A successful hybrid meeting and Rotary Fellowship at its best.....

 From the Pen of our President.....

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

 

What a happy time we had on Friday – it was so good to see you and please bear with us, we will get better at hybrid meetings – lapel microphones, hot seats and roving cameras – the scope is enormous!!

On with the history lessons –

Women in Rotary. The predominantly dependent status of women in western societies changed irrevocably during World War II as women filled occupations previously the domain of men when the men were called upon to serve in the armed forces. This change accelerated with the growth of the feminist movement in the 1960s and 1970s. Throughout the course of nearly seven decades of Rotary’s history has run the thread of the debate of women as members, yet the first constitution of the Chicago Club #1, adopted in January,1906, makes no reference to gender, referring only to “persons.”

In 1911 an all-women club existed in Minneapolis and between 1911 and 1917 an all-women Rotary club existed in Duluth, Minnesota alongside the men’s club.  In 1912, the board of directors of the Belfast, Northern Ireland club discussed the advisability of electing women to membership or allowing them to attend weekly luncheons. The club records of that period indicate the board considered it undesirable to elect women to membership or have them at the weekly luncheons. In that year, also, Ida Buell of the Duluth women’s club spoke to the 1912 Duluth Convention seeking support for women’s clubs. The Convention discussed the admission of women and rejected the idea. The RI Boards of 1914-15 and 1915-16 disapproved of Women’s Auxiliaries but the Board of 1916-17 held no objection to them being formed. In 1918 the Board refused recognition of them.

The 1921 Convention in Edinburgh, Scotland produced the Standard Club Constitution in which Article 2, Section III stated “A Rotary Club shall be comprised of men . . . “

In 1978, the Rotary Club of Duarte, California, USA, invited three women to become members. The RI Board withdrew the charter of that club for violation of the RI constitution. The club brought suit against RI claiming a violation of a state civil rights law that prevents discrimination of any form in business establishments or public accommodations. The appeals court and the California Supreme Court supported the Duarte position that Rotary could not remove the club’s charter merely for inducting women into the club. The United States Supreme Court upheld the California court indicating that Rotary clubs do have a “business purpose” and are in some ways public-type organizations.

On 30 March, 1987, the US Supreme Court heard an appeal by the Board of RI against the California Court of Appeal decision and on 4 May handed down a 7- 0 unanimous decision affirming the California Court of Appeal decision, ruling that Duarte could not discriminate against members because of gender. Duarte had the final say in the matter when on 23 June, 1987 Dr Sylvia Whitlock was inducted by DGE Dr Kim K Siu as the first woman Club president in the history of Rotary. In January 1989, the Council on Legislation voted to change the Constitution and By-laws to permit the admission of women into Rotary and on 1 July1995 Mimi Altman of the Deerfield, Illinois club became the first woman District Governor of District 6440.

The rest, as they say, is history!

I will be thinking of you all during this coming week – wishing you Easter Blessings at this time of rebirth and joy.

Stay safe and take care,

 

Ann

 

Last Friday.......

In the last few months we have attempted a few Friday meetings where President Ann invited us to meet in person at her home, but last Friday was our first attempt at a fully-fledged hybrid meeting.

It was our monthly social get-together, so it was an ideal opportunity to test the waters..

It was emphatically evident how starved our members were for camaraderie and fellowship that they had been denied for the past year, and it was heartwarming that 19 of us turned up for a most entertaining hour. And of course the much-missed pizza was a further bonus.

Only five members joined the gathering via Zoom, and their feedback as to how they experienced the meeting would be greatly appreciated. This is a learning curve for all of us.

Ann had brought along the projector and her laptop and the Zoom attendees were amplified onto the big screen for all of us to see. A webcam with built-in microphone was placed in a strategic position so as to capture what was going on in the meeting room, but the Zoom participants remarked that they could only hear the person speaking, when they faced the camera. We will have to invest in a proper microphone, which Lorenzo generously agreed to donate.

Jean was tasked to admit the Zoom participants to the meeting and manouver the webcam so as to capture as much as possible of the activities for them.

Lenore was deputized by Pam to document the attendees and to collect the lunch money.

