Don't forget the AGM! Steven's Mindtrap, Art for Art's Sake and the Centenary of the Rotary Foundation in 2017.

This Week
It is a rather belated AGM.  The real reason for the delay was a lack of a quorum prior to the end of December so it is very important that everyone attends.  
Don't forget to forward the nominations for 2017/18 Rotary Year to Lyn Collocott.

Steven Mind-trapping.

Last Week

Steven Anastopoulos treated us to Mind Trap 2.  The puzzles....I hesitate to call them questions...were much easier than last time so we felt quite pleased with ourselves!  
Steven then showed us a number of short videos that appealed to him.....much laughter.

Joan Sainsbury brought a couple of the artists who exhibit and sell at our Annual Rotary Art Festival, Chrysoula Argyros and Paul Botes.  This is the first of monthly visits from artists who exhibit at the Festival, the idea being that we all get to know each other a lot better and there is a more sustainable link between the artists and the club.  It's an excellent idea as we now have good links with the Bag Factory as well and Rotary is not noted for it's interest in the arts, generally.
An important aspect of the visit was the donation by Chrysoula and Paul of two paintings for the annual Rotary Art Festival Draw.  Paul is also telling President Neville about a calendar he produces.  Many thanks, Joan for this initiative.

We will be establishing a "Page" for aspects of the Art Festival and participating artists in The Ramble in the future.

DISTRICT LEADERS SET TO CELEBRATE FOUNDATION’S CENTENNIAL

The Rotary Foundation has been improving lives since 1917. Learn about our work and help us celebrate 100 years of doing good in the world.

Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair Ray Klinginsmith asked district governors in training at the International Assembly to lead the celebration of the Foundation's centennial year, 2016-17.

"You are the primary contacts between the Foundation and our 34,000 Rotary clubs in the world. The success of the centennial celebration is largely in your hands," said Klinginsmith at a 19 January general session. "Catch the spirit and spread the word about the importance of celebrating our success."

Since the Foundation was established in 1917, it has spent more than $3 billion on programs and projects to improve the lives of millions worldwide, said Klinginsmith.

The centennial celebration officially kicks off in May at the Rotary Convention in Korea and culminates at the 2017 convention in Atlanta.

DISTRICT PLANS FOR THE CENTENNIAL

Governor-elect Tom James Markos of District 5100 in Oregon, USA, says he is proud to be serving during such a historic year. He plans to promote the centennial not only to his district's members, but also through local media.

"We need the public to be aware of what we've accomplished," says Markos, who has set a district goal of raising $1 million for the Foundation during the centennial year.

Bill Proctor, incoming governor of District 7080 in Ontario, Canada, believes the centennial year is an opportunity to "refocus and reeducate" members on the importance the Foundation's work.

"We have so many accomplishments to celebrate," said Proctor. "We need to use the momentum of the celebration to strengthen the Foundation's future."

HISTORY OF THE ROTARY FOUNDATION

At the 1917 convention, outgoing RI President Arch C. Klumph proposed to set up an endowment “for the purpose of doing good in the world.” In 1928, it was renamed The Rotary Foundation, and it became a distinct entity within Rotary International.

GROWTH OF THE FOUNDATION

In 1929, the Foundation made its first gift of $500 to the International Society for Crippled Children. The organization, created by Rotarian Edgar F. “Daddy” Allen, later grew into Easter Seals.

When Rotary founder Paul Harris died in 1947, contributions began pouring in to Rotary International, and the Paul Harris Memorial Fund was created to build the Foundation.

EVOLUTION OF FOUNDATION PROGRAMS

1947: The Foundation established its first program, Fellowships for Advance Study, later known as Ambassadorial Scholarships.

1965-66: Three programs were launched: Group Study Exchange, Awards for Technical Training, and Grants for Activities in Keeping with the Objective of The Rotary Foundation, which was later called Matching Grants.

1978: Rotary introduced the Health, Hunger and Humanity (3-H) Grants. The first 3-H Grant funded a project to immunize 6 million Philippine children against polio.

1985: The PolioPlus program was launched to eradicate polio worldwide.

1987-88: The first peace forums were held, leading to Rotary Peace Fellowships.

2013: New district, global, and packaged grants enable Rotarians around the world to respond to the world’s greatest needs.

