The Youth Leadership Course, the Spar Collection, the Quiz, Vocational Service Awards, Medication by WiFi & WoW!

Last Week

I was again not at the meeting but neither was President Jean as she was at our Youth Leadership course in the Magaliesberg.  Unfortunately I was unable to attend the Sunday braai because of another function....I'm not much of a reporter of Rotary Events!

You can see that the various teams had to shop and then cook dinner.  Sadly the the adults only had one small take-away to share between 6.....

The Spar Collection
I don't know what we succeeded in collecting yet but our shift, which was the first one on a Saturday morning, is always slow in starting but we certainly collected more than the previous month......It's just come in from Sybille who had the with to photograph the final tally... R7 626,15.

The Quiz

We have a big advertisement for it every week in The Ramble.  Don't forget.  It's not long to go and we have to get as many people there as possible. 

Rotary Vocational Service Awards

So far we have had only one recommendation. 

This Week

Dr Agatha Banga is going to talk about "Medication by WiFi".  ?????

Banga is a pediatric surgeon who works at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital. Her day starts in the hospital wards at 5:00 am where she visits her patients and leaves instructions for the day. She then does a handover meeting with consultants, registrars and medical offices to discuss the progress of patients overnight, theatre cases, and any emergency cases.

Banga is usually in theatre by 8:00 am almost every single day. On the days she is not operating, she attends to over 100 patients at the clinic. The Zimabawean native splits her time treating patients at the Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital, Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, and until recently, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital. 

“Surgery is not anything like Grey’s Anatomy, it’s more like a rollercoaster ride. You need to be more attentive, like essential things you need to do for patients such as take blood and do drips. Those are the things that ensure that your patients are ready for theatre and that your patients will do well after theatre,” Banga said.

Much like the Grey’s Anatomy character Meredith Grey, Banga makes her own scrub caps herself which she wears when operating on patients. She added, “It’s my way of being myself in the job that I have”.

As a medical student, Banga wanted to specialise as a paediatrician. She then took time off from clinical medicine and studied public health at the University of Cape Town as a Mandela Rhodes Scholar in 2015.

“At that time, I realised I discovered that surgery is a public health intervention and I looked at how many paediatricians are out there versus paediatric surgeons. Children are not little adults, and we actually need paediatric surgeons and not general surgeons to manage children,” Banga said.

Wow factor

Secily Wilson

The women virtually float down the runway at the “Fall into Fabulous” fashion show. As they smile and twirl, Secily Wilson sits in the back, relishing her role as fairy godmother.

“When you see before-and-after shots of these women, you can feel the empowerment,” she says. “They’re like, ‘I got this.’” They aren’t models, and their stylish clothes and makeup aren’t the main point of the event. The women are graduates of a six-month program that aims to lift them out of challenging life situations, whether as a result of domestic violence, a bad relationship, or a financial catastrophe.

The nonprofit Wilson founded, called WOW, or Women Overcoming with Willpower, provides a range of sessions that include mental health counseling, job interview preparation, and résumé-writing advice. Since she founded WOW in 2012, the organization has benefited nearly 1,000 women and children through the empowerment program.

In the women she helps, Wilson also sees herself.

Not long ago, she was a well-known local TV news anchor dreaming of a big-time network job. But that was before she had a stroke, on air, just before her 40th birthday. It was the first of a series of misfortunes that hit the mother of two: She was laid off. Her marriage broke up. Her home was foreclosed on. Then she had a second minor stroke.

“Why me?” she remembers thinking. “I lived very silently in this pit of depression and despair, thinking my life was over.” Eventually, a friend told her: “Snap out of it, girlfriend. Enough of this pity party.”

At the Fall into Fabulous fashion show,
 volunteers on the “glam squad”
assist the women in the programme
 with hairstyling, makeup, and wardrobe.

A “trained survivor” and “closet party planner,” Wilson set out to teach resilience to others who were in similar situations but lacked the advantages she had. She rallied friends and sponsors to organize the first fashion show and luncheon, but soon realized she needed to offer more. WOW is now a registered 501(c)(3) organization that serves 15 to 20 women a year, assisted by a range of corporate and other supporters.

One of them is the Rotary Club of Lake Buena Vista, near Disney World (read more about this club). Wilson had joined the club because she was drawn by the organization’s dedication to community service.