During lockdown James had been very industrious and had made homemade marmalade, a jar of which became an auction item. It eventually went to the highest bidder, Richard Tonkin.

Sybille brought along a completed EcoBrick sample and also one in the making and gave a demonstration of how to compact non-recyclable plastic and foil and other suitable material into a 2 liter coke/fanta bottle.

Our first hybrid meeting was by no means perfect but it was our first step back into some form of normality and we will get better at making it a valuable experience for virtual and physical participants.

It is a work in progress.....

Happy 90th Birthday Bernard!!

What the heck is Petanque?

The Rotary Club of Rosebank is hard to beat when it comes to quiz challenges but can we also show our prowess at other activities?

The Rotary Club of Kyalami invited us to  a “Pétanque” Fellowship Meeting last Sunday 28th March at the Morningside Country Club

Those not familiar with the term Pétanque, might know the game as Boule or Boccia, played on sandy pitches in the sunny outdoors.

Jean, Sybille, David and Liz Purvis represented Rosebank valiantly and walked away victorious.

Our monthly Business Meeting, MoMo the Masterchef, and making a difference on World Water Day....

 From the Pen of our President......

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

 Continuing on the theme of learning – did you know that Rotary has 2 mottos?

Service Above Self and One Profits Most Who Serves Best, Rotary’s official mottoes, can be traced back to the early days of the organization.

In  1911, the second Rotary convention, in Portland, Oregon, USA, approved ‘He Profits Most Who Serves Best’ as the Rotary motto. The wording was adapted from a speech that Rotarian Arthur Frederick Sheldon delivered to the first convention, held in Chicago the previous year. Sheldon declared that “only the science of right conduct toward others pays. Business is the science of human services. He profits most who serves his fellows best.”

The Portland gathering also inspired the motto ‘Service Above Self’. During an outing on the Columbia River, Ben Collins, president of the Rotary Club of Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, talked with Seattle Rotarian J.E. Pinkham about the proper way to organize a Rotary club, offering the principle his club had adopted: ‘Service, Not Self’. Pinkham invited Rotary founder Paul Harris, who also was on the trip, to join their conversation. Harris asked Collins to address the convention, and the phrase ‘Service, Not Self’ was met with great enthusiasm.

At the 1950 Rotary International Convention in Detroit, Michigan, USA, two slogans were formally approved as the official mottoes of Rotary: ‘He Profits Most Who Serves Best’ and ‘Service Above Self’. The 1989 Council on Legislation established ‘Service Above Self’ as the principal motto of Rotary because it best conveys the philosophy of unselfish volunteer service. ‘He Profits Most Who Serves Best’ was modified to ‘They Profit Most Who Serve Best’ in 2004 and to its current wording, ‘One Profits Most Who Serves Best’, in 2010.

Looking forward so much to seeing you all on 26th March at Wanderers.

Take great care.

Ann

Last Friday....

The monthly business meeting in a nutshell (mainly for those members that were unable to attend)

