From the Pen of the President.....
Travelling from
Johannesburg to Cape Town through alternative routes took me through a variety
of towns and cities. The contrast
between a number of them was profound.
From clean, tidy and well-maintained environments to refuse strewn areas,
pot-holed to virtually non-existent roads and other indications of collapsed
municipalities. Considering why there
were such differences, I decided it resulted from the attitude of the people
involved. On the positive side were
those wanting to do their best and fulfil their duties whereas on the negative
side were those who just wanted a paid job where they did not have to do much
or to accepting responsibility. This
made me even more appreciative of Rotarians who do so much to improve the lives
of others, the environment and our communities.
Costa Qually
President
Tailpiece
Your reward depends on what
you say and what you do; you will get what you deserve (Proverbs 12:14
Last Friday......
...saw us back at Wanderers where we welcomed a very distinguished guest, PDG Eric Kimani from Kenya to address us on the Rotary Foundation and the importance of donations.
PDG Jankees Sligcher from the Johannesburg New Dawn Club, who is also the Regional Rotary Foundation Co-ordinator had orchestrated a joint meeting with our two clubs, and New Dawn was well represented, but we were also privileged to greet IPP Grace van Zyl from the Rotary Club of Johannesburg as well as PDG Michael Johnson (1989/90 District 9350 - Angola, Namibia, South Africa) and PP Nick Bell from Rotary Holt and District in the UK.
A big thank you has to go to Carol Stier, who was in charge of tech, and who made sure that our Zoom participants were kept abreast of proceedings.
Thank you also to IPP Ann Hope-Bailie, who stood in for President Costa, who is still on leave in the Cape.
PDG Eric Kimani has been a passionate Rotarian for 31 years, and has served as a past president of the Rotary Club of Nairobi North, and in 2012/13 he was the Governor for District 9200, comprising of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Eritrea, and during his tenure he grew the district with a record 21 new clubs and led a record fund raising for the Rotary Foundation.
Eric shared with us the model that he introduced to ensure that the right calibre of person is attracted into Rotary.
Prospective members had to attend 4 formal training classes held every Friday evening, had to have attended at least 4 out of 8 meetings, partaken in one of the club projects and had to have paid their subs in full before being inducted into the club.
Six years ago he started a new club, the Rotary Club of Muthaiga North, with 35 members, which has to date grown to a impressive membership of 95, with very low attrition. The demographics of the clubs in his district has also had a big shift, where 10 years ago they consisted of 60% Indian, 35% white and only 5% black representation, today 95% of the membership is black.
Eric is currently serving as Rotary Endowment and Major Gift Advisor of Region 28/Zone 22, which was the reason for addressing us and to encourage us to support the Foundation through means of Donation.
His personal donation journey only started 10 years after joining Rotary when he became District Governor and he and his wife Margaret reached Donor Level 3 by donating $50 000 to the Foundation.
He joined the Bequest Society 10 years ago, which means that he has made a testamentary bequest for the benefit of RI.
The stipulation of his donations is that all proceeds return to Africa, mainly Kenya.
19 years ago PGD Eric, together with his wife Margret initiated the Palmhouse Foundation, an educational Trust, set up by Africans for Africans.
Gratitude for his personal abundance inspired him, and that is the reason he is taking his "Book of Begging" to all the districts.
He calls donations "Happy Dollars", and he uses the analogy of a motor car that needs fuel to drive, and for the Rotary Foundation to be able to issue Global Grants it needs all our donations.
As a thank you gift IPP Ann presented PDG Eric with a Rotary bow-tie.
A truly inspirational presentation by a humble human being.
Save the Date.....
The Editor of this edition of the Rosebank Ramble hopes she will be forgiven her plagiarism of parts DG Stella's January newsletter to announce our club's Rotary Day of Action, which will take place on Saturday the 19th of February, starting at 9:30 at Delta Park.
We would like to encourage all our members, their families, other Rotary clubs, Anns, friends of Rotary and community members to pitch in on that day to help clean up the Waterwise and Sensory Garden, situated next to the Environmental Centre.
This beautiful spot has been sadly neglected and with the abundant rains these past months it has become a veritable jungle. It needs many hands and lots of energy to rid it of its black jacks and weeds.
This Friday....
...we welcome guest speaker Lorraine Jenks.
She is no stranger to our club and will no doubt give us inspiring insights to her life's passions.
Lorraine Jenks is a global TEDx speaker, a greening facilitator and a
sustainable procurement, supply chain and circularity specialist. A
teacher by profession (University of the Witwatersrand), she has two additional
Montessori Method qualifications.
A certified Climate Reality Leader
trained by Former US Vice President, Al Gore, Lorraine also studied under the
United Nations Eco-Labelling Project, the National Cleaner Production
Programme, Green Building Council’s Interior Design and Décor, Green Leaf
Carbon Auditors and is a qualified Procurement and Supply Chain Manager.
With her unique style, Lorraine
has become a popular international speaker. She runs workshops, consults
and manages fully furnished “green” exhibition homes and hotels.
Her career as an activist began in
the 1970s during her “hippie” years when she travelled to California and worked
with the brand new Environmental Protection Agency. After returning to
South Africa Lorraine spent 15 years as Contracts and Procurement Manager for
Africa’s largest hotel chain – working on new builds, refurbishments,
management and operations. It became her personal mission to find a more
eco-friendly version of every product and service in her Purchasing Manual.
Winner of 20 awards and honours in her 70s, along with her indomitable team she also
manages two leading non-profit “yellow page” product directories – www.hotelstuff.co.za for all sectors and www.greenstuff.co.za which lists only eco-friendly goods and services. These
are used by up to 33,000 buyers every month.
No comments:
Post a Comment