September 1997 I had recently arrived at Santiburi with my husband, the newly appointed General Manager. Through him I met Lindsey Western, an English teacher and trainer, who knew Shelley Poplak, a journalist, whose partner was the chef at Poppies so that’s where we went! Lindsey and I were lamenting about how hard it was to make friends, we knew there were like-minded ladies out there - but where? After all it took us several months to meet each other and then it was by accident. Shelley was the Metro Magazine correspondent and was having a hard time finding regular items for her column as there were no organisations, such as Rotary, or a women’s group so we said “let’s invent one!” It really began as a joke. We laughed about the idea of jam making and knitting but then we got serious. So we called all our contacts, set a date for the first lunch, at Santiburi naturally, and wondered what would happen.
October 1997 The first email went like this:
Please join us for lunch! At: Vimarnmek Restaurant, Santiburi Dusit Resort On: Wednesday, 22nd October 1997 Time:12 noon Reason? We are keen to contact foreign and Thai women living on the Island with a view to forming a social activity group. At this, our first luncheon, we will plan the setting up of the group, its name and future activities so please bring along your ideas and suggestions. Menu Som Tam Green Curry of Beef Curried Shrimp Chicken in Pandan Leaves Fried Vegetables and Rice Fresh Fruit in Season Baht 200 Hoping this will give us all a relaxed, friendly and fun opportunity to meet one another! So looking forward to seeing you soon.
Amazingly there were 30 ladies at that first lunch and Shelley had something to write about! This is what she wrote in the Metro magazine.
No Name Women’s Group The newly formed women’s group (30 strong at the first meeting in October) now meet on the first Friday of every month (an evening out with the girls) and a more serious lunch date on the third Wednesday of every month. We welcome women living on the island to join and bring along ideas for activities, fundraising or those who just welcome the opportunity of meeting new people.”
At the first lunch we had a discussion on what the group should be about, what it was for and what it should do. It became very clear that the possibility that we might include “Do Gooding” alienated the large group of ladies from Lamai, who sadly did not attend any more. From this lunch, a hard-core group of founder members, including Pat McCleod and Michelle Ward, agreed to meet up with us for further discussion and to help arrange the next month’s lunch. At our initial meeting it was decided that the only pre-requisite to membership was to have been “born a woman” and that we would meet regularly to discuss jam making and cross stitch (not!). Seriously we came up with lots of ideas including the Friday night out, film groups, book groups and the dreaded welfare work. We also decided that the idea of a committee and a chairwoman was much too formal. The November lunch was booked at Trade Winds and we set about contacting more people.
November 1997 We finally agree on a name - Sisters on Samui (that’s on not of - how can you be a sister of an island?) OK, it may not be the best name but it is better than Ladies Who Lunch and the various dubious suggestions we came up with. Sisters on Samui seemed to sum up what we were about and if we have ever provided a life-line for one woman on the island then I’m glad to be a member of the SOS!
December 1997 The Christmas lunch was at Poppies and they did us proud!
January 1998 January’s edition of Metro, under the Social Section for Samui, the following notice went out thanks to Shelley: SOS - The fledgling women’s group finally settled on a name – Sisters on Samui. Still testing the waters (is this a serious organisation to take up worthy causes or an afternoon with the girls drinking gin and tonic?), monthly meetings include an evening out (usually the first Friday of the month) and a lunch date on the third Wednesday of each month. Last month’s was at Poppies and January’s will probably be in Lamai”
Identity Crisis Despite our best efforts most of our ideas for activities failed. Everyone agreed that they were great in principle but nobody came. It became clear that a monthly lunch was really all that anyone wanted to do. Even the Friday night out died a death after the first couple of months. I think this was because we were such a varied group of women ten years ago. It also became apparent that our Thai ladies were not attending in the numbers they once had and we discovered that the reason for this was that they were busy working and unable to take the time for a lunch, unless it included some serious business networking. This was not what the rest of the women wanted, they wanted a social group. Shelley, Lindsey and I were very sad about this as the cross cultural aspect was important to us, we had not intended to set up a farang group, but try as we might we could not encourage the Thai ladies to come.
February 1998 February lunch at the Boat House – a guest speaker! I can’t remember his name but he was an explorer and author and he may still be on Samui in a bar somewhere! SOS First Fund Raising Effort. This was a raffle called “Queen for the Day” and the idea was suggested by Glynda Ratliff. We asked everyone we knew to donate something and put together a day’s package for the lucky winner. We were very impressed with how much everyone donated and we had lots of extra prizes to hand out. The winner was announced at the 1998 Christmas Lunch. Shelley knows HIS name but he pays her to keep it secret. He did not ever become “Queen for the Day” because he could not decide who to take with him! We raised about Bt. 30,000 and we were very proud of ourselves for being “Do Gooders” at last.
March 1999 We were still trying to sort out what everyone wanted and sent out a detailed questionnaire. I wonder what happened to the replies?
October 2007 - 10 Years of Sisters on Samui I cannot believe SOS is still going, has grown so huge and raises so much money for charity. I want to thank everyone who carried the group on, especially Sue Holehouse who does such a wonderful job.