• Attendance: Pam Donaldson reports that in the last month the average attendance rate has gone up to 22. 
• Membership: We are on track to meet our goal for this year. Two inductions and two new members in the offing. Sonja Hood's son Gareth will be joining as an e-member from China and PP Jean has introduced us to Rui Lopes who will be having his fireside chat soon.
• David, who also acts as our almoner tells us that Carol Lawrence has settled in well in her new abode, Peter Margolius has given him a lot of Rotary paraphernalia  to hand over for the Rotary museum, Hugh Rix and Judy Powell are hoping to attend next week's "live" social meeting and it was great to welcome back Lyn after convalescing from her operation.
• Foundation: Both grants will be closed in the very near future and reports will be submitted.
• Youth: Our Interact Club at Highlands North High School for boys have appointed a President and a Treasurer. They are planning an event in honour of Cesare Vidulich and will get involved in the annual Blanket Drive.                                                                            
• Hopefully we will be able to hold a youth leadership camp this year, maybe in a different format.
• Publicity: We are doing well on the publicity front as Sharon has been taking content published in our weekly Ramble for the Rotary Africa magazine. Ann and Jean attended a training session on social media, which they said was  very interesting and helpful, with the aim of improving our Face Book page.
• Finance: The books are balancing and John reported on a welcome windfall in the form of an offshore investment in the Club's name that no one was aware of that will boost our coffers handsomely.
• Fundraising: On the 17th of April we are planning an afternoon soiree at the Moda Ristorante in Craighall, where will be entertained by Sergio Zampolli on the accordion and his partner Amarille Ackerman on the harp. This has been made possible by the very generous offer made by Richard Tonkin to sponsor these two artists. Please save the date.                                  
• We have booked the Parkview Golf Club for Wednesday 20th October for our annual Quiz fundraiser, and will more than likely have a further online talk.                                        
• We touched on the subject of the Art Festival and everyone agreed that it would be sad for this event to fade into the sunset  and that in light of the ongoing pandemic to possible relocate it to a smaller venue: The Wanderers?
• Community Services: Jeannette's sewing project in Muldersdrift which was financed through a Covid Grant is proving to be very successful. The ladies have been mainly sewing masks and the Rotary Club of Morningside purchased 500 masks  They have also very generously donated 3 sewing machines to the project. To enable these ladies to attempt more advanced sewing assignments they will ideally need an industrial sewing machine. Jeannette would also like to get the ladies involved in knitting projects. If anyone would like to get rid of spare wool, Jeannette would gratefully accept.                                                          
• A JoJo tank was purchased directly from the factory for the vegetable garden started by Charity Begins with Me. This was paid through a very generous donation made by David Bradshaw's daughter. We are hoping that we will be able to install the tank before the rainy season ends.
• Sybille was approached by a St Marist Brothers, Inanda teacher Claudio Marangonic, whose learners had made approximately 500 ecobricks, but did not know of a building project that might benefit from them. Khensani Collection in Diepsloot immediately sprung to mind, as they are planning to build another classroom. Melodene came up with a marvelous idea to take a group of the St Davids learners to Diepsloot to show them the Khensani ecobrick classroom and with that throw out a challenge to other Johannesburg schools to also start making ecobricks. The plan is to showcase this project and Rotary's involvement in the Killarney Gazette.
• Environment:  A possible grant for Mandela Day in July is being discussed.

Phad Thai Momo-style .....

At the previous Friday meeting Masego had told us how much she loved Thai cuisine, and thus, instead of our usual Wednesday quiz evening David invited her to demonstrate her acquired cooking skills.

The dish - the iconic Phad Thai - a stir-fried noodle dish made with shrimp and chicken and scrambled egg and spiced with garlic and tamarind sauce.

Momo did not only demonstrate her cooking skills but used this opportunity to teach us the ingredients in Thai.

Chicken - gai (sounds like guy)

Egg - ghai?

Noodles - kwe - ti- yow ( Momo says it sounds a bit like miaow)

Shrimp - koong 

oil - na-man

garlic - kra - ti -em

Her cooking demonstration kept us highly entertained for a full hour, and it really showed us what a confident young lady Masego has blossomed into in the year that she spent in Thailand.

Kat-kum-kar Momo  (that's thank you in Thai)!!

Getting down and dirty on World Water Day....

PDG and D9400 Ambassador WASH Action Group David Grant had called upon Rotary Clubs to support river clean-up initiatives on World Water Day.

With the help of Alex Barbosa of Friends of the Sandspruit  a small group of club members met at the Ernest Ullmann Park in Morningside Manor armed with rubber gloves to attempt to clean up a section of the Sandspruit River that flows through the park.

It is heartbreaking to witness the overwhelming pollution of this otherwise beautiful river frontage,

and even though our clean-up attempts might seem ineffective, surely it will still make a positive impact.

At nine o'clock sharp Ann, Jean, David Bradshaw and  Liz Purvis, Tutty and Sybille met with Alex and her two daughters and boyfriend armed with heavy duty bags and rubber gloves to attack the task at hand.

In total we managed to fill 21 bags of rubbish today. We truly are people of action!

This Friday......

Pizza and Fellowship at Wanderers!!

Clean a River, MoMo shares wonderful memories of her time in Thailand, and our first real meeting coming up....

