Urban Surfers enlighten us about the informal industry of recycling, Heritage Day celebrated the ECO way, A RI Citation and grateful blanket receivers....

From the Pen of the President..... 

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

 

Happy Heritage Day, Happy Rosh Hashanah, Happy Monday!! Hope you all celebrated in style and befitting your culture, heritage and religion – if that is your scene!!

 

 I  this analogy! (it is not new – but worth thinking about)

You are holding a cup of coffee when someone comes along and bumps into you or shakes your arm, making you spill your coffee everywhere.

 

Why did you spill the coffee? 

"Because someone bumped into me!!!"

 

Wrong answer. You spilled the coffee because there was coffee in your cup. 

Had there been tea in the cup, you would have spilled tea.

 

*Whatever is inside the cup is what will spill out.*

Therefore, when life comes along and shakes you (which WILL happen), whatever is inside you will come out. It's easy to fake it, until you get rattled.

 

*So we have to ask ourselves... “what's in my cup?"*

When life gets tough, what spills over?

 

Joy, gratefulness, peace and humility? 

Anger, bitterness, harsh words and reactions? 

 

Life provides the cup, YOU choose how to fill it!

 

Have a wonderful week.

Ann

Last Friday...

.... we had the opportunity to listen to a very valuable and insightful presentation given to us by the representatives of Urban Surfer, whose long-term goal it is to formalize the "waste picking" industry. 

Sifiso Gumbi, who himself started off as a reclaimer imparted some startling facts that few of us are aware of:

* Only 10% of the population recycle.

* 80 - 90% of all recycled waste in South Africa is collected by informal reclaimers.

* Reclaimers collect in excess of 200 kg of recyclable waste and can travel more than 50 km a day. 

* There are over 90 000 reclaimers that make a living collecting, sorting and selling recyclable waste.

* Their average earnings a day is +/-R400.

* Each reclaimer diverts up to 24 tons of recyclable waste a year from our landfills.

* Reclaimers save our municipalities hundreds of millions of Rand in landfill space annually, and they offer this service for free.

* Waste recycling is self-sustainable and helps improve the environment.

* Very few of the recyclers are homeless, but live a long distance from where they operate. They need to safe guard their waste and therefore sleep where they sort.

* They have limited resources, hence the majority of reclaimers have only makeshift trolleys and no PPE.

The Urban Surfer Project aims to recognize informal waste reclaimers as active and equal participants in political, economic, social, cultural and environmental processes.

Under the guidance of John Kullmann, who is responsible for design and development and Ivor Allison, head of manufacturing and logistics Urban Surfer received a major boost in November 2021 when Hippo (known for their comparative insurance quotes) came on board as sponsors and are now supporting 50 waste reclaimers with purpose built collection trolleys, collection bags, shelter covers and sleeping bags, PPE and a waste management GPS tracking device, with which vital data on waste collection, sorting and selling is collected. This data is crucial to determine recycling trends.

The total cost to kit out a reclaimer with all the necessary equipment would cost R12 200 and a further R1 650 for the Waste Management GPS tracking device.

Sifisu, who is the Waste Reclaimer relations officer for Urban Surfer, maintains that there is a genuine desire by the reclaimers to transform and uplift  their image and that with corporate support this would be achievable. Corporates would be able to take advantage of brand advertising and gain valuable plastic credits.

Plastic credits are measurable, verifiable and transferrable units representing  specific quantity of plastic that has been collected from the environment or recycled.

John Ullmann's ambitious vision is that within three years they would be able to onboard 1600 reclaimers and with that 40 000 plastic credits could be generated which would translate into R150 million!!

An ECO Conscious Heritage Day Celebration....

In the heart of bustling Diepsloot lies the God's Will Faith Ministries Church that houses the classrooms for the Khensani's Collection, one of them built entirely from eco-bricks.

Saturday, Heritage Day, was dedicated to showcase and celebrate the progress that has been made in the construction of three additional eco-brick classrooms.

