Arts Festival, Orientation & Mobility, Boikanyo and a Somali Peace Fellow.

Last Week

Edward Selematsela, Helena Hugo and Paul Botes

It was a social meeting enlivened by the  visit by the artists who have donated paintings for the Arts Festival Raffle.  They are all well known to us and the biggest sellers at the Festival so we are really delighted by that they have been so generous in providing an amazing Raffle Carrot.  
Now all we have to do is sell the tickets!  Lenore Terreblanche is issuing the sheets and they are all numbered.


 Another surprise was a certificate presented to us by the SA Guide Dogs Association for our support with training sighted people at The College of Orientation and Mobility.  These people then return to the rural areas where they teach non-sighted people in the use of white canes and generally assist them with coping with their disability.
Roger Lloyd received the certificate on our behalf and handed it over during the meeting.  He has been a champion for the College of Orientation and Mobility ever since the club sponsored a guide dog.  He then realised that white cane training was money better spent as many more people would benefit.

This Week
Our speaker is Marilyn Bassin of Boikanyo - the Dion Herson Foundation.  Marilyn started the Foundation two years after she began volunteering at CP Clinic at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in January 2009. Whilst there she saw the desperate  need for disability equipment.

In 2011 Boikanyo the Dion Herson Foundation was established, essentially to fund equipment for disabled children who waited years for wheelchairs etc. Other wards got to hear of the equipment and assistance and began calling for assistance, Marilyn organised to buy equipment which afforded children to go home to mom- and- love, pressure prevention equipment, seating equipment and much more. Burnt, maimed, disabled, amputees, children with tracheostomies who lived for years at the hospital, hydrocephalic children, abandoned, raped, abused, bitten etc- in various paediatric wards received assistance. No one was turned away.Funding for two children to have surgery in a private hospital to close up a tracheostomy was arranged as well.

She met Riaz Simjee and together they ran a very successful Muslim / Jewish Interfaith teenage volunteer group –together the teens changed not only countless children’s lives at the hospital with their acts of goodwill, but also their own misconceptions about one another. This valuable humanitarian work lasted only until early in 2012 when the NGO was made unwelcome at the hospital, the CEO felt that our intention was to make Bara ‘look bad’. A complaint was laid with the SAHRC, they mediated but Boikanyo was not able to negotiate re entry into the hospital until years later, In 2012 the NGO moved to Mapetla, Soweto.

Manitoba honors Rotary Peace Fellow for public achievement

Abdikheir “Abdi” Ahmed

By Paul Engleman

SHARE ON FACEBOOKTWEET THIS PAGEEMAIL THIS PAGE

Refugees who come to Winnipeg often end up living in areas that are predominantly inhabited by indigenous people. 

“Newcomers do not know much about the indigenous life and heritage and, without that knowledge, the first thing they encounter is people who are poor and stereotyped by the mainstream community,” says Abdikheir “Abdi” Ahmed, a 2011-12 Rotary Peace Fellow and immigration partnership coordinator for the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg. “Indigenous people may see immigrants as encroaching into their neighborhoods. There is tension between both groups.” 

Ahmed works to smooth relations, helping them see they have more in common than what divides them. “Integration is a two-way process,” he says. 

In recognition of his work, Ahmed received the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, one of the highest honours for public achievement issued by the Manitoba legislature, in January 2016. 

“I never thought what I was doing had this significance,” he says. “But I don’t look at what I have done. I look at what needs to be done to bring about better living standards for people.” 

Ahmed, 37, may understand the needs of immigrants better than most. 

Originally from Somalia, he and his family fled the conflict there and settled in Kenya when he was a child.

Abdikheir 

As a young adult, he moved to Canad

After graduation, Ahmed began working at the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba. 

He learned about the Rotary Peace Centers program from Noëlle DePape, a colleague who had earned her master’s degree at the University of Queensland, Australia, through the fellowship.

 After Ahmed completed his own peace fellowship at Queensland, he and DePape worked together to develop a curriculum for a summer course that they teach to high school students at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, part of a Rotary District 5550 (Manitoba and parts of Ontario and Saskatchewan) program called Adventures in Human Rights.“We help them view the world from the perspective that everyone’s rights are equal and understand the idea of building a community where everyone’s rights are respected and each person is given a fair opportunity,” he says. 

