Last Week
It was our belated AGM and we got through the business relatively quickly. I'm not going to dwell on it as you will receive the minutes in due course.
This Week
Our speaker is Edward James-Smith who will talk on The Role of the Civil Service in a Democracy.
Edward was educated at Rondebosch Prep School and St Andrew's School, Bloemfontein.
He graduated with a BSc in Biochemistry and Microbiology from the University of the Free State and then acquired an MSc, Technology and Socio-Economic Studies at the University of Roskilde, Denmark, graduating in 2005. He subsequently worked for Ramboll and Ea Energy Analysis specialising in electrical energy policy and planning before moving to the Danish Energy Agency in Copenhagen as an Adviser to the Danish Minister of Energy. He lives in Espergærde, Frederiksborg, Denmark with Tina Sommer Kristensen who is a Climate-Change Specialist and they have two children.
Rotary Club of Rosebank Johannesburg Vocational Service Awards
This is a very special meeting when our Club recognises people who exemplify the Rotary Motto of Service Above Self by using their vocation as a platform for the service of their community. The award goes to those who have never been recognised for what they do and Melodene Stonestreet, Chairman of Vocational Service, and her committee will present these special people to us and honour them personally.
Rotary Careers Morning Saturday 27th February
We are really making good progress here with Grade 12 learners from 5 participating schools. We currently have 19 different Career Bases plus 4 Tertiary Institutions. many thanks to Club members who have volunteered their services and expertise.
Rotary Anns' 100 Club
Some of the Rotarians
have very kindly already bought tickets to support our fund-raising this year
for which we thank you most sincerely. We still have 8 tickets to sell at
R360 for the year and you will be in the draw to win R350 or R150 every month,
with big prizes at the end of the year (September) of up to R5000! If
anyone is interested, please would they contact President Shirley.
Rotary & Gender
Rotary’s policy on gender equality is absolutely
clear. Yet nearly one-fifth of our clubs today continue to
exclude women, usually by claiming that they simply
cannot find women who are qualified for membership.
I would say that any Rotarian who makes this
argument, or believes it, lacks the two most basic
qualifications for Rotary membership: honesty and
good sense.
Equality for women is not just a nice extra. It is
absolutely essential to our service, to our future. If
we don’t put it front and centre, we are dead in the
water before we even begin.
A club that shuts out women shuts out much more than
half the talent, half the ability, and half the connections
it should have. It closes out the perspectives that are
essential to serving families and communities
effectively. It damages not only its own service, but our
entire organization, by reinforcing the stereotypes that
limit us the most. It makes our partners take us less
seriously. And it makes all of Rotary less attractive to
potential members, especially the younger people who
are so crucial to our future.
Click on here to visit their website RAGE Rage is Australia based and this is one of the projects they support.
We appreciate any help or support you can provide towards our efforts to helping endangered species by supporting our projects in partnership with Roots & Shoots Kenya, the Chipembere Rhino Foundation in South Africa and the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya.
SAVE OUR RHINO SOUTH AFRICA.
The project of the Rotary Club of Kenton-on-Sea in South Africa:
Rotary Kenton takes up the challenge to save the Rhino. In existence for over 50-million years, rhinos are global symbols of nature’s right to life – the shocking plight of rhinos led to the Rotary Club of Kenton on Sea donating Rand 23,250 to Brent Cooke of theChipembere Rhino Foundation for tracking collars. At the handover of the cheque, world renowned veterinarian and expert on rhino conservation, Dr William Fowlds, talked about the fight to save the Kariega rhinos after the brutal poaching attack on them. When asked what the Kenton Rotary Club could do to help, he answered “create awareness across the world.”
Rhino poaching has reached a crisis point, and if the high levels of poaching continue, rhino populations will be seriously affected. In South Africa if the killing continues at this high rate, we could see rhino deaths overtaking births in 2016-2018, meaning rhinos could become extinct in the very near future.
Somewhere in the bush a rhino nudges and nuzzles her newborn calf, blissfully unaware of the frenzy she’s created. In the darkest of times, she unknowingly gave us something so beautiful and tender-hope. Simply by choosing to survive, by going on each day, and by being..well, a rhino. Thank you Thandi. We will not give up.
Dr Fowlds of Kariega Game Reserve and Wildlife Veterinary Surgeon, comments: “I am sure that the whole rhino caring community will share in the joy of this amazing birth. Thandi’s story has always been an incredible testimony of the will to survive against all odds. She represents so much of what her species faces under the current poaching crisis. Her survival has already given us inspiration but the birth of her calf brings a new dimension of hope to the crisis showing us that a future generation of life is possible if we put our minds and hearts to it.”
South Africa has the largest population of rhinos in the world. However, figures compiled by the South African Department of Environmental Affairs show a dramatic escalation in the number of rhinos being poached. During 2014 a staggering 1116 rhinos were killed. Over the past five years 3569 rhinos have died at the hands of poachers.
Together with the Rotary Club of Kenton-on-Sea South Africa and our Projects Director Jo Wilmot, we are developing Rhino International Survival Kits or RISK Boxes. These boxes or kits will be available for Rotary and Rotaract Clubs and Districts to support.
RAGES is looking at sourcing these RISK Boxes in the area of most need so as to keep the economic benefits in that country. These RISK Boxes will start at US$500 for the entry level. There are three other levels that will be available.
*BRONZE RISK BOX LEVEL 1 US$500
*SILVER RISK BOX LEVEL 2 US$1,500
*GOLD RISK BOX LEVEL 3 US$5,000
*A full list of what is contained in each level of the RISK Boxes will be made available on our RAGES web site and via our newsletters.
No comments:
Post a Comment