Congratulations to Marian Laserson and also to the Rotary Club of Fourways Main Reef & Die Boere Gemeenskap Transvaal.

Last Week
It was a Business Meeting but there really wasn't very much to talk about....so many people seem to be away at the moment.  I suppose people are still mentally switched on to Private School Holidays!

I forgot to give you the answer to the silly question I posed.  The answer is that you are on a merry-go-round so all you have to do is get off.

Congratulations to Marian Laserson......she even has a birthday this month!
I have a feeling that she's always been an activist.

This Week
We have a speaker, I imagine the chairman Leon Cronje, of the Boere Gemeenskap Transvaal, an organisation that supports people in informal settlements.

Nowhere on its website does the organisation mention that it only assists whites, presumably Afrikaans speaking whites but that is the impression that I have from the photographs.

Personally I have a problem with this which is exemplified by Transvaal in the name of an organisation that was only founded four years ago, 20 years after the province of that name ceased to exist.
Don't misunderstand me.  I am not saying that these unfortunate people shouldn't be helped. I know that there are approximately 56 informal settlements between the East Rand and Pretoria that house predominantly white people. I am just concerned that there could be an isolationist agenda.  I hope I am proved wrong.

  Congratulations to Fourways Main Reef in having this article in The Rotarian

When drought drove thousands of flamingos to abandon their chicks at a reservoir that serves as a breeding ground for the birds, the Rotary Club of Fourways Main Reef, Johannesburg, sprang into action, providing lactate solution, food, blankets, and saline solution to a conservation group.

“Sometimes life works in magical ways,” says club member Ingrid Sellschop, who had seen a social media post about the flamingo chicks’ plight that prompted the club members to get involved in late January. “A friend from my school days, who runs the VulPro vulture rehab program at the Hartbeespoort dam, contacted me requesting help when she saw that our club was collecting items and money for the rescue.” Many conservation centers around the country were involved in relocating the chicks and eggs to safe environments.

“I was fortunate enough to be able to assist with feeding the little flamingo chicks in the first week that they arrived at the VulPro center,” Sellschop says. The mission ended happily with healthy hatchlings, and dam water levels have since risen, improving conditions for the flocks.

The View, Pieter-Dirk Uys, a Business Meeting and the RI President for 2021/22

Last Week


It was a Social Meeting but we had three visitors, our outgoing Long Term Exchange Student who is off to the wilds of Thailand, Masego Matiko and her father, Jabu.
They both chatted about themselves and thanked the club for its support.

Our third visitor was Dr Ronnie Klein, a former member of the Rotary Club of Killarney which closed down in 1995,

A couple of things got forgotten last week:

Outing to The View

The View in Parktown was built in 1896 for Sir Thomas Cullinan, famous for producing the world's largest diamond at his Premier Mine, in 1905.

Dominated by two A-shaped gables, red brick, and white carved wooden railings on its double-storey balconies, it's built in the Neo-Queen Anne style. The west wing - a copy of the original house - was added in response to the growth of the family. It retains its large garden, with its original circular driveway.

The house stands grandly on Ridge Road, but no longer has a view to Pretoria, like it originally had. It's still in good condition, with its large wooden-paneled study and beautiful fireplaces. It is now the headquarters of the Transvaal Scottish Regiment.

Lady Cullinan lived in the house until 1963 when she died at the age of 97. The View became a national monument in 1990.

Date 22nd September. 

Time 10. 30 -10.45

Lecture by Jim Findlay to start at 11 am He will give us the history of the Tvl Scottish and its association with The View.

Cost R 200 p.p. This includes the lecture  and tea ,coffee and snacks afterwards.

RSVP to Debby Steenhoff (peterdebby@sagolfing.com) before 19^th August.

That is today but I'm sure they will take late bookings.

A couple of weeks ago Pam Donaldson also organised a trip to Pieter-Dirk Uys in his new....and probably his last....show #HeTwo at the theatre in Monte Casino.  There were about a dozen of us there and we had a good time.

It was a retrospective show but I did wonder if anyone under 50 would understand any of it!

Our thanks to Pam for organising these things.

This Week

It's a Business Meeting....enough said!  Nobody hazarded a guess for the description in the Joke Column.  I will keep it there this week and will hopefully remember to enlighten you on Friday.....remind me if I forget.

Shekhar Mehta, of the Rotary Club of Calcutta-Mahanagar, West Bengal, India, is the selection of the Nominating Committee for President of Rotary International for 2021-22. 

He will be declared the president-nominee on 1 October if no challenging candidates have been suggested.

Mehta acknowledges that current membership trends are a challenge and says that membership development should be Rotary’s highest priority. He believes that focusing on regional plans, successfully transitioning Rotaractors into Rotary clubs, and increasing diversity and female members could yield a 5 percent net growth in membership each year.

“A major brainstorming is needed to find effective solutions suited to different areas of the world,” says Mehta. He adds that regional ethos and culture have to be taken into account to find localized solutions, as “one size does not fit all.” He believes Rotary can extend to new geographical areas and countries.

