A Business Meeting, Chris Hart, Chinese Dinner and the Amazing Work done by a Rotary Club with a Membership of Seven!

Last Week
The Fourth Friday of the Month;  a Business Meeting. 

Unfortunately we don't have reports from all the Directors but I suppose that's normal.  The important thing is that finances are in good hands and that we are doing things. 
I just wish that we were firing on all four cylinders.

Club Services under Les Short has produced a very welcome Social Programme for the year.  I see I am down to organise a dinner in November...







This Week
Chris Hart is our guest speaker. He is known for being a straight talker with sometimes unpopular opinions - fell from grace on Twitter.

He was suspended by Standard Bank just months after moving to the big four banking group after he posted a tweet that was deemed to be racist.

Hart tweeted: “More than 25 years after Apartheid ended, the victims are increasing along with a sense of entitlement and hatred towards minorities…”

While the exact meaning of this apparent outburst is not clear, Hart later apologised, saying: “This tweet has caused offense - never intended for which I apologise wholeheartedly. Meant to be read in context of slow growth.”

Very little is known about Hart, despite his prominence within financial and economic circles. 

What is known is that Hart studied at the University of the Witwatersrand and had been a volunteer with St John Ambulance, which he reportedly served as its South African commander.

Hart was also, at some stage, a teacher at Jeppe Boys High. Here he is believed to have been a contemporary of former Springbok Captain Jake White and taught physics. Later, he moved to Glenvista High as head of department and started studying towards his BCom in Economics at Wits during this time.

Hart joined Absa in 1998 after 13 years teaching and left that post, leaving as senior economist, in July 2007 to join Investment Solutions.

In 2005, he started an MBA, but was not able to complete this because of the sudden death of his twin brother, Donovan, in February 2007. His brother apparently was killed during a hijacking attempt.

He joined Standard Bank as global investment strategist in late 2015.  He left Investment Solutions as its chief strategist around September of that year.

Christopher Gilmour, investment marketer and analyst at Barclays Africa, notes Hart is a very straight talker when it comes to the economy and is well respected.

Free Market Foundation Leon Louw adds Hart is a liberal purist: “He’s a hardcore liberal.”

In 2014, he and Glenn Silverman wrote a book entitled Half Way There, which studies the members of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and their relationships with one another and the rest of the world.

Rotary Dinner Wednesday 15th November @ Shun De Chinese Restaurant, 23 Derrick Ave Cyrildene (Upstairs)

I know I talked about going to Fordsburg but for our first dinner I decided it was a good idea to go back to the restaurant in Cyrildene where we had dinner about three years ago.  Those who went will remember that we had a private room which was fantastic.  I will do what I did last time, select the dishes in advance so that I can give you the cost per person including the gratuity, any drinks, other than tea, will be for your own account.

I am going to organise the courses as if the meal was being served for Chinese people.

Let me know how many are coming by emailing me on peter@pjsfood.co.za  Guests are welcome.

This article is a very important one because it shows how effective a small Rotary Club with only SEVEN MEMBERS can be!

Rotary members in Harvard, Illinois, USA, have teamed up with community groups to help alleviate hunger and bring the community together.

On a sunny morning in July, two dozen preschool children from Brown Bear Daycare inspect a bed of milkweed plants for monarch butterfly eggs, holding magnifying glasses to the underside of leaves in search of the tiny, off-white objects.Curiosity stoked, the five-year-olds and their teachers move to the shade of a large tree to listen to a master gardener explain the role these butterflies play in gardens. The preschool class visits the community garden in Harvard, Illinois, USA, every Monday from spring to fall to learn about garden-related topics and even help out. 

“They get to taste the vegetables, some that they have never even seen. They get to experience what it is like to plant a garden from the planting to the picking to the eating,” says Sheila Henson, executive director of the day care center and a member of the Rotary Club of Harvard. “At the end of the summer, we have a parent night where the parents come and get to see the different things their children have been involved with.”