The club supports WOW through donations, says Greg Gorski, 2018-19 club president. Members also help coach the women in the programme in job search and financial management skills, and volunteer at WOW events like the fashion show.

The nonprofit has supported women as they bought their own homes, returned to college, and established savings accounts for the first time.

Yvonne Hoffman, Before & After

Yvonne Hoffman recalls her first day in the programme, when Wilson asked each attendee to name five positive things about herself. Hoffman couldn’t come up with even one and broke down in tears. She and her two teenage daughters were just coming out of a bad domestic situation.

She says Wilson jumped in and quickly cited two things — her pretty smile and the fact that she had shown up to start anew. Today, Hoffman is happy, newly remarried, and working a higher-paying home health care job after going back to school.

“Secily was there when I needed her more than I ever needed someone in my life,” Hoffman says. “I think it’s because she’s got this ability to have such empathy. She’s been there.”

Mark Franklin, UJ Boy Child Project, a Busy Weekend for the Club & PolioPlus

Last Week

I wasn't at the meeting so I am grateful for President Jean sending me photos etc.

President Jean anticipating a
Springbok victory in the World Cup!

Mark Franklin talked about the days of his youth.  It must have been interesting and amusing.  It always concerns me that those of us who are of a certain age are totally unimaginable as young people to others.....just show them photos of your misspent youth and they are shocked by your hair....if you're male that you actually had any and if you're female the hairstyle and very often how short your skirt was.

And Stewart Mutegeki assisted the Rotaract Club of Johannesburg and the Community Engagement Dept at UJ with their Boy Child Project.  He is standing at the extreme left.

This Coming Weekend
First of all there's  the Rotary Rosebank Youth Leadership Course....don't forget to let President Jean know if you will be attending and assisting with the braai on the Sunday.

Secondly, The Food Collection at Norwood Spar.  In all there are 18 two-hour slots to be filled but only 8 have been taken so far.  I know that there are Rotarians at the Youth Leadership Course but we have 36 members!  Costa Qually shouldn't have to struggle to get people.

This Week
It's a Business Meeting but quite a few Rotarians & Board Members will be in the Magaliesberg.  

Friday 18th October
Boniswe Mdingi, who is a polio victim will be talking about polio.  She also distributes clothing so if you have any clothes that you no longer need, bring it on the 18th.

Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 30 years. Our goal of ridding the world of this disease is closer than ever.

As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, we've reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent since our first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979.  This was a project to immunise 6 million children over a number of years.  

1985 saw the launch of PolioPlus, initially to coordinate the private sector with this Rotary initiative which had  target of $120 million.  

Three years later Rotary International and The World Health Organisation launched The Global Polio Eradication Initiative. There were an estimated 350 000 cases of polio in 125 countries.

We've helped immunise more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. So far, Rotary has contributed more than $1.8 billion toward eradicating the disease worldwide.

Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. But it’s crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyse as many as 200,000 children each year.

Explore the history of Rotary and polio eradication

James Croswell, Mark Franklin, the Alexandra Leopards who help us and Rotaractors Saving the Sri Lankan Coral Reefs

Last Week
As you will have seen in President Jean's column Dr Hugo Tempelman was unable to attend because, against all odds, the Ndolovu Youth Choir and Dancers had reached the Final of America's Got Talent so he obviously had  support them.... and today's the day, the 17th September.

I was secretly quite pleased as I was away last Friday and I really wanted to hear Dr Tempelman's talk.

Instead James Croswell stepped into the breach and talked about his flying experiences.  Having heard a couple of his stories I am sure it was entertaining talk.







Our upcoming fund raiser is very important because with the Rotary
Foundation we know that any money donated to them and their projects, no matter how small, actually gets to where it is intended and is not eaten up in administration costs.  The same applies to any monies raised by individual clubs as projects are funded through a separate account and the club is not allowed to use money raised for anything else.  The funds for running the club, international and district dues are paid by members themselves from a separate club account.

This Week

Longstanding Rotarian Mark Franklin will be telling us about himself.  What is so interesting about these talks by long-term members of our club is that they have become more about the person rather than their profession so we really do get to know each other a lot better.

Here's Jeannette Horner with the Leopards from Alexandra Township who always help with our August Spar Collection at Norwood Spar.  The best salesperson was the smallest one there! Just a reminder to help with the September Collection later in the month....after payday.

