Rotaract, Interact, Visit by the Rotary Club of Hatfield and Shelterbox ready for Mosul Refugees.

Last Week

It was a social meeting followed by the Board Meeting.  The Board asked me to speak to Silversale about the usual lunch chaos.  I have done so but without any satisfactory result.
The alternative is to have platters of sandwiches on the tables but this would need everyone paying a set amount whether they eat or not otherwise it will be far too difficult to control as we never know how many people are going to order food.
I do recommend that you get your drinks from the bar before the meeting. Our waiter's primary responsibility is the Pizza Deck and that takes priority so if it's busy up there we will come a poor second.




This Week

Our speaker is Damian Lahoud, the District Rotaract Chairman.  He is Continuous Improvement Manager for McCormick South Africa and was a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar in Sweden where he studied applied ethics.  He has done a very good job promoting Rotaract in the District.

Rosebank used to have a Rotaract Club many years ago, Roger Else is living proof!





Highlands North Boys' High Interact Club

Cesare handing out Interact Badges

We have been very lucky to inherit the Club from Orange Grove and Cesare Vidulich has maintained the liaison with ourselves.  Without his enthusiasm the Club wouldn't be there. Two teachers are the ones who make sure everything happens and we are greatly indebted to Mimi van Deventer and Mr V Pillay for their support and the weekly supervision of the Club.

The Club is very active,  They had a blood drive last week and were very successful with their blanket drive at Norwood Mall and blankets as well as food are distributed at Ithumaleng Old Age Home on a regular basis.  They would like to start a vegetable garden at the school but the drought has postponed this initiative.

Rummage for Food with Mimi van Deventer & Mr Pillay

Visit by Frank Taylor & President Mukesh Patel and his wife Sujata from the Rotary Club of Hatfield, England.
They arrive on Wednesday 16th November and I will be collecting them from the airport and entertaining them for the evening
On Friday the 18th they will attend our normal Club Meeting and we have cancelled the Business Meeting so that we can devote the time to hearing from them etc.
Saturday 19th we will have a social event so that the whole club can spend time with them....and each other, wives, partners....all rabbit's friends and relations.  What that will be and where hasn't been discussed yet.

Schwabinger Stuben

I forgot the pictures from Schwabinger Stuben last week

A Starter

A Light Main Course

SHELTERBOX PREPARES FOR MOSUL REFUGEES

ShelterBox and its partner, ACTED, a French nongovernmental aid agency, have been preparing for weeks to get aid supplies ready so they can respond quickly as the battle unfolds in Mosul.

Photo Credit: Rotary International

The battle to take control of Mosul back from the Islamic State group continues.  The city is the group's last major stronghold in Iraq. But humanitarian aid agencies have known about the military offensive, giving them an unusual opportunity to prepare for the crisis.

"It is rare for the world to get early warning of a vast human catastrophe," says Chris Warham, chief executive of ShelterBox. "The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees issued a paper in July saying this would likely be the biggest humanitarian crisis of the year — and we better get prepared."

ShelterBox, Rotary's project partner for disaster relief, and ACTED, a French nongovernmental aid agency, have teams in the city of Irbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, 53 miles (85 km) east of Mosul. They have been working since July to get aid supplies ready so they can respond quickly as the battle unfolds.

"By tomorrow, 650 of the 3,000 tents that have been deployed to Irbil will arrive," says Warham. He estimates that, without the early notice, it would have taken ShelterBox at least two and a half weeks to gather these supplies.

Tens of thousands of people have already been displaced from Mosul and surrounding areas since March. The current round of fighting could last weeks or even months and is certain to raise that number, although it's unknown just how many people remain in Mosul and in which direction they might flee.

"Our aim is to get aid to displaced families as quickly as possible," says Rachel Harvey, operations coordinator at ShelterBox, who is in Irbil. "Giving people shelter and essential items such as a solar lamp, blankets, and a water carrier will allow them a degree of dignity and security to rest and recover."

Existing camps are already near or over capacity, so other possible sites are being readied. But Warham predicts that demand will almost certainly outpace supply, which could force many families to seek shelter outside managed camps in an inhospitable landscape during a season given to storms and below-freezing overnight temperatures.

ACTED and ShelterBox have partnered many times around the world. Most recently they worked together to help people in Haiti, where the deadly force of Hurricane Matthew caused a surge in cholera cases and left thousands homeless.

The Islamic State has controlled Mosul, the oil-rich capital of Nineveh province, since June 2014. Before the invasion, the city was Iraq's second-largest and one of its most diverse.

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