The Relevance of Attendance, A successful Norwood Spar Food Drive, but volunteers still needed, November Club 100 winners announced and RSVP for Xmas Drinks....

 From the Pen of the President...

The Omicron coronavirus variant has caused illogical panic reactions in many parts of the world.  The UK, EU and several other countries’ politicians seem as devoid of rational thought as many of those we are saddled with in South Africa. Being able to analyse and identify a new virus variant is not the same as being the source of it.

Fortunately, the WHO and other international bodies responses are more reasonable and acknowledge the skills and abilities of our scientists who identified the variant and were transparent about it. It is unfortunate that SA is being punished instead of being praised. I shudder to think of what the adverse effects will be on our economy and, in particular, on the tourism and airline and sectors.

Costa Qually
President

Tailpiece

Remember, no human condition is ever permanent (Socrates)

Last Friday...

As the year hurtles to its inevitable end and the Silly Season is in full swing it is also evident that Club members have other commitments that keep them from attending weekly meeting. Only 19 members attended Club Assembly which was resumed from the previous week. 

With dwindling attendance it was suggested that the Ramble would be the ideal forum to reiterate the value of attendance.

Regular attendance is one of the requirements of Club membership. Rotary emphasises attendance because it recognizes that to remain an effective Rotarian, a member must experience the good fellowship of weekly meetings and be involved in the Club's progress and projects. Per the Rotary rules, members should have a minimum of 50% attendance at meetings.  

The calculation of attendance includes:

• Attending club meetings
• One or more make-ups which result from:

• Attending another Rotary club meeting
• Attending a committee meeting of the club, district, etc
• Attending a district or club sponsored activity
• Attending a meeting of a Rotaract or Interact Club.
• Participation in a Rotary project or fund raising event - such as a shift at a Spar collection, blanket drive, careers day, etc
• Attending a Rotary conference, convention or assembly
• Spending 2 or more hours in a day preparing for or organising a club or district project / event – for example preparing a RYLA course, making masks, repairing wheelchairs, etc

For multi-day events, include a make-up for each completed day or partial day that exceeds 2 hours.

Furthermore it was discussed that the new members who had joined in the past year, were at a distinct disadvantage due to the Covid lockdown restrictions, and had not been able to learn the ropes from the "old" hands in the Club. It would therefore be an excellent idea to introduce a mentorship program to help integrate the "newbies" into Club life and activities.

Rosebank Rotary volunteers assure Festive Cheer for  the Not-so-Privileged.....

The October food drive was followed up by a further weekend of food collection this past weekend, and once again we were blown away by the generosity of the community.

... Two more volunteers needed for this Saturday 4th December

Please let Tutty Faber (fabertutty@gmail.com) know If you are willing and able.

This Friday....

....promises to be a fascinating presentation.

 

Have you RSVP'd???

Technology lets us down at Club Assembly, Calling Volunteers for the Norwood Food Drive, Boikanyo's Buggy project gets our support and get ready for Christmas Cheer

 From the Pen of the President....

During our assembly last week it was apparent that some members were not fully aware of some of our projects or what was required to assist.  We strive to include relevant information in the weekly Ramble for members to read.  If you feel you would like further detail on any project, please just ask Sybille or pose a question on the WhatsApp chat group.

Our hearts and thoughts go out to Tayla and her family on their tragic loss.  May the Lord comfort you and help you during this time of sadness.

Costa Qually
President

Tailpiece

Be as you wish to seem (Socrates)

Last Friday....

...our techno-expert Ann Hope-Bailie had placed her trust in Jean and Sybille to set up and conduct the technical aspect of a hybrid Club Assembly at Wanderers.

We had had a dry run a few nights earlier and Jean had made copious notes and taken photos of wires, sockets and connections and we were pretty confident that we had everything under control. 

 

The editor of this weekly newsletter is unfortunately not sufficiently techno-literate to explain what exactly went wrong, but suffice to say that despite Ann's telephonic input all the way from Cape Town we eventually lost WiFi connection  and managed to cut off the Zoom participants, who had gamely hung in there in the hope that we would eventually get on top of our challenges. It was not to be.

