Our Weekly Meeting

“Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change — across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.”

We meet every Friday from 1:00 to 2:00pm at Wanderers Club, Illovo, Johannesburg. You can also join us on Zoom - https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86496040522.

Monday, 7 November 2016

Welcome to Our New Rotarians, Khulisa Social Solutions, Entertaining Hatfield Rotarians and Polio Again.

Last Week
Damian Lahoud gave us an impassioned talk about Rotaract as the source of future Rotarians.  He is obviously a great evangelist for Rotaract.
James Croswell (Sponsor) and Jeannette Horner

We also welcomed Jeannette Horner into the club....last week we welcomed three other new members but I was unable to download the pictures......so a belated welcome to Patrick Ache, Roger Else and Cuthbert Gumbochuma.

Patrick Ache, Roger Else & Cuthbert Gumbochuma surround a tiny Club President
This Week
Our guest speaker is Lesley Anne van Selm, the founder of Khulisa Social Solutions.

Khulisa has adopted a systemic approach to community development. It recognises that the typical approaches of governments and NGOs compartmentalise problems and deliver programmes which tend to address single issues in a non-cooperative and unsustainable manner. In response Khulisa has developed an approach which aims to address the challenges faced by communities in a more holistic and comprehensive manner. It aims to identify the systemic challenges in the society and community, and to overcome fragmentation of policy, systems and delivery through the mobilisation of local capacity. This approach requires that Khulisa develop a thorough understanding of the policy and operational challenges in service delivery, as well as understanding the socio economic, safety and developmental challenges experienced by people living in the community. Based on this understanding, Khulisa works collaboratively with multiple stakeholders to identify key projects which would have the highest impact in the system and which would demonstrate social change.
When turning to the requirements for building safer communities, the NDP call for the development of an effective strategy that takes into account the interrelated factors contributing to lack of safety and crime. These include the underlying root causes, such as poverty, inequality, unemployment and various motivations to commit crime; lack of social cohesion, inadequate care of children and a failure to accept and internalise ‘good’ societal norms; and the need to address the factors which create a vulnerability to victimisation – such as situational crime prevention measures.
For more information go to their website

The Hatfield Visit
Hatfield House
Frank Taylor, Mukesh Patel, the President of the Rotary Club of Hatfield and his wife Sujata will be visiting the Baragwanath Project next week.  They will be sharing lunch with us on the 18th and on Saturday the 19th Shirley Eustace has agreed to allow the Club to have a social event to chat to them properly.
We will meet at her house, 10, Wexford Ave, Westcliffe, and, rather than have a braai we will have a selection of salads,cold meats etc........a Bring & Share Lunch.  I have asked Melodene Stonestreet to coordinate this.  Lyn Collocott will be sending out a notice so that we know how many are coming.  Shirley has plenty of tables and chairs so we have no need to bring anything except our share and ourselves.

The Makro Project 3rd/4th December
John Symons has already sent out a roster for this.  I am sure that we will have little difficulty filling it for one weekend with shorter shifts required than in the past.

Rotary Careers Morning
As you will see we have changed the date to 4th March, 2017....Mark Potterton remembered it was half term!


ROTARY’S WORLD POLIO DAY EVENT LOOKS AHEAD TO ENDING THE DISEASE FOR GOOD

Dennis Ogbe, Paralympian and polio survivor, tells his personal story of the disease at Rotary’s World Polio Day event on 24 October 2016 at the headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Photo Credit: Rotary International/Alyce Henson
While the fight to eradicate polio suffered a blow this year when the virus re-emerged in Nigeria, Rotary leaders and top health experts focused Monday on the big picture: the global presence of the paralyzing disease has never been smaller.
The headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, served as the site of Rotary’s fourth annual World Polio Day event. Some of the biggest names in the polio eradication campaign were there to reflect on the year’s progress and discuss what’s needed to end the disease for good.
More than 200 people attended the special live program, and thousands more worldwide watched online. Jeffrey Kluger, Time magazine’s editor at large, moderated the event.
In a question-and-answer session with Kluger, CDC Director Tom Frieden talked about the latest developments in the effort to eradicate polio.
“We have the fewest number of cases in the fewest number of places in the world right now,” said Frieden. “We continue to make ground against polio, but we’re still recording cases in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria.”
The total number of cases worldwide so far this year is 27, compared with 51 for the same period last year.
Unfortunately, Nigeria slipped back onto the list of countries where polio is endemic this year, after cases appeared in the northern state of Borno, which was under the control of Boko Haram militants until recently. The World Health Organization estimates that the virus has been circulating in the region for five years. The country was on the verge of celebrating two years without any polio infections.
But this hasn’t stopped Rotary and its partners, who are working with the Nigerian government, Chad, Cameroun, and parts of the Central African Republic, from executing a sweeping emergency response. Shortly after the outbreak, a robust immunization campaign targeted about 1 million children with both oral and inactivated polio vaccines.
“Because the new cases were only detected due to ongoing surveillance efforts,” said Frieden.  “We shouldn’t be surprised to see more cases, because better surveillance means better detection of all polio cases.”
Polio eradication efforts continue to make progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In Afghanistan, cases dropped from 13 in 2015 to eight so far this year. In Pakistan, they decreased from 38 to 15.
Frieden cited innovative tactics for reaching children in Pakistan who were often missed in the past. These include placing permanent vaccination sites at entry points to the country, provinces, and large cities. Rotary has funded the purchase of cell phones for vaccination teams, so they can send data to health centers immediately.
“The virus is cornered, we just have to make sure never to let it out again,” Frieden added.

CELEBRITIES JOIN ROTARY’S GATHERING

Dennis Ogbe, a polio survivor and Paralympian athlete, told his personal story of survival. Ogbe contracted polio at age three at a clinic near his home in rural Nigeria while being treated for malaria.
Ogbe competed in the Paralympics in Sydney in 2000 and London in 2012. But he says the toughest challenge he’s faced is helping to rid the world of polio.
Shira Lazar, host of the show “What’s Trending,” gave a social media update during the live streamed event in which she announced that more than 3,000 World Polio Day events were happening around the world. In Pakistan, a huge End Polio Now message was illuminated at the Kot Diji Fort in the Khairpur district.
Video addresses came from Maryn McKenna, author and journalist, and new polio ambassador Jenna Bush Hager, chair of UNICEF’s Next Generation, a journalist, and an author. Hager’s father-in-law is a polio survivor.
Rotary, with support from the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, also debuted a  that transported attendees to the streets of India and Kenya, where they interacted with polio survivors and heard their stories.
“This is very good technology to put people in places where polio has affected so many,” says Reza Hossaini, director of polio eradication for UNICEF. “It’s important we see the places and people we are helping with our polio eradication programs.”
Earlier in the day, Frieden and Rotary International President John F. Germ announced major contributions to polio eradication. The Canadian government committed $10 million, and Michael Bloomberg, businessman, philanthropist, and former mayor of New York City, donated $25 million.
Rotary has contributed more than $1.6 billion to polio eradication since taking on the virus in 1979.
“We started this more than 30 years ago,” said Germ. “We’ve stuck with it all this time. And soon, we’re going to finish it.”

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