In addition to his work in Winnipeg, Ahmed serves on the board of Humankind International, an early childhood learning center that he co-founded at the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya with two Somali friends who also immigrated to Winnipeg. He says it serves 150 children with four teachers, and he hopes to expand it to accommodate the many children who have to be turned away. 

Despite the suffering he has witnessed and the daily conflicts he works to resolve, Ahmed is optimistic about the prospects for peace and the potential of the peace centers program. 

“My hope is that in the next 20 to 50 years, if we have more Rotary Peace Fellows around the world who are speaking the same language and taking on a leadership role to create an interconnected world, things will change,” he says. “I also hope we can find an opportunity for Rotarians and past peace fellows to collaborate on projects in a more defined way.” 

Scandal!, Lots of Visitors, Social Meeting, the Arts Festival and a Rotary Alumni Award

Last Week
Ralf Meyer, our visiting Rotarian from Frankfort, gave us a talk on the Libor Scandal.  I don't claim to understand much about banking and rate manipulation but what was fascinating was how much money the banks made and how small the fines were.  $9 Billion, as a fine, may sound like a lot of money but when you have made $37 Billion it's just a minor expense.
When numbers like this are banded about I do wonder why we pay bank charges.

Ralf also presented us with his Club Banner in exchange for the one we gave him some weeks ago.








And we had other visitors as well.

 Brian and Louise Hancock from the Rotary Club of Osborne Park, Perth, Australia.  Louise received the banner because she is the President of the club this year.

A special welcome to Russell Banful from Accra, Ghana.  He has visited us before.

All round a very social meeting.








This Week
It really is a Social Meeting.  Since we decided to have a meeting once a month when we can just chat to each other it's really been great.  I think a couple of our Rotary artists may be at the meeting as the build-up to the Arts Festival is about to begin.

Joan Sainsbury will be handing out Arts Festival Raffle Sheets and the prizes are fantastic this year so let's make an effort to sell as many as possible.: 

ROTARY ARTS FESTIVAL – GUEST ARTISTS

Helena Hugo

Helena Hugo has been a full-time artist since graduating from UP in 1996. She creates highly finished, detailed, expressions of people in pastel and recently also started to explore the world of fibre arts.

She has participated in many exhibitions across SA and abroad and her work has been bought by corporate and private collectors globally.

She was a finalist in BP Portrait, Absa Atelier, and New Signature Awards and ABSA KKNK’s festival artist for 2011.

She won the Bettie Cilliers-Barnard Award, earned top 10 at Ekurhuleni awards, top 5 at Sanlam awards and first prize in Beaux-Arts Réaliste et Impressionniste contest.

Paul Botes

Growing up among mountains and vineyards of the fairest Cape, awakened in Paul a deep and lasting awe of the eternal beauty of nature. During his years in the corporate world, he lived an alternate life dedicated to the expression of his artistic vision.

Over the past 24 years Paul has become the artist of choice of collectors and art lovers all over the country. From a Citation of Honour for Art in 2007, to having his work published in a book by Glynis CoxMillet-Clay, Paul continues to win acclaim with every exhibition of his work.

Edward Selematsela

Full time artist, born in Limpopo province of south Africa, Edward is passionate about his art. He had exhibited his art around Gauteng
and abroad in galleries like Johannesburg Art Gallery, Museum Pretoria, Museum Africa, Sasol Rosebank, Kubiak gallery USA, Scatzy USA, ABSA gallery, Alliance la Francaise, Bordeaux Pessac France. Though Edward is a full time artist, he takes one day a week to teach art to youth from disadvantaged backgrounds in Hillbrow Berea, which he started in 1995 till today.

Edward likes to experiment with a lot of mediums, he works hard to develop the art that speaks to him first and is easy for the viewer to understand. He prefers to tell a story through his paintings.

Guitar Presentation at TJ Audio Club Thursday 2nd March, 19,00 at Marks Park

You don't have to book for this and I had quite a bit to say about it last week so I won't repeat myself.  Just come and join us for a pleasant social evening.

Japanese Diplomat earns Rotary Alumni Award

The recipient of this year’s Rotary Alumni Global Service Award winner is Dr. Sadako Ogata, a former Ambassadorial Scholar and a past United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 

Born in Japan to a family of diplomats, Ogata was drawn to studying international relations after Japan’s defeat in World War II. When she began graduate studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., USA, in 1951, she was part of the second class of Rotary Scholars from Japan.

