Soroptimist International South West Pacific

I sat down to write my last article for the Bulletin and I think I am about all written out,  in the past two weeks I have written my Presidents Report, the opening address for the AGM, the article for the company annual report, my opening address for the conference and am currently working on my closing address for the conference.  I begin to wonder how many times one can say Soroptimists are amazing people and I love being a Soroptimist all of which is factful and true. 

But before we get to that, there is still some business topics to cover. We are entering one of the most important weeks of our Soroptimist year, I hope that clubs are prepared for the AGM, General Meeting and the Federation meeting. Have you held a meeting to choose your club representative at the meetings, have you read through the motions for the constitution and the decision for a Federation Logo? Have you given direction to the club representative on how she will vote? Have you discussed if your club would like to raise any questions with any of the Federation convenors?  It is important! Have you completed the forms to inform Federation secretary who will be your club representative? I urge each of you to read through the annual reports by the convenors and the National Presidents. I find reading all of the National President’s reports to be of immense value, to understand what are the barriers to women achieving gender equality, see what has been achieved by clubs in their countries, and they also highlight areas of advocacy and ideas for projects. 

The statistical data which has been extracted from the programme reporting database fills me with much pride, and you will have to wait until the company agm to hear how beneficial the work undertaken by SISEAP Soroptimists has been.  

The conference committee effort these past few weeks has been outstanding, there is so much to do to ensure that we all have the most amazing experience. The key note speakers will present a range of topics all of which are relevant to our Soroptimist work. Workshops will provide topics which address both our personal interests and our Soroptimist interests. The Friendship night is always fun and we have the Gala dinner to cap of a memorable 3 days, make sure you bring your dancing shoes for both events.

In closing, over the past 2 years, each month I have sat down at my computer attempting to write a monthly article which I hope has been of interest to our members, and now I am sitting here writing my last monthly greeting to you all.  SISEAP soroptimists have embraced the biennium tag line “Our Voice for Change – Our voice will amplify our areas of concern”, where you have identified areas of concern your voice has advocated for that change, the projects have addressed the 8 objectives and also the identified core elements of Education, Equity, Economic Empowerment, Enterprise and Environment.  Clubs embraced the Living with Nature Art competition which provided a voice for our youth through creative art. It has been with immense pride that I have been your representative at club charters, international events, webinars, Federation President’s meetings, conferences, conventions, CSW and many other times. I thank Federation Secretary Sue for her constant support through these 2 years, Headquarters staff who contribute over and beyond what is asked of them, the directors who took up the challenge to ensure that we operated as a company and supported the restructure of the company and Federation. The Federation convenors and their committees, I cannot thank you enough for your dedication, the volunteer hours you each have contributed to ensure that SISEAP continues to meet the vision and mission of our organisation has been huge.  This biennium has been a lot of hard but enjoyable work,  come the 1^st of June I am off on a walking tour of Arnham Land,  and I am sure I will have time to reflect back  on what a ride it has been. Thank you for your trust and friendship.

Christine Johnstone
President 2022-2024
Soroptimist International South East Asia Pacific
swppresident2022@siswp.org

This is the last month before the AGM, General Meeting, Federation Meeting and when we all get to meet at the “Your Voice our Future” conference to be held on the fabulous Gold Coast Tweed Heads, on the 3-5 May.   

It has been 6 years since we last met, each of you would have received the conference newsletter into your inboxes last week, please read, you will see that we have some exciting guest speakers who will provide thought provoking and interesting ideas over a range of topics, all of which are relevant to our vision and mission.

Conferences are a great time to catch up with old friends, meet new friends, get our creative project juices flowing as you come away invigorated with ideas for your clubs project work.  Use the opportunity to connect with other clubs and discuss possible project partnership ideas.

I encourage each of you to attend, every club should endeavour to have one member present in person as your club representative. The AGM and General meeting will only be held in person, so it is important that you have a club representative at this meeting.  The Federation meeting and some of the conference will be streamed out to members and guests, there will be a cost involved for this.  Please review the conference website page HERE. 

Shortly all clubs will receive into their club email account, the AGM agenda, General meeting agenda, Federation meeting agenda, annual reports and supporting documents, the club secretary and president will need to review these documents closely.  These will need to be discussed at a club meeting, and the club representative delegated with how she should vote at these meetings.