With the goals of alleviating hunger and educating the community, master gardeners from University of Illinois Extension planted the garden in 2001 on a half-acre parcel donated by the city and adjacent to the public library. Over the years, the master gardeners have enlisted the support of many businesses, organisations, and clubs, including the Rotary Club of Harvard, making the project a community-wide effort. 

As many as 250 needy families benefit from the 10,000 pounds of vegetables that are grown and donated every year to the local food pantry. The fresh produce serves as a safety net for many

families. Roughly a quarter of the community’s 9,200 residents live below the federal poverty line, a result of the limited employment opportunities in small farm towns across Illinois. The already fragile economy was further affected by the closing of a Motorola  plant here in 2003 after only seven years of operation.

“In this community, the only way we can get by is by helping each other,” says Dave Decker, site director for the Harvard Community Food Pantry. “Everybody needs a little help now and then.”

The Rotary Club of Harvard took on the project seven years ago, looking for a way to address hunger and help the community. With only seven members, the club has had an impact far beyond its size, amplifying its efforts by working with the master gardeners and other groups.

“Harvard is definitely a better place because of the members of this club, and that is what keeps us

going,” says Mike Morris, the club’s president. “It’s the expertise of the master gardeners, individuals in the community, farmers who help, and the education provided through the day care that makes this an amazing team effort.” The Rotary club has provided $400 to buy seeds and starter plants from a local nursery every year since 2011. It also purchased plastic drip irrigation tubing and fertiliser valves after a drought threatened the garden in 2012. This year, it provided a letter of support needed by the master gardeners to secure a $5,000 grant from the McHenry County Community Foundation for an organic compost mix that will add nutrients back to the soil and help keep weeds at bay.

Morris has made the garden his special focus and enlisted every member of the club to help with planting, weeding, and harvesting. Henson also recruited day care employees to volunteer. 

The garden needs everyone for planting, says Dale Nelmes, one of the master gardeners who volunteer every week.

“Many of us master gardeners are up there in years and can’t get down on our hands and knees like we used to,” he says. “I was so impressed with Rotary and Sheila, who brought all these young volunteers in. It was incredible how much we accomplished.”

The Harvard Rotarians also used a Rotary grant to buy a new freezer, which allows the food pantry to store vegetables longer. Last winter, Morris secured another Rotary grant  for $2,000, which, when combined with $5,000 from club funds, funded seven weeks of food deliveries from the Northern Illinois Food Bank. A mobile unit from the food bank set up at Brown Bear Daycare once a month from October to April, each time distributing 9,000 pounds of meat, vegetables, boxed goods, breads, and fruits.

Morris says growing up on a farm in northwestern Illinois played a big part in his interest in fighting hunger. 

“I know we can produce more than enough food to feed everybody in the country,” he says. “It’s just a matter of the logistics of getting it from the farm to their table.”

On a July morning, about 20 people – Rotarians, master gardeners, and community volunteers – are scattered among the 14 rows, each 125 feet long, pulling weeds and picking vegetables. The garden is behind schedule this year because of heavy rains, and today’s harvest is smaller than normal. At the food pantry, Nelmes weighs each crate: 9 pounds of broccoli, 6 pounds of kohlrabi, 8 pounds of peppers, and 22 pounds of zucchini. Later in the season, many more hands will be needed to harvest.  Reina Montes began volunteering at the garden after a back injury forced her to stop working temporarily and she had to go to the pantry to supplement her groceries. When she learned about the garden, she persuaded her daughter, Elizabeth Sanchez, to join her on Mondays to help plant, pick, and weed.

Montes moved to Harvard from Mexico City more than 20 years ago and fell in love with the smaller town. Her daughter now has two college-age daughters of her own, whom she hopes to teach the value of community service. 

“Thanks to the garden, we can feed people who can’t afford to buy fresh food at the supermarket,” says Sanchez. “I believe it is everybody’s responsibility to help the community. If our children see that there is unity, love, and support, they are going to do the same thing. We are leaving them a legacy.” 

