PP Grace van Zyl promotes Rotary's involvement in peace programs, Rotarian Gareth Hood's letter from China and final Club 100 Winners are announced....

From the Pen of the President...

You cannot share what you do not have.  It may be time, resources or talents – very often it will be a combination of these.  Our members have demonstrated over and over what can be done for others by sharing and positively impacting the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves.  Keep up your contributions to the goals of Rotary – you have much to be proud of!

Costa Qually

President

Tailpiece

If you cannot feed a hundred, then feed just one  (Mother Theresa)

Last  Friday....

Past President of Rotary Club of Johannesburg and recently elected director for Africa on RI's  Rotary Action Group for Peace Grace van Zyl addressed our club and shared how the RAGFP works together to advance peace and prevent wars throughout the World. 

One of the objectives of the RAGFP is to forge a path for existing Rotary peace programs to become involved directly with Rotarians and their activities.

Rotary and Peace and how to approach projects with sustainable peace in mind.

 

Peace is in Rotary’s DNA “…to build goodwill & Peace”  and hence has partnered with the Institute of Peace & Economics (IEP) regarding positive and sustainable peace.  Anybody can complete the free courses offered by the IEP by going onto Rotary’s Peace Academy.

 

Peace is measured by two indexes, The Global Peace Index and the Positive Peace Index.  The global Peace index measures how peaceful a country is by the absence of war or conflict or the fear of conflict – this is viewed as negative peace.  The positive peace index measures looks at attitudes, institutions and structures that when strengthened lead to a more peaceful society.  It is not only associated with higher levels of peace, it is also associated with stronger macroeconomic performance.  The IEP uses thousands of data sets in each pillar of positive peace to measure peace. The Positive Peace index for 2021 showed the following:

In summary the world became less peaceful by 0.07% since 2020.  Iceland remains the most peaceful country in the world, with Afghanistan the least peaceful. 

 

There is a synergy between Rotary’s 7 areas of focus and the IEP’s 8 Pillars of positive peace.  Every project we take on as Rotarians improves positive peace in the communities we serve.  We are unconsciously competent at peace building but with training and a mindset change we can be consciously competent. There are 4 key steps for a mindshift change when approaching our projects:

 

1. SEAK HEALTH – not mission accomplished

Continue wrong and adapting to make improvements

2. SEE PATTERNS – not just problems

Step back from the problem at hand and see the bigger picture and patterns behind the problem  (look at the cause as opposed to the symptoms)

3. UNLOCK CHANGE – don’t impose it

Don’t get focussed on looking for the problem and then rush in to fix it.  Rather unlock the forces within the system to create the change.

4. PLAN TO ADAPT – don’t stay the course

Navigate the everchanging dynamics whilst still keeping your eye on the end goal

 

Many projects fail when we apply “Clock-Like” fixes to “Cloud-Like” problems.

 

So where does the Rotary Action Group for Peace (RAGFP) fit into all of this?  The RAGFP encourages Rotarians, Rotaractors & Interactors to become part of the action group and then ultimately convert to peace builder clubs.  The cost to join the RAG is $20 for Rotarians, $10 for Peace Fellows and $5 for Rotaractors and Interactors for the year.  The benefits of joining the RAG gives you access to the following:

 

To become a Peacebuilder club, you need at least 2 Rotarians to form a Committee.  Each of these Rotarians must complete the free training on IEP and join the RAGFP.  The club can decide if they will fund the $40 or if the Rotarians will fund this themselves ($20 dollars each).  We encourage members to become part of the District Peace Building Committee as well.  The club must identify one project a year to showcase/enhance positive sustainable peace (it can be an existing project).  The club must also commit to training their members and communities on positive sustainable peace.  There are chapter meetings every week that meet virtually, currently in Hong Kong, Germany & Serbia.  We have also launched the Africa Peace Hour that takes place on the last Sunday of every month via zoom at 7pm SA time on the following link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84438091586.  These meetings allow you to collaborate with peace builders in Africa that can give you a different insight into projects, what has worked and what are the challenges.

