A Business Meeting, Rob Caskie regales his audience, and Rosebank Rotary in the News...

 From the Pen of our President....

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

 We have one successful fundraiser completed so far in 2021 and ideas are rolling in for upcoming events! Thank you to everyone involved. Rob Caskie had us enthralled by his passionate relaying of the bravery and tenacity of the Antarctic expedition and Ernest Shackleton, in particular. It was a reality check indeed – lockdown and our COVID troubles pale into insignificance.

I had an email from District showing our club progress for the year – we are not only in the running for a citation, but have already earned one!! No need to take our feet off the accelerator though – let’s keep up the pace…..lockdown remains a calamity for many, many people – we can help, albeit in small ways.

I thought this was a good one : “if you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.”

Have a great week ahead.

Yours in Rotary,

Ann Hope-Bailie

Last Friday.....

Our monthly Business Meeting in a nutshell:

• John Symons - Treasurer - Club Accounts are all up to date, balance of R7 250 comprising of lunch monies, miscellaneous donations paid in by members.
• Project Account, balance +/- R9 000 net from the Rob Caskie fundraiser
• Lester Connock  Bursary- It was agreed that a further R10 000 shall be paid across to the Amber Buys, in line with the previous year - R25 000.

• Sonja Hood - Fundraising - The Rob Caskie evening was a resounding success and it was agreed that the fee of R1000 paid to Terry Winship of Mudita Concepts, who acted as our Zoom host, was worth every cent. We raised a net R9 000 towards our club projects.
• Sonja has submitted the My School Card application, but there are a few additional requirements that need to be met.
• We will be booking the Parkview Golfclub soon as the venue for our annual Quiz Fundraiser in October.
• Sonja has a few other interesting speakers lined up for future events                                                                                       
•  David Bradshaw - Membership - Charmaine Cleesmann and Anne Padmore will be inducted on   Friday, the 5th of March.
• Gareth Hood, also an e-member will be inducted soon.
• James Croswell - International - There was a bit of confusion who would be installing and connecting  the electricity at the Palliative Care container at  Baragwanath, but it has now become Jerry Bernardo and John Hope-Bailie's job.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ann Hope-Bailie and Jean Bernardo - Youth -   The Rotary Club of Rosebank was invited to participate in this very exiting event and our President has spent many hours making a video which showcases the club's involvement in the Youth.   

• The Sun Never Sets in Rotary is part of a global event initiated by RID3232 running for 24 hours Feb 23rd 7.30pm to 24th 7.30pm IST, in celebration of Rotary’s Anniversary, Paul Harris birthday, World Peace & Understanding and Rotary’s investment in people

   

  D9400 is participating on 23 February 2021

   5:30 – 7pm D9400 RYLA

   7pm – 8:30pm D9400 Rotary Alumni

   Zoom Meeting ID: 937 9554 6774

   Passcode: 000552

• The Sun never sinks in Rotary                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
• Club Services - Pam Donaldson - The weekly average attendance has marginally improved to 18 members 
• Pam has asked for members to please notify her of make-ups.  

• Community Services - Sybille Essmann -
•  Sybille had sent through an article and photos to Caxtons for publication in the Killarney Gazette documenting the food order collection by Stephan Ferreira of Charity begins with me. At time of writing these minutes the article had been published on Tuesday 16^th February. Specifically highlighted: “Projects we get involved with have to be sustainable”