Earthly Touch Foundation (ETF) is a Non-Profit organisation whose main focus is to, contribute to the reduction of global warming through collection of plastic waste and repurposing it into eco-bricks which are then used for construction, making of furniture, and in agriculture. The organisation was registered in 2020 operating out of Gauteng with the main focus in training and education of communities on the impact of plastic pollution and how they can participate in saving their own environment from the impact of plastic pollution. ETF is BBBEE level 1 with its activities aimed at benefiting previously disadvantaged communities through training, skills development and job creation jobs within their own environment.

It was a gloriously sunny and joyous day with school children from the Diepsloot community and learners from St David's Marist Brothers and St Mary's getting their hands dirty by picking up recyclable and non-recyclable waste from the informal landfills around the church grounds, planting avocado trees, making eco-bricks and getting some lessons in the construction process of the eco-brick walls.

It takes 16 000 ecobricks to build one classroom, and if you do the maths, if one ecobrick weighs 500 grams, it means that 8000 tons of non-recyclable waste has been repurposed and has not gone to the landfills or ended up polluting our rivers.

Further innovative recycling endeavours  showcased  that day were school shoes manufactured from repurposed hospital drip bags.

Eco-bricks - a truly remarkable initiative that we can whole-heartedly throw our weight behind!!

Congratulations Rosebank....

.....for being awarded a well-deserved Citation by Rotary International.

Grateful Receivers of Blankets....

30 blankets were distributed to waste reclaimers by Pastor Ndaba at the Rosebank Union Church and on behalf of them would like to extend their appreciation.

s been tracking 50 waste reclaimers since November 2021 as they covered more than 14,000km – on foot! – within just four months.

No Meeting this Friday.....

 ...instead an afternoon of fellowship hosted by Sybille on Saturday 1st of October. 

The District Governor pays our Club a visit, the Braamfontein Spruit is cleaned for World Clean-up Day and a very successful Anns' Bridge Drive....

From the Pen of the President... 

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

Thank you all for everything you do for our club. The DG visit went well and she was so impressed with everything she saw.

I am so proud to be at the helm right now.

The participation and enthusiasm of our cleanup on Saturday showed just what I believe.

Keep doing what you are doing.

Yours in Rotary.

Ann

Last Friday...

... we had the great pleasure and honour of welcoming our District Governor Koekie Makunyane- Quashie and her husband PDG Kobla (who Koekie lovingly referred to as her driver) to our meeting.

We were  privileged to have been graced by the presence of PDG Francis Callard and his wife Janet, who too holds the title of PDG Ann, and also PDG Martin Forsythe-Thompson and his wife  Christina who is the current DG Ann. And of course let us not forget our very own PDG Ken Stonestreet.

DG Koekie had been presented with our Club goals and financials ahead of the meeting and overall she feels that we are an exceptionally well-run club, that we are a "giving" club and that our Fellowship activities are impressive. 

Koekie had recently met RI President Jennifer Jones in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, the first stop of her worldwide Imagine Impact Tour. Ghana, Kenya and Zambia were her next destinations and her plan is to visit 10 different countries during her tenure, speaking to heads of State and spreading awareness of Rotary's ongoing battle against the scourge of Polio and showcasing Rotary's Projects of Scale.

It is abundantly evident how impressed Koekie is of Jennifer's achievement of becoming the first female RI president.  

We were shown a piece of art with Jennifer's signature on it which is to be put up for auction, the proceeds of which will go into the coffers of the RI Foundation for the fight against Polio.

Jennifer would like us to wear our Rotary pins and tell our Rotary story with pride.

Above all she would like us to keep Rotary alive, relevant and fun.

The annual District Conference (Discon) will be held on the 27th/28th of April 2023 in eSwathini and PDG Kobla Quashi  heads up the planning committee. He presented some compelling reasons as to why we should not miss attending this event. It is to be held at the eSibayeni Lodge, outside Matsapha, the costs are to be kept low, there will be lots of singing and dancing and  celebrations of Rotary's achievements.

President Ann and AG Jean Bernardo were gifted with an Imagine Rotary pin and a colourful Swazi shopper and in return DG Koekie received a spekboom plant.

World Cleanup Day hits our 'hood....

Saturday the 17th of September was World Cleanup Day, and in collaboration with numerous community Forums the Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn under the guidance of eco-activist Babette Gallard undertook to rid 25 km of the Braamfontein Spruit of waste in the water and on the banks of this otherwise beautiful river.