The beautiful coral reefs along Sri Lanka’s coastlines have long attracted tourists. But the coral reefs, once filled with brilliantly colored fish and other species, have been dying. 

Image credit: Rotaract club of University of Moratuwa

Coral bleaching due to warmer ocean temperatures, along with excessive fishing, sand mining, and polluted waters, has heavily damaged these living systems.

The Rotaract Club of University of Moratuwa recently completed a three-year project to replenish the corals. Project Zooxanthellae — named for the type of algae that lives on the surface of corals and nourishes them — involved Sri Lankan Navy divers placing 10 steel-framed structures underwater several hundred yards from shore. The divers then attached about 60 finger-size branches of live coral to each of the six-sided, 5-foot-high frames, which look like industrial jungle gyms. The coral polyps secrete the protective exoskeletal material that forms a reef. In four to five years, new reefs will have formed around the frames. The frames will eventually rust away, leaving a healthy reef.

“We wanted to do something to save the coral and help tourism,” says Rotaractor Paveen Perera. “This project will help people in those coastal areas who earn a living through the tourism industry.”

The project came about in 2016 after Sahan Jayawardana, the club’s environment director at the time, heard a lecture on coral reefs by Nalin Rathnayake, an oceanography expert from the Department of Earth Resources Engineering at the University of Moratuwa. A similar reef seeding project had been done successfully in the Maldives.

The location of the future reef was determined by the National Aquatic Resources Research & Development Agency, which conducted a survey looking for optimal growing conditions. The structures were designed and made by Siam City Cement (Lanka) Ltd., in collaboration with Rathnayake.

The coral pieces came from a nearby site, and it took about a year to get permission to harvest them, explains club member Natasha Kularatne, who helped oversee the project. Over the course of a week, the structures were placed in the waters off Jungle Beach, Rumassala, a major tourist area, and the corals were attached.

So far, the project has been successful, and this year the club was recognized with a Rotaract Outstanding Project Award for the South Asia region. “The Navy went on a dive and took photos, and it shows growth,” says Perera. “They are doing well.”

Khanyisile Mboya, Fundraising for PolioPlus, Dr Hugo Tempelman and Shelterbox.

Last Week
 Khanyisile Mboya  spoke to us mainly about her Rotary journey from assisting in starting up a Rotoract Club at Rhodes University to a Rotary Student Exchange and then eventually to joining the Rotary Club of Northcliff.

Northcliff have created an environment that is welcoming to  young people such as Khanyisile who are upwardly mobile and this year some of them are on the board of the club.  It is obvious, really, that an evening club, a breakfast club and an eclub are able to recruit such young people.  A lunch club is another matter as generally lunch hours, as such,hardly exist and so it's much more difficult to have members from this group.

Fundraising for PolioPlus.

Make a note of the date and get as many people as possible to come.  I have an inbred dislike of Rotarians raising money from Rotarians.  We need to flood Parkview Golf Club with non Rotarians and see this as a possible recruitment event, not only for our own club but for others as well.

Rotary International is on the last phase of ending Polio internationally.  Africa was declared Polio Free only a few days ago, now we just have areas of conflict such as Afghanistan which makes things very difficult.

As you will have seen the poster is also in the left hand column as a constant reminder.

This Week
Dr Hugo Tempelman will be telling us how  a Mobile Unit can bring Services to a Community.  This is  the most important aspect of our proposed Cervical Cancer Project, something that Dr Tempelman is particularly interested in.

Ndlovu Medical Trust was founded in 1994 by Dr. Hugo Tempelman and his wife Liesje. What started as a private primary health clinic, Ndlovu Medical Centre, has since expanded to a Non-Profit-Organisation employing more than 320 people and operating in two locations.

Ndlovu Care Group of South Africa provides innovative integrated Community Health- & Community Care services to the communities of Elandsdoorn & Bushbuckridge and its surrounding townships.

The Ndlovu Care Group developed an applicable and replicable Care Model for scaling up services in communities through:
- Local capacity building for sustained community development and improved standard of living in rural areas
- Information, awareness, and education on health related issues to promote behaviour change, early care seeking behaviour and prevent more HIV infections
- Affordable and integrated Primary Health Care (PHC), Malaria, TB and HIV/AIDS Care to promote personal wellbeing and community health in general
- Childcare Programs to address the needs and life skills of Orphans and other Vulnerable Children (OVC)
- Research, Monitoring & Evaluation to ensure evidence based interventions and improved outcomes
- Replicating the NCG Model within the public sector and other NGO’s to assist in the upliftment of health and community systems across Southern Africa.

