From the President....
Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,
Just back from a wonderful long weekend in the beautiful
bush. The weekly quiz was won by Rosebank and the Friday meeting went off
without a hitch, adding a new member to
the fold.
We are so lucky to have the luxury of driving out of the
city and being able to experience Africa’s wild side!! There is nothing quite
like an early morning drive in crisp fresh air, watching animals and birds and
making that list of sightings and photos to impress. But then there is the
evening sunset and sundowners and drive home in the dark to the fire. We even
had an elephant come and drink out of the swimming pool. At this time of the
year there are always young animals. It was a joy to have a 5 and 7 year old
along – the questions and fresh eyes mean one is never too complacent –
everything is new and exciting. Rejuvenating!
November is here – it
is Rotary Foundation month – we have a commitment to Foundation. Do not forget
that every dollar we give to RF multiplies and comes back to us as scholarships
and grants which we benefit from in the long run – as a Club we cannot achieve
alone what we can achieve by working with Foundation – please consider making a
contribution.
Have a good week – look at everything through young
enthusiastic eyes!!
Ann
An International Induction.....
Sonja Hood works in Pretoria and finds it very difficult to attend our weekly Friday lunchtime meetings. Juanette McCrindle spends half of the year in Germany and on a Friday you will more than likely find Jerry Bernardo on a scaffold.
But along comes a devastating pandemic resulting in a harsh lock-down and through the power of technology Sonja, Juanette and Jerry are now able to attend our meetings virtually.
David Bradshaw has ensured a constant line-up of interesting and thought-provoking speakers and we have been able to invite past members like Lorenzo Locatelli-Rossi in Italy and Rotary member Nigel Bellamy from Botswana and potential members to Zoom in on our Friday get-togethers.
Chrispin Matthieu-Kyungu's induction took place during lock-down at President Ann's home, with his family and a handful of the members present in person but most looking on via Zoom.
During the long months of virtual meetings Lorenzo became a regular guest, and even though he was based on another continent it became evident that he could nevertheless become a valuable member of our Club and thus an invitation was extended and accepted and the induction ceremony planned for the 30th of October.
Lorenzo then nearly missed his own Induction because a few days earlier Europe had set back their clocks by one hour, and we found him picking olives, blissfully unaware that in the Southern hemisphere it was 1 p.m.
Let Lorenzo introduce himself...
Me, myself and I
I am so happy to return to Rosebank. I
could never imagine myself being part of any other club. Thank you.
Rotary Background:
My father was a Port Elizabeth Rotarian
until 1966 when we left for Italy after which he joined the Rotary club of Roma
Nord. I joined Rotary in 1985/6 in
Saldanha Bay and in 1987 moved to Johannesburg where a friend of my late
father, John O’Connor, invited me to Rosebank. I think this was in circa 1988.
Work Background:
My father was in the salt business
pioneering the first salt industry (circa 1950-1958 ) in Coega (Port Elizabeth),
first as Salnova Salt then Cerebos Salt. I have followed his trade known as a
“salt specialist” with particular interest in adding iodine to salt. In 1990 seventy Heads of State gathered at the World Summit for Children in New York
and pledged to eliminate Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) as one of the health
and social development goals. The 43rd World Health Assembly, a gathering of
ministers of health, accepted the elimination of IDD as a major public health
goal for all countries.
In 1994 I was invited to an international
meeting of “salt specialists” in the Netherlands. After some 10 days three of
us were picked to work on global assignments in assessing salt factories and
providing technical solutions to iodize the entire production. And so my first
assignment was to visit Romania, Armenia and Ukraine in four weeks and come
up with ideas. Type writer in hand off I went and have not stopped until recently.
A Family was born:
At an international meeting I met my wife
to be. She was working with Unicef in Pakistan and as chief of nutrition she
was at the meeting with her government counterparts. In 1995 she visited me in
Johannesburg and during a visit to Cape Town, accidentally on purpose we bought
a house in Hout Bay. No wedding had ever been planned! It must have been in
1995 that I left Rosebank, Birthe left Unicef and we moved to Hout Bay and
adopted a baby girl Lucinda Maria (now 24).
The Family moves on:
In 1998 Birthe rejoined Unicef and we left
for Ethiopia where we lived until 2001 then moving to Unicef/Zambia. In 2001,
we adopted a second child Anna Maria (now 19). In 2004 we moved to Unicef/Nepal
until 2008. Note that during all these years I continued my consultancies for
Unicef globally but was also a proud house husband.
Then the family split for work reasons. I
moved to Geneva working for a Bill Gates foundation Global Alliance for
Improved Nutrition (GAIN) while Birthe and the girls moved to Unicef/Bangladesh.
My contract was for three years but it ended up to be nearly seven.
The settling down years:
In 2010 my wife went on early retirement
and bought a house on the island of Fanø, setting down with the two girls. I
went on what I call “re-tyring” in 2015 and moved to Fanø. Since 2015 I
have continued to travel and work for Unicef, my last assignment in
WFP/Pakistan.
Last year I moved to Palestrina to
build/restore a home in Rome. I remain a resident of Denmark but living on a
small island with such weather is not good for me. Rome weather is like that of
Cape Town just add the history, vino and food, plus I live in the country side
with my brother and two sisters on the same property but each independent of one another.
Recently I joined an Indian engineering
company that I've known for many years. The projects are to build large scale
salt washing and refining factories with iodization always included! Once the
pandemic settles down I foresee Unicef work hopefully picking up.