From the Pen of our President.... 

Dear fellow Rotarians,

 

It is sad to say goodbye to friends. As we all remember Hector this week, I would like to start a series of remembering and learning.

So this week it will be – the beginning of the 4 Way Test. (thank you PDG Peter Margolius)

In 1932, during the depths of the great depression, a businessman named Herbert J Taylor was urged by the creditors of the Club Aluminium Company of Chicago to take over the management of the company and save it from bankruptcy. The cookware manufacturer was already insolvent, owing its creditors some $400,000 more than its total assets. Despite holding a secure job with the Jewel Tea Company, and being in line to becoming its president, Taylor was persuaded to risk everything, taking an eighty percent cut in pay and loaning $6,100 of his own money to the new enterprise to give it some operating capital.

Realizing that one false move could be fatal, Taylor began to search for some ways to survive. His competitors had equally fine products and personnel and could easily compete and could easily compete with him on price because they had much less debt to repay. Taylor concluded that his company would have to develop higher standards of corporate character, dependability, and service in order to secure any competitive advantage. A deeply religious man, he prayed earnestly for a way to challenge his troubled staff to new resolve. In July 1932, after meditating about the matter at his desk, he began to compose a hundred word guideline which he first reduced to seven tests and then to fours tests, putting the results on a card  that he kept under the glass top of his desk for sixty days.

              As business decisions flowed across his desk daily. Taylor began to examine the extent to which his company was measuring up to the ideals which he had captured on the card. He was shocked to see how often his business failed to meet the four tests which he had conceived. After sharing the guidelines with his department heads and gaining their support, the Test was accepted by the company, memorized by every employee, and soon began to function as the criteria for building a new corporate culture. Taylor literally turned the company around by making everyone in it, including himself, accountable to these four accepted standards.

              The result was a great success story. By 1937, the entire indebtedness of Club Aluminium was paid in full and, the next fifteen years, the firm distributed more than a million dollars in dividends to its stockholders. The net worth steadily rose to more than two million dollars, all from $6,100 borrowed money and The Four Test. In the worst climate that American business had ever known. Taylor proved that these simple guidelines could provide new energy and direction in the arena of practical commerce. 

In 1942, a director of Rotary International suggested that it adopt  Taylor’s test, which was approved by the board in January 1943, making the Four-Way Test a component of the Vocational Service Program, Although today it has become a vital part of all four Avenues of Service. In 1954-55, its golden anniversary year, Taylor served Rotary International as President, during which time he transferred the copyright for the Four-Way Test to the organisation where it continues to provide an effective summary of the movement’s ideals.

 

Enjoy a wonderful week.

Yours in Rotary,

Ann

Last Friday....

Last week's Ramble contained a cryptic acronym WASH - 

In the spirit of March being Water, Sanitation  & Hygiene Month and the 22nd  of this month being World Water Day we had an impromptu speaker address us about a worthy initiative to clean up the rivers and waterways in the Gauteng area.

                                                     

                                              

Mark McClue has been a resident of Chartwell with his family for 19 years. Mark is involved in various spheres of business and social impact investments and is a founding member of the NPO ARMOUR.org.za which provides a ‘Voice for Water’ and addressing ways to keep rivers clean and safe. He is a passionate whitewater kayaker, trail runner and outdoor adventurer.

It was his love of kayaking down the local rivers that alerted him to the ravaging pollution of our local rivers and the need to raise awareness and mobilize cleaning-up operations to save our environment.

 

This coming long weekend (20th, 21st and 22nd of March) PDG David Grant of The Rotary Satellite Club of Kyalami Sandton  in collaboration with Armour and the WASH Action Group is spearheading a monumental cleaning-up project and he is reaching out to all the Rotary Clubs in the District to lend a helping hand.

The Rotary Club of Rosebank has been allocated a section of the Sandspruit which runs through the Ernest Ullman Park in Morningside and Sybille is looking for a team of enthusiastic volunteers to muck in for a few hours on either Sunday or Monday morning. Plastic bags will be provided but bring your own rubber gloves. Please get in touch with her if you would like to be part of this initiative.

Momo reports back.....

