An update from Friendships across the border by SI Bangsar.
Meet up with SI ST. HELENA (Perth, Australia) 10th February 2023
I had the pleasure of spending a late afternoon and evening with my friends of many years Robyn Cain and Berenice Ritchie at the Hills in Perth.
A convenient train ride from Freemantle Station took me to the Midlands easily where Berenice and Robyn met me and took me to the Hills. We did some catching up at Berenice’s home with lovely tea and biscuits.We managed to get up to the Mundaring Weir before meeting up for dinner at a cosy Italian restaurant at Gooseberry Hill where there was much to hear from the Club’s staunch members. We had chance to talk about our projects and the possibility of a collaboration for our Teenage Survival Kit to cover domestic abuse . We all agreed that educating children and the youth was more effective in achieving Awareness, Advocacy and Action, hallmarks of Soroptimist best practices.
Meet up with SI Torrens and South Australia Soroptimists at Adelaide. 14-15 February 2023
Our meet up was at the Art Gallery of South Australia ( AGSA) .The South Australian Soroptimists were most welcoming and I was honoured by the presence of Region President Louise Bruce. It was a pleasure meeting friends from many past encounters, Diane Lockwood, Sue Newton, and Kath Gribble. We talked about our clubs’ respective projects. Glad to hear that Philippa Robert’s (President Southern Districts of Adelaide) enthusiasm for a possible joint project on a topic such as mental health . This could possibly be included in a cross-border webinar for teens (under SICB’s Teenage Survival Kit Project). I also shared some aspects of SICB’s fund-raising strategies and our current Advocacy program which was to alert the public on various aspects of scamming.
The SI Torrens project with primary school children on gender equality was impressive with its questioning of stereotypes such as blue for boys and pink for girls and many other aspects that SICB would be interested to learn from and apply . All in all, we had a good exchange, and I was so thrilled at Kath Gribble’s generous offer to take me round Barossa valley on the 14th Feb. We had a wonderful day out.
Reported by Nora Lam
President-Elect.SI Club of Bangsar, Malaysia