“During that period, I also learned about the importance of community service and broadened my perspectives and experiences thanks to various exchanges with Rotarians,” she says. “The Rotary motto of Service Above Self has left a deep impression and has guided me ever since.”

After completing her doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley, Ogata returned to Japan to teach at International Christian University, which now hosts a Rotary Peace Center, and Sophia University, where she taught until accepting the post of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (head of UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency) in 1991. She also represented Japan at the UN General Assembly, served at the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations, and chaired the UNICEF executive board.

During her decade-long tenure with UNHCR, Ogata helped refugees who fled the Gulf War, the ethnic conflicts in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, and Cold War-era strife in Afghanistan and former Soviet satellites. She has been credited with expanding UNHCR’s budget and staff and strengthening its relations with the UN Security Council by emphasizing the link between refugees and international security.

“Protecting refugees is — by its nature — controversial,” Ogata has said. “Carrying out this dynamic and action-oriented function requires us to challenge the sovereign preserve of states to deal with non-citizens and, in some instances, their own people.”

Since leaving UNHCR in 2000, she has remained active in government and international affairs, serving as co-chair of the UN Human Security Commission and as a special representative of the Japanese government in Afghanistan. She led the Japanese International Cooperation Agency for two terms and advised then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Her government work has shown her the power of private citizens and civic groups to effect change.

“We live in a rapidly changing world,” Ogata says. “As the world is confronted with threats more complex than ever before, the role of civil society and the linkages among people has become more important than ever.”

The award for Rotary Alumni Association of the Year went to the Alumni Association of Rotary District 1210 in England. These alumni regularly visit club meetings and district events, and they lead a project to provide children’s books to homes across the district.

Dogs, Chickens, the Libor Scandal & Police and Peace Fellowships in Philadelphia

Last Week

Angie Thornton, accompanied by Colin Thornton of Benoni van Ryn Rotary Club, gave us a talk on Therapy Dogs.  it was very interesting seeing how these dogs are used in all sorts of therapeutic activities from old age homes to children in hospitals.  Angie is passionate about the use of these dogs and the biggest problem appears to be finding people with suitable dogs who are willing to give up their time.  
The Thorntons brought two dogs with them, both rescued Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.  I don't think they found Rotary an exciting experience.  One obviously  found it totally boring!

 On the lighter side someone casually mentioned to me that there such things as Therapy Chickens in the UK.  The mind boggles!  So I googled it.

A therapy chicken is specially selected and trained, and its owner specifically trained to handled a bird in order to provide therapeutic visitation, comfort, education and entertainment to people in retirement homes, assisted living, schools, rehabilitation facilities and other suitable venues. Learn how to work with your birds (often household pets) to take them safely and sanitarily to visitation places.

I can't find a picture of one...but in the USA:

CHESTERFIELD, VA (WWBT) -

A family is facing fines for chickens they consider therapeutic for their autistic son.

Robin Braun first discovered her son, Jonathan, was autistic when his development was different as a child. He is enrolled in different school programs and at home displays an interest in animals.

A few years ago, the family went to a state fair, where her son instantly fell in love with the chickens. He has since gotten many as pets, bonding with the hens.

His mom says the benefit goes beyond companionship for their son, who often feels isolated from his peers.

"It's always trying to get him to learn the value of teaching him the chores. He's got to have water, they have to have feed, you've got to go out there and pick up the eggs, you got to clean the stall," said Robin Braun.

As Ted Barclay, a Code Compliance Supervisor with the Chesterfield County Planning Department explains, the first call came in about the Braun family three years ago. A neighbor was calling to say the family had chickens in a residential area.

At that point, the department recognized that an amendment was being made to the county ordinance which may allow the Braun family to keep the chicken. As Barclay explained, his office did not fine the family at that time, hoping the ordinance would help them.

That ordinance now states that if you live in a residential zoning district, "keeping of up to six chickens is permitted with certain restrictions."

This summer, another tip came into Barclay's office that the family was in violation of that updated ordinance. When his team went to check it out, they found the family had 15 chickens. The judge gave them a 30-day grace period to make arrangements.

As of Monday morning, the family was able to place eight chickens at their daughter's home. The remaining seven stayed at home. On Tuesday, the Braun's are due back in court to pay fines from having too many chickens.

The family says separating the hens made Jonathan have a meltdown, torn apart with losing some of his companions.