 

Becoming a peace builder club will help your club:

• More powerfully implement RI’s Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution area of focus in your club
• Address the growing problem and danger of divisiveness and polarization that fractionalizes and stagnates societies, disrupts peaceful relations, and increases the potential for violence,
• Build stronger, more harmonious communities and a more peaceful world,
• Help Rotarians maximize the peacebuilding impact of every Rotary project in all seven areas of focus, and

Assist in the accomplishment of Rotary’s mission to “enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace.”

 

Peace starts with each one of us, it is only when we become more peaceful within ourselves that we can build positive sustainable peace with in our committees.

A message from Rotary Ann Liz Short....

Dear Rotarians

 

At our last meeting we decided to continue with the Hundred Club fund-raising this year but we have had to reduce the cost of the tickets as people felt that money is so tight these days.  Your ticket for the year will now cost you only R200 and you will still go into the monthly draw for prizes of R150 and R300.  However, our end of year prizes have been slightly reduced, otherwise we won't make any money at all!

 

We would greatly appreciate it if you would support us again - we really value the contributions from our Rotarians and friends so please ask everyone you know if they will help us out.  Last year we only managed to sell 78 tickets so this year we are aiming for a full 100 and should raise about R12,000.

 

Thank you so much and love

 

Liz. 

And from further afield a letter sent to us from Gareth Hood....

The past year in China has been a fascinating year from many different perspectives. From a personal side, I have grown more in the last year as a person than I think I ever grew before in a similar period of time. I have experienced the challenges of being restricted from going home to see my family and friends who I miss dearly but through this experience I have realized that I have a strong mental fortitude and have developed a method of internal reflection that has greatly helped me through more challenging days. Another thing that has helped me greatly has been exercise of both my mind and body. Daily meditation and CrossFit have become hugely helpful tools in strengthening my mind and body. 

 I have missed the weekly quizzes and seeing the Rotarians online but due to blocks for security reasons, Zoom and very often any Google services will continue to not be viable communication sources for some time into the future. But be this as it may, I still strive to embody the values of a Rotarian on a daily basis and once the lockdowns in China are eased, I hope to start travelling internally again and make contact with fellow Rotarians. 

 With regards to my experiences in China so far, I have to say that China continues to amaze me by its beauty both natural and the beauty of their cultures and traditions. Never have I lived somewhere where people are so proud of the culture and still practice traditions thousands of years old. The people here are friendly and welcoming and love to hear my many stories about South Africa. One person even likened South Africa to the Wild West which I told them if they lived in Johannesburg could just mean Krugersdorp. 

 My students have been the highlight of my experience and life here so far. Never have I ever been so excited to walk into a classroom every day. My Grade 6s are the epitome of hungry minds, always inquiring. Our current unit is called Life on Mars in which we are exploring the pros and cons of humans going to Mars and a highlight of this unit was when one of the Grade 6s stood up during a class debate and stated that humans should fix Earth first before running away to another planet or we would eventually do the same thing to Mars. A life lesson if ever there was one. My Grade 10s are currently discussing conflict resolution focusing on game theory which discusses finite vs. infinite players and our discussions regularly give me hope that these students will one day lead the world into a more peaceful and prosperous period. 

 Overall I can comfortably say that so far my time in China has been the best time of my life and I am excited for the years to come here in which I can continue to grow and learn. I hope you are all staying safe and healthy and hopefully, I can eventually attend a meeting in person. 

Cheers for now!

 Love Gareth

This Friday.....

Alison Groves will address us at a hybrid Zoom/Wanderers meeting.

Alison has been involved in the ‘green’ movement in South Africa since its inception in 2007 and is a Green Star Accredited Professional. She is particularly interested in designing resilience into buildings, thereby future proofing against resource scarcities. A fundamental principle of her approach is to find synergies between systems and materials used, maximising potential for passive design.

Having worked closely with the Green Building Council South Africa since its inception, she has been involved in the development of a number of the Green Star rating tools, serves as assessor and sits on the GBCSA Technical Advisory Group. She has won several awards, including winner of the highest rated Green Star Building – Vodafone Site Solution Innovation Centre in 2013 and the Leadership award for the most Established Green Star Accredited Professional in 2015.