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•  David gave feedback on our club involvement with Rotary Club of Northcliff’s wheelchair project. This came on the back of our club paying R400 for a wheelchair for a pensioner Stephen Pyoos who lives at the Bertha Solomons Cottages Retirement home in Jeppe. Wheelchairs are donated and refurbished in Selby and then sold at an affordable price to needy recipients.
•  Jeannette gave feedback on the R1700 she and other ladies in her complex donate monthly to go towards groceries for Puthatidjaba, Charity Begins with Me and also Marianne Soal’s Rosettenville feeding project.                                                                                                              She had a meeting with Linda Twala of Puthatidjaba. He has a vision of creating a “retirement village” built out of old containers. As our club had refurbished the container for the palliative care centre at Baragwanath, it is a project we can investigate.                           
•  Blanket Drive: We will continue with this project, not quite sure about the logistics, which will depend on Covid restrictions. Sonja already has an “order” for 40 blankets.                  
•  Charity Begins With Me – Vegetable Garden Project – As it is unlikely that we will get a JoJo tank donated, the committee agreed that we will purchase a 5000 litre tank. Sybille had circulated an e-mail sent by Elandre from JoJo, who had suggested that we could purchase a “damaged” tank (dented or scratched, but otherwise sound) from their depot in Pretoria. Sybille will drive through this Friday afternoon (19^th) to investigate insitu whether it is a viable option.
• AquaBox   -  David has been in contact with Kevin Barkley in the UK. Needs further investigation due to imp
• White Cane Project – Melodene managed to get Elizabeth Louw from the College of Mobility and Orientation to present to us on Friday 29^th of January. They will receive a monetary donation, amount to be determined.  
• Ecobricks project in collaboration with Rotary Club of Randburg (Diana Musara). +/- 80 EcoBricks delivered to Khensani, an after-school centre in Diepsloot, they need over 10 000 bottles to build a further classroom.

Rob Caskie, the highlight of our Rotary Week......     

    

Although Ernest Shackleton is known to us as a Polar explorer, I don't think many of the evening's participants were quite aware of the harrowing ordeal that he and his team had to endure in the arctic ice and the sheer determination of the human spirit to survive.

Rob Caskie had us on the edge of our seats and the positive response we have received to this riveting presentation has been overwhelming.    

Thank you to all the Rotarians from our Club, fellow Rotarians from as far afield as Hermanus and Gabarone and friends of Rotary who made this fundraiser a resounding success.

Next Friday..... 

Professor Lucille Blumberg

Deputy Director of the Institute of Communicable diseases, of the National Health Laboratory Service, and Head of the Public Health Surveillance and Response Division, South Africa.

She is also medical consultant to the Emerging Pathogens Centre on rabies and viral haemorrhagic fevers.

She is a medical graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand and a member of the joint staff and is an associate professor in the department of medical microbiology at the University of Stellenbosch, Western Cape.

She has specialist qualifications in clinical microbiology, travel medicine and infectious diseases. Her special interests are in tropical diseases, travel medicine, malaria, the viral haemorrhagic fevers, an rabies.

She is a member of a number of South African expert groups including the Rabies Advisory Group, Malaria Advisory Group and National Advisory Group on Immunization, as well as the advisory group to the WHO on mass Gatherings. She was a member of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding Ebola.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

A worthy Lester Connock Recipient, Chrispin shares his Story, and last call-up for the Rob Caskie fundraiser....

 From our President's Pen....

 

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

 Never a dull moment around here – home from Cape Town Thursday, award giving on Friday and now preparing for “the sun never sets at Rotary!” and our own exciting Rob Caskie talk on Wednesday. Shrove Tuesday this week and Lent starts on Wednesday!! The sun really does not set!!

 On the 23rd February we will be honouring Paul Harris, and Rotary’s birthday by attending a 24hr around the world meeting highlighting Rotary Youth – RYLA, Rotary Exchange, Interact and Rotaract.

District 9400 has a 3 hour slot and Rosebank will be taking part. Great excitement – hearing from past leadership students, and alumni. Interesting to see and hear from other parts of the world how they run their programs.

As I write this letter I am concerned about something I heard on the radio today – amidst the excitement of the return to school for thousands of school children, many children who are returning have experienced loss in their homes and families. Our teachers are not really equipped to deal with counselling and bereavement – who will be there to help those children deal with this??  What can WE do?

Even if we reach only a few of them – someone or something to hug? Let’s think on it.

Enjoy Caskie!!

Ann Hope-Bailie

President - Rotary Club of Rosebank

Johannesburg

+2782 570 6627 mobile

Last Friday......

