Days

A warm Welcome was extended to delegates to attend the Opening Ceremony of the Convention in the Clyde Auditorium, SECC from 5.00pm to 6.00pm (1700-1800 hours). The Friendship Evening began immediately after the Opening Ceremony in Hall 5 of the SECC from 6.00pm to 8.00pm (1800-2000 hours). This was the the first memorable social event of the Convention. During the evening wine, soft drinks and nibbles were available to delegates and they had the opportunity to meet friends and colleagues in a relaxed atmosphere.

Kindly hosted by Glasgow City Council this drinks reception took place in Glasgow's flagship visitor attraction. The Glasgow Science Centre is located immediately adjacent to the SECC on the south bank of the River Clyde.

Nasra Hassan
The first speaker on Tuesday morning was unexpectedly forced to cancel her presentation due to a family crisis. Nasra Hassan, Director of the UN Information Service, is a spokesperson on drugs and crime. Other contributors spoke for longer and there was extra time for delegates to as questions.

In October 2006 the International Development Research Council (IDRC) announced the appointment of Dr Rawwida Baksh as Programme Leader for the Women's Rights and Citizenship (WRC) programme.

The IDRC is a public corporation created by the Parliament of Canada in 1970 to support researchers in developing countries to solve critical development problems and build healthier, more equitable and prosperous societies. IDRC is based in Ottawa with regional offices in Cario, Dakar, Delhi, Montevideo, Nairobi and Singapore.

Dr Baksh has a PhD in Socio-historical Linguistics from the University of the West Indies, as well as Masters Degrees in Gender and Development from the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, and in International Relations from the London School of Economics.

Before joining the IDRC, Dr Baksh was Head of the Gender Section at the Commonwealth Secretariat, where she developed  the Gender Management System (GMS) as the Commonwealth's approach to mainstreaming gender equality in government, civil society and other sectors. She also initiated the Secretariat's programme on Gender, Democracy, Peace and Conflict, and published books in this area on Gender Mainstreaming in Conflict Transformation: Building Sustainable Peace; and Women and Men in Partnership for Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Sierra Leone.

Dr Baksh led the development of the Commonwealth Plan of Action for Gender Equality 2005-2015, which was agreed by the Seventh Commonwealth Women's Affairs Meeting in June 2004, presented to the Beijing+10 Review held at the UN during the 49th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women in March 2005, and endorsed by Commonwealth Heads of Government at their Summit in November 2005.

Award-winning television journalist Eve Richings has travelled around the world covering issues affecting the lives of women and children.

In Afghanistan, it was how females lived under Taliban rule; the plight of 80.000 refugees living in unbelievable squalor in the Jalozai refugee camp; and how children, after so many years of war, were being taught how to play - because they'd never learnt how to.

In Uganda, it was the scandal of how 25,000 children had been kidnapped to fight for the Lord's Resistance Army, and ordered to kill their own parents, brothers and sisters as their initiation.

In Mexico, she reported on how poverty drove children to prostitute themselves, and then blot out their misery with drugs and solvents.

In Gabon and Benin, the story was child trafficking.  The tragedy of how parents, unable to feed their children, handed a boy or girl over to someone promising them a better life, only for them to be sold into slavery.

In Azad Kashmir, she reported on the rescue of a forced marriage victim, one of 250-300 British nationals being recued every year by a team of Foreign Office diplomats around the world.

In Zambia, she investigated how baby girls were being raped by men believing they'd be cured of AIDS; and the HIV+ mothers teaching other women how to avoid infecting their babies.

Eve was a newspaper reporter for 10 years before joining Sky News, where she worked for 17.5 years, mainly on special assignment. She is now a freelance reporter, working on documentary projects.

The Report from the Federation of Great Britain and Ireland by President Hilary-Kay Young and the Report from the Federation of South West Pacific by President Lorna Mead followed the presentations by Dr Rawwida Baksh and Eve Richings.

Project Independence, Women Survivors of War - Closing Report 

Dawn Marie Lemonds and Zainab Salbi with Janet Stevens Donahue

This was a special invitation to members of the Chat Line from Kate Moore. For Chat Liners, former Chat Liners and their supporters this Lunch was a 'must'.

Delegates to Convention were invited to join a magical mystery tour on the Tuesday evening. Leaving the Convention Centre around 1700 hours by bus they were taken to venues across southern Scotland, where local Soroptimists waited to greet them with Scottish Hospitality - food, entertainment and, of course, fun and friendship. This was a great opportunity to meet each other in small groups and in an informal setting -  the Scottish Soroptimists were wonderful hostesses and delegates had a true insight into Scottish hospitality.

The presentation was made by Ian Vale, Management Consultant, The Management Centre and followed by questions from delegates.