Since the first donation of $26.50 in 1917, the Foundation has received contributions totaling more than $1 billion.

The Mind Trap, Discon, Friendship Exchange to Nigeria & Hunger in the USA

Last Week
It was a Business Meeting and President Neville has commented on it in his column.

This Week

Back by POPULAR DEMAND 

                                                  Steven Anastopoulos 

                                                                                    Presents MIND TRAP 2

Steven has the ability to lower the perceived intellectual capacity of the Rotary Club of Rosebank Johannesburg by approximately 90%.  He is a dangerous man.  If you are feeling insecure, subject to bouts of depression, anthophobia, bathmophobia, coulrophobia, ecclesiophobia or even islamophobia it is recommended that you stay away.

Discon, Muldersdrift, 16th - 19th June

Discon is just around the corner both geographically and timewise.  I haven't seen a booking form yet but keep a look out for one coming your way.  It would be great to have a really good turn out from our club.



Rotary Friendship Exchange Lagos Nigeria 23rd April - 5th May

Lagos Island

This exchange sounds really fascinating as there are so many interesting things to see and I am sure that the hospitality will be outstanding.  The approximate cost is R14 000 per head all inclusive.

Should you be interested you can contact the tour co-ordinator Koekie Makunyane-Quashie 

e-mail: koekiemq@inkhanyetischool.ac.sz

cell: (+268) 7602 8220

OBITUARY

It is with great sadness that I inform you that we have just heard  that our dear mouth-painter Elsie Fouche passed away last November.

Apparently she died of the illness which had caused her disability. Joan Sainsbury battled to make contact with the artist, and finally reached her sister.

Elsie was a resident of Ry-Ma-In, a home for disabled in Linden, and joined our group of exhibiting artists in 2004, along with Kobie Tait. Rudy Lombard joined the group in 2005.

Elsie exhibited at every exhibition since then, and attended each event regularly in her wheelchair. She was always friendly, smiling and loved to talk about her art, which was much admired and sold modestly well. She thrived, despite her disabilities. She had her own computer and was active on email.

We shall miss her bright face, personality and lovely artworks at our Festivals in future. We shall remember her for all her attributes, and are sure she is blessed in her new home.

Mark Franklin

CLUBS BATTLE HUNGER IN MISSOURI WITH ‘FOOD FIGHT’

Rotary members from Columbia, Missouri, USA, volunteer at a regional food bank.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of District 6080 (Missouri, USA)

Though the media tends to focus on underdeveloped countries when the subject is hunger, food scarcity is also a problem in the United States.

Consider parts of Missouri, where one of every six people goes hungry, according to the Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri.

Rotary member Steve Dulle wanted to change that. For his induction as this year’s governor of District 6080, he eschewed a traditional installation featuring fine food and formal wear. Instead, he asked members throughout the district to collect nonperishable provisions and volunteer at local food banks and pantries on the day that he took office. And he launched a month long “food fight” that pits clubs in the northern part of his district against those in the south to see who could collect the most food.

The north won — as did the area’s hungry residents. Rotary members, Rotoractors, and their families and friends collected more than 10,000 pounds of food and raised nearly $19,000 for Missouri’s food pantries.

“I wanted to start off my year with an example of what it should primarily portray, namely a dedication to service,” says Dulle. “This was the first time we did a service project for our district — it united us.”

The Rotary Club of Jefferson City Breakfast took top honors for the amount of food brought in, collecting more than 2,500 pounds of nonperishable items outside a supermarket on Saturdays in July. The Rotary Club of Columbia-Metro contributed the most labor, volunteering 258 hours at the Food Bank of Central & North East Missouri. And the Columbia South, Fulton and Jefferson City Evening clubs collected the most money for the cause, more than $2,000 each.

Rotary members and guests even repackaged nearly 5,000 pounds of Rice Krispies for local food pantries. Dulle says that a volunteer stood on a ladder and shoveled the cereal from a 15-foot box into a large pan, which was eventually divided by others into serving sizes for innumerable plastic containers ready for delivery.

Local Rotaract members pitched in as well.

“Coordinated projects like these are able to take service projects to another level,” says Jolyn Sattizahn, president of the Rotaract Club of Columbia, who helped with the effort.

Of the 49 clubs in the district, 36 participated in the initiative.

Larry Price, president of the Rotary Club of Mountain View, says he’ll never forget volunteering at an Ozarks Food Harvest pantry.

