Hastings Woman Reviews S.C.F. Work Overseas

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29270, 30 July 1960, Page 2

Hastings Woman Reviews S.C.F. Work Overseas

“It is hoped that whole villages will be sponsored by the Save the Children Fund in Italy, where at present only one child is sponsored in each village,” said Mrs W. A. Whitlock in Christchurch yesterday.

Mrs Whitlock, who is secretary of the Hastings branch of the Save the Children Fund, was a guest at a meeting of the Christchurch branch yesterday. She has recently returned from an extensive overseas tour on behalf of the Save the Children Fund in New Zealand.

“Civitaluparella, or the Town of the Little She-Wolf. was sponsored by the Hastings and district branch,” said Mrs Whitlock. “Now it has public washing amenities where before every drop of water had to be carried two miles and a half.

“The young women have been taught to sew and the people have been taught elementary reading, writing and arithmetic. Best of all the village has a community hall where students from Rome, Pisa and Florence come to do field studies and child welfare programmes.” In Greece, Mrs Whitlock visited the Save the Children Fund nursery at Elleniko—a once wealthy suburb that had been badly damaged by bombs during the war. At the time of her visit thousands of refugees were making their homes among the ruins. The nursery was established in the shell of a room next to the school and was built by community labour. Pre-school age children were assembled with the school girls and boys and were given one good meal each day, a meal laced with minced meat and vitamin A and D drops.

“Swiss Family Robinson" "The S.C.F. house became a Swiss Family Robinson affair,” said Mrs Whitlock. “It has a moving population of every sort of domestic animal, including chickens, ducks, sheep, goats and the inevitable donkey. These not only helped to provide the nursery meals but were also given to farmers as a nucleus for their flocks.

“The nursery we saw had a large clothing and food depot attached. The walls Were lined from floor and ceiling with tea chests filled with clothing, and coats and suits were displayed on racks as in any clothing store. They are given in exchange for services. There are always jobs to be done by men and women at the S.C.F. centre and the clothing earned is much more highly prized by these people than that which is given to them.

“We saw cases that had been used to send clothing from Canterbury and Hawke’s Bay, converted into gaily painted tables and chairs for the nursery. We saw about 50 small boys and girls in clean bright pipafores, playing together, carefully supervised by two Greek girls. One of the mothers was preparing the midday meal.”

In Austria, the S.C.F. was building villas for refugee families because they had undertaken to

close the camp at Linz, 150 miles from Vienna. These families were too large to be accommodated in the flats built for refugee rehabilitation. The families had lived in camps for 14 years. “Austrians now sponsor children both in their own poorer mountain districts and in Greece,” said Mrs Whitlock.

In England 22 children gathered from - refugee camps in Germany were Having a holiday at Hill House, in Essex. “Hill House is a holiday home for refugee children during the summer, and in the winter is filled with children from slum areas. This, and three or four others like it, are run by the Save the Children Fund,” she said. Mrs Whitlock also saw the youth clubs and play centres, run by the fund in many cities. They were all staffed by voluntary workers. The young members pay to belong to the dubs and this makes membership more keenly sought after. They learn, in the dubs, to direct their energy to creative work.