Our Rotary youth exchange student Masego Matiko, or Momo as she is lovingly called, could not have chosen a more challenging year to venture out on her journey to far flung Thailand. She had hardly arrived when the pandemic closed down all the borders and she had to make the difficult decision of returning back to the safety of her home or to stay the course.

But our Momo is not a quitter, and so she stayed. Lockdown meant that she could get really close to her host family, and she speaks fondly of her "dad", who was assigned to her as he too was dark skinned.

Her host club was situated in the south of the country in Krabi and has 35 members; it is a relatively "young" club, with an average age of 35.

Momo was their first exchange student that stayed for a year, most only ever stayed for three months.

Her school was very "militarish", every morning the students had to sing the school anthem while hoisting the flag.

She was fortunate that once the restrictions had eased she travelled quite a bit and attended all district meetings. One of her highlights of her stay was when her "dad" , whose son-in-law was a captain in the army, arranged for her to give English lessons to a group of soldiers.She thought she would teach them something practical: the difference in pronunciation of "w" and "v".

She took part in a CPR training course project, which she reckons will stand her in good stead in life.

Her club also initiated a project where they installed ventilation systems in public schools, to combat the heat and humidity. 

And the food!!! She just fell in love with the Thai cuisine! Her favourite: sticky rice and deep fried chicken. Not to forget the seafood which Krabi is known for.

The only thing that she could not eat was the Durian fruit, which she said tasted a bit like diced garlic and caramel covered with whipped cream. Delightful!

In Momo's own words - she is homesick for Thailand and she lives in her memories "rent free".

 How beautiful is that!

Please join us on Zoom this Wednesday evening the 17th of March when Momo gives us a demonstration of the cooking skills she acquired during her stay in Thailand.

Rotary Regalia...

The Cost of shirts this year are as follows:-

Men’s Long Sleeve:  R372.75

Men’s Short Sleeve  R365.75

Ladies  Short sleeve Blouses. R344.40

 

 Rotary Face Masks. R29.95

 Lapel Pin.                   R51.67.

Car Stickers.              R6.72.      Proud to be a Rotarian.

                                     R25.18.    Decal External.

All prices exclude VAT.

 

Please contact David if you are interested in any of the above.

In Preparation of our first live meeting in a year....

Ann and Sybille cleaned out the cupboard at Wanderers.

Roll on the 26th of March!

A jam-packed Friday meeting with interesting insights from Brooks Spector, two new members get inducted and so much more.....

From the Pen of our President....

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

 Today is International Woman’s Day – although we celebrate our own local day for women in August, it is definitely worth taking a few moments today to think about those women who have made a difference. Celebrate the woman and women in your life and in the community.

We celebrate 2 new members in our club this week – welcome, and I hope it is not too long before you meet fellow members in person.

I will investigate Wanderers once again – last time was just before we had the end of year lockdown imposed. But the big question is, if we are welcome back at Wanderers with a satisfactory arrangement, will all members, who are local, come back to in-person meetings?

Thank you to those of you who have contributed to the Club’s history and recollections – keep those memories coming. Some incredible projects have been completed over the years.

Please book for the Centennial Conference – it looks like it is going to be spectacular. I was blown away when I saw what has been going on behind the scenes.

Have a good one…

Yours in Rotary,

Ann

Last Friday....

In celebration of the induction of two new members President Ann once again opened her home to whoever wanted to participate in the flesh.

James, Jean and Costa following Brooks on Zoom

Brooks Spector, a retired career diplomat is no stranger to our Club, and last spoke to us ahead of the U.S elections in November 2020.

The Biden administration is now firmly in the saddle, so we all listened with interest as to "What's going on in Washington and the World?" Or in Brooks' words: " The Obama Administration 3.0".

The most pressing items on Biden's agenda are:

1) the vaccine Roll-out

2) a sustainable stimulus package, and kick-starting the economy

3) dealing with internal racial inequalities

4) equitable immigration reform

5) rejoining the Paris Climate Accord,  and 

6) rejoining the WHO

Foreign policy items on his agenda include dealing with thorny issues in Iran and Saudi Arabia, the ongoing conflict between Beijing and Hong Kong, Myanmar, Taiwan, North Korea and the Middle Eastern dynamics.

