SI Derby

WISH Gardeners

Members of SI Derby have been helping Derbyshire WISH women's refuge (Women in Safe Hands) to refurbish part of their garden as a quiet space for the residents to relax and reflect. Any easy care design has been chosen, but members of the club will continue to maintain the area. Welcome packs for new residents containing items recommended by the management of the refuge have also been provided by the club.

 

 

 

 

International Day of Peace

Annette Porter, Immediate Past Midland East Region President and SI Derby member, releases a dove for the International Day of Peace at the Region meeting on 20th September

 

Tour of the Cameroon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SI Derby member Celia Beizsley recently joined the SIGBI Federation president and other Federation officers on a tour of clubs in Cameroon. She took up an invitation for a member from Midland East Region to join the trip as our Region has paid the Federation fees for Cameroon clubs, which allows them to spend more on projects in their country.

Celia was a volunteer in Cameroon after leaving university and was very keen to pay a return visit. One of the guides for the Federation group was Bridgette Fomunyam, a member of SI Bameda, who is Chief of Programme for Cameroon Radio/TV in Bamenda. Celia and Bridgette renewed their acquaintance at the SIGBI conference and as a result Bridgette spent two days with Celia in Derby. Celia arranged a busy programme which included an interview on Radio Derby, a talk to students and staff of the University of Derby (plus some soroptimists) called "Women, the Media and Cameroon", which was very well attended, and a visit to the Buxton campus of the university where she met a programme leader for Catering and Hospitality to collect some materials for a fellow member starting a business in this field.

Bridgette also enjoyed a visit to a garden centre and an evening with some members of SI Derby to complete a busy two days. 

Women's Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Primary School competition

 

 

 

Baba II Water Project

The club wanted a project concerned with improving clean water, to improve the lives of women, as women are generally the main collectors of water. They knew Village Aid was a locally based development charity, working in Cameroon, the Gambia and Sierra Leone. a member had just come back from Cameroon, accompanying the Federation President in Sept 2007, so the club agreed they would work with Village Aid to identify a suitable village in North West Cameroon.

They advised Village Aid how much money they thought they might raise and were told what installing a new water supply in a village might cost and which village would be deserving. The target was to raise between £2,000-£3,000

Their Field Officer identified a village in a particularly remote corner of North West Cameroon. This is an area Village Aid knows well. They work with the local community there, who are traditionally pastoralists. These people, the Mbororo, are now settled but still own a lot of cattle and often are in conflict with the other settled communities for access to land and water.

A small group set about organising a fundraising event and decided to organise a charity auction and enlisted the help of a professional auctioneer who we had contacts with, Charles Hanson. This was quite a challenge as none of the club had any experience. They set about gathering information and one of member went to an auction to see how things worked. They had to gather enough items to auction and wrote to several companies, and also canvassed local businesses. They included promises, any treasure members might want to donate and donations from businesses - over 120 items.

The event was promoted in the paper and through a poster campaign, through members. It was held at the Mackworth hotel where the club holds its meetings. About 100 people attended, some travelling a considerable distance.

The Auctioneer was marvellous; he sold everything, even to people who didn’t really want to buy! In the end £2,500 was raised. This was formally presented to the Chief Executive of Village Aid in Dec 2008.

In February 2009 the club received the initial photos of the villagers starting to dig the trenches to install the pipeline and in April more photos showing the finished safe water supply together with a letter of thanks from the local community. In the letter they describe the benefits of the new water installation to their lives.In summary they said that the safe water supply has:

• Provided clean, safe water, free from water borne diseases and contamination by animals.
• Eased the burden of life, collecting water.
• Provided a constant supply of water
• Reduced the incidence of illness
• Reduced the potential for conflict over water
• Prompted them to establish a water management committee

For the club it feels like this project has made a difference. It’s great to impact on a poor community in a country in West Africa we didn’t know much about before. The project involved research and commitment. It provided a focus to work together and generated a lot of enthusiasm, and was fun to be involved with.

Schools Environment Initiative

This club's attention was caught by the amount of litter at the junction of the A38 and the MI in Derbyshire. They took some photos as evidence and decided to write to all the local authorities responsible for keeping the verges of the A38 clear of litter in Derbyshire. They drafted a standard letter asking for some information and, when replies were received, followed up with requests for more details on certain aspects depending on the replies. When councils had an interesting initiative this was passed on to the other authorities. They are expecting some more replies, but have decided to move on from this part of the project.

They have considered arranging, or taking part, in a litter pick, but as the evidence indicates that the effect is very short-lived, they have decided to take a different direction; organising a 'SI Derby Schools' Environment Initiative', based on SI Kenilworth's project.

Letters were sent to all primary schools in Derby City, asking them if they would like to produce a piece of work on the subject. They suggested they link it to work they may already be covering in the curriculum. Prizes of £100 each for the best work from Key stage 1 and Key stage 2 were offered; seeking sponsorship for these prizes from local organisations. They organised exhibition space in Derby's Eagle Market for the work for a display for a week in the Easter holidays. The Mayor of Derby presented the prizes and certificates to the winners in June and they invited the press along.

Five schools wished to take part.

For more information on SI Derby, please visit their website