Costa then made an executive decision that, given so much time had been wasted, it would be wiser to postpone and resume Club Assembly this Friday 26th of November.

It will be a Zoom meeting.

As they say in the Classics " C'est la vie"

Volunteers needed for the Norwood Spar Food Drive...

On Saturday the 27th we  need two more volunteers to dedicate two hours of their valuable time to our annual food drive.

Who would like to put up their hand the following Saturday the 4th of December where we are looking for 4 more willing and able bodies?

Come on guys! We are people of action!

We raised R8 852 at last month's collection days. Surely we can do it again!

Please contact Tutty Faber on fabertutty@gmail.com, who is responsible for the duty roster.

Boikanyo - Have Faith....

In lieu of President Costa's induction dinner the club members raised a sum of R3 590, and the Board unanimously decided to donate these funds to the Boikanyo - Dion Herson Foundation, to enable them to continue providing cerebral palsy children with much needed specialized wheelchairs. Marilyn Bassin's next Madiba buggy project will take her and her team to Burgersfort, Mpumalanga before the end of January, and every cent will help greatly to get the buggies to their destination.

Get ready to party...

Saving the environment with compostable sanitary pads, Our Club's public image gets lauded, calling all volunteers and Why we should make EcoBricks....

 From the Pen of the President...

 

At the time of writing, we are facing reduced water supplies that are expected to last for another 2 or so days. Not too long ago we had load shedding, or the now more used term of blackouts. We feel inconvenienced and annoyed that those in charge don’t seem to have gotten their act together. Yet, for so many of our citizens a reliable supply of water, electricity and basic services is a pipe dream.  Perhaps we would do well to be more tolerant of the problems service providers face and plan how best to cope with breakdowns and interruptions that will likely be with us for many years still.  Also, let us continue to help those who cannot help themselves.

Costa Qually
President

Tailpiece

He who is not content with what he has, would not be content with what he would like to have. (Socrates)

Last Friday...

.. Dr Coenie Louw, executive director of Gateway Health Institute and Growth.Life, was invited to address the club about his  research and development of socially, economically and environmentally sustainable sanitary pads made from natural banana fibres. These pads are 100% compostable, breaking down to soil in less than 180 days.

Why sanitary pads?

• Commercially available sanitary pads are unaffordable for a large portion of the female population
• Commercially available pads take 850 years to biodegrade
• They pollute the environment with micro-plastics
• Sanitary pads donations drives are unsustainable
• On average a young girl loses 44 school/work days a year due to menstruation.
• Just because girls are poor it does not mean that they need sub-standard products.
• With such high youth unemployment girls and young women need economic empowerment opportunities.
• Job creation for female small-hold farmers and in manufacturing and marketing.
• It is good for the environment 
• The bio-plastic is produced by the CSIR, use of organic glue and disinfected by UVC
• Sustainability is guaranteed by planting of banana trees to provide the fibre.
• Additional income through the sale of the fruit
• Compostable sanitary pads could cost 50% less 
• Carbon credits
• Expansion plans for tampons and disposable nappies.
• The R & D is almost complete, the SABS and CSIR will soon be testing samples for microbiology, absorption and composability.
• They plan on manufacturing 35 000 pads to be tested on 500 girls and young women.
• They will then be able to register 4EVA and the IP and create social franchises.

And a  Prestigious Public Image Award goes to....

Calling all Volunteers to offer their time for the annual Norwood Spar Food Drive..

On the last weekend of November we need 2 volunteers to fill the Saturday 27th  9:00 - 11:00 time slot and a further two for the 13:00 - 15:00 time slot.

On Sunday the 28th of November we need one volunteer to join David Bradshaw for the 11:00 - 13:00 time slot.

On Saturday the 4th of December we need 1 volunteer for the 9:00 - 11:00 time slot to join Mike Honnet and  further 2 volunteers for the 11:00 to 13:00 and another 2 for the 13:00 - 15:00.

Please contact Tutty Faber on fabertutty@gmail; he is co-ordinating the roster.