But a glaring omission in U.S foreign policy seems to be the African Continent. 

AGOA (the African Growth and Opportunity Act) a piece of legislation approved by Congress in 2000 comes to an end in 2025, and in Brooks' opinion will not be extended, which means that African leaders will need to start negotiations with the Biden Administration with some urgency.

And then the long awaited induction.

Charmaine Leesmann and Anne Padmore had been attending so many of our Friday meetings in the last few months that you could have been forgiven if you thought they were already members.

Sadly we could not afford them the usual induction fanfare, but hopefully they still felt that this was indeed a special occasion.

The Ramble editor documenting the occasion, our President prepares for the presentation and Charmaine and Anne wait  for their induction in anticipation.

 Born 30th August 1967, Anne Padmore is single, has 2 wonderful children, her son, Jarred, is 32 and is in investment banking. Her daughter, Amy, is 24 and they are getting ready for her to get married next Feb. Born and raised in Durban, she moved to Johannesburg about 20 years ago but still support the Sharks. She's a very enthusiastic golfer, she says not very skilled but she has loads of fun with the "cows" at the Irene Country Club.

Charmaine Leesman was born in a small town on the edge of the East Rand called Nigel on 26 March 1973.

She met her husband (Mike) at school, and started dating when they were both 16.  They both went to Nigel High School. They moved to Pretoria in 1994, and have lived there ever since.

They have two sons, Gerald (29) and Tyron (24).

She started working at the OK Bazaars when she was 16 and still at school.  After completing Matric in 1990, she went to Springs Technical College and studied there for 2 years.  Her career started in the Motor Industry in 1993 at BMW.  

A small intimate induction ceremony

The Rotary Club of Rosebank demonstrates gratitude....

Tony Zourides - Senior Manager and Sybille Essmann

Donor fatigue has become a catch phrase and thus it is doubly important that we thank the gracious Norwood community for their generosity.

With a little bit of help from her techno-savvy son-in-law Max Jean designed a thank you poster that is now being prominently displayed in the Norwood Spar for all the patrons to see.

MoMo's Thai cooking Master Class..... 

Prepare for a culinary treat on Wednesday 17th March, 7 pm. You are all invited to this Zoom event.

If you want to follow MoMo's recipe, here are the ingredients:

Pad Thai

A pack of rice noodles

Chicken breast, thinly sliced

2 teaspoons of Soy sauce

4 cloves of garlic, sliced

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon of White pepper

1/2 a cup of dried shrimp

1 cup of Garlic's chives (optional)

1 cup of Bean sprouts (optional)

Pad Thai Sauce

Tamarind paste

Palm sugar grated

2 tablespoons of fish sauce

1 tablespoon of Thai black soy

Save the Date; a fundraiser with a difference......

Please pencil  Saturday the 17th of April into your diaries, because you will be in for a musical treat when well known accordionist Sergio Zampolli and his partner Amarillie Ackerman will entertain us at

an afternoon soiree, time and venue to be confirmed shortly.

As a little taster please click into this YouTube video.

 La Cumparsita by Sergio Zampolli

WASH.....

This Friday....

MoMo, our long-term exchange student, who spent nearly a year in Thailand will report back to us this Friday. It is sure to to be an interesting presentation. Don't miss it.

The Sun never sets in Rotary, Prof Lucille Blumberg shares Covid insights & Rosebank Rotary supports the Exceptional Nurse Campaign....

From our President's Pen......

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

The Africa Centennial is next month!! There is a lot of work to do in order for our club to have a showing and based on our age, we should definitely show what we have done over the years in the community. I will be approaching some of the older members for assistance to get our story told. We have an opportunity to showcase ourselves – please read the latest DG Newsletter and let me know your thoughts and I will collect all the stories and thoughts. There are some questionnaires to be filled in – I will forward them via email – please look out for them and assist.

Please register to attend the Centennial Conference – it looks like it is going to be spectacular, as online events go – at the cost of R350 for the 2 days, it will be worth it.

Looking forward to having the inductions here on Friday – all welcome, come early and wear a mask!!