“Frankly, I had no idea that so many people in Mountain View were being served at this site,” he says. “And the beneficiaries of the program were quick to express their appreciation to the volunteers as they made their way around the tables.”

Dulle’s 28 June installation as district governor, at the Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri, was atypical. There was no banquet, attendees wore shorts, and the governor was sworn in during a lunch break. He wouldn’t have done it any differently.

“It was important that the project be hands-on so we could better feel the service we were doing,” he says. “Because of the project, clubs are continuing to work with their food banks.”

And that promises to make a dent in the district’s hunger problem in the years to come.

By David Sweet

Rotary News

Business, Muhamed Nordien & Susan Davis

This Week
It's a Business Meeting....there's not much else I can say about it.  Twelfth Night or What You Will has passed us by and this is almost certainly what happened a year down the line.

Last Week
Muhammed Nur Nordien talked to us about a likely home for conservative thought in South Africa.  It didn't make much sense to me as nothing is 100% conservative or progressive.
We don't have any Donald Trumps in this country, or if we do they are not in the public domain!  Muhamed didn't think it was much of a possibility either!
I got the impression that he wanted to promote some sort of discussion and in that he was successful.

FOUNDATION HONOREE CREATES OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE POOR

Susan Davis shares a photo with school children in Pakistan. Davis co-founded BRAC USA to advance the mission of BRAC -- Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee -- which is dedicated to fighting poverty.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Susan Davis

For her work to mitigate extreme poverty around the world, Susan Davis has received many honors. But the 2015-16 Rotary Foundation Global Alumni Service to Humanity Award has special significance.

“It feels like a circle of completion,” says Davis, who was a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar in 1980-81, doing graduate studies in international relations at Oxford University in England. “Rotary invested in me when I was young, and now is celebrating the harvest.”

A decade ago, Davis co-founded BRAC USA to advance the mission of BRAC -- Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee -- the world's largest nongovernmental development organization, which was founded after Bangladesh’s partition from Pakistan in the 1970s. The U.S. branch is dedicated to fighting poverty and to creating opportunities for the poor in Africa and elsewhere.

Fulfilling that mission hasn’t been easy. Davis’ work has been disrupted by floods, cyclones, earthquakes, and war. Even worse was the sudden and deadly Ebola epidemic in 2014 in West Africa.

“I wasn't sure how to protect our staff and clients and accompany these vulnerable communities out of this tragic situation,” says Davis, who served as BRAC USA’s president and chief executive officer until her departure this month. She quickly contacted Ebola experts and connected them with BRAC USA’s representatives in affected countries. “I lost sleep and cried with each death,” she says.

Two of those deaths were particularly painful. Ophilia Dede, a BRAC credit officer in Liberia, and her husband succumbed to the virus, leaving behind a little girl. Davis helped set up a scholarship fund for her education.

But she doesn’t allow such painful experiences to deter her.

“The urgency of the need and the tangible opportunities to make a difference keep me going,” she says. “And I have been blessed by seeing two big ideas — microfinance and social entrepreneurship — take root globally.”

From 1987 to 1991, Davis championed microfinance while working as a program officer with the Ford Foundation in Bangladesh. She developed a consortium that raised $175 million, increasing the availability of microloans in Bangladeshi villages to 44 percent from 5 percent, she says. Though debates endure over how much credit microfinance should receive for the country’s progress, conditions in Bangladesh have improved significantly: According to The Economist, life expectancy in the country rose from 59 to 69 during a 20-year span ending in 2010.

Davis also is co-author, with journalist David Bornstein, of the book “Social Entrepreneurship: What Everyone Needs to Know.”  And she is involved with Ashoka, a nonprofit organization that supports social entrepreneurship; as a director, she oversaw its expansion to the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia.

A resident of New York City, Davis is widely recognized for her work in the field of international development. She was appointed to the board of the United Nations Fund for International Partnership in 2012, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and has served on the boards of the Grameen Foundation, the Sirleaf Market Women's Fund, and the African Women's Development Fund USA.

Davis has come a long way from the small town in southwest Louisiana, USA, where she grew up. The Rotary scholarship provided her first opportunity to live abroad. She believes that her Oxford experience allowed her to be taken seriously, and credits it with helping her land a job with the Ford Foundation.