Just to cheer everyone up,the Ndlovu Youth Choir: Dance Group has reached the Finals of America's Got Talent which will be on the 17th September...we wish them luck.
Here's their semifinal performance:

With the recent disaster in the Bahamas from Hurricane Dorian we can be sure that Rotary in partnership with Shelterbox is there.

Rotary International announced on 3 June a three-year partnership renewal with its disaster relief project partner, ShelterBox. For almost 20 years, this unique humanitarian alliance has supported families with a place to call home after disaster.

Rotary is a global network whose members take action to make a lasting difference in their communities – and worldwide. ShelterBox provides emergency shelters and other essential items to support families who have lost their homes in disaster.

What began as a local connection with one Cornish Rotary Club has led to an international movement that’s provided 140,000 ShelterBox family tents or 390,000 ShelterKits worldwide to date (a value of over £54 million).

First adopted as a millennium project by the Rotary Club of Helston-Lizard in 2000, the support of Rotary members and clubs around the world saw ShelterBox become Rotary’s Project Partner in Disaster Relief in 2012. Since then, the partnership has helped transform ShelterBox into an internationally recognized disaster relief charity, supporting families with emergency shelter after disaster.

The partnership extends far beyond financial support. Around 1,000 Rotary members are involved in ShelterBox as volunteers, staff or response team members. And clubs worldwide offer valuable, practical assistance to help ShelterBox reach more families fleeing disaster or conflict.

This has recently included support for families in Malawi flooded from their homes by Cyclone Idai and communities in Lombok devastated by the 2018 earthquake and tsunami (quotes and details at the end of this release).

“ShelterBox has been Rotary’s Project Partner in Disaster Relief since 2012, and we are excited to renew the partnership for another three years,” says Rotary International General Secretary John Hewko.

“Through this project partnership, Rotary members around the globe can collaborate with ShelterBox to support communities in desperate need of emergency temporary shelter and vital supplies following natural disasters,” adds Hewko. “Additionally, Rotary and ShelterBox will continue to expand cooperation efforts through preparedness training and stockpiles of prepositioned aide in disaster-prone regions.”

Caroline White, interim Chief Executive at ShelterBox, said: “Whenever disaster strikes, Rotary is beside us. From the earliest planning stages to final evaluations, Rotary members help ShelterBox make community contacts, organize logistics, and reach disaster-affected families in remote areas who might otherwise go without.

This partnership has helped ShelterBox become who we are today. Our global network of 17 ShelterBox affiliates, who raise funds and awareness worldwide, evolved from Rotary relationships.”

Rotary club presidents around the world have also commented:

Ace Robin, President of the Mataram Rotary Club, Indonesia, was caught up in the deadly earthquakes that hit Lombok in 2018. Her home survived, but many around her were destroyed. Through an agreement with the government-led response, Ace’s club was central to bringing ShelterBox aid to Indonesia.

Thanks to their support, vulnerable members of the community received vital emergency shelter, including families with elderly relatives, pregnant women or new mothers.

Ace said: “Working with ShelterBox taught us a lot – they showed us how to build shelter and select families to help. It also gave us a chance to show what Rotary is to local people.”

After floods triggered by Cyclone Idai left tens of thousands homeless in Malawi this March, Rotary members connected ShelterBox with communities in the Blantyre region, helping them understand local needs and culture. Members helped deliver emergency shelter to almost 2,000 families. And ShelterBox supported the Rotary Club of Limbe to join the wider disaster response, enabling the club to deliver food to communities whose entire crops had been destroyed by the floods.

Rotary Club of Limbe President Eric Chinkanda said: “It was a great experience to work with ShelterBox. We have not only walked a mile in reaching out to the many Malawians who faced hardship, but we restored confidence in the displaced people that all was not lost!”

James Kingston, Club President of the Rotary Club of Helston-Lizard, in Cornwall, said: “The members of Helston-Lizard Rotary are delighted that Rotary International continues to recognize ShelterBox.

I joined the club a few months before the Millennium Project began, and I’m so pleased we’re still involved. It has been wonderful to see the charity grow into an internationally recognized, professional disaster relief organization.”

