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.
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.--
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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.
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