Why we should make EcoBricks...

Our club has enthusiastically supported the Rotary Club of Randburg's EcoBrick project in Diepsloot and it gives us pleasure to showcase their successes.

EcoBrick Classrooms

This Friday....

It will be Club Assembly. It will be a hybrid in-person and Zoom meeting and we urge as many members as possible to attend.

The Peace Pipe Letters - the story continues, Fitting Madiba Buggies in Thohoyando and HIghlands North Interactors host a blood drive....

 From the Pen of the President....

A few days in Venda  fitting Madiba buggies to heavily handicapped children has been quite an experience and emphasised several aspects that are important to me:

o   I have been very fortunate and blessed my whole life despite sometimes thinking otherwise

o   Some people who have very little and live in abject poverty nevertheless display incredible humanity

o   Providing support to those in need can really change lives – for both the recipient and the giver

o   It is amazing how freely some people donate their time, talent and treasure to helping others – characteristics amply demonstrated by those I travelled with

 

Costa Qually
President

Tailpiece

To move the world, we must first move ourselves (Socrates)

Last Friday...

....we welcomed Charter President Makheta Motsoari from the Rotary Club of Mantsopa- Maseru, Lesotho to our weekly meeting. Sadly only via Zoom, but David Bradshaw met with him on Saturday, so that he could shake his hand in person. His home club is aiming to have 35 members by the end of the Rotary year, and their average age is 26 years! Makhetha is a key accounts manager Lesotho Flour Mills. In this picture with fellow club members he is in the middle with the colourful blanket.

Our guest speakers Edvard and Tony gave us further insight into the Peace Pipe Letters

Edvard Škodič is from Slovenia, a 2 million country, between the Alps and Adriatic sea, bordering Austria, Italy, Croatia and Hungary. Edvard is a past president and a member of RC Ljubljana since 2009. RC Ljubljana was the first Rotary club established on the ground of former Yugoslavia (and third in former Eastern Europe) and with a  90 years of history since RC Ljubljana was first established in 1931, forbidden during WWII and later communism to be re-established in 1991.  Edvard Skodic is by profession Telecommunications Engineer and works at Telekom Slovenia, where he is an expert form mobile telecommunications and internet. Husband of wife Neza and daughter Nika. He is a marathon runner, Scout, historian especially in Rotary history and story teller.  His hobby on researching history comes from his father, who was a famous Ljubljana shoemaker of Alpine shoes, partisan (b.1927) always explaining stories of past events of WWII and life in Ljubljana.

Edvard Skodic became president of RC Ljubljana in 2018/19, recipient of Paul Harris Fellow Award (+3) and is regularly lecturing on Rotary history.

Tony Conn, president and co-founder of the Peace Pipe Proposal addressed us a few months ago, together with Jogi Reppmann, when we first were told about the Peace Pipe letters. 

The topic of last Friday's talk was around the clubs of the northern Balkans;  their enthusiasm for Rotary and Rotarian values, how they were shut down during World War 2 and reconstituted after the thaw of the cold war. 

Several famous members of various clubs were highlighted including:  Leon Stukel, gold medal Olympian from Maribor, and Dr. Ivan Slokar from Ljubljana, inventor of the helicopter.

Clubs from Austria:  Graz and Klagenfurt, clubs from Italy:  Milano and Tieste, clubs from Yugoslavia (then):  Ljubljana, Maribor, Varazdin, Zagreb - all were in one or other way affected by the Peace Pipe letters. 

So many stories, so little time....

And further afield in Thohoyandou....

At the crack of sparrows on Friday morning a team of 9 volunteers led by the inimitable Marilyn Bassin from Boikanyo headed north towards Venda with the aim of making a difference in the lives of severely handicapped cerebral palsy (CP) children. It had taken months of painstaking planning and logistics and a lot of blood, sweat and tears to firstly source old abandoned Madiba buggies, then strip and refurbish the shells, make new tray tables and foot rests, cut and glue foam rubber seats and sew covers.

These were then wrapped in plastic and through the generous support of Value logistics transported up to their destination.