The Lester Connock Award

Who remembers the 17th of February last year when we congregated at the Wanderers Golf Club to celebrate our worthy Vocational Award recipients and to present the annual Lester Connock Award to the winning candidate from the Wits Faculty of Nursing Education?

It seems a lifetime ago, doesn't it?

As much as we had hoped that 2021 would bring back some form of normality we are still very far way from being able to celebrate our heroes in a manner befitting their caliber.

Vocational Awards will therefore stand over till later on in the year, but  thank goodness we were in a position to choose a worthy winner for the Lester Connock Bursary, awarded to a student from the Wits Faculty of Nursing Education to assist in their field of research.

Amber Buyl made a compelling application for this bursary. She is a registered nurse and midwife, having studied a Bachelor of Nursing with honours at the University of Witwatersrand with an additional diploma in Perinatal Education. She started her Master's Degree in Nursing Science with an interest in midwifery/ women's health.

President Ann once again invited us to her home so that we could present this certificate to Amber in person. It was a very intimate ceremony with Rotarians David Bradshaw, James Croswell, Sybille Essmann and Chrispin Matthieu-Kyungu looking on.

Viv Herbert from Wits had accompanied Amber to receive her award.

Chrispin shares his Story....

Chrispin Matthieu-Kyungu, one of 9 children and a twin, grew up in the town of Katanga in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

His father, who worked as a driver passed away when Chrispin was in Grade 10, but with the support of his sister he managed to complete his degree in psychology at the University of Lubumbashi. He was an assistant pastor and because of his qualifications he very soon got roped into trauma counselling and assignments of reconciliation. This led him to fall out of favour with the people in power and he eventually had to flee to Zambia, leaving his fiance behind.

He had a sister in South Africa and eventually came to Johannesburg in 2005. His qualifications were not recognized in S.A. which meant he had to re-do his degree at UNISA.

In 2008 his internship placed him at the Jeppe police station where his main focus was dealing with appalling cases of xenophobia, which of course also affected him personally. He lived among a group of 200 refugees that had congregated at the police precinct, but he was allowed to use the police facilities so that he could study for his board exam which he passed in 2009. In the meantime his fiance joined him and he married in 2008.

They then moved to the Eastern Cape where he worked as the only foreigner in a company that subjected him to many acts of xenophobia. He eventually returned to Gauteng and joined a  Congolese  Recruitment and Consulting company.

He now works for Raizcorp, an incubation and business acceleration company who train entrepreneurs on the African continent. They were specifically looking for a French speaking psychologist.

Even when he still lived in the Congo, Chrispin had aspired to become a Rotarian, and he feels that at the Rotary Club of Rosebank he has found his home as he feels welcome and not discriminated against.

His wife Nelly Ngoie is a pre-school teacher, and he has three boys, Jenovic Ngoie, who is 11, Dodie Ngoie, who is 6 and the baby Merdie Ngoie who is 3 years old.

Sadly, to this day he and his family are still considered asylum seekers and have still not been awarded permanent residence in this country.

Have you booked your seat....

Mid Year AGM, A sustainable Eco-brick Project and it is not too late to book for an exciting evening with Rob Caskie

 From our President's Pen....

 

All Rosebank Rotarians were encouraged to fill in a survey at the end of 2020 – very similar to that which was distributed by RI. Testing the temperature of the club – and we know something about temperature checks and how important they are from recent months!! 

Very few members returned a completed survey – I was somewhat disheartened at first, and then thought it through and circumstances and current events do have a bearing on how we feel, so the level of complacency that is evident in the club seems quite understandable.

 We are ticking off the boxes of things we are required to do, and we have elected office bearers for the coming Rotary year. Your President Elect Costa Qually and Secretary Mike Honnet will both be the new guys on the block!! With Rtn Richard Maloney receiving the baton from Rtn James Croswell, the changes keep coming!! You know what they say about change!? And we do all need a holiday!

 I love being a Rotarian – how about you? Looking forward to this coming Friday…

 Yours in Rotary.

 

Ann

Last Friday.....