RLI Exercise, a Business Meeting and On the Tracks of the Beast

Last Week
I must admit I was marginally concerned about presenting on the Rotary Leadership Institute to my own club and was delighted that you all enjoyed the exercise I gave you to do.  So much so that it was seen as a great way to interact at one of our social meetings because it did mean that we had to interact!

What was particularly interesting was that each of the three groups had a completely different approach to the problems posed and this was just our own club.  Imagine how different it would be if the groups had been made up of members of different Rotary Clubs from varying environments.

It has been suggested that we have other ones occasionally, on Projects, the Four Way Test, Vocational...all sorts  of things.  Thank you all for your feedback.  There are no pictures because I didn't think to take any of you all cogitating so here's a Rosebank Rose instead....it's actually a Kensington Rose.


This Week
It's a Business Meeting.  There is a lot that has to be discussed especially the problem of finding a President Elect since Patrick left the club.  The Board has discussed it and President Lyn has approached a number of senior Rotarians without success.  Maybe there could be some suggestions coming from Business Meeting.

In Mexico’s migrant shelters, a Rotary scholar puts his education into action

Among those apprehended at the U.S.-Mexican border between October 2015 and January 2016 were 24,616 families – the vast majority of them from Central America. 

There are two inescapable elements of southern Mexico. 

The first is dust – desert rock ground to a powder that finds its way into your every crevice: the backs of your knees, the folds of your eyelids. You cough it up as you drift to sleep and discover its brume settled across your bed sheets in the morning.

The second element is violence.

I found both on the gritty tracks of the Beast.

Over the past half-century, millions of Central Americans have crossed Mexico from south to north, fleeing poverty, decades-long civil wars, and, most recently, brutal gangs. To escape, migrants used to ride atop the cars of the train line known as the Beast.

In July 2014, Mexican immigration officials announced a plan called the Southern Border Program; part of it entailed closing the Beast to migrants. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said the plan would create new economic zones and safeguard migrants’ human rights by securing the country’s historically volatile southern border. Instead, the number of migrants beaten, kidnapped, and murdered has skyrocketed. Some have even been victims of the black-market trade in organs.

In 2015, shortly after finishing his studies as a Rotary Foundation global grant scholar, Levi Vonk went to Mexico to work with migrants. He has written about what he saw, and about the experiences of migrants themselves, for Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, and National Public Radio. For Rotary Foundation Month, we asked him to describe what he has done and learned. Vonk studied at the University of Sussex, England, sponsored by the Rotary clubs of Shoreham & Southwick, England, and Charleston Breakfast, S.C. His master’s degree in the anthropology of development and social transformation led to his becoming a 2014-15 Fulbright fellow to Mexico. He is now a doctoral candidate in medical anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley.

In early 2015 I had just completed my studies as a Rotary global grant scholar, earning a master’s degree in the anthropology of development. I had studied how trade and development initiatives in Mexico could make people’s lives more perilous, not less. To learn about what was going wrong, I went to southern Mexico to use the skills I had gained through my global grant studies.

Southern Mexico is poor and rural, made up of small pueblos and subsistence agriculture. In some ways, I felt at home. I grew up in rural Georgia, and I became interested in immigration after teaching English to farmworkers harvesting cabbage, berries, and Christmas trees in the foothills of North Carolina. Many of the men I worked with were from southern Mexico. Their descriptions of the violence brought by drug and human trafficking led to my interest in the region.

To understand how the Southern Border Program was affecting people’s lives, I stayed in migrant shelters, which are not unlike homeless shelters or temporary refugee camps. They are often without reliable running water or electricity, but they do provide migrants with a warm meal and a place to rest before they continue north. 

At first, shelter life was a shock to me. Sick or injured people arrived nearly each day. Severe dehydration was a big problem, and some people had literally walked the skin off the bottoms of their feet. I was there when a gang member entered the shelter to kidnap someone, but shelter directors stopped him.

