Margarette


Golding Award for Marion Tasker


As a child I always wanted to be a Police Officer or a Probation Officer, to marry a farmer and to have twins. I am very lucky because I achieved all of these. I joined the Nottinghamshire Constabulary, served in the CID in Retford and was promoted to Sergeant in uniform at Mansfield. I qualified as Inspector but missed the contact with the public so transferred to the Probation Service where I worked with young offenders.


Forty-seven years ago, I married my husband Alec. Yes, a farmer. We have 5 children, including twin boys, and 8 grandchildren. Alec and I have always loved travelling and after a safari in Kenya we were hooked on Africa. Having met a Kenyan couple who were keen on education, we decided to help by fundraising


to build a dormitory for the girls at the local secondary school. After several years the dormitory was completed and being a quilter, along with my friends, we were able to provide patchwork quilts for the 70 beds.


Four years ago, I travelled with the National Police Aid Convoy team on their annual visit to Zambia. Whilst there I met a lady who ran a project which funds children’s education. She had realised that girls, when reaching menstruation age, were missing a week each month as they had no sanitary protection. As commercial products were either not available or too expensive, she thought the girls would benefit from a washable pad and needed a volunteer to set up a workshop and teach the local ladies how to make them. I volunteered and returned seven months later after researching the appropriate materials. Inner Wheel and Rotary were most generous in donating towards the purchase of these which were shipped to Mfuwe, Zambia by NPAC.


A Party With A Difference!


The ladies of the Inner Wheel Club of Stafford Castle (D22) were invited to attend a Knicker Party! It proved to be a great success and those who attended had a wonderful time. All knickers collected - and there were a lot - are being distributed between the Women’s Refuge and International Aid. An unusual idea which will surely be of great benefit to the recipients!


Jacqueline Hunt – Inner Wheel Club of Stafford Castle


Marion is third from the left in the picture


The new First Lady of Zambia, who is very interested in women’s issues, heard about the washable pads and has requested that these workshops be rolled out through the whole of Zambia. Last summer I was able to create a workshop in a remote village of Mwape and in a large Secondary School in Kfuwe and next year hopefully in another very rural area of Luembe.


If a girl has these reusable washable pads then she is able to attend school 100% of the time. If a girl is educated there is more chance that she will find employment, break the poverty cycle and avoid early marriage and pregnancy. There is a better chance that her children will also be encouraged into education and have better lives. This is what we are working towards.


www.innerwheel.co.uk Page. 03


That first workshop has flourished and is self-sufficient and now around 18 people are working making pads which are given free to the girls. The following year a lady Rotarian from Iowa visited the workshop and contacted me to see if I would consider going into Malawi. This has resulted in 3 pad workshops successfully being operated there.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16