Barclay suggested the family bring documentation to the county attorney's office to show the chickens are therapeutic. He says he wants to work with the family so they don't face fines and so they can keep the chickens without violating the county code.

The family says they are having a difficult time finding someone with Jonathan's school program to write those letters since he is out of school for the summer.

Copyright 2016 WWBT NBC12. All rights reserved

This Week
Ralf Meyer, our visiting Frankfurt Rotarian is going to talk about the Libor Scandal.   
The scandal was a series of fraudulent actions connected to the Libor (London Interbank Offered Rate) and also the resulting investigation and reaction. The Libor is an average interest rate calculated through submissions of interest rates by major banks across the world. The scandal arose when it was discovered that banks were falsely inflating or deflating their rates so as to profit from trades, or to give the impression that they were more creditworthy than they were. Libor underpins approximately $350 trillion in derivatives. It is currently administered by NYSE Euronext, which took over running the Libor in January 2014.

Police officer takes the lessons of the Rotary peace programme to the streets of Philadelphia

The tension is palpable as we cruise through a neighborhood of dilapidated row houses in one of the toughest parts of Philadelphia. Buildings jaggedly rise from the street – like a mouth full of busted teeth.  

Lt. D.F. Pace nods to acknowledge a stare. He understands.  

In his 15-year career with the Philadelphia Police Department, Pace has taken pride in being naturally tolerant and level-headed, qualities that helped him rise through the ranks. 

But he is human. To maintain a level head under pressure, at times he uses several techniques he learned through the Rotary Peace Fellowship program.

In 2010, Pace applied for the intensive three-month professional certificate program in Thailand. The idea had come to then-Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey through a suggestion from the Philadelphia Rotary Club, the 19th-oldest Rotary club in the world. Pace relished the challenge. “As soon as I saw it, I said, ‘This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.’”  

Philadelphia Police Department

Pace saw the fellowship as a way to defuse a developing powder keg. “Even before events like what happened in Ferguson [Mo.], I saw an unease developing between police and the community,” he recalls. “I thought, ‘If we don’t get a handle on this, the lid’s going to come off.’” 

The growing tension between police and residents also troubled members of the Philadelphia Rotary Club. They considered a few ideas until Joseph Batory, then scholarship chair of the club, had a light-bulb moment: the peace fellowship. 

“Sometimes the obvious is right in front of us,” says Batory. “It finally dawned on me that a police officer is at the very forefront of violence prevention and peacebuilding and, as such, would be a great fit for Rotary’s three-month certification program.”

In D.F. Pace, known as “D” to friends, Batory believed the club had found the perfect candidate: “He was an up-and-coming young lieutenant with patrol experience on the streets, but he’s also a lawyer and thus well-versed in the legal aspects of proper policing,” he says. “He reflected Commissioner Ramsey’s vision of creating a new generation of police officers with enhanced professionalism, dramatically improved judgment, and dedication to being instruments of peace.”

Friction, racial and otherwise, between police and the people they protect is not new. But the killings of unarmed black men by police in recent years, captured on camera phones and broadcast on the nightly news, have indeed touched a match to the kindling that Pace and others saw piling higher and higher. 

Philadelphia has not had the kind of headline-grabbing police-involved shootings that St. Louis, Chicago, and New York have had. However, it ranks in the top 20 in murder and crime rates among big cities in the United States. Almost from day one, Ramsey (who retired in January 2016) looked for innovative ways to avoid the former and reduce the latter.

“Ramsey’s a forward thinker,” says Pace. “He was always looking for ways to infuse new ideas into his police department.” Even so, when Philadelphia Rotary Club members pitched the peace fellowship to Ramsey, they kept their expectations low. But when Batory met with the commissioner, Ramsey took out a notepad and listened intently. He liked the idea and put out a citywide memorandum inviting officers to apply. 

Each year, Rotary selects up to 100 individuals from around the world to receive fully funded academic fellowships at a peace center. These fellowships cover tuition and fees, room and board, round-trip transportation, and all internship and field-study expenses.

In just over a decade, the Rotary Peace Centers have trained more than 1,000 fellows for careers in peacebuilding. Many of them go on to serve as leaders in national governments, nongovernmental organizations, the military, and international organizations like the United Nations and World Bank.

Pace says his cohort included a labor relations specialist, a women’s rights advocate, educators, and lawyers.