By the time I arrived, shelters along the tracks of the Beast had seen the number of migrants dwindle from 400 a night to fewer than 100. Shelter directors explained that the number of Central Americans fleeing into Mexico each year – around 400,000 – had not fallen, but because immigration agents were now apprehending anyone near the Beast, people were afraid to approach the shelters. These safe havens had been transformed into no-go zones. “This is a humanitarian crisis on the scale of Syria,” one director said to me, “but no one is talking about it.”

In the shelters, I chopped firewood, cooked dinners, and scrubbed kitchen floors. I changed bandages and helped people file for asylum. And I lived and traveled with migrants headed north, recording their stories – about why they left, where they hoped to go, and what they had faced on their journeys.

Mildred, a single mother of three, was fleeing gang members who threatened to kill her family if she didn’t pay them a protection fee. Ivan, the oldest brother of six, singlehandedly resettled his entire family in Mexico – including his elderly mother and his two toddler nephews – after hit men tried to kill them in their home in Honduras. Milton had lived in New York City for years – and had sheltered ash-covered pedestrians in his apartment during the 11 September 2001 terror attacks – before being deported. 

The things I learned were terrifying. Instead of shoring up Mexico’s borders, the plan had splintered traditional migrant routes. Those routes had been dangerous, but they were also ordered and visible. Migrants knew approximately which areas of the train passage were plagued by gangs. They were prepared to pay protection fees – generally between $5 and $20. They traveled in groups for safety. And they were often close to aid – a shelter, a Red Cross clinic, even a police station.

The Southern Border Program changed that. Hunted by immigration officers, migrants traveled deep into the jungle, walking for days. Gangs, which had previously extorted money from migrants, now followed them into these isolated areas to rob, kidnap, or simply kill them. 

The Southern Border Program has failed as a development initiative. Not only has cracking down on immigration made southern Mexico less safe, but the increased violence has deterred business investment that the region so desperately needs. 

During my time as a Rotary scholar, I learned to look at development differently. We often think of international aid in terms of poverty reduction, and we often see poverty reduction in terms of dollars spent and earned. The anthropology of development aims to analyze global aid in another way. We pay particular attention to how initiatives play out on the ground to determine just what local communities’ needs are and how those needs might be met sustainably and, eventually, autonomously. 

When I was living in migrant shelters, we often received huge, unsolicited shipments of clothing from well-intentioned organizations. Had they asked us, we would have told them that their efforts, and money, were wasted. In fact, directors had to pay for hundreds of pounds of clothing to be taken to the dump when space ran out at the shelter. 

Among the things shelters actually needed, I learned, were clean water, better plumbing, and medical care. But shelter directors did not just want these items shipped over in bulk; they needed infrastructure – water purification, functioning toilets, and access to a hospital, along with the skills and knowledge to maintain these systems themselves. 

Of course, as one shelter director told me, “Our ultimate goal is to not be needed at all – to solve this migration crisis and violence and go home.”

Rotary’s six areas of focus mesh neatly with these goals. Such measures require money, but more than that, they require in-tense cultural collaboration to make them sustainable. Who better than Rotary, with its worldwide network of business and community leaders, to understand the challenges and respond effectively? 

One way Rotary is responding is by funding graduate-level studies in one of the six areas of focus. After his global grant studies in anthropology of development at the University of Sussex, my friend Justin Hendrix spent several years working in a Romanian orphanage, helping to provide the children there with the best education possible. Another friend, Emily Williams, received a global grant to get her master’s degree at the Bartolome de las Casas Institute of Human Rights at Madrid’s Universidad Carlos III and now works with unaccompanied Central American minors and victims of trafficking in the United States. My partner, Atlee Webber, received a global grant to study migration and development at SOAS University of London (School of Oriental and African Studies); she now works as a program officer with the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.

Rotarians understand that to have the most impact, we need to learn from other cultures. As global grant scholars, that’s what we aim to do – during our studies, and afterward.

Robin Binckes, Rotary Leadership Institute and a Refugee Story.

