A Business Meeting & a Wine Tasting

This Week

It's a Business Meeting, a report back of the week's Board Meeting. There's not much to say other than to make sure you ask questions relating to reports.
I know that the meeting is too short for a proper report back and response from every committee but as club members the Board is accountable to us and we should keep the Board on its toes.

Letter to the Editor

SIR: I haven’t got a computer, but I was

told about Facebook and Twitter and am

trying to make friends outside Facebook

and Twitter while applying the same

principles.

Every day, I walk down the street and

tell passers-by what I have eaten, how I

feel, what I have done the night before

and what I will do for the rest of the

day. I give them pictures of my wife, my

daughter, my dog and me gardening and

on holiday, spending time by the pool.

I also listen to their conversations, tell

them I “like” them and give them my

opinion on every subject that interests

me… whether it interests them or not.

And it works. I already have four

people following me; two police officers,

a social worker and a psychiatrist.

Peter White, Holbrook, Derbyshire

David Bradshaw is appealing for more volunteers for the Firlands Fete on the 29th August. 

The Bookstall is our responsibility and we are very short of people to man or woman it.

Contact him on David@Travelvision.co.za

Last Week

Sometimes things go wrong and this week it was the photos so instead of seeing Tutty Faber in action at Rotary you will have to look at him in action as President of the Old Edwardians' Society presenting the Sportsman of the Year Award to Stephen Cook last year.
I had no idea that Tutty was such a great sportsman in the past.  So keen that he neglected his studies and took longer than usual to get his degree.  Many thanks, Tutty, for such an interesting talk.

Wine Tasting with Villiera

We have arranged a wine tasting at Wanderers at 18h00 on Thursday 17 September. It will be held in Bowlers B, where we have our Friday lunch meetings.

We have not organised a planned meal, but invite those who would like to do so to get together in Chariots Bar afterwards and order         from the extensive bar menu.

Villiera is a very well known Stellenbosch family estate, owned by the Grier family, producing excellent, but reasonably priced wines.

         Sauvignon Blanc       4 stars                     R61.50

         Chenin Blanc            3.5 stars                  R48.00

         Down to Earth Red  3 stars                      R45.00

         Merlot                         3 stars                      R61.50

         Cabernet Sauvignon  3 stars                      R72.00

If you would like more information on the estate, the website is www.villiera.com .

The tasting will be limited to 25 people maximum. Please let Mark Franklin know if you plan to attend by Friday September 11th (sextant@mweb.co.za). We need numbers to plan for glasses and the number of bottles for tasting.

Order forms and a card machine will be available for you to purchase any of their wines.

NIGERIA SEES NO WILD POLIO CASES FOR ONE YEAR

Despite historic milestone, country still faces hurdles before being declared polio-free.

Today marks one year since Nigeria last reported a polio case caused by wild poliovirus, putting the country on the brink of eradicating the paralyzing disease.

The last case was reported on 24 July 2014 in the northern state of Kano. If no cases are reported in the coming weeks, the World Health Organization is expected to remove Nigeria from the list of countries where polio is endemic, leaving just two: Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Nigeria is the last polio-endemic country in Africa. The continent is poised to reach its own first full year without any illness from the virus on 11 August.

“Every Rotarian in the world should be proud of this achievement,” says Rotary International President K.R. Ravindran. “We made history. We have set Africa on course for a polio-free future. But we have not yet reached our goal of a polio-free world. Raising funds and awareness and advocating with your government are more crucial than ever.”

Progress in Nigeria has come from many measures, including strong domestic and international financing, the commitment of thousands of health workers, and new strategies that reached children who had not been immunized earlier because of a lack of security in the northern states.

“Rotary’s commitment has been the number one reason for the recent success in Nigeria,” says Dr. Tunji Funsho, chair of Rotary’s Nigeria PolioPlus Committee. “We have infected political leaders with this commitment. The government has demonstrated this with political support and financial and human resources. And that went down the line from the federal level, to the state, to the local governments.”

Nigeria has increased its domestic funding for polio eradication almost every year since 2012 and has allocated $80 million for the effort this year.

Funsho also applauds religious leaders who championed the vaccination efforts to families in their communities.

Despite the historic gains in Nigeria, health experts are cautious about declaring victory. Funsho says the Global Polio Eradication Initative partners must strengthen routine immunization especially in hard-to-reach areas, in addition to boosting sensitive surveillance to prevent resurgence of the disease. If no new cases are reported in the next two years, Nigeria, along with the entire Africa region, will be certified polio-free.

“The virus can be introduced from anywhere where it is still endemic, particularly now in Afghanistan and Pakistan, into areas that haven’t had polio in years,” Funsho says. “It is important we keep the immunity level in Nigeria to at least 90 percent.”

For instance, Syria experienced a sudden outbreak of the disease when 35 cases were reported in December 2013. None had been reported there since 1999. “Immunizations become imperative for history not to repeat itself in Nigeria,” says Funsho.

In June, Rotary announced $19 million in grants for continued polio eradication activities in Africa, including almost $10 million for Nigeria. Since 1985, when Rotary launched PolioPlus, the program that supports the organization’s polio eradication efforts, its worldwide monetary contributions to the cause have exceeded $1.4 billion.

“We’ve come a long way and have never been so close to eradicating polio in Nigeria and around the world, but it’s not a time to fully celebrate,” says Funsho. “We have some grueling years ahead of us before WHO can certify Nigeria and Africa polio-free.”