The Programme Focus 2007-2011 was introduced by Lois Sagel the SI Programme Director (2003-2007) - Margaret Alderson the SI Assistant Programme Director (2003-2007) - Dawn Marie Lemonds the SI Programme Director (2007-2009) and Margaret Cook the SI Assistant Programme Director (2007-2009).

This presentation was made by Elizabeth Hughes the International Five O Liaison

The Biennium Reports were presented by President Lynn Dunning and Immediate Past Preseident Joan Cromer

The European Federation extended a warm invitation to their Open Heart - Open Door Lunch. Those who attended learnt more about this programme now in its 9th year. The event was hosted by Heidrun Konrad, Immediate Past President of SI Europe.

This presentation was given by Alison Sutherland, International Project Liaison.  She was joined on the platform by Rick Foulsham and Delia Pop from Hope and Homes for Children.

These important awards were presented to the winning clubbs by Margaret Alderson.

This presentation was made by Yvonne Machuk

When he was only nine years old, Satish Kumar renounced the world and joined the wandering brotherhood of Jain monks. Dissuaded from his path by an inner voice at the age of eighteen, he became a campaigner for land reform, working to turn Gandhi’s vision of renewed India and a peaceful world into reality.

Fired by the example of Bertrand Russell, he undertook an 8,000 mile peace pilgrimage, walking from India to America without any money, through deserts, mountains, storms and snow. It was an adventure during which he was thrown into jail in France, faced a loaded gun in America – and delivered packets of ‘peace tea’ to the leaders of the four nuclear powers.

In 1973, he settled in England, taking an Editorship of Resurgence magazine. He has been the editor ever since (30 + years!). He is the guiding spirit behind a number of ecological, spiritual and educational ventures in Britain. He founded the Small School in Hartland, a pioneering secondary school (aged 11-16) which brings into its curriculum ecological and spiritual values. In 1991, Schumacher College, a residential international center for the study of ecological and spiritual values, was founded, of which he is the Director of Programme.

Following Indian tradition, in his fiftieth year, he undertook another pilgrimage: again carrying no money, he walked to the holy places of Britain – Glastonbury, Canterbury, Lindisfarne and Iona. Meeting old friends and making new ones along the way, this pilgrimage was a celebration of his love of life and nature.

In July 2000, Satish Kumar was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Education from the University of Plymouth. In July 2001 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Literature from the University of Lancaster.

In November 2001, Satish Kumar was presented with the Jamnalal Bajaj International Award for Promoting Gandhian Values Abroad.

His autobiography, No Destination, was first published in 1978. A revised and updated edition is published by Green Books. His book You Are, Therefore I Am – A Declaration of Dependence was published by Green Books in September 2002. Satish’s new book The Buddha and the Terrorist was published in November 2004.

In 2005 Satish appeared on Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4. The BBC have recently commissioned him to make a documentary about his life with nature, scheduled for broadcast in 2007.

Simon Conway is co-chairman of the Cluster Munition Coalition, a network of over 200 civil society organisations campaigning for an international prohibition on cluster munitions. He is also Director of Landmine Action, the UK arm of the Nobel Prize winning organisation the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL).

He has an MA (Hons) degree in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh. On graduation, he served for five years as an officer in the Queen’s Own Highlanders, a Scottish regiment of the British Army, seeing active service in Northern Ireland before the ceasefire.

After leaving the army, he worked for the mine clearance charity The HALO Trust managing field programmes clearing mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) including cluster bombs in Cambodia, Kosovo, Abkhazia, Eritrea and Sri Lanka. He is a qualified unexploded ordnance disposal (bomb disposal) operator.

He joined Landmine Action in May 2004 as Deputy Director and was appointed Director in November 2005. Since joining Landmine Action he has established clearance programmes in Western Sahara, Liberia and Guinea Bissau and he is a co-author of Foreseeable Harm, the use and impact of Cluster Munitions in Lebanon, published in 2006.

He is the author of two novels, Damaged (Canongate, 1998) and Rage (Hodder & Stoughton, 2006). He was described by the Literary Review as a “roaring and prodigal talent”.

In 2006 he appeared on Radio 4’s Between Ourselves talking about his experiences clearing mines and cluster bombs in affected communities.

The Peace Vigil - Unified in Our Purpose.

Over 1,500 Soroptimist 'Stood for Peace' in a 30 minute vigil at the end of the 18th International Convention in Glasgow,

The Convention Gala Banquets were held at the Hilton Hotel and the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow on the evening of Thursday 2 August. A Scottish themed evening, during which a sumptuous dinner was served followed by a traditional Scottish Ceilidh. This event gave delegates the opportunity to participate in some traditional Scottish dancing.