A dedicated and passionate occupational therapist Mireo Ralivhesa, practicing at the Donald Fraser Hospital in Thohoyandou, spent hours tracking down parents and carers of CP children in far flung villages  and urged them to bring their children for a fitting.

It was  sweltering 37 degrees Celsius when Mireo met us and took us on a one and a half hour drive to a rural home close to the Zimbabwe border where a gogo was caring for her three year old CP grandchild, whose mother had passed away. A young mother of twins joined us, where the little boy was sadly cerebral palsied. To fit each child took nearly a further one and a half hours but it was undoubtedly evident that this Madiba buggy was going to change these children's and their carers lives.

The sun was setting by the time we headed back to Thohoyandou, humbled and satisfied of a job well done.

Saturday was another early start and when we arrived at the Donald Fraser Hospital there were already 11 families waiting with their children ranging from toddlers to a young twenty year old. Marilyn made the observation that she was surprised how many fathers were present for the fitting of their special children. 

Without a fuss we all slotted into our assigned roles, Costa fixing and adjusting buggy settings, Jean sewing Velcro on to straps, Sybille cleaning and preparing a buggy and Shirley making sensory toys/rattles for each child to take home.

It was a mammoth task expertly executed by Marilyn, the trained physio and her daughter Gina, a qualified occupational therapist, with Mireo close at hand acting as an interpreter, making sure that the parents understood what they were trying to achieve.

Besides the sensory toy so lovingly made by Shirley Eustace each parent was also gifted a beautifully crocheted or knitted blanket which had been donated by the NGO Warm the World.

This weekend again proved that Rotarians are people of action!

World Interact Week...

To take part in the World Interact Week 1-7 November , to celebrate the power of ROTARY INTERACT CLUBS and to connect with  Interactors around the world

the Highlands North Boys Interact Club ran a Blood Drive.

The 2021 World Blood Donor slogan of “ Give blood and keep the world beating” inspired the Interact Club to host the drive to highlife the essential contribution blood donors can make to saving lives and improving others health. Their initiative was to encourage fellow pupils to embrace the Humanitarian call to donate blood and to contribute to better health.--

--

This Friday...

We welcome guest speaker Dr Coenie Louw who will share his visionary project - Innovation for menstrual health.

He has an impressive CV:

In 2015 I was the only South African to be among the Grand Challenges Explorations Round 14 Winners for my work on the topic “Reducing Childhood Deaths through the Timely, Effective Treatment of Pneumonia” – an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
In November 2015 I won a People’s Choice Award from the United Nations Envoy for Health MDGs and Malaria at the Pneumonia Innovations Summit in New York City for “Most promising Childhood Pneumonia Innovation”.
I am also an inaugural member of the Grand Challenges Africa scientific community and a member of the Pneumonia Innovations Team constituted by the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Health MDGs and Malaria.
I represented Civil Society on the Local Organizing Committee of the World Breastfeeding Conference, that took place in Johannesburg in December 2016. I am also a member of the sub-committee in charge of Programme Coordination. I was a member of the NDOH’s Technical Working Group to Protect, Promote and Support Breastfeeding.
I represented Gateway Health Institute on the South African Civil Society Organisation for Women’s, Adolescent’s and Children’s Health Coalition from 2015 to 2020 focusing especially on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Contraception and Breastfeeding.
In 2017 and 2018 I won two global challenges involving among others the UN Foundation (Every Woman, Every Child) and UNAIDS for my work on preventing HIV transmission to children.
I am currently involved in research (as PI) on HIV drug resistance among South African men and also in the research and development of socially, economically and environmentally sustainable sanitary pads made from natural fibers. These pads are 100% compostable - breaking down to soil in less than 180 days. The project is entering a clinical trial phase, awaiting approval from SAHPRA.
I am also responsible for for the development of low-cost mobile technology platforms, using mostly USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) and PWAs. (progressive Web Apps) targeting a wide range of beneficiaries - mostly key populations such as MSM, LGBTIQ+ refugees and asylum seekers and AGYW in Africa.
In 2021 I was selected as a founding member (ambassador and trainer) of the One Million Green Leaders global initiative, representing South Africa. I am currently exploring regenerative agriculture, agroecology and food systems on our experimental farm in Limpopo, as well as experimenting with NFT and aeroponics as a way to produce nutrient dense vegetables to improve food security.