Vegetables, Spar Collections, Khanyisile Mboya, a Fundraiser and Nigeria, which means Africa, Polio Free.

Last Week
Our speaker cancelled at the last moment so the club had to put up with me chatting about the History of Vegetables.  Fortunately I didn't need to show anything on the screen because most people know what cabbages, lettuces and beetroot look like...at least I think they do.  They come in plastic bags, cut up with a Woolworth's sticker on them.

Just to give you a bit of the flavour of the talk.  Swiss Chard was first produced in Sicily and Latin for a thistle is carduus , French is chardon.  It's a well chosen name.

The weekend saw the first of our monthly Christmas Collections at Spar Norwood.  It never crossed my mind to take a photograph of the happy workers and the Leopards from Alexandra.  On our shift we had a brilliant salesman who could have been no older than 11.....

Instead you can have a picture of sugar beet which was, as well as the potato, encouraged in its development by Napoleon.
In 1788 the French consumed 1kg of sugar per person per annum.  Today the Americans consume per person 1kg per week.
This Week

Our speaker is Khanyisile Mboya who is talking on the African Leadership Academy.

The African Leadership Academy (ALA) is a residential, secondary institution located in the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is dedicated to 16 to 19-year-olds from Africa and the rest of the world, with alumni from 46 countries currently.

Founded in 2004 by Fred Swaniker, Chris Bradford, Peter Mombaur, and Acha Leke, ALA officially opened in September 2008 with an inaugural class of 97 students.^[ ALA seeks to transform Africa by identifying, developing, and connecting the next generation of African leaders. To achieve this goal, ALA teaches a two-year curriculum in African Studies and Entrepreneurial Leadership, as well as the usual academic core subjects.

The campus is located in Honeydew, on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Students share a dormitories, and there are modern facilities including a sports field, 350 seat auditorium, classrooms and a dining hall. 

I hope Khanyisile doesn't just talk about the Academy because she was a major contributor to the book 'We are No Longer at Ease' - the Struggle for  Fees Must Fall.

Fund Raising Event

This will be a Quiz Evening on Wednesday 23rd October.  A quiz will, at least, be part of it.  It's in our interest to get as many people as possible there....it's not to make money out of Club members!  Diarise the date and we will get more information in due course.

It’s been three years since health officials last reported a case of polio caused by the wild poliovirus in Nigeria. The milestone, reached on 21 August, means that it’s possible for the entire World Health Organization (WHO) African region to be certified wild poliovirus-free next year.

Volunteers vaccinate children in Maiduguri, Nigeria, against polio, marking the houses they’ve visited.

Nigeria’s success is the result of several sustained efforts, including domestic and international financing, the commitment of thousands of health workers, and strategies to immunize children who previously couldn’t be reached because of a lack of security in the country’s northern states.

“Rotary, its Global Polio Eradication Initiative partners, and the Nigerian government have strengthened immunization and disease detection systems,” says Michael K. McGovern, chair of Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee. He adds: “We are now reaching more children than ever in some of the hardest-to-reach places in Nigeria.”

McGovern says Rotary members in Nigeria play an important role in ridding the country of the disease. “Rotarians have been hard at work raising awareness for polio eradication, advocating with the government, and addressing other basic health needs to complement polio eradication efforts, like providing clean water to vulnerable communities.”

Nigeria is the last country in Africa where polio is endemic. Once Africa is certified as free of the wild poliovirus, five of the WHO’s six regions will be free of wild polio. Polio remains endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which means transmission of the virus has never been stopped.

Dr. Tunji Funsho, chair of Rotary’s Nigeria National PolioPlus Committee, acknowledges the milestone but cautions Rotary members about celebrating too soon. He cites the challenge of making certain that routine immunizations reach every child in Nigeria.

“It’s paramount that we ensure all doors are locked to the re-entry of the wild poliovirus into our country,” says Funsho.

Funsho says to achieve this, Rotary needs to maintain strong advocacy efforts, continue to increase awareness of immunization campaigns, and ensure members raise necessary funds. Rotary has contributed $268 million to fight polio in Nigeria.

“As the first organization to dream of a polio-free world, Rotary is committed to fulfilling our promise,” says McGovern. “Our progress in Nigeria is a big step toward that goal, but we need to maintain momentum so that Pakistan and Afghanistan see the same level of progress.”