Twenty-five (25) players from Solright Eels women’s football club completed a three-month-long internship with Solrais under the outstanding women of Solomon Islands programme supported by UNDP Solomon Islands, Australia High Commission Solomon Islands and Solrais Company.
The 25 players were tasked to engrave the outstanding women of Solomon Islands booklet which was launched at the Solrais Warehouse, Ranadi on July 1st 2021 and was taped to bags of Rice with focus for all booklets to reach rural communities within the Solomon Islands.
The aim of this initiative is to pay tribute to women who are valued and respected because of their positive contributions to their communities and leadership values.
According to the booklet, 120 women were nominated as outstanding and their names were listed at the back of the booklet. All these women are valued for many different reasons.
Speaking during the launch, Solright Eels midfielder Marry Maefiti thank UNDP, Australia High Commission and Solrais for giving them the opportunity to involve and contribute to the initiative.
“On behalf of the Solright Eels women’s football club, we would like to thank SECSIP UNDP Solomon Islands and Solrais for giving us the opportunity. We would like to thank the Australian government for funding the initiative and making it possible,” she said.
“It has been a great experience for us girls so far although it can be hard work for us. We manually pasted the booklet to each bag but we are determined girls who get the job done at the end of the day”.
The players are thankful to Solrais staff and Maefiti stressed it also helped their families with the income they got from their internship.
“I like to thank the Solrais team that we have been working together for the past two months. Most of our girls in sport do not have a secure income. This opportunity of work has helped us and our families as well,” she stressed.
Solright is currently challenging for the title as of the title contenders despite heading into their second season in the country’s premier women’s club competition.
“Solrais women’s football club is a one-year-old club that is currently competing in the Solrais Women’s Premier League. We are currently leading and targeting to win the league,” Maefiti confidently stated.
“Solright is a great platform not only for football but it boosts the girl’s confidence, discipline and leadership. So we are supporting the initiative of Launching of Outstanding Women’s and hope that more women especially the young girls to grow their leadership.”
A statement from the club stated that this project really supports the club’s financial necessities like field hire, sporting gear and players busfare. We hope for a similar opportunity for the club in the future.
At the end of their three months internship, Solrais company donated 30 bags of rice to the club as a token of appreciation.
Also, the team received their share of the gear recently donated by the Australia High Commission to clubs in the Solrais Women’s Premier League.
