Projects – Soroptimist International Ipsae, Mauritius

What began with a casual call in 1994 by a Cardiff Soroptimist to make contact with a Soroptimist Club in Mauritius, while on holiday there, and a visit to a newly-started crèche in the poor Black River area of the island, developed eventually into the first Soroptimist International Working Partnership! The crèche at Garderie Etoile provides facilities for disadvantaged children aged three months to three years, whose mothers work in the local salt pans and tourism. A second nursery was opened at Baie du Camp in 2000. The fathers, usually fishermen, are reliant on the vagaries of the weather to eke out their living.

The Club has received, from SI Ipsae, an album celebrating their 20th birthday which was celebrated in November 2004 and includes articles on our collaboration and our friendships with photographs and copies of letters, articles etc.

Contact was made between us and SI Ipsae at the SIGBI Conference in October 2005. The crèches were running well under the stewardship of SI Ipsae ex-President Jacqueline Pilot.

We continue with our highly valued friendship links and are very pleased to have been awarded a Best Practice Award by Soroptimist International in 2005, in the Programme Area of International Goodwill and Understanding. A certificate was awarded at the SIGBI Conference in Nottingham.