Pam's Memoirs worthy of a book, Madiba Buggies and blankets distributed in Nongoma and a Quiz Milestone.....

 From the Pen of our President..

 

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

My favourite meetings are when we hear from our own members – getting a glimpse of a person’s past is fascinating and interesting. It is almost like sitting and having someone read you a story – the best of times!!

The theme this month is Rotary Fellowships – the quote reads: “What binds Rotarians together is a unity of desire and a unity of purpose to serve society and to serve mankind….a unity in diversity” Past RI President CPH Teenstra 1965. Rotarians are all so different, one organisation with people from all walks of life with different backgrounds and shaped by different times and cultures – yet we make wonderful friends and are able to work together.

According to the dictionary FELLOWSHIP is a NOUN

1.     companionship, company

2.     community of interest, activity, feeling, or experience the state of being a fellow or associate

3.     a company of equals or friends : association

4.     the quality or state of being comradely

 Is it the fellowship or the unity of purpose that binds us together? Whatever it is, we are stronger together!!

My thoughts are with those who are ill or recovering – please reach out if there is anything I, or any fellow member, can do – you are not alone.

Please keep safe, stay healthy – this too will pass.

Yours in Rotary.

Ann

PS – we are looking for someone to take on the Blanket Drive for next year – any volunteers?

Last Friday.....

One of the most compelling and fun meeting topics we have at our Club is when members are given the opportunity of letting us have a glimpse into their personal lives.

When Pam Donaldson joined the Rotary Club of Rosebank nearly 20 years ago, she was by no means a stranger to the organization. Her father had been a Rotarian for more than 50 years, and mom had been a dedicated Ann.

Pam speaks fondly of her young years in rural Rustenburg where dad started a successful dairy which was awarded a Dairy Maid ice cream licence, which must be every child's dream come true.

She and her beloved brother were shipped off to boarding school in Johannesburg, Pam to St. Mary's and John to St. Johns. She forged lasting friendships with her 12 fellow-boarders which have endured to this day.

She studied languages at the University of Natal - German, Dutch and French - and then returned to Rustenburg to teach for a year, but at age 22 she joined a tour of Europe and that is how her love affair with travel started. After 8 months traipsing  through the UK, Ireland and Spain (she remarked that she hated Paris!) she returned home and joined American Express in 1970.

Travel was quite formal in those days, and she remembers that she wore a hat and gloves to her interview. She was lucky to have had a very good mentor, her German boss, and when he resigned to head up TFC and needed 2 people to accompany him to set up a tour operator office for South African tourists in Washington she did not hesitate to take on the challenge. 

Cherry blossom time in Washington

Sadly the office closed down after 9 months, and she headed home after a 3 week sojourn in beautiful Brazil. 

A stint at Grosvenor Tours, which offered intellectual tours, then Musgrave & Watson, considered the most prestigious travel agency in its heyday, which merged with Castle Marine and was eventually taken over by Rennies, followed by 15 happy years at Rosebank Travel, then Travel Solutions and Prestige Travel.

She reminisces about crossing the Atlantic on the Concorde, the unforgettable trip on the Eastern Orient Express, a most interesting culinary experience (not necessarily good) on the Russian Waterways and tragically losing good friends on the Helderberg. Her list of travel destinations is endless, but her favourite country remains Norway and her most memorable trip took her to the Antarctic (which she did with Jack, a year he passed away).

She met her life partner Jack in 2003, and with that she bade farewell to the travel industry, so that she could spend time with him as he had already retired, and travel for fun and not for business.

It also gave her the opportunity to join Rotary and be in a position to give back.

Madiba Buggies and blankets delivered to grateful recipients....

 

This past weekend Jerry and Jean were planning on accompanying Marilyn Bassin, who heads up  Boikanyo (The Dion Herson Foundation), to the Nongoma Therapy Department and the Nkonjeni Hospital Ulundi in Natal, to assist with the fitting of 15 of the Madiba Buggies that had so painstakingly been restored by Jerry and Costa. They had been donated to deserving disabled children who had travelled for many miles from their rural homes with their care givers.

It is common knowledge that Jean and Jerry tested positive for Covid, Jean luckily had no symptoms, Jerry sadly ended up in hospital where he is thankfully recuperating well, but of course they were not in a position to join Marilyn.

Boikanyo is also one of the recipients of this year's Blanket Drive, and Marilyn took along 20 donated blankets and towels from the linen section of the Humanitarian Centre. 

Marilyn reported back that there are so many desperate souls in the rural areas and with the plummeting temperatures these blankets are lifesavers.

We celebrate our 50th Quiz Challenge....

With the heavy Lockdown restrictions that came into play at the end of March last year we had our first Quiz against Kyalami on the 21 May.

I acted as Quiz Master for the first few Quiz’s before Sonja’s son Gareth took over and took it to another level.

On the 23rd June we will hold our 50th Quiz having met against 16 other Rotary Clubs in South Africa plus Gaborone in Botswana and the Rotoract Club of Bukoto in Uganda . We have also had “In-house” quiz’s, Ladies v Gents Quiz and 3 club Quiz evenings.

To celebrate our 50th Quiz night we will have as our Opponents from District 9211, the Rotary Club of Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania, known as the Joysterbay Club “as they have fun as we serve”. They are expecting to have 20 members take part in the Quiz.

Talking of members, they started the Rotary year with 58 members and are currently sitting on 93 and hoping to reach 100 by the end of the month. This has won them the Rotary Club of the Year award in their district.

This Friday......

A Business Meeting.