Soroptimists and IWA members in Fiji

As we settle in suva, we are meeting more people and making more friends. Its a beautiful place with beautiful people.

IWA membership is thriving with members from more than 20 different nationalities. It is an excellent mix of members. Above is the photo that an Indian friend took at the IWA meeting last week. I have made many friends through IWA. It basically targets raising funds and giving the funds out to the needy organisations/ groups etc.

The photo below shows some of the Soroptimists of Fiji.

In the photo, I am standing with members from various SI clubs of Fiji. Seated in the middle wearing the 'chain of office' is the region President Saras Kewal and to her left is the SI National representative for Fiji, Vasewa Dakui and to her right is the UN Liason and Programme Convener, Suman Lata Lal. I met Soroptimists of Suva in July and then met the soroptimists from different towns in Fiji this saturday at the Region meeting held in Vineyard Palace (A Chinese resturant quite famous venue for fundraising dinners): Members present at the meeting represented Soroptimist International of Lautoka, Soroptimist International of Raki Raki, Soroptimist International of Labasa, Soroptimist International of Sigatoka and of course Soroptimist International of Suva. While I enjoy my association with 'International Women's Association', I remain Soroptimist at heart so much so that I did not want to accept any position in the committee in IWA because I want to save a major chunk of my energy and time for projects with SI of Fiji. The SI clubs in Fiji membership consists of all Fijians. It would be good to have some expatriates in the club, at the moment I am the only expat member and I intend to bring in more so that we can have an internationally diverse group. I have made some good friends here too.

The Soroptimist international is a service organisation and they do some wonderful projects all over the world and so do Soroptimists of Fiji besides fund-raising activites. And this is what I am looking forward to , to actually get involved with the local community and do some interesting and useful projects!