SI CAPE OF GOOD HOPE:  PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE! 

Club History: 

SI Cape of Good Hope (SICGH) Club was chartered in 1963, the second Soroptimist Club in South Africa.  Dr. Kathleen Haslop, Founder President of SI Port Elizabeth, helped to form SICGH.  SI Port Elizabeth was the first Soroptimist Club in South Africa to be chartered in 1959. 

Mrs. Dorothea Spears, Poet and Journalist, was appointed Chairman of the Steering Committee and there were fifteen (15) potential members. 

The following is an excerpt from the Argus, 3rd April 1963: 

“Miss Gladys Thyer Jones, President of the British Federation of Soroptimist Clubs, has made a special detour from Wales to Australia, to present the new Cape of Good Hope Club with its charter.  She is a barrister, governor of the University of Wales and headmistress of the Llanelly Girls Grammar School and will be the principal speaker at the charter dinner.” 

We currently have 24 members and Friendship Links with the following clubs: 

Jersey GB, South Perth W Australia, Southampton GB, Fort de France Martinique, Lancaster GB, Stratford upon Avon GB, East Grinstead GB, Ramsbottom GB; Karachi Pakistan, 

Antanarivo Mandrosoa Madagascar; Bootle GB; Alkmaar Netherlands; Canterbury GB; Kansas City Missouri USA, Oslo Norway; Rehovot Israel, Blantyre Malawi, Rostock Germany 

Current Areas of Work: 

The spectrum of our current projects covers support for women and girls in many different ways.  Examples are packing care packages for women in a centre for abused women, collection of clothing and blankets, maintaining a library at a primary school, provision of basic foodstuffs to both school children and the elderly, the maintenance of a Garden of Serenity in a centre for abused women, provision of bursaries to women students beyond their first year of study, planting of trees, support of food gardens, support of soup kitchens and participation in Advocacy issues.  

Vision for the Future: 

The Global Pandemic of the Covid 19 Virus has affected many organisations such as ours, but adversity has also brought us into the 21st century with the virtual technology which our club has embraced in a positive manner. 

The two pillars of Soroptimism are Programme Action and Membership.  As a service organisation we have at times struggled to attract younger professional women to join us. Modern technology has opened up our meetings to an international audience which in turn has provided us with a range of interesting and informative speakers.  This has attracted younger professional women to participate and become interested in the project work of Soroptimist International whose focus is the improvement of the lives and status of women and girls through education, empowerment and enabling personal development.  We look forward to the future of continuing with the technology of Zoom for our meetings, to inspire younger members to join and the opportunity to charter new Virtual Clubs. 

CURRENT PROGRAMME ACTION: 

Insert Link to the SICGH PROJECTS MASTER LIST – 01 JULY 2021

Document Name:  SICGH Projects – 01 July 2021.doc

CLUB CONTACT DETAILS: 

Club Name:  SI Cape of Good Hope, Cape Town South Africa

NPO Registration Number:  003252

Postal Address:  PO Box 30742, TOKAI 7966, South Africa

Email Address:  trunell.morom@telkomsa.net 

Facebook Link:  www.facebook.co/SoroptimistInternationalCapeOfGoodHope 

Executive Members: 

President : Joan Cornish

Vice President/President Elect : Susan Hill

Immediate Past President : Marjorie Wohlmann

Secretary :  Rosemary Hickman

Treasurer : Carla Pronk

Program Action Officer : Hilary Southall

Additional Portfolios (non-Executive positions) : 

Friendship Link Co-ordinator : Alida Hartzenberg

Press and Publicity : Lisette Genseberger

Communications Secretary : Trunell Morom

Bank Account Details:

Bank:  Standard Bank

Swift Code:  SB ZA ZA JJ

Branch Code:  025009

Account Name:  Soroptimist International Cape of Good Hope

Account No:  071 420 401