A jam-packed social meeting at Wanderers, a slow start to the Norwood Spar Food Drive and we again feature in the Killarney Rosebank Gazette...

 From the Pen of the President...

The local elections have been dominating our lives for the past few weeks. I am sure we are all looking forward to the end of politicians making commitments that we know will very likely not be met. I just hope that the results convey a very strong message that most people want reliable services and a degree of efficiency that has long been absent in far too many municipalities and government departments. Here’s hoping that there is a noticeable improvement going forward.

Costa Qually
President

Tailpiece

A polling station is a place where you stand in line for a chance to decide who will spend your money

Last Friday...

As the Covid numbers come down and the vaccinations are ramped up, an executive decision was made by the Board that we will be returning to Wanderers for in-person meetings at least twice a month - for the business meeting and then the social meeting at the end of each month.

It was opportune that we could use this month's social meeting to induct our newest member Debi Lieberthal. Debi is no stranger to our club, as she has been a regular participant of our weekly quiz  challenges. 

She works at the Wits' Donald Gordon Mediclinic as a nursing sister, she is a widow and her hobbies and interests include walking, gardening, reading, puzzles, knitting, traveling and family and friends.

We wish Debi many rewarding years as a member of the Rotary Club of Rosebank.

Duty Sergeant Les Short presided over proceedings and it was great that we could once again have a wine draw which was won by Melodene.

To have Juanette Mc Crindle present at the meeting in person was very special, as we have only been able to "see" her via Zoom for the past 18 months. Sadly she has made the difficult decision to move to Hamburg for good, and she will only be in Johannesburg briefly  to pack up her possessions and sell her house.

It was then Roger Wedlake's turn to share his story with us. He titled his talk: "My journey to Wellness"

Both his parents died at a very young age, and this fact made him very aware of his own mortality. He was diagnosed with high cholesterol in his early forties, but it was really only when he went into retirement after working many years for Anglo American, where he travelled at least six months of the year and thus led a fairly unhealthy lifestyle, that he decided to focus on becoming healthy.

In his quest for Wellness  he has read a multitude of books, such as "The Cholesterol Myth", "Stop Ageing Now", "Dead Doctors don't Lie", "How to stop your Doctor Killing You".

Roger is a big proponent of supplements, and he particularly emphasised the importance of Vitamin C,

which your body needs to lay down collagen and for the flexibility of arteries. It is present in many foodstuffs, but unfortunately cooking at more than 60 degrees destroys its efficacy. 

Unfortunately Rogers talk was limited by the clock, but in the New Year he will share Part 2 of his Journey to Wellness with us.

The Norwood Spar Food Drive...

Every year the Norwood Spar generously allows us to approach their patrons to contribute non-perishable food items to our collection trolleys, the proceeds of which will be donated to various charities at Christmas time.

This past weekend Tutty, Ken, Pam, Costa, Sybille, Anne Padmore, Juanette Mc Crindle and hubby Rainer volunteered their time to this worthy cause.

We will be repeating this drive on the last weekend of November (27th/28th) and the first December weekend (4th/5th) and we urge every Rosebank Rotary member to please put up their hand for at least one 2 hour shift. Tutty is co-ordinating the shifts, so please let him know which shift you will be able to do.

Rosebank Rotary features in the Killarney Gazette...

For those that have not seen the hard copy of the weekly Killarney Gazette which was published last Monday, please click into this link to read the online version of the article.

Baragwanath receives a refurbished container from Rosebank Rotary

This Friday...

..We will be reverting back to a Zoom meeting, but it is again is proof  how technology connects us with people from all over the world.

Anthony Conn from across the Pond in the USA and Edvard Skodic in Slovenia will talk to us about the Northern Balkans. It promises to be a goodie!