It was back in 2006 when Soroptimist International arrived in Mijas with the aim of improving the lives of women and girls and providing them with tools they could use in different areas of their lives, such as education, equality and the fight against violence. Last Tuesday 10th, this global organisation celebrated its 20th anniversary in our municipality during its annual awards ceremony with the screening of a video reviewing the group’s entire journey in Mijas.

This group, which currently comprises 65,000 women and is present in over 120 countries with representation at the UN, established its Soroptimist International Costa del Sol branch at Mijas Town Hall in 2006 and set up its headquarters in the Zoco de Calahonda, marking 20 years of projects and activities carried out, objectives achieved and others that add to the organisation’s ongoing mission.

The president of the local group, Aura Roderick, explained that “over the years, Soroptimist has done a fantastic job of helping foreign-language-speaking women adjust to living in another country, ensuring they know there are people who can help them and that various support services are available, and that is important”. For her part, the secretary, Daphne Theunissen, said that “there have been so many years with so many memories, so many projects, visits, trips… It is a very interesting organisation, not only at a local level but also at a national and international level”, and one of the group’s members, Mona Davidsen, stated that “it has been very rewarding to do things for people who need help but cannot ask for it. For me, it is important”. 

 

Projects

Its programmes include international, national and local initiatives. As Anette Skout, a volunteer and former head of the Mijas Foreigners Department, explained, “we work on many different projects and the most important thing for me is to help victims of gender-based violence and to help the Food Bank in Mijas, because we organise local programmes as well as national and international ones”.

Indeed, as they explained, one of their most important objectives is to help women who are victims of abuse, working within the local group Viogenex. Education is also a fundamental pillar for them; for this reason, they provide scholarships to students at the University of Málaga and also make donations to food banks, among other things. All of this makes them a very important pillar of the community in Mijas. The mayoress of the municipality, Ana Mata (PP), who showed her support for Soroptimist at the event, pointed out that “it is a group of women who are all over the world but twenty years ago they also decided to work here with all women and girls who, at a certain point in their lives, needed the support of other women”.

However, the organisation does not work alone; there are currently many associations and organisations, such as the Town Hall, that help carry out its projects, joining forces for the cause. 

5th ‘Feed Your Optimism’ Awards

Furthermore, during the event, as well as celebrating its twentieth anniversary, Soroptimist International Costa del Sol also presented the awards for the fifth edition of the ‘Feed Your Optimism’ initiative. These awards recognise the work carried out by organisations and businesses in Málaga for their sustainable practices. These are projects that demonstrate that caring for our environment and ensuring the well-being of the community is the only possible path towards the future; to this end, they relied on a judging panel made up of members of Sabor a Málaga, the Red Cross, Justicia Alimentaria and the Aula del Mar Foundation.  

The coordinator of these awards, Daphne Theunissen, explained that “every year we have many candidates and the jury had a hard job deciding who we were going to give the awards to, as there are so many companies and organisations working hard for sustainability”. The mayoress also emphasised that “these awards back sustainable development goals, viable goals that each of us should have implemented in our daily lives”. Joining her was the councillor for the Foreigners Department, Mario Bravo (PP), who noted that “one of Soroptimist’s five areas of activity is getting back to nature, returning to that responsible way of eating, and I believe we can all play a part in this. Not only by sharing their objectives and their work, but also by striving to eat as healthily as possible and as directly from the producer as possible”.

 

Award Winners
On this occasion, the winners were as follows:

• Food Production and Distribution: Biomilanés
• Sustainable Food Production: La Pitayera
• Food Education and Awareness: SIPAM Málaga Raisins in the AxarquíaInnovation and Technology: Agrocomercio Vivo
• Sustainable Restaurant: Restaurante Doña Luna

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