22 members and two soon-to-be members signed into the Club AGM.

President Ann reported back on the Rotary year so far and highlighted the club goals we had set ourselves at the beginning of the Rotary year last July.

In July nobody would have thought that 7 months into the year we would still be very much in the grips of the pandemic and that some of the goals are becoming increasingly difficult to attain. Everyone agreed that given the prevailing challenges it would be better to modify these goals and make them more realistic.

1. 40 members - The aim was to gain 9 new members, but who could have foreseen that 4 members would be called to Higher Service in just a few months. The goal has therefore been revised to a more realistic membership of 36, gaining 5 new members. Chrispin and Lorenzo were inducted in 2020,  Anne Padmore and Charmaine Cleesmann are soon to become our newest inductees, and no doubt we will be able to induct one further member before the year is out.

2. Service project participation - in previous years to set a goal of 30 members would have been easily accomplished, but given the Covid restrictions and that many of our members are of a vulnerable age the goal was revised down to an achievable 20 members.

3.Rotary Action Group - revised from 1 member up to 5 members and so far James, David and Ann have joined Action Groups, and no doubt we should be able to encourage two more members to join.

4. New Member Sponsorship - Sonja Hood has been instrumental at wooing Anne Padmore and Charmaine Cleesmann to join and David Bradshaw was responsible for bringing Chrispin on board.

4. Discon Attendance - has been revised upwards from 10 to 15 attendees. It is the Rotary Africa Centennial International Conference on the 24th and 25th of April and as it will be a virtual conference there really is no excuse not to attend.

 Book here for the Rotary Africa Centennial International Conference

5. Leadership Development Participation - A goal of 5 had been set, and we have already achieved 3, so by the end of the Rotary year we can surely tick that off the list.

6. Rotary Foundation - R10 000 - achieved

7. Polio Plus - R5 000 - achieved

8. 2 major service projects - work in process

9. 4 Social activities - With our weekly inter-club quiz evenings we have exceeded this goal by far!

We have taken Fellowship to another level, reaching as far as Hermanus and Newlands in the Cape, Botswana and Uganda as our international opponents. James Croswell is our secret weapon.

10. 10 pieces of PR on social media. Our Facebook is active and we are planning in combining the website and the weekly Ramble in the near future.

11. 4 media stories about Club projects - Jean has submitted 3 articles to Rotary Africa so far.

12. Interact Club - Highlands North Boys High School  - Marianne Soal has taken on this project

13. Youth Exchange involvement - our exchange student Masego (or Momo) recently returned from Thailand to report back to us in March.

Eco-bricks for the Diepsloot community.....

Mark Franklin had been passionate about the environment and recycling and had encouraged everyone in his circle of influence, be it at his Church or at Rotary, to help make eco-bricks for the Khensani Collection NPC in Diepsloot.

Khensani Collection NPC is a non-profit company who has been operational since 2016, providing assistance to the underprivileged in  the Diepsloot community..

Khensani does extraordinary work with the youngsters in the area, offering

•  teen mentorship
•  after-school lessons in Maths, English and Science
• entrepreneurship programs
•  coaching and career guidance.

In February 2020 Khensani Collection launched an Eco-Brick project  to build an extra classroom as they had 40 students attending lessons in one classroom.

It took in excess of 10 000 Eco-Bricks to build the classroom, and the result is nothing short of miraculous.

Another classroom is planned and although only a drop in the ocean Mark had managed to collect about 50 bottles before he passed away, which Yvonne then passed on to Sybille. Fellow Rotarians and friends had added another 50 bottles to her collection.

She in turn made contact with Diana Musara, President Elect for the Rotary Club of Randburg who is the driving force behind Khensani and the Eco-Brick project. Last Friday afternoon a boot-load of ecobricks were taken to Diana who then took Sybille to Diepsloot to see firsthand what 10 000 Ecobricks can build.

Diana Musara is encouraging the Diepsloot community to assist in filling the eco-bricks with

non-recyclable waste and every eco-brick we can supply will eventually build a further much needed classroom.