Have a great week.

 

Ann Hope-Bailie

 President - Rotary Club of Rosebank

Last Friday......

Your Ramble Editor zooming in to Prof Blumberg's presentation while enjoying a few days of R&R in the lowveld. 

Prof Lucille Blumberg, a founder member of the Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn and a Paul Harris Fellow, found time in her hectic schedule to address us and give us some valuable insights on the Covid pandemic.

The Corona virus belongs to a large group of viruses that affect the upper respiratory tract and causes in its mildest form the common cold.

There have been a few lesser pandemics in the 21st Century, such as SARS 1 (Severe Acute Respiratory syndrome) in 2002 -2004, MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) 2010 - 2012 and now the SARS Covid 2 which we first heard about on the last day of 2019.

It probably originated from bats (the reservoir host) but would have needed an intermediary host before being transmitted to humans, and that to this day is a mystery. It could have been chinchillas, pangolin or mink.

To date there have been more than 112 million confirmed Covid cases and over 4 million deaths worldwide.

In South Africa we have weathered the 2nd wave, but who knows if and when we will be hit by a third wave, but Prof Lucille seems to think it could be in April or May, if there are super-spreader events over the Easter period.

The new Covid variant, B1 -351, is nothing out of the ordinary. Viruses have large numbers of mutations, but this one has proven to be more transmissible, although not necessarily more deadly.

The prof spoke at length about the vaccine, and is very comfortable with the safety of the vaccine, her concern is more the efficacy. She is not worried about storage temperatures, she remarked that the Ebola vaccine had to be stored at -80 degrees Celsius.

At present there are at least 12 different vaccines available worldwide with varying ranges of cost, production and amount of dose administration (1 or 2). It is important to have a variety to choose from, and although the authorities decided not to administer the Astra Zeneca vaccine it would still be effective in severe cases.

In the Prof's opinion the authorities have performed miracles to get the vaccine into the country and that that the roll-out so far has been successful.

The health care workers are being vaccinated as we speak, the next group to receive the vaccine will be the older age groups with co-morbidities followed by essential workers and by April the teachers will have been vaccinated.

So, all in all a mainly positive outlook on the program.

But most importantly we have to remain vigilant and continue with non-pharmaceutical precautions.

She is against any of the "wonder" drugs like Ivermectin, she considers cortisone and oxygen miracle treatment.

Rotary International is in a unique position to assist in the fight against Covid due to our long involvement in the eradication of Polio.

The Sun never sets in Rotary....

Last Tuesday, the 23rd of February we celebrated Rotary's 116th birthday and from 5:30 to 9:00 pm District 9400 celebrated our youth. It was heartwarming to experience the energy and enthusiasm of our future, and the Rotary Club of Rosebank featured prominently.

It was with great pride we watched a splendid video put together by our President Ann showcasing our Youth Leadership Camps. If you have not had a chance to see it please click on the link below and enjoy.

Rosebank Rotary SYLC.mp4

The Exceptional Nurse Campaign...

In 2015 a group of nurses, business men and women from various churches in Cape Town met together for the first time.

they shared the deep concern for the critical shortage of professional and specialist nurses employed by the National department of Health -NDoH. After many hours of research, meeting with leaders in various Public Hospitals and the National Department of Health, the Exceptional Nurse Campaign - TEN was born.

 They are funded by Company Social Investment (CSI) and personal donations.

Every year they have donated care packs to the nursing staff countrywide, as a token of encouragement and motivation, and to this end the Baptist Church of Rosettenville was approached this year to source, pack and distribute 800 such care packs to the Covid nurses at the Baragwanath Hospital. Our very own fellow Rotarian Marianne Soal was instrumental of coordinating  this mammoth task and on Saturday the 27th President Ann, PP Jean Bernardo PE Costa Qually accompanied her group of volunteers to distribute these tokens of appreciation to 800 grateful recipients.

This Friday....

Charmaine and Anne have been Zooming in to so many of our Friday meetings that they could already be considered honorary members, but this Friday we are making it official. 

Brooks Spector needs no introduction. His take on American politics will no doubt be very interesting.