SI Southend-on-Sea and District

Recently, the Southend club has had a busy time

As well as continuing to collect toiletries for both our local refuges and supplying an average of 15 bags each month, we have been very involved with the refuge staff and the members of the local Domestic Abuse Forums in arranging events for International UNite to Eliminate Violence Against Women week in November.

Three members of the club visited Westminster on Wednesday 23rd to speak to Rebecca Harris MP about the issues surrounding domestic violence – the cost of domestic violence to society, better Relationships Education in schools, reduced funding and the need for support for refuges, and the need for more women to be involved in peace negotiations in Afghanistan, as Rebecca is a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Afghanistan.

On Thursday 24th, several of us were in the Eastgate Centre Basildon collecting signatures on our poster to say A Different World is Possible, in support of our own VAW-SIN campaign and the End Violence Against Women prevention campaign. About 350 people signed up during the morning and we had messages of support from Rebecca Harris MP and Baroness Angela Smith. We gave out leaflets from Women’s Aid and Loves Me Loves Me Not bookmarks, which also went into schools for assemblies run by the local Domestic Abuse teams in Southend secondary schools. They were also given out by the Basildon Domestic Abuse team in the council offices during the week.

On Friday 25th we joined with groups in Basildon, Rayleigh and Southend to raise the profile of International UNite to EVAW day, and took our Hands Banners and poster to St Martin’s Church Basildon, where a dove release was held to represent the four lives lost to domestic violence already this year in our area.

We have continued to lobby our MPs about Relationships Education in schools, which is being discussed in various Parliamentary committees etc just now, and have had some positive replies, and we have targeted Essex and Southend councils about cuts in funding for refuges. We’ve also got letters ready to go to all our MPs between 1st and 10th December to support Handicap International’s anti-cluster munitions campaign – the Forgotten 10.

We have continued to raise funds for our President’s Project, Southend Young Carers - in early November, a successful lunch on MS Wilton raised £700. Other small one-off projects include cash support for a local Girl Guide who has been selected to go on their Gold Project to Sri Lanka and cash for Kenya Orphans Fund and Uganda Project [KOFUP] on UN Literacy Day, to buy books – a project very similar to LAR’s own Malawi project.
 

Violence Against Women - Hands Banner

Following on from the success that fellow London Anglia Region club, SI Chelmsford, had when they staged their Hands banner event some months ago, on Saturday 4th September, in Basildon Eastgate Centre SI Southend staged their own Hands Banner event - with great success. All day the banner was available for people to put up their hands to STOP violence against women and members were kept very busy.

Baroness Angela Smith of Basildon (pictured left) was on hand early in the morning to join the club and both Angela and her husband put their hands on the banner. Angela said, ”I’ve always opposed violence, particularly violence against women. I strongly support the work of Basildon Women’s Aid and applaud local Soroptimists for tackling this problem.”

Throughout the day, shoppers and their families added their hands with their names. In some cases, poignant messages were also added. Club President Janet said, “As well as written messages, several women shared distressing experiences.”

The club distributed Loves Me - Loves Me Not bookmarks (the design and brainchild of SI Yeovil), which describe how a good relationship should be, and the actions that point to abuse in a relationship. These were well received by both adults and teenagers. Janet added, “Thankfully, many of the women who spoke to us are survivors, though it’s very sad that some are still in abusive relationships. The refuge in Basildon does a great job.” By the end of the day over 700 shoppers had put their hands up.


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