As Ramsey  and the Philadelphia Rotary Club hoped, Pace incorporates what he learned in Thailand into the seminars he teaches for other officers, including a class called Fair and Impartial Policing. He also helps organize community town halls and speaks to Rotary clubs.

Perhaps most important, other ranking officers in Philadelphia – sergeants, lieutenants, and captains – who have taken Pace’s class are disseminating the information to their recruits. It’s a more impressive feat than it may seem. 

The class wasn’t an easy sell, says Lt. Christine McShea, a 26-year veteran of the force who was required to take the class as part of a promotion. “It’s a difficult topic to get across, but he did a great job with it,” mainly, she says, “because he wasn’t trying to sugarcoat everything.” 

One of the lessons Pace imparts comes directly from his time as a peace fellow. “Conflict itself is neither good nor bad. It’s neutral,” he tells his classes. “The good or bad comes from how we manage conflict.”

Welcome, Joan, Marianne Soal, the Regional Paul Harris Dinner, Therapy Dogs and the Iron Lung.

Last Week
Marianne Soal chatted about herself and how being a Rotary Exchange Student in Texas made her keen to join Rotary.  She spoke about her training in education and how her life had changed when she married a Baptist minister.  She lives in Rosettenville in a deprived area where there are a lot of refugees and migrants so, through the church, she is busy with feeding schemes, workshops....you name it!  Just helping them fight their way through the red tape is a mission!  She has thrown herself into Rotary with the same enthusiasm she has for her work in Rosettenville.
Many thanks, Marianne.  It's a pleasure having you in the club.

We also inducted Joan Sainsbury as a member of our club bringing our membership up to 41.  Joan has been associated with our club for many years through the annual Arts Festival.  She has, at last, decided to join and we are delighted.

In this picture I do, at least, look a normal size....I've been getting quite a complex about presentations as I look like a midget..a tiny President!

My relief was short-lived as we had a visitor from Switzerland, Martin Bachmann, so naturally we exchanged banners.

At least our President Elect is shorter than me.....I await next Rotary year with a sense of anticipation.

Last Saturday saw the Regional Paul Harris Dinner to commemorate the Centenary of the Rotary Foundation.  There were over 80 present and it turned out to be a most enjoyable evening.  The guest speaker, Siphiwe Moyo, turned out to be highly entertaining and great fun.  I do wonder when we have these 'professional speakers' whether if I went to hear him this week I would hear roughly the same talk and the same jokes but that's just me being cynical.


Our Club was well represented...and here they all are:

This Week
Angie Thornton, who is the President of TOP (Touch Our Pets) Dogs is our guest speaker.  She will be talking about Therapy Dogs and the many different ways her organisation uses dogs in hospitals, in peoples' homes and to educate children.  She will be bringing a therapy dog with her.....I had to get special permission from Wanderers.....so if anyone feels they have a need for therapy just let Angie know. http://www.therapytopdogs.co.za/

Anns' Book Sale 23rd March
Don't forget to collect books for this.  Les Short will receive them at Rotary Meetings.

Rotarian builds his own iron lung replica to teach a new generation about polio

Recalling the fear that gripped the UK, the U.S., and elsewhere during the height of the polio epidemic in the early 1950s, Frank, a past president of the Rotary Club of Upper Eden, thought of the iron lung, a device largely relegated to museums and history books. The lifesaving mechanical respirator was a potent, if depressing, symbol of the debilitating disease. An iron lung, Frank reasoned, would educate younger generations who grew up free of the fear created by polio, a virus that is spread easily, during the 20th century. 

He hoped to borrow a model to put on tour to serve as a reminder that the polio fight remains unfinished. “I spent the last three months of 2015 looking for an iron lung in hospitals, etc.,” says Frank, 65. “I had hoped to source an original unit, but they have all been scrapped and those that remain are in museums, and they would not part with them. Being fully committed to the project, I had no other option than to build an iron lung myself. 

“This proved quite a challenge,” even for a retired mechanical engineer and self-described “nut and bolt man,” particularly after he resolved that only a fully functioning machine would do. “I learned many years ago that the dafter the project, the easier it is to get good publicity for the cause,” he quips.