As a strong proponent of Rotary’s strategic plan, Mehta says he will encourage clubs to use action plans and reinforce the core values of Rotary.

Mehta says Rotary needs to become more contemporary and adaptable by focusing on partnerships with governments and corporations, expanding partnerships with organizations that specialize in Rotary’s areas of focus, and investing in technology.

Mehta, an accountant, is chair of the Skyline Group, a real estate development company he founded. He is also a director of Operation Eyesight Universal (India), a Canada-based organization.

Mehta has been actively involved in disaster response and is a trustee of ShelterBox, UK. After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, he helped build nearly 500 homes for families affected by the disaster.

Mehta pioneered a program that has performed more than 1,500 life-changing heart surgeries in South Asia. He is also the architect of the TEACH Program, which promotes literacy throughout India and has reached thousands of schools.

A Rotary member since 1984, Mehta has served Rotary as director, member or chair of several committees, zone coordinator, training leader, member of The Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical Advisers, and district governor. He is also the chair of Rotary Foundation (India).

Mehta has received Rotary’s Service Above Self Award and The Rotary Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service and Distinguished Service Awards.

He and his wife, Rashi, are Major Donors and members of the Bequest Society.

Think back Two Weeks....a Social Meeting and advice on International Projects.

Blog Holiday
When we have a Public Holiday on a Friday the following Monday is always a Blog Holiday.

A Fortnight ago

We did have a visitor, Mary Sabwa from Kenya who presented President Jean with a banner from the Rotary Club of Lavington Nairobi

Caroline Green spoke to us about her experiences at the former Barnato Park High School and read us a story from her book, Butterfly Moments.

Saturday Morning saw our Club Assembly held at the REEA Centre in Craighall Park. It was so well attended that we had to find extra chairs.

President Jean has written about it in her column so I am not going to repeat what she has said.

The most important thing about the meeting was bringing our constitution and byelaws in line with the 21st century and the direction in which Rotary International is leading us.

The most important point is that we have to be more flexible in our approach to membership and what we do generally as long as we maintain the basic tenets of Rotary.

It's easier said than done, of course.  I think if we manage to attract new members who share a less hide bound approach to Rotary and receive encouragement and support from the club then we are more than halfway to ensuring that our club survives long-term.

This Week

It's a Social Meeting followed by a Board Meeting....last time I said preceded which threw the Board into disarray.  That's what Boards ought to be.  If you think I am wrong just come early and find out if I got it right this month.  If I have got it wrong you may just miss the Board Meeting completely.

Beth Keck, International Service Chair District 6110

1. What was your first international partnership project?

My club [the Rotary Club of Bentonville, Arkansas] had not done an international project in its 90-year history. While in India on a family trip in 2016, my husband [Ken Leonard, also a Bentonville Rotarian] and I looked up the Rotary Club of Jodhpur Padmini, an all-women’s club. Over a cup of tea, they said they were interested in doing a global grant project. We stayed in touch, discussing options. We settled on a sanitation project for Jodhpur’s public schools that renovated toilets and linked them to the city sewer system and also helped set up washing stations for kids and kitchen workers through a Rotary Foundation global grant.

One of Rotary’s strengths is making you think about sustainability and the social aspects of projects. So we also put training and other systems into place to ensure that the new toilet blocks would be maintained and cleaned, and we addressed the dropout rate of adolescent girls by partnering with a nongovernmental organization that gives girls reusable and washable sanitary pads. So far we have helped eight schools and more than 2,000 students. 

2. What are good ways for clubs to find international partners?

Rotary Ideas at ideas.rotary.org is where clubs post projects they are working on. Rotary project fairs take place all around the world; districts can now use district grant funding to send a Rotarian to one. Many Rotarian Action Groups and some major international projects have booths in the House of Friendship at the Rotary Convention.

Not everybody has the opportunity to travel internationally, so at my next district training assembly we are prequalifying three projects from international clubs and districts that fall under certain criteria, such as having a good track record for being responsive. We will then match interested clubs in our district with a coach to reach out to the project’s host club.

3. What happens after we find a project to work on?

It’s my job as district international service chair to identify people who understand project planning, design, and implementation, as well as how Foundation global grants work — how to do a community assessment, what sustainability means for us. They can coach other Rotarians to get grants underway.

Rotarian Action Groups also can help. We went to the Water and Sanitation Rotarian Action Group for our project, and their experts taught us about international sanitation standards and other technical information that we, as everyday Rotarians, were not aware of. Another global resource is The Rotary Foundation’s Cadre of Technical Advisers, who all have specialized knowledge in one of the six areas of focus and can help you shape a project. The Foundation staff is excellent. The regional grants officer really helped us improve our project by doing reviews and coaching us along the way.   

4. Any advice for working with other clubs on global grant projects? 

For funding, clubs can pool their resources as a district and work together. Many of our clubs are small, so donating $5,000 may feel out of their reach. But if you can pool together multiple donations of $500, then you can quickly get to $5,000, which is a great point of entry for substantial projects. Working with other clubs also makes it easier for smaller clubs to get involved if they haven’t had any international engagement, and it helps promote more communication and exchange among clubs within the district.

.