sydneysnapshots@yahoo.com Daily Bulletin of the 2003 Soroptimist International Convention 2003 Tuesday 29 July 2003 rhetoricto reality Snapshots Sydney President Elaine Moffat visually
displayed how the federation gets
its strength from its diversity by
the use of members and different
coloured ribbons being entwined
together. As the federation celebrates its
25th anniversary, the youngest of
the four Federations, Elaine
thanked the past Presidents and
experienced members for their
guidance and the new members
for the strength and individuality
they bring to the organization. In
a region troubled with political,
economic, social and more re-
cently terrorist uncertainty the
members work to make a differ-
ence. Everyone was invited to Welling-
ton for the Federation Conference
next year at Easter. Two Best Practice Projects
were shared from SISWP. SI Petaling Jaya—Malaysia Adopt a Village or My Village  
Project—A community support
project. The objective was to provide
families with tools to overcome
extreme poverty stemming from
rapid urbanization  creating areas
of affluence and crime. Five hun-
dred “hardcore” poor families
were targeted to be helped. Two
workshops conducted—How to
succeed in small business and  
how to secure small loans. Within two months, four women were
running small successful busi-
nesses. Some problems were en-
countered in 2001 but these were
overcome by meeting the people
involved to understand the envi-
ronment and needs, talking to
them in their homes and conduct-
ing a survey. The actions taken included estab- lishing a library, supplying school
uniforms and conducting tuition
and remedial classes. Soroptimists received publicity;
surplus books were sent to
nearby villages and a library set
up in a local temple. Other initia-
tives for this project were to
Health Education and Empower-
ing Women. The results were
gratifying as a caring relationship
was established  between mem-
bers and the villagers. It raised
the profile of the club. The pro-
ject will now be developed with a
village by the river. SI Lae (PNG) Inc. Halt Family Violence: Papua New Guinea has the sec-
ond highest incidence of Domes-
tic Violence in the world, so Lae
members decided to tackle the
problem. They needed to identify where
the problem was, so conducted interviews with schools, hospital
staff and police constables. Vic-
tims had nowhere to go if abused
so returned to their homes where
abuse inevitably continued. The objective to overcome this
was done by an initiative to pro-
vide a Women and Children’s
Support Centre. The Federation adopted the
club’s project Halt Family Vio-
lence for the 2002-2004 biennium
After seven months the Centre
was opened within the Angau
General Memorial  Hospital in
Lae. For further information or Federa-
tion website: www.siswp.org SI South West Pacific—President Elaine Moffat All reports on the Federation updates
were written by:  
Margaret Lobo
Past Federation President
SI Perth, Western Australia, SISWP

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