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....
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