We find out more about the Donate A Loo Project, Making the difference in the lives of Cerebral Palsy children and our weekly quiz Challenge once again goes beyond the borders of South Africa...

 From the Pen of the President...

The trip to KZN with Boikanyo Trust has had a meaningful impact on me.  The smiles on the faces of some of the recipients of Madiba buggies and their carers/parents was uplifting and good for the soul.  The suffering that some of the children have endured and the level of poverty that was evident made any difficulties I may have faced or complaints I may have made in the past pale into insignificance.  A clear demonstration of the validity of the current RI theme of “Serve to change Lives”.

Costa Qually
President

Tailpiece

Definition of politics in South Africa:  The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

Last Friday....

...was a hybrid meeting at Wanderers, and Ann Hope-Bailie had to juggle two important roles: that of duty sergeant as well as being the technical director. She will be the first to agree that it is no easy task to link up the lap-top with the projector, then to connect the speakers, web-cam and sound system, make sure the mics work and last but not least to admit the Zoom attendees to the meeting and to ensure that they too are able to enjoy the experience.

Needless to say the Gremlins were at work again, but Ann remained calm and managed to eventually resolve the issue.

We welcomed a delegation from Johannesburg - New Dawn, David Marshall, Adele Dabbs and Peter Primich, headed up by Helene Bramwell to present a project that she is very passionate about to us, in the hope that with joint participation from various local and international clubs a Global Grant could be secured.

Helene was so deeply moved when she heard about the plight of a young child who fell into a pit latrine and drowned, that she felt she had to do something tangible to prevent further deaths, and with that the Donate A Loo Project was born.

She was not deterred by the red-tape associated with getting this project off the ground: Registering a Public Benefit Organisation, registering  with SARS, identifying nursery schools, determining what sanitation facilities they had, and finding willing partners to support her vision.

Helene was appalled at the dire conditions she uncovered at many nursery schools and saddened by the fact that these schools were not in a position to register with the Department of Education because of the lack of adequate sanitation.

To date Donate A Loo has received funding to be able to install 18 toilets in various informal settlements in the West Rand. Helene and her team have been hard at work finding more cost efficient ways of building and erecting these toilets and are partnering with local builders, thereby also being instrumental at job creation.

This is a project of monumental proportion and it needs People of Action to bring Helene's vision to fruition.

And last week, further afield in the rural KZN Midlands....

Having been involved in the first Madiba Buggy outreach to Limpopo last year, it went without saying that Marilyn Bassin from the Boikanyo Dion Herson Foundation would invite members from the Rotary Club of Rosebank to accompany her team to assist with the fitment of 14 cerebral palsy children in rural KZN.

President Costa has indicated how rewarding this experience was and these pictures are worth a thousand words.

Join the Wednesday Quiz night fun..

What started off being a weekly fun diversion during hard lockdown has now become an institution, so much so that we are being challenged by Rotary clubs from as far afield as Uganda; last week we had a fun evening of fellowship in competition against the Rotary Club of Mansopa/Maseru in Lesotho and this Wednesday the 16th we are being challenged by the Rotary Club of Harare in Zimbabwe.

They have pulled out all the stops and are hoping to also raise some much needed funds for their projects.

Everyone is welcome! If you would like to join the fun, please let President Costa know, who will gladly send you the Zoom link.

This Friday...

....will be a hybrid Business meeting, and for purposes of catering will you please indicate to Costa on the WhatsApp chat group whether you will be attending in person.

Sybille takes you on a virtual trip up the Amazon and a fun evening of fundraising and fellowship....

From the Pen of the President....

There is much happening nationally and internationally that may well be worrying us.  That is why it is so important to look for and recognise the good news and heart-warming aspects that are happening – and there are plenty of those!  It helps all of us when these are recognised and shared verbally and on social media.  Try it out when you feel that there is nothing you can do about the situation that you feel is depressing.  This will help to make others smile and make both them and you feel better.

Costa Qually

President

Tailpiece

Talk happiness.  The world is sad enough

without your woes.  No path is wholly rough;

look for places that are smooth and clear,

and speak of those, to rest the weary ear

of earth, so hurt by one continuous strain

of human discontent and grief and pain

  (Excerpt from the poem “Optimism” by Ella Wheeler)

Last Friday....

....was a Zoom meeting that saw better attendance figures with 20 members logging on and we welcomed two guests, David Craik from the Rotary Club of Seven Oaks in the UK, visiting in S.A., and a fellow club member Heather-Jane Ozanne, who joined us from the UK. She briefly introduced herself. She is the CEO of the charitable organization Spirit of Peace, and is very involved in various peace building programs, mainly in the Middle East having lived for a time in Bethlehem and Jerusalem. She enjoys local and global connections and was therefore keen to link up with our club.

It was then Sybille's turn to share some of her travel adventures with the club. She had taken two years out of her professional life in 2014/15 to travel solo and on a shoestring through India and South East Asia and then ventured to South America.

A trip up the Amazon was very much on her bucket list, and she really wanted to experience the essence of the Amazon and therefore decided to take the slow boat from the Atlantic coastal town of Belem all the way to the 2 million strong city of Manaus, 1500 km upstream.

The Rio Amazonas is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, is about 6 650 km in length and occupies 35% of the South American continent.

The trip to Manaus took 6 days, and it gave Sybille a lot of time to observe life along this mighty river which was at its fullest as it was towards the end of the rainy period.

After a few days in the bustling city of Manaus Sybille had the opportunity of going deep into the hot and humid  Amazonian jungle with its abundance of "critters".

To leave the Amazon and with that Brazil Sybille braved a 36 hour trip on a river taxi which took her from Manaus to the border town of Tabatinga, where she walked across the border to Leticia in Colombia from where she then flew on to the capital Bogota.

Fundraising and Fellowship...

Our fundraising queen Sonja Hood, knowing  how starved we all are for fellowship, and not to let a good opportunity for fundraising slip past, organized a fun evening of skittles at the Swiss Club in Vorna Valley. R120 bought you entrance to the function plus one raffle ticket to win either a booze hamper or a chocolate hamper. It goes without saying that many more raffle tickets were sold throughout the evening, and a healthy sum of money was raised.

Sybille was the lucky winner of the chocolate hamper.

Please keep our next BIG Fundraiser in mind, another exciting quiz evening taking place on the 25th of May at Parkview Golf Club.

This Friday....

...we welcome Helene Bramwell from Rotary Club New Dawn, who will expand on a project she is passionate about.

She will  present to us in person at Wanderers, and if you cannot make it in person, there will also be a Zoom link.