Roger Frank put his engineering backgrou

Using the outline dimensions of a unit in the Thackray Medical Museum in Leeds as a reference, Frank rolled and welded steel for a cylindrical main chamber, fabricated tracks for a mattress that slides into and out of the unit, and cut access doors and windows. “I cajoled various local companies into assisting with the project,” he says, particularly painting the unit and a trailer used to transport it; Upper Eden club members also assisted. “I suppose in some ways people are used to my harebrained ideas, and not one of them declined to support the project,” he adds. Frank, who bore most of the construction costs, concedes that most of the 650 hours he spent over four months on the heavy metal labor of love were devoted to the trailer, itself a showcase worthy of a Rolls-Royce Phantom. 

“To finish the job, he then created visual displays to fit into and onto the trailer, including a television program of iron lungs being used ‘for real,’” notes Ben Lyon, the club’s immediate past president. “The finished result is a stunning promotional and educational tool in aid of polio eradication.” Onsite, a computer-controlled sequence activates the lung, in thumps and whooshes, for five minutes before triggering a YouTube video about iron lungs. 

For many polio patients, the apparatus was crucial to surviving the disease’s early stages, when their muscles were too weak, or paralyzed, for independent breathing. The lifesaving mechanical respirators were a common sight, lined up in rows at hospitals. The stricken, mostly young children, were confined in the chambers, normally for at least two or three weeks, exposed only from the neck up, with mirrors above their heads providing their only glimpse into the world around them amid the machines’ cacophony.

As a static exhibit the lung is lifeless and really comes alive when the motor starts and the end bellow operates. I think it really helps give people an understanding of how it would be to be locked in it,” Frank says. “Also the drive unit, or mechanism, is quite noisy and adds to the atmosphere, just as the original units did.”

Frank, who notes that his replica has been booked for the Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland conference in April, makes the display available to Rotary clubs that agree to arrange transportation and staff it to raise funds and awareness for End Polio Now. It has been deployed to agricultural shows and schools, with area club members staffing the unit. 

“Most people, especially young ones, are totally dumbfounded by the whole spectacle, and after watching the video are mesmerized and stand motionless for quite a few seconds,” says Frank, “I suppose in awe, or taking in how somebody could spend [nearly] their entire life in such a machine.”

On occasion, a “lucky” visitor might be invited inside the lung.

Sara Dumbell, a journalist with BBC Radio Cumbria who reported on the project, says: “I get sent on many exciting jobs, but getting to see a real life-size replica iron lung was a first for me. The iron lung itself was hugely impressive. I’m 28, and so the major UK outbreaks of polio were a little before my time, but it was deeply moving to learn about how so many children across the world were forced to live in these machines.

“I couldn’t leave without trying out the iron lung for myself, but having the metal lung separating your head and body at the neck I found to be the most uncomfortable feeling,” she adds. “I must admit I was quite relieved when I was allowed out.”

With a nod to the red End Polio Now donation buckets at the ready, Frank says, “I kid people that it is £1 to get into the unit and £50 for me to let you out.”

The Vocational Service Awards, Visitors, the New Protection of Personal Information Act, TJ's & Polio Plus

Last Week
The Vocational Service Awards Lunch was an enjoyable occasion for all of us and the Wanderers Golf Club provided us with an excellent venue and a good meal.

Tyron Sharnock, Sharon da Silva, Paul Bruns & Dou Dou Kanada

Hugh Rix

It was a real pleasure to meet our awardees, Paul Bruns, Tyron Sharnock,  Dou Dou Kanada and Sharon da Silva and to hear what they do for the benefit of the community.  Paul and his upliftment and rehabilitation programme for prisoners with Hlumelelisa, Dou Dou sorting out the documentation and legal problems that refugees and foreigners have in this country, Sharon and the amazing range of services that she provides for the poorest of the poor in conjunction with Malvern St Vincent de Paul Society and Tyron who has helped our Youth Committee so much over the years with our Youth Leadership Weekend in the Magaliesberg.

Our thanks to Hugh Rix for organising the event and to Lyn Collocott for taking the photographs.  She took lots more of people at tables, the hand over of each award etc....she didn't photograph the food.  If you would like copies just email me.

A spin off is that Paul Bruns is interested in joining Rotary but our time and day doesn't suit him. He will be attending Morningside this week as breakfast is perfect for him and it is close to home.  I think the real problem is that as an old Rondebosch boy he felt intimidated by James Croswell who was at Sacs but was too polite to say so.  (that's Rondebosch for you.)


We had two visiting Rotarians, Dipesh Metha and his wife from the Rotary Club of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. We exchanged banners!





This Week
Marianne Soal will be talking about herself.  It will be interesting to hear her story!