We had been allocated a stretch of river frontage in the Delta Park and throughout the morning Rotary Rosebank volunteers wearing protective gloves and armed with rakes, spades and pitch forks collected debris and litter and deposited into heavy duty refuse bags.

Even our Rotary Exchange Student Tsjamo Nyato pitched in, wanting to make a difference.

Hats off to New Dawn for organizing such a successful river cleanup and a big thank you to all the Rotary Rosebank volunteers who once again proved that we are People of Action.

A Rewarding Rosebank Rotary Anns Bridge Drive....

 

The morning was warm and sunny.

The Petria  plant in St. Michael’s garden blazed forth in all its purple glory.

 

It was the first Ann’s Bridge Drive in almost three and a half years.

I have been a regular attendee for a number of years and was delighted to find that the event was still run with its usual slick precision.

I arrived early and found a number of Anns already  in the kitchen preparing the platters of food for the scrumptious tea which is one of the highlights of the morning.

 

The tables were covered in red cloths, all waiting for the 96 participants to arrive.

 

The table in the front was laden with prizes for  lucky draws, raffle tickets and  bridge winners.

One doesn’t always appreciate the effort put in by the Anns to get sponsors for some of the prizes.

 

A wonderful time was had by all.

R24 800 was raised.

The beneficiaries will be the Khanyisela Project in the Northern Drakensberg and and a few others  and it is pleasing to know that all players did their  little  bit to help improve literacy in this rural area.

 

Lyn Collocott

 

This Friday....

....we welcome Speaker – Sifiso Gumbi

Recycler (2008 - 2017)

2013 he established GM Green Projects and  used the business to spread awareness about recycling and to teach people in the township about how they can use waste to earn a living. He was involved in community clean-up projects and clearing spaces around the community. In 2015 he established Ubuhle Bekusasa Recycling, operating a chain of buy back centres where he worked with waste collectors, buying over 10 tons of recyclables daily.

Urban Surfer (2018 - date)

He joined Urban Surfer in 2018, and with his vast knowledge of the informal sector he helped develop solutions for informal reclaimers. He works closely on projects with reclaimers on the ground as well as engaging with government and corporate companies to create awareness about supporting informal reclaimers.

 

 

Guest Speaker Anthony Rosenbaum tempts us with Wide Open Spaces, Highlands North Boys Highschool Interacters receive their Scrolls and are you ready for the World Wide Clean-up Day?

 From the Pen of the President....

 

The passing of Queen Elizabeth II is something we expected to happen sometime in the future, and yet it took us by surprise.

Life does not stand still for anyone – things happen all the time that surprise me – some are tragic, some are happy.

I wake up every day and read the news – it is sometimes enough to make one just crawl under the blankets and dig in!! So much corruption, so much disaster and craziness. But there is always something going on, or someone doing something absolutely amazing, quietly, unnoticed and not making a fuss. So many good people around, so many fantastic projects on the go – WOW!! Recycling, upcycling, caring, nursing, - you just need to stop looking at the negatives, it can be very distracting.

As Rotarians it is our mission to make a positive difference in the world. Jane Goodall said:

“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

What is your difference??

 

We have the DG visit later this week – it is always an interesting meeting – see you there.

Ann

 

 

Last Friday.....

... Because the Rotary Club of Rosebank is a fully hybrid club, the Editor in Chief felt it would be a bright idea to test the Zoom offering when a guest speaker had been invited to address the Club and hence attended the meeting from the comfort of her own home. It was a tad noisy to begin with, but once President Ann had rung the bell and started the official meeting I am happy to report that the quality of the transmission was crystal clear and that it was a most satisfying experience (albeit without the obligatory pizza). 

Our guest speaker was Anthony Rosenbaum, a life-long friend of Lorenzo's.

His topic: Bespoke hiking trails in the Karoo and the Outeniquas.

Anthony was born an raised in the Eastern Cape and started hiking as a young lad.

It remained his favourite pastime  and he has been privileged to hike exotic destinations like Japan and Taiwan, and summitted Kilimanjaro in 2000.

In 2017 he found himself at a crossroad after he lost his wife to cancer and he turned to his deep rooted passion for hiking.

He walked every day for fitness and hiked