Near future plan:
While living in Palestrina and visiting
Denmark every so often, in 2022 I will move to Hout Bay and stay until 2025. I
need time to stay with my son Davide who lives in Cape Town. He is the
co-founder of the beautiful shop “Just Like Papa” which I can highly recommend. When
next in Cape Town, drop in at JLP because it is truly a unique shop. His new venture is at the Waterfront where he is managing their new adventure shop of
the Swedish brand outdoor clothing Fäjall Räven.
I guess that is about it. Once again thank
you for inviting me back home. I hope to be of service to the club and those
that we intend serving.
Palestrina, 28 September MMXX
Richard Tonkin Added....
I first met Lorenzo when I joined Rotary in
1988, he was running the Senior Youth Leadership Course, and joining the Youth
Committee as one of the younger club members then, I got to know Lorenzo. The
SYLC was held annually at Kloofwater Farm which belonged to the Laburn family.
Together with Dudley and Rhona Wood, Wynand Viljoen and others we had great fun
with the kids, the course then was led by Mike Grieff who was a management
consultant who later went on to become the CEO of Marist Brothers Inanda. Kloof
Water was a very basic venue consisting of some converted stables, outbuildings
and a small hall set in a lovely valley with a stream which had a big weir
pushing back crystal clear cold mountain stream water that we all swam in.
Lorenzo showed his cooking talents with his
Cooking Lessons held at a home in Hyde Park area (I think it was a
rehabilitation centre for wayward girls – Lorenzo will explain???) Great fun
was had by all sharing good wine and Lorenzo’s Italian cooking – hopefully he
will resume those when he rejoins.
Welcome back my friend
The Environment - Rotary's newest Area of Focus...
Mark Franklin is passionate about our Environment and we commend him for taking on this portfolio:
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND GUIDELINES
Our
environmental activities will focus on:
Building
the environmental knowledge of our members, including applicable legislation
Reducing
the ecological footprint of our members at home and their places of work
Engaging
with nearby communities to combine resources to address environmental issues;
this can include environmentally-related talks, educational events and projects
Evaluating
our performance regularly and improving our lifestyle where possible
In
order to reduce waste, save energy, and set a good ethical example ie practice
what we preach, we should:
Use
crockery & cutlery for functions rather than disposable, throw away cups
& plates
Try
to cut down the use of polystyrene & other non-biodegradable materials at
big fund-raising & other functions
Use
local suppliers wherever possible
Promote
the use of hot-boxes & other energy saving devices to keep food warm
Try
to encourage people to eat & drink healthy, wholesome and environmentally
friendly food
Have
a water management & conservation policy at home
Monitor
water consumption regularly, and check for and fix drips and leaks
Encourage
members and their families to use water sparingly
Have
rain water tanks to catch water run off if possible
Use
‘grey’ or ‘waste’ water for irrigation where possible
Install
water saving devices like dual flush toilet systems
Actively
promote and encourage the ethic and practice of the three R’s: reducing,
reusing and recycling waste
Make
Eco-bricks and supply worthy projects with them
Identify
collection facilities for recycling used goods (e.g. paper, glass, spectacles, books, clothing, old shoes etc.)
Hold
sales or collect & redistribute 2nd hand clothing & goods –
not only to raise funds but also to promote the idea of living more sustainably
Encourage
the purchasing of goods that have a minimum of packaging
Teach
children to care and be sensitive towards God’s world – the environment
Make
opportunities for children to experience and enjoy nature
Encourage
children to do hands on activities which promote good environmental learning
& practice
Provide
teachers with training & support materials that help to embed creation care
into children’s learning programmes
Drafted
by Mark Franklin
ROTARY SUPPORT FOR ECO-BRICKS FOR DIEPSLOOP
COMMUNITY
Khensani’s Collection NPC (Khensani) is a
non-profit company who have been operational since
2016, providing assistance to the
underprivileged in the Diepsloot community. Khensani does
extraprdinary education-focused work with
the youngsters in the area, offering:
Teen mentorship
After school lessons in maths, english,
science
Entrepreneurship program
Coaching and career guidance
Khensani’s Collection operates from Faith Ministry Church, in Diepsloot
Extension 6. The Executive Director is Diana Musara,
and Pastor Dhloti of the Faith Ministry
Church, is also a director. You can read more about the organization on
their website: www.khensaniscollection.org.za.
Khensani has one employed teacher and some volunteer teachers. They also
provide online teaching to children who can access computers.
In February 2020 Khensani’s Collection launched an Eco brick
project to build an extra classroom as they had over 40 students attending
lessons in one classroom. The project was put on hold due to lockdown and only
resumed in June 2020. A 77 sqm classroom was constructed using 16 000, 2
liter plastic bottles, which alleviated 8.3 tons of plastic waste from the
environment and created 15 jobs during the project and trained 20 people from
the community on Eco bricks. . Pictures of the classroom in progress and
completed are below. The classroom is used for the activities mentioned above.
The classroom was built by Earthly
Touch Solution, (www.earthlytouch solution.co.za) a group of young
entrepreneurs who offered their time and skills for free to construct and train
students and the community on how to make Eco bricks and how to construct with
them.
Earthly Touch Foundation NPC has just been registered by Earthly
Touch Solution, to focus on community development and education with the main
focus on contributing to the eradication of plastic polluting. They are planning
on building more structures including a library for Khensani and ecobrick
houses for some of the children currently living in shacks, if there are
sufficient eco-bricks.
When we have accumulated 200 eco-bricks Khensani
will have them collected. We need a few Rotarians living in the Randburg area
who are prepared to keep them till we have at least 200. Large black plastic
bags, available from supermarkets, will hold at least 12 2 litre eco-bricks.
How to make an Eco-Brick
