A Social Meeting, a Business Meeting, Valentines, the Nizamiye Mosque Visit and a Rotary Day?

Last Week

Tony Reddy

It was a purely social meeting with Costa Qually starting the ball rolling with a number of amusing limericks. 
From then on it went down hill until we were asked about our projects by a number of visitors and then we had to rack our brains to try and remember what we do!
A first time visitor was Tony Reddy of Capital Horizons.






As President Jean mentioned in her column she and Jerry and Charlotte and James Croswell attended the Valentines Day Dance organised by the Rotary Club of Kyalami Satellite Club  based in Sandton.

Very Glamorous

James's handkerchief...or is it?

This Week
It's a Business Meeting....what can I say!  It's worthwhile for visitors as they get to hear what the club is doing and what it plans to do in the future.

Lester Connock Award
We received an email from Professor Shelley Schmollgruber of the Dept of Nursing Education at Wits as she was copied on the payment of the R25 000 bursary awarded to Takalani Jeffrey Mashadzha.  

Dear John, Dear Peter, Dear Board Members,

Thank you so much.

We are highly appreciative of all the support and kindness from yourselves. 

The bursary does make a huge difference for the nurses to realize their dreams in advancing their careers.  

Kind regards

Shelley Schmollgruber 

Visit to Nizamiye Mosque in Midrand Saturday 2nd March

Hussein from the Nizamiye Mosque has booked a tour for the Rotary Club on Saturday 2 March at 10 am.  It will take about 2 1/2 hrs and they will offer Turkish tea to everybody.  There is no cost and I suggest everybody meet there at 9.45 am.  Everybody has to remove their shoes and ladies must dress modestly (arms covered) and cover their heads.  Bring your own scarf or they do have scarves to borrow.

I took a visitor again last week and the mosque is stunningly beautful.  The whole precinct is now complete and apart from a carpet shop, barber, ladies dress shop etc there is the Ottoman Palace Restaurant serving Turkish food, a Turkish bakery with the most delicious smelling bread, Manti which serves Anatolian food (light meals) and makes the best pistachio Baklava and a shop with all sorts of Turkish goodies, and other, but has the real Turkish Delight in about 4 flavours. 

Those who want to, can have lunch afterwards.

Contact me, Pam Donaldson, to book......guests are welcome pmmdonaldson@gmail.com

Nizamiye Masjid, , is a mosque situated in  Midrand. It is often stated to be the biggest mosque in the Southern Hemisphere, occupying less than two-thirds of a hectare in a 10 hectares of land.^[2] The plans for the mosque were originally designed in Turkey, but a South African architect adapted the design to South African building standards. Construction began in October 2009 and was completed in 2012.

Construction on the mosque began in October 2009 and was completed in 2012. The basic plan of the mosque was adopted from the 16th-century Ottoman Selimiye Mosque. This mosque, located in Edirne, Turkey, was designed by Mimar Sinan. Nizamiye Masjid was scaled to the Selimiye Mosque by a ratio of 80%. The plans for the mosque were designed in Turkey and adapted by a South African architect to South African building standards.

The mosque has a main dome that is 31 m (102 ft) high and 24 m (79 ft) wide that is covered in 48 tons of lead. There are an additional 4 half domes and 21 smaller domes. Inside the mosque are authentic Turkish ceramics on the walls and calligraphy on the ceiling. The dome is patterned with Turkish art and the custom-made carpet below is a reflection of it. There are 4 minarets that are 55 m (180 ft) high, which have stairs that go up to three platforms. There are 232 stained glass windows.

Up to 6,000 people can be accommodated per service within the facilities of the central prayer hall for men and the prayer gallery for women. There are five wudhu facilities in one of the courtyards. On special occasions, the mosque is lit up in luminescent green and purple at night.

President Jean is looking to make our Rotary Arts Festival a Rotary Day

In an effort to increase membership and highlight Rotary’s inspiring work, RI President Barry Rassin is urging clubs and districts to organize fun, informal community events called Rotary Days.

"Rotary Days events will offer you the chance to have an impact in your community, build long-term partnerships, increase interest in membership, and improve Rotary’s image," Rassin said.

Any club, big or small, can host a Rotary Day. Neighboring clubs can pool their resources and co-host an event, and entire districts can come together for a large-scale Rotary Day.

Tips for planning a Rotary Day:

• Consider including a hands-on service project as part of the event to let visitors see for themselves how Rotary benefits the community.
• Feature guests that appeal to a non-Rotary audience. Consider young leaders, inspirational speakers, celebrities, musicians, or other public figures.
• If the event will offer food, keep it simple — for example, a self-service buffet rather than a formal, sit-down meal.
• Advocate on local issues related to Rotary’s areas of focus by calling attention to challenges that affect people in your area.
• If you charge admission, keep prices low. Ask local businesses to sponsor your event.
• Welcome families and make the event enjoyable for them.
• Present Rotary as an appealing opportunity for potential members to make new friends, exchange ideas, and take action to improve their community and the world. Avoid using Rotary jargon or referring to club traditions.
• Highlight the work of local Rotarians, Rotaractors, Interactors, Rotary Community Corps members, and other community members who do extraordinary humanitarian work.
• Recognize non-Rotary community members who demonstrate Rotary’s service ideals.
• Sponsor an event with a partner organization to show that, by working together, we make a deeper and more lasting impact on communities.
• Ask local news media to cover the event.
• Collect participants’ contact information, and invite them to future club events.
• Partner with local civic groups, service organizations or local businesses.

During and after your event, post photos and videos with the hashtag #RotaryDay to social media. We’ll collect photos of Rotary Day events around the world and show them at the 2019 Rotary International Convention in Hamburg, Germany. Some may also appear in Rotary media throughout the year.

"Imagine the collective impact we can have if all 35,000 Rotary, 10,000 Rotaract, and 22,000 Interact clubs engage their neighbors, friends, young people, and organizations," Rassin said.