This is community service on so many levels and a project we can all contribute to.

Let's collaborate with the Rotary Club of Randburg to add to this mountain of eco-bricks.

Please contact Sybille to collect completed eco-bricks.

We are saving the environment eco-brick by eco-brick.

Don't miss out on Rob Caskie's Tales of Adventure......

A Social Meeting enriched by a short introduction to the White Cane Project, People of Action hand over food donation to Charity begins with Me and a Blast from the Past.....

 From the Pen of our President....

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

 

So many jokes, cartoons and, dare I say, ‘rubbish’ fills our inboxes and abounds on Social Media. Every once in a while I sit up and take notice of something worth reading. This is one such piece, worth a read, even if you have seen it before. It made me think.

Martina Navratilova was once asked, “How do you maintain your focus, physique and sharp game even at the age of 43?" 

She gave a humble reply, “The ball doesn’t know how old I am. You need to stop yourself from stopping yourself. Every game in life is actually played on a 6-inch ground – the space between your two ears. We don't live in bungalows, duplexes, or flats. We live in our mind which is an unlimited area. Life is great when things are sorted and uncluttered there. Keeping the mind messy with hatred growing on the table, regrets piling up in the corner, expectations boiling in the kitchen, secrets stuffed under the carpet, and worries littered everywhere ruins this real home.  The key factor to performing well in life and in every arena is the ability to control the quality and quantity of your internal dialogue. Performance is potential minus internal interference. Live in peace, not in pieces”.

  Looking forward to ‘seeing’ you all at the AGM on Friday.

Yours,

 

Ann Hope-Bailie

President - Rotary Club of Rosebank

Last Friday....

The Ambassador to the Holy Sea had been invited by Lorenzo to address us last Friday, but sadly due to lockdown restrictions in Italy he was unable to travel to Palestrina for the meeting. 

Melodene spontaneously took this opportunity to persuade Elizabeth Louw, who is the Head of the College of Orientation and Mobility to address us and tell us a little more about the White Cane Project, which our Club had supported in previous years, and wish to add to the 2021 list of deserving Community Services Projects.

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Elizabeth Louw, whose background is in education, writes all the manuals and sets all the exams for the the trainees.

It is a 2 year NQF Level 5 course and you then obtain a SETA accredited Diploma in Orientation and Mobility, and as a practitioner you are then able to go into the community and provide visual impaired children and adults with a long cane, visual skills and daily living skills training at no cost.

You learn to teach people how to use the long cane and the skills of daily living, such as cooking, cleaning and identifying money.

One qualified practitioner can train between 40 and 45 persons per year.

White canes have evolved over the years.

They are imported and cost about R450. They do however last several years.

They are an extension of your senses and give a sight-impaired person mobility and a feeling of independence.

60% of all sight-impaired persons are over the age of 40 and have lost their vision later in life due to glaucoma or diabetic retinopathy, which are the main contributors to blindness

In normal years the Guide Dog Association under which the College for Orientation and Mobility falls would have been able to raise R100 000 in donations, but in 2020 their fundraising initiatives were also sorely affected by the pandemic, and thus they only managed to augment their coffers with a mere R28 000.

Community Service in Action....

After last Friday meeting President Ann, Sybille and Sonja met Stephan Ferreira of Charity Begins with Me at the Norwood Spar to assist him with the collection of food items that he had requested on his wish list for the distribution to the community of various informal settlements in the Durban Deep area near Krugersdorp. 

What made this particularly special is that this was not a mere act of goodwill, but a economic transaction. Stephan has created a recycling swap shop in the community and the residents will receive food items in exchange for recyclable material such as plastic and tins, which in turn is then passed on to the waste collectors who will be able to sell it to the various waste management companies.

It is Stephan's  aim is to instill dignity to these communities so that they learn  not to only rely on hand-outs, but that they have to do something in return for the food they receive.

Who remembers this?

This Friday.....

Please heed our President's call and make every effort to attend the AGM on Friday.

Zoom makes it possible!