Making a house a home
What began as an idea which was presented at the Conference of Clubs in Sydney in 2016 and was voted on by you as Club Members of SISWP as our Federation Project for 2016 ' 2018 and then again continued by President Anusha for 2018 ' 2020 has finally come to fruition. After 4 years I am delighted to advise that the First Sanctuary: Shelter for Women building has been finished.
From humble beginnings of a vacant block of land, to working with the Fijian Government and the Ministry for Women and Children on a Memorandum of Understanding. The house has been completed.
But, our work is not done yet…. We still need your help for the next few months to furnish the Shelter and to enable fencing to be finalised and some ground maintenance to be undertaken before we are able to hand over the finished Shelter to the Fijian Ministry for Women and Children.
This has been such an exciting outcome for SISWP and to see a finished building in the current economic climate is an outstanding achievement for each and every one of us as members of SISWP. Please also join with me in congratulating our SI Fiji sisters who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that all the requirements for building, regulatory items and local council requirements have occurred and special thanks to PE Suman Lal, SI Fiji NR Veema Sharma, Dr Maria Doton and all the Clubs in Fiji who have enabled our SISWP Federation Project 2016-2020 come to fruition
The beautiful interior of this house now needs to be turned into a home. Help make this a true Sanctuary for families escaping domestic violence.
Sanctuary Shelter: almost ready to welcome women and children
The Sanctuary Shelter for Women is in its final stages as a Federation Project. We are now so close to the end of this project that the reality is, it is getting quite exciting! President Suman and Project Manager Maria had a successful meeting with the Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation Honourable Meresaini Vuniwaqa at Waterfront Hotel in Lautoka. Present were our SISWP President Suman Lal, NR Tasneen Ali, Maria Doton and some Club members.
Fijian Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation Honourable Meresaini Vuniwaqa visits the home.
Furiture has been installed. Just look at how inviting the house is for women and children
They discussed the preparation of the MOU, Boundry Fencing and basic equipment for the Shelter. The Minister has assured that the MOU will be sent to President Suman soon for approval. President Suman was also advised that once the Boundry Fencing and basic equipment is ready the handover will be done with the Government. They also discussed the programs which will be carried from the shelter by SI Fiji Region. Exciting news was that Project Manager Maria has acquired a donor for the steel for fencing which will be erected to keep our beautiful Sanctuary building safe from squatters and vandals.
The wonderful support and contributions we have received from you all have enabled us to have the Sanctuary built and all we now need to do is finalise the documentation to sign the building over to the Fijian Government. Then and only then can the Sanctuary truly become a reality. That reality is to provide a safe haven for women and their children to escape the tragedy of domestic violence. At this Sanctuary the Government will be able to provide services and amenities to the women and their children, and our Soroptimist Sisters in Fiji have taken up the next phase of the project to provide skills training to better enable the women to be able to embrace life and move forward in their society women, and not just victims of domestic violence.
Hopefully, the finalisation of the Contract will be forthcoming in the next two months and while those of us who had hoped to travel to the signing ceremony is doubtful, our Sisters in Fiji will be there to represent us all.
Seeking donations to help furnish the home, this house needs to be a welcome retreat for the women and children.