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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-05-16 Daily Xml
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ZONTA CLUBS

Ms BETTISON (Ramsay) (15:26): I rise today to talk about the Zonta Club of Para District Area Inc. and the biennium dinner on 7 May 2013. The special guest speaker was Katrine Hildyard, Secretary of the ASU. Other special guests were myself, Tony Zappia and his wife Vicky (Tony is the federal member for Makin) and Frances Bedford, the member for Florey. The mission of Zonta is advancing the status of women worldwide. Zonta is an international service organisation founded in New York in 1919. The organisation has more than 31,000 members in 64 countries. One of the things I really enjoyed was the Zonta thanks, which is:

Wherever your country of birth, whatever your faith or creed, give thanks for the meal we share tonight in Zonta fellowship. But remember too those who have had no food today; not with guilt that we have so much, but with hope that through Zonta service they too may come to share the same peace and harmony.

One of the reasons I wanted to come and share about the Zonta Para District dinner is some of the amazing projects they do, both internationally and here in South Australia. Probably the most significant project they work on is their quilting projects. I think there were probably about 30 quilts that they presented to the Northern Domestic Violence Service and the Women's and Children's Hospital. These quilts are part of the New Beginnings program for people who are in need and starting a new life and the quilts are made with care, devotion and love to support women and children.

One of the things announced on the night was distribution of fundraising. The local distribution went to the Lyell McEwin Health Service and also to support two local people, Dr Pauline Glover and registered nurse Jodi Knoop, who go to Cambodia to do birthing attendant training. They shared with us that this was their third trip over there. They train several hundred birth attendants in basic support to give to people during birth.

The Zonta Para District also supported the YWCA on a video project. The project was training on how to use video equipment, to improve social media and communication skills. Zonta also supports the Early Childhood Parenting Service with some books and it supports people from Lutheran Community Care. I found this a particularly interesting program. They support young women from refugee backgrounds for Adelaide city tours. These tours include a tour of Parliament House, a visit to the Migration Museum and a picnic lunch at Elder Park. What this does is reach out to our new neighbours and supports them in understanding more about the new city that they are living in. Other areas they support are Para Hills High School, where they support a student to go on a tour of Canberra—our nation's capital. They also support the Birthing Kit Foundation and Helping Hand Aged Care—Parafield Gardens.

The other thing that they are very proud about is the refugee women's sewing class, and they have supported them with a new cupboard for their fabrics. Two of the women give these refugee sewing classes: one at the Migrant Resource Centre in Salisbury and the other at the Uniting Church in Salisbury as well. That helps people to be able to be independent and make their own clothing, but also gives them the potential to have some microbusinesses and sell what they manufacture. They also provide Zonta breast cushions and Tickled Pink drain bags, which support women experiencing breast cancer. Internationally, they support the Amelia Earhart Fellowship, which provides funds for women to study aerospace science and engineering at graduate level.

At the dinner, we had a confirmation of offices: the president, Adrienne Williams; vice-president, Lyn Gent; secretary, Aileen Eldridge; treasurer, Liz Bice; and director, Marian Carpenter. While there are only 13 members of the Zonta Club of Para District Area, they are very active and they are one of 11 active Zonta clubs in South Australia. The other clubs are Adelaide, Adelaide Hills, Clare & Districts, Gawler, Riverland, Adelaide Flinders, Adelaide Torrens, Fleurieu Peninsula, Noarlunga Southern Vales and Port Lincoln.

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