Soroptimist International climaxes 2010 activities

The Year 2010 for SISVG ended with the annual Cocktails and Carols fund raising event held on December 3rd at the Paradise Beach Hotel.{{more}} This was a great success and was a grand ending of activities for the year, with music, singing and dancing, and from observation and reports, all of our supporters thoroughly enjoyed themselves. During the month of December, the club also entertained the children at the Glebe Pre School in Barrouallie and the Helping Hands Centre in New Montrose with the usual Christmas Parties. Members also visited the Female Surgical Ward at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital and distributed Christmas gifts and reading material to the patients. The patients and some of the student nurses on the ward joined with SISVG in singing Christmas carols. The patients were happy and expressed appreciation for the visit. This ward is adopted by SISVG, and members visit and take magazines and books as well as other material during the year.

The first activity for 2011 was a radio programme aired on National Broadcasting Corporation on Sunday, January 16. This was in the form of a Panel discussion and Call In programme on Views on Issues, organized by Programme Action Chairman SISVG Nelcia Primus, under the Theme “VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN”. This theme falls under one of the six Programme Focus Areas of Soroptimist International, “Human Rights and the Status of Women”, and all clubs throughout the world participate or initiate activities relating to the topic. The panelists were Soroptimists René Baptiste, CMG and former Minister of Culture, Labour and Electoral Affairs, and Joyce Haynes, who is also a member of the National Committee on Crime Prevention, Nelcia Robinson-Hazell, President of the National Council of Women, and ASP Jonathan Nichols, with Juanita Francois of NBC hosting the programme. This coincidentally was Caribbean Soroptimist Day. On the 16th January, 1958, SI Port of Spain was chartered as the first club in the Caribbean. All clubs in the Caribbean celebrate with SI Port Of Spain in some form of activity on that day and having this programme then was most timely.

SISVG on the afternoon celebrated further by holding a TEA with spiritual reflection, under the theme “Fellowship and Friendship,” at the Grand View Grill. The Reverend Father Otis Nichols spoke on this theme to members and friends. He pointed out that Friendship between persons must involve communication, mutuality and self assurance, if it is to be an enduring one. When Friendship is formed and there is bonding between persons, Fellowship follows naturally since love for others allows for friendly relationships and encourages persons to speak openly, boldly and frankly to each other, and once this is reciprocal, then Friendship and Fellowship can coexist.

Patron of the club Lady Gloria Antrobus and US Ambassador Betty Boyea-King and other friends also joined SISVG in celebrating this event.

Please do not forget to visit us on the websites of SI and SIGBI at www.soroptimistinternational.org and at http://soroptimist-gbi.org for further information on this dynamic and vibrant organization.