SISWP President Anusha Santhirasthipam has recently travelled to Indonesia to visit earthquake and tsunami affected villages and meet with women and children in need of assistance.
Read more from Anusha on her visits to other villages in need of assistance.
Telotok Desa Sokong Kec.Tanjung.
Teluk Kombal Pemenang Village in Indonesia welcomes SISWP President Anusha Santhirasthipam to their village. "A new day begins. Inspecting earthquake damaged villages to determine women upliftment and economic empowerment programmes.Today I visited a badly affected village and met about 50 women who only have one enclosed bathing area and one well between all of them! No toilet facilities and they have to defecate in the open in groups for safety and then dig and bury their waste!
Dengue mosquitoes make it almost impossible for them to do their toilet business at night."
Lombok, Nusa Tenggara Barat.
President Anusha visited Lombok, Nusa Tenggara Barat talking with and listening to victimis.
"Destruction, doom and gloom! It is essential to listen to earthquake victims and build relationships prior to providing rehabilitation and empowerment programmes. Today we got the answers we were looking for."
Gangga, Lombok, Indonesia
Women, Water & Leadership will be exemplified by these committed women in a village in Gangga, Lombok affected by recent earthquakes.
Their homes were damaged and water supply permanently disrupted due to damaged pipes a few kilometres away. These women are determined to carry out installation of pipes to their village with the support of Soroptimists and generosity of SI President Mariet Verhoef-Cohen.
SI President's Appeal and SISWP will collaborate to make it happen.
They also wish to scale up their cashew nut processing work into a long term income generating opportunity. They are keen to set up a village enterprise run by 10-15 women that will require equipment, packaging and marketing support from Soroptimists.
They currently pluck the cashew nuts, remove the shells and sell in bulk to wholesalers for meagre sum. Upscaling their enterprise would enable them to sell commercially.