Perhaps most importantly, says Davis, that Rotary-sponsored year gave her an entirely new perspective on power and privilege.  “Oxford was larger than life in my imagination,” she recalls. “But when I became a part of Oxford and got to know the dons and the students, I realized that, whether rich or poor, we were all just human beings and all of us were vulnerable and full of imperfections.”

Davis will be honored at the Rotary International Convention in Korea in June.

By David Sweet

Rotary News

Casual, Unofficial, Chariots Bar Meeting, Muhamed-Nur Nordien and Food Banks in the USA?

The Casual, Unofficial Chariots Bar Meeting

And it was a great success with about a dozen of us turning up and having a great social time...maybe we should have more?

This Week
Muhamed-Nur Nordien is talking to us on "The Conservative Home in South African Politics".

I have 7 years experience in international satellite radio, 3 years in the South African Department of Foreign Affairs and 4 years as a content manager ( Head of Religion ) for the South African Broadcasting Corporation. 
I am now the MD of my own company Nordien Consulting. We specialize in providing political consulting services primarily to foreign entities in South Africa. We also provide Strategic Communication services. My skills are at the crossroads between communications and politics, the merging of the two and the managing the interdependency between the two. 
We intend to grow our field of services into political communication as well as political campaigning in the next few years.
Innovation is a key driver towards success in this industry as well as exploiting the opportunities to create new markets and be at the front-line of developing and servicing these markets.

London 2016 Fireworks   Just to cheer you up!  Happy New Year!

CLUBS BATTLE HUNGER IN MISSOURI WITH ‘FOOD FIGHT’

Rotary members from Columbia, Missouri, USA, volunteer at a regional food bank.

Courtesy of District 6080 (Missouri, USA)

Though the media tends to focus on underdeveloped countries when the subject is hunger, food scarcity is also a problem in the United States.

Consider parts of Missouri, where one of every six people goes hungry, according to the Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri.

Rotary member Steve Dulle wanted to change that. For his induction as this year’s governor of District 6080, he eschewed a traditional installation featuring fine food and formal wear. Instead, he asked members throughout the district to collect non perishable provisions and volunteer at local food banks and pantries on the day that he took office. And he launched a monthlong “food fight” that pit clubs in the northern part of his district against those in the south to see who could collect the most food.

The north won — as did the area’s hungry residents. Rotary members, Rotaractors, and their families and friends collected more than 10,000 pounds of food and raised nearly $19,000 for Missouri’s food pantries.

“I wanted to start off my year with an example of what it should primarily portray, namely a dedication to service,” says Dulle. “This was the first time we did a service project for our district — it united us.”

The Rotary Club of Jefferson City Breakfast took top honors for the amount of food brought in, collecting more than 2,500 pounds of nonperishable items outside a supermarket on Saturdays in July. The Rotary Club of Columbia-Metro contributed the most labor, volunteering 258 hours at the Food Bank of Central & Northeast Missouri. And the Columbia South, Fulton and Jefferson City Evening clubs collected the most money for the cause, more than $2,000 each.

Rotary members and guests even repackaged nearly 5,000 pounds of Rice Krispies for local food pantries. Dulle says that a volunteer stood on a ladder and shoveled the cereal from a 15-foot box into a large pan, which was eventually divided by others into serving sizes for innumerable plastic containers ready for delivery.

Local Rotaract members pitched in as well.

“Coordinated projects like these are able to take service projects to another level,” says Jolyn Sattizahn, president of the Rotaract Club of Columbia, who helped with the effort.

Of the 49 clubs in the district, 36 participated in the initiative.

Larry Price, president of the Rotary Club of Mountain View, says he’ll never forget volunteering at an Ozarks Food Harvest pantry.

“Frankly, I had no idea that so many people in Mountain View were being served at this site,” he says. “And the beneficiaries of the program were quick to express their appreciation to the volunteers as they made their way around the tables.”

Dulle’s 28 June installation as district governor, at the Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri, was atypical. There was no banquet, attendees wore shorts, and the governor was sworn in during a lunch break. He wouldn’t have done it any differently.

“It was important that the project be hands-on so we could better feel the service we were doing,” he says. “Because of the project, clubs are continuing to work with their food banks.”

And that promises to make a dent in the district’s hunger problem in the years to come.

By David Sweet

Rotary News