Home & People Support by Zonta for I.Y.C.

Press, 29 July 1978, Page 10

Home & People Support by Zonta for I.Y.C.

By

TUI THOMAS

Zonta International will i have its focus mainly on children in its welfare projects for the immediate future. The world-wide organisation of women’s service clubs, which recently held i its biennial convention in Denver, Colorado, will be strongly working to help i make effective the InterI national Year of the Child (1979). The 857 affiliated clubs . in 47 countries with a

total membership of 30,000 have been asked to work out their own plans for I.Y.C. to meet particular local needs the Canterbury delegate, Miss Jeanne Edgar, said. “The United Natibns wisely launched the project without rules or ties,” she said. “Its simple plea for help was that every city, tow’n or village should seek out its own problems and do something to alleviate them.” The Christchurch North Zonta Club is already working to raise $3OOO to provide a children’s paddling pool at Hanmer Springs to be incorporated n plans for the new pools complex. Other Zontians are working as individuals and in clubs on service efforts for children. Jeanne Edgar, who is

now lieutenant governor of Zonta District XVI (Australia and New Zealand) and is director of Risingholme Community Centre, believes it is better to complete small projects than to “sit around talking about big ones without doing anything practical.” Like other delegates, she was appalled to hear from Zonta’s United Nations observer about children being exposed to and used for prostitution, pornography and drug peddling;

that of the world's 1000 M 350 M lack such basic needs as food and schooling; and that one-quarter of them suffer from malnutrition in both rich and poor countries. “The amount of time children spend watching television — known in the United States as the “flickering blue parent” because it cuts them off from their mothers and fathers — was another area of concern emphasised at the convention,” str said. “This is something Zontians could work on in every country where there is television.” Zonta has supported children's welfare schemes for many years. It has provided two health units in the slums of Bogota, Colombia, and for this international project

raised $114,001', which was channelled through U.N.I.C.E.F.

Zonta has programmes for immunising children, and improving nutrition and sanitary conditions. Through local centres the people are taught to help one another and introduce new methods to improve living standards.

Another Zonta International project is the Amelia Earhart Scholar-

ship Fund. Last year 25 scholarships were awarded to women graduates to continue their studies in

aerospace science, engineering and allied subjects. Each scholarship was worth $4OOO. but from 1979 it will be raised to $5OOO. The main speaker at the conference was Mrs Betty Williams, founder of the Peace People in Northern Ireland and winner of a

Nobel Peace Prize in 1976. “Her message came through loud and clear — that we must all reach out beyond our own organisations and help to make the world a better place for our children,” Miss Edgar said.

The convention was attended by 2200 delegates and observers and Jeanne Edgar found it gratifying to see the international aspect of the service clubs in action.

“Discussions were free and frank but there was none of the dissension that so often appears at women’s international conferences because, no doubt, we all had the same aims — to improve social conditions for people, particularly in health and education,” Jeanne Edgar said.