Last Week



Robin Binckes has turned himself into a storyteller.  He didn't really give us a talk on the Great Trek and Blood River but rather gave us a dramatised version...a one man show, if you like.  It was well done and most entertaining with quite a bit of poetic license!  I can see why he has become a tour guide because he must be very popular.
He did make the differentiation between the trek boers living on the fringe of colonial society who had adopted the way of life of the local people they rubbed shoulders with and the God-fearing Calvinist trek leaders, mainly from the Eastern Cape.
Unfortunately he didn't talk about those who left on the Great Trek, decided it wasn't worth the candle and then went back home.

We had a number of first-time visitors.   

Ivor and Heather Sander with their daughter Julie.

Oni Osagie, a Rotarian from Nigeria

This Week
Our advertised speaker is unable to come this week so I have been asked to talk on the Rotary Leadership Institute in view of the upcoming courses.  I am the Regional Representative for RLI for our region and I am endeavouring to talk to as many clubs as possible.  President Lyn asked me to schedule a talk some time ago but I muttered about 'Prophets being without honour etc etc...' and now I have been caught out!
Rather than have the RLI logo again I thought this would be more appropriate.

Manitoba honours Rotary Peace Fellow for public achievement

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

Abdikheir “Abdi” Ahmed, a 2011-12 Rotary Peace Fellow and immigration partnership coordinator for the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg.

“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. 

As a young adult, he moved to Canada as part of the national resettlement program. He began working with refugee children who were struggling in school while attending the University of Winnipeg, where he earned a degree in international development in 2007.

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.” 

Ahmed and his wife, Saadi, have three sons. He says their oldest, Mohamed, 9, dreams of playing in the NBA and says that with the money he earns, he will build houses for the homeless people he sees on his way to school. 

Ibrahim, 7, wants to be a firefighter so he can save people. One-year-old Yussuf has not announced any career plans yet. 

Alkis Doucakis, Rotary Family Health Days, our Senior Youth Leadership Course and Mobile Phones

Last Week

Alkis Doucakis gave us a very interesting talk that explored the Linksfield Ridge and Orange Grove with references to Gandhi from time to time.  He showed us many old photographs of the area including one of Lord Roberts sitting in his study at the Orange Grove Hotel with a small girl in the background.
Alkis had actually interviewed the small girls daughter as part of his research.

This is a a painting taken from the photograph, modified for dramatic effect and changed to an etching.

Last week was also the time of Rotary Family Health Days.  I put the pictures on our Facebook page last week but here they are again.


Here is the link to the Joburg City Website that refers to Rotary Family Health Day

https://joburg.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12049&catid=88&Itemid=266

Many thanks to Les Short for spotting this.


Also last weekend was our Senior Youth Leadership Course in the Magaliesberg.  Here are the Sunday Braai Team.

 Rotary Foundation Seminar
I think that there were about 24 at the Seminar including two from the new embryo club, Sarah Tabane and Malusi Msani.  Unfortunately I didn't think to take a photograph of them.  They both sid how much they had enjoyed it and commented on how friendly and welcoming everyone was.
Something that the club must bare in mind for the future.  Clubs will not be allowed to apply for Global or District Grants if no-one has attended a Foundation Seminar.  Obviously Mike Lamb and I were there but nobody else from the club was so it's important to be aware of that.

Rotary Leadership Institute Courses Saturday 11th November
You will all have received an email from District about these courses and a link to an application form.  All new and potential Rotarians should really make the effort to attend Part 1.  If you are not yet inducted as a member then you obviously would not have received the form.  Just speak to me about it and I will send you one.  It is not just about our club it's also about meeting people from other clubs and finding out what they think and do.


This Week

Our speaker is Robin Binckes.  He currently conducts history experiential tours to overseas visitors as well as leading South African Companies. In addition he is deeply involved in Alexandra township, being a Trustee of Khayalethu Hostel and Project Managing an HIV/AIDS Orphans initiative for Investec Bank, as well as a pre-school Nursery “Ba-amagaleng” for 48 HIV/AIDS orphans. Having lived through and having participated in the Apartheid era, he is now a dedicated South African, committed to building a better future for all.

