships we have formed. I hope that we can continue this success with my focus for the coming year.
This focus will be on the elderly & following a meeting with Help the Aged recently, we are well on the way to forming a partnership with events that are in the early stages of planning. I am keen to use our recently formed lobbying group to look into the subject of elderly abuse & hopefully in some way do our bit towards stopping this.
The definition of elder abuse is:’A single or repeated act or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person’.
Did you know:
- 500,000 elderly people are believed to be abused at any one time in the UK;
- 46 per cent of people who abuse are related to the person they are abusing, but very rarely (in only 1 per cent of cases) is the abuser the main family carer;
- A quarter of those who abuse are sons or daughters;
- 78 per cent of abuse is perpetrated against people who are over the age of 70, with 16 per cent of that abuse affecting people over the age of 90;
- Those between 80-89 years old are the most vulnerable to abuse;
- Two-thirds of abuse is committed at home, by someone in a position of trust;
- In 37 per cent of situations, two types of abuse occur simultaneously;
- In a third of circumstances, the abuse is perpetrated by more than one person in collusion;
There will be more on this over the next month or two.
I would also like some focus to be on our environment & am planning “Muddy Welly Days”, so watch this space.
Before I finish I would like to tell you about the three frogs sitting on a log. Two of the frogs decided to jump, so how many were left…… Two I hear you say, but no it’s Three. They ONLY decide to jump, they didn’t actually do IT.
IT is not what you think in life - IT is what you do about IT.
IT is about:
- attending meetings;
- Volunteering and working on a committee;
- Writing an article for our newsletter;
- Taking time to visit a sick member;
- Working on a Soroptimist project;
- Supporting each other;
Together we can use our senses to make IT count.
I now don’t think I know what being a Soroptimist is, I know what it is - Being a Soroptimist is making a personal commitment to improve society locally, nationally & internationally.