TJ's Acoustic Music Club 23rd February Marks Park

The music starts at 8,00pm every Thursday until 10,30.  There is an entrance fee of R25 and I think the food is an extra R60...I may be wrong.  There is also a bar

at very reasonable prices.  If you want to see what is happening go to https://www.facebook.com/TJsMusicClub/?ref=br_rs and you will see the line-up for this coming Thursday, 2nd February.


IMPORTANT NOTICE!! Rotary District 9400 | Protection of Personal Information (Version1.0 – February 2017) 

Rotary International District 9400 is committed to safeguard the privacy of information entrusted to the Executive and Officers of the District and regard this commitment as essential. Protecting the confidentiality and security of all member’s information, is part of how we conduct our business. This Privacy Statement applies to all personal information that we obtain and handle in this District, irrespective of the member’s country of origin. This statement is made in compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI Act) as required by Law. 
1. We will comply with the Protection of Personal Information Act as well as other applicable laws, regulations and guidelines issued by the Government of South Africa. 
2. Where it is necessary to obtain personal information, we will do so by lawful and fair means. In the event that you provided us with personal information, we will regard the fact that you have provided that information as your consent that we may use your information. 
3. Should you accept any position as Officer of District 9400 or of your Rotary Club, you are deemed to have given your consent (as applicable by the POPI Act) to us publishing your contact information in the District Directory. 
4. We will only use your information within the scope of achieving the following purposes: 

i. Populating the District Directory with contact details of all District Officers as well as Club Officers as deemed necessary.
 ii. The hard copy to be printed annually and the electronic version to be updated on a monthly basis if needed. iii. Providing Rotary International with the information as per the Rotary Manual of Procedures (MOP) and the Rotary Code of Policies (RCP) as needed. 

5. The Directory is for organisational purposes and is available to Rotarians in good standing ONLY. The Directory may not be distributed to any third party for any purpose what so ever. Illegal distribution is punishable by law under the POPI Act 
6. We will not provide any personal contact information to a third party, except for purposes deemed necessary by law. 
7. We may disclose information relating to your professional skills to potential project partners. 
8. You may request disclosure of the personal information we hold on you, or request the amendment, removal or updating of such personal information by sending an e-mail to the Electronic Media Chair of the District. After we obtain satisfactory evidence of your identity, we will seek to address your request in accordance with the applicable laws and guidelines. 
9. If you have any questions or comments regarding your personal information or this statement, you can contact the District Electronic Media Chair in the following ways: E-mail: support@rotary9400.co.za 10.This statement may be amended from time to time. At the time of any amendment, we will publish a revised statement in substitution to the District website.


2017-18: Rotary: Making a Difference

In 2017-18, we’ll answer the question “What is Rotary?” with RI President-elect Ian H.S. Riseley’s theme, Rotary: Making a Difference. “Whether we’re building a new playground or a new school, improving medical care or sanitation, training conflict mediators or midwives, we know that the work we do will change people’s lives — in ways large and small — for the better.”

On the 17th January Rotary announced $35 million in grants to support the global effort to end polio, bringing the humanitarian service organization’s contribution to $140 million since January 2016.

Nearly half of the funds Rotary announced today ($16.15 million) will support the emergency response campaigns in Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin (Chad, northern Cameroon, southern Niger and Central African Republic). Four cases of polio were detected in Nigeria in 2016, which had previously not seen a case since July 2014.

With these cases, funding is needed to support rapid response plans in Nigeria and surrounding countries to stop the outbreak.

While significant strides have been made against the paralyzing disease, with just 35 cases reported in 2016, polio remains a threat in hard-to-reach and underserved areas, and conflict zones. To sustain this progress, and protect all children from polio, experts say $1.5 billion is needed.

In addition to supporting the response in the Lake Chad Basin region, funding has been allocated to support polio eradication efforts in Afghanistan ($7.15 million), Pakistan ($4.2 million), Somalia ($4.64 million), and South Sudan ($2.19 million). A final grant in the amount of $666,845 will support technical assistance in UNICEF’s West and Central Africa Regional Office.

Rotary has contributed more than $1.6 billion, including matching funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and countless volunteer hours since launching its polio immunization program, PolioPlus, in 1985. In 1988, Rotary became a spearheading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative with the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and was later joined by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Since the initiative launched, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.9 percent, from about 350,000 cases a year to 35 confirmed in 2016, and no cases in 2017.