Robin has a career which spans Marketing, Public Relations, Food Retailing and Tourism.

He owned and managed his own Public Relations & Marketing Consultancy for 15 years and played a leading role in breaking the sports boycott during the period of sports isolation. He consulted on all aspects of communication both locally and internationally to diverse clients which included South African Cricket Union, South African Tennis Union, Transvaal Cricket, Benson & Hedges Cricket, John Player Knock-Out (Football), Yellow Pages, OK Bazaars (1929) Pty Ltd, Londolozi Resorts, Food Corporation, Transkei Development Corporation, Transkei Hotels, South African Navy, South African Breweries, Barlows Ltd, South African Formula One and Motor Cycle Grand Prix as well as South African Motor Racing and the Department of Sport. Fulfilling these roles frequently required simultaneous management of projects in Europe and Australia and New Zealand.

In addition he, and colleague Lee Irvine, created and managed a unique sporting event. The Datsun Double Wicket Cricket International, featuring teams from around the world during the sports boycott. This was followed by the “Southern Sun International” - the first International Hot Air Balloon Race ever to be staged in the Southern Hemisphere.

He, and his company was successful in re-branding the “Gillette Cup” cricket tournament to the “Datsun Shield” and managed this event for a number of years.

After being sent to Australia to examine limited overs cricket, worked as a consultant to United Tobacco Company in the development and management of “Benson & Hedges Series Cricket” the first night cricket tournament in South Africa. He was also responsible for a campaign which “Saved the South African Formula One Grand Prix” for which he was commended by the then Minister of Sport, F.W.de Klerk.

His passion for this country is contagious and through his experiential programmes he paints a picture of how everyone can play a role in building for the future. Using our history as his source he tells stories which illustrate the strength and resilience of the people and the leaders from our diverse cultures, enabling delegates to understand and identify with the struggles which have taken place in this country since 1615.

His presentations are balanced and fair to all sectors of the community. Because of the use of himself as one of the “privileged, who enjoyed the fruits of apartheid, without doing anything to change the system”, his personal narratives are revealing, honest and at the same time shocking.

Recent Projects and Achievements

• Appointed to History sub-committee of Freedom Park.
• Public Speaking engagements for diverse corporate clients.
• Guest speaker on marketing and communications.
• Appointment to committee of Alexandra NOAH.
• Project Manages an initiative in Alexandra for Investec providing support to 223 HIV/AIDS orphans.
• Trustee of the Zulu Hostel “Khayalethu” in Alexandra.
• Speaker on Leadership and South African hero’s.
• Winner of Guide of the Year “For his contribution towards the development of Tourism in Gauteng.”
• Consulted to members of Slovo family and Universal Studios including actor Tim Robbins on Death Squads and Vlakplaas.
• Consulted to Designers of Freedom Park.

Mobile phones and simple text messaging may be the keys to victory in the world’s largest public health initiative: the eradication of polio. 

As the disease retreats from the global stage, thriving in only a few remote areas in three countries, it’s up to health workers to deliver vaccines and share information with speed and accuracy. 

Rotary and its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative are strengthening the lines of communication by giving cellphones to health workers in Pakistan and Nigeria, where a single text message could save a life. 

In Pakistan, Rotary has been working to replace traditional paper-based reporting of maternal and child health information, including polio immunization data, with mobile phone and e-monitoring technology.

Community health workers across the nation have received more than 800 phones through a partnership with Rotary, the Pakistani government; Telenor, the country’s second-largest telecommunications provider; and Eycon, a data monitoring and evaluation specialist. Organizers plan to distribute a total of 5,000 cellphones by the end of 2018. 

Health workers can use the phones to send data via text message to a central server. If they see a potential polio case, they can immediately alert officials at Pakistan’s National Emergency Operations Center. They also can note any children who didn’t receive the vaccine or parental refusals – and record successful immunizations. In Pakistan, the polio eradication effort aims to reach the nation’s 35 million children under age five.