It is also to be noted that for a club to vote at these meetings, the club needs to be financial.  As of writing this report there are still clubs who are unfinancial, the clubs in question should arrange payment ASAP.

March was once again a busy month for myself, it was a privilege to represent members from SISEAP at CSW68.  SISEAP’s special consultative status with ECOSOC, enables our organisation to have up to 20 participants at CSW,  we do share our tickets with other Federations. This year Soroptimist International was one of the largest delegations at CSW with 98 Soroptimists from across the globe there in person.  Once again, this CSW was held as a hybrid event, which enables many Soroptimists who cannot attend in person to be able to participate in a variety of parallel events.  I do hope that many of you were able to view some of these parallel events. Attending these events provides you with a new perspective on topics.  CSW is very much a learning and sharing experience, everyone comes away with renewed energy for progressing gender equality, and ideas for improving the way in which we implement projects.   The agreed conclusions also provide us with recommendations towards closing the gap for 2030.  If you wish to read the Soroptimist International statement read HERE. The final agreed conclusions document can be read HERE.

Our membership base continues to grow, with the successful charter of 2 clubs since our last newsletter.

We welcomed SISEAP Sisters Online on the 24^th of February,  this is truly an international club, with members from across our Federation and we can now add another country Vietnam to our country list.  Then on the 24^th of March we welcomed members to SI Pearl of the Orient, the 2^nd club for Penang. The charter event was attended by SI President Siew Yong Gnanalingam, myself and president elect Joanne Yeoh.

This is the 6th club chartered during my biennium, our organisation has relevance in today’s world and women are eager to join, don’t forget to extend an invitation to every woman you meet.

I hope that our members were able to celebrate Easter and Eid al-Fitr with each other, and I look forward to welcoming all to the conference.

Christine Johnstone
President 2022-2024
Soroptimist International South East Asia Pacific
swppresident2022@siswp.org

Have you made a new beginning promise this year, or a New Years resolution, did you promise to do something good, or start afresh with some difficult ‘thing”.  Did your club conduct a planning day, or is yet to do so?

Did you take the time over the Holiday break to reflect on your year, was Soroptimist part of this reflection?  We cannot make a change or a new beginning unless we look back and evaluate, our new beginning has to be free from the actions or thinking that got you there in the first place.  Your new beginning has to be mindful of the past actions and recognition of what is required to implement that new beginning. 

This year, by renewing your membership you have already taken the steps to that new beginning.  Recognising that being a Soroptimist holds much promise, working with supportive ‘sisters’, linking into a global movement, and always that service or volunteering ‘work’, knowing that it will benefit many women and children as well as yourself. 

This week we celebrated Education week, read more HERE. Although the Programme team is still finalising approving the submitted reports, I did extrapolate what data was available for Education week.  $58,875 AUD on Education projects, $99,659 AUD worth of scholarships, bursaries and vocational training. Members are to be congratulated on the invaluable projects and scholarships undertaken which address education, and it has been said many times, we know that this is not the full story, as many clubs do not report, I am sure these figures could possibly double if we all took the time to report.   We need your data, data allows us to bench mark, to evaluate, (part of the reflection to be undertaken at club planning days), provides for informed decision making, problem solving, greater understanding (of the problem and solution), improving the process and understanding (meeting the needs of the recipients of our projects).

Our next major campaign in both CSW68 and IWD, Soroptimist International has a team across the 5 Federations going to CSW.  SISEAP will be presenting an in person webinar, (more news about this in the February eSPAN).  To publicise Soroptimist International, SISEAP have organised SISEAP branded IWD purple ribbons, these have been priced very cheaply (1.70AUD) they come folded and pinned ready to sell or hand out at your events, place your order NOW through HQ just email hq@siswp.org with the quantity to be ordered. 

Your Soroptimist new beginning has begun, being a Soroptimist is rewarding,  lets continue our work as we amplify our voices for change.

Yours in Soroptimist friendship,

Christine Johnstone
President 2022-2024
Soroptimist International South East Asia Pacific
swppresident2022@siswp.org