The result is a collection of real-time information that officials can easily monitor and assess, says Michel Thieren, regional emergency director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergency Program. 

“Cellphone technology signals tremendous progress in the polio eradication program,” says Thieren, who has directed polio-related initiatives for WHO in Pakistan. “The data we collect needs to have such a granular level of detail. With real-time information that can be recorded and transcribed immediately, you can increase accuracy and validity.

“This gives governments and polio eradication leaders an advantage in the decisions we need to make operationally and tactically to eliminate polio,” Thieren says.

Beyond polio

Health workers also are using mobile phones to monitor a multitude of maternal and child health factors. 

Pakistan’s child mortality rate ranks among the highest in the world, according to UNICEF, with 81 deaths under age five per 1,000 live births. 

But mobile technology can help reduce those deaths, says Asher Ali, project manager for Rotary’s Pakistan PolioPlus Committee. 

“Our health workers, including community midwives, are tracking pregnant mothers,” Ali says. “When a child is born, they can input and maintain complete health records, not just for polio, but for other vaccines and basic health care and hygiene needs.”

They also can monitor infectious diseases, such as malaria, tuberculosis, and influenza-like illnesses, as well as child malnutrition and maternal health concerns. 

“If there is a problem with the baby or the mother, we can send information to the government health departments immediately, so they can solve the issue quickly and adjust their strategies,” Ali says. 

Cellphones also facilitate follow-up visits with families, because health workers can send appointment reminders over text message. 

Proliferation of phones

Mobile phone use worldwide has spiked recently, with about 7 billion subscribers globally, 89 percent of them in developing countries, says WHO. Even people living on less than $1 a day often have access to phones and text messaging, according to WHO. Cellphones are used more than any other technology in the developing world. 

Rotary and other nonprofit organizations are leveraging this fact to boost a variety of health initiatives. 

The Grameen Foundation conducts a “mobile midwife” program that sends daily texts and weekly voice mails to expectant mothers, offering advice during pregnancy and the first year of the child’s life. UNICEF provides similar support to mothers, with a focus on nutrition throughout pregnancy and the first two years of a child’s life. 

Mobile phones also are helping in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa. The British nonprofit Absolute Return for Kids uses text messages to remind patients about medications and upcoming appointments. 

The Ugandan health ministry’s mTrac program, a mobile text messaging data collection network run in conjunction with UNICEF and other organizations, has a broader focus. Nearly 30,000 workers at 3,700 health centers submit weekly reports through their phones and receive surveys, alerts, and other communications. Questions go out to health workers about medical supply levels, conditions in clinics, and other critical issues.

Members of the Rotaract Club of The Caduceus, India, collaborated with the Jana Swasthya Project in 2015 to screen more than 8,000 people for oral health conditions, hypertension, and diabetes during Kumbh Mela, one of the world’s largest Hindu festivals. The project established a digital disease-surveillance system to study epidemiological trends, replacing a paper-based data-tracking process and allowing officials to access live data with a few clicks. 

In 2016, after Nigeria saw its first polio cases in almost two years, Rotary and WHO officials rushed to replace traditional reporting with a cell-based system in the northern state of Borno, where the new cases were identified. The mobile phone initiative has since expanded to more than 11 states. 

“Traditional paper reporting was misleading our program. The information we were getting was not entirely accurate. This gave us the sense that we were doing better than we actually were,” says Boniface Igomu, program coordinator of Rotary’s Nigeria PolioPlus Committee. “With cellphones, we’re identifying problem areas quickly and acting accordingly.”

The country has yet to see a polio case this year. 

Nigeria is also using cell-based mapping technology to identify areas that polio immunization teams have missed. Health workers test stool samples from children arriving from remote areas and log reports of acute flaccid paralysis. This effort started in Borno but has expanded to three additional states, Igomu says. 

After more than 1,000 people died earlier this year in Nigeria from meningitis, the country used the same digital tools in emergency vaccination campaigns, he adds.

“Mobile technologies are the type of innovations that can fill in the gaps of our program and finally help us end polio for good,” Igomu says. “Their uses have never been more important than now.”

Business Meeting, In the Footsteps of Gandhi and International Women's Day

Last Week

It was a business meeting which turned out to be interesting as there are a number of new potential projects and members in the pipeline.







This Week
First a Rotary Family Health Day appeal from David Bradshaw:

A final appeal for helpers this Tuesday,Wednesday or Thursday.

We have had a couple of drop outs for Wednesday at Turffontein and a late request for help from New Dawn.

Please if you can offer 3 or 4 hours please let me know. David@Travelvision.co.za

Our Speaker this week is Alkis Doucakis who returns to speak to us about Gandhi in Johannesburg.  His book "In the Footsteps of Gandhi" was published in 2015.  It is an excellent and well worthwhile book, if you can find a copy because it details Gandhi's relationship with the architect Hermann Kallenbach and the development of the suburbs around Norwood up to Linksfield Ridge. 

We were expecting this to be the subject of his talk last time when he spoke about Linear B and he was asked to come back to talk on this subject.

This coming weekend sees our annual Senior Youth Leadership Course in the Magaliesberg.  Jean Bernardo is appealing for more people to go out on teh Sunday to assist with preparing salads etc for the braai....see her latest email.

What motivates everyday women to do extraordinary things — to positively change the lives of people halfway around the world while inspiring so many people at home?

Three Rotary members answered that question at a celebration of International Women’s Day hosted by the World Bank at its Washington, D.C., headquarters 8 March. 

Speaking to an audience of more than 300, with thousands listening to the live-stream, Razia Jan, Deborah Walters, and Ann Lee Hussey told their personal stories and explained what inspired them to build a girls school in Afghanistan, assist people living in a Guatemala City garbage dump, and lead more than 24 teams to immunise children in Africa and Asia.

Razia Jan  

“I’m so inspired to see the faces of the children, what they’re learning, how to stand up for their rights, to have ambition ... to want to do things that may even be impossible — to have dreams,” said Jan, a member of the Rotary Club of Duxbury, Massachusetts, USA. 

An Afghan native now living in the United States, Jan has worked for decades to build connections between Afghans and Americans while improving the lives of young women and girls in Afghanistan.

Founder and director of the Zabuli Education Center, a school that serves more than 625 girls in Deh’Subz, Afghanistan, Jan said the first class of students graduated in 2015 and a women’s college will open soon. The girls school teaches math, English, science, and technology, along with practical skills to prepare them to achieve economic freedom within a challenging social environment.

Dr Deborah Walters

 Deborah Walters, a neuroscientist and member of the Rotary Club of Unity, Maine, USA, has served as a volunteer for Safe Passage (Camino Seguro), a nonprofit organisation that provides educational and social services to children and families who live in a Guatemala City garbage dump.

Walters, known as the “kayaking grandmother,” traveled from her home in Maine to Guatemala in a small kayak to raise awareness of the plight of the residents.

Ann Lee Hussey, a member of the Rotary Club of Portland Sunrise, Maine, has made the eradication of polio and the alleviation of suffering by polio survivors her life’s work.

Anne Lee Hussey

A polio survivor herself, she’s spent the past 14 years leading teams of Rotary volunteers to developing countries to immunise children during National Immunisation Days.

She often chooses to lead or participate in NIDs in places that don’t often see Westerners: Bangladesh, Chad, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and remote areas of Egypt and India. There, the need is greatest, and the publicity and goodwill that the trips foster are critical in communicating the urgency of the need for immunisations.

“These women exemplify what the World Bank is striving to attain every day with the twin goals of ending extreme poverty within a generation and boosting shared prosperity,” said Daniel Sellen, chair of the World Bank Group Staff Association. “They illustrate the power of women to change the world and improve people’s lives through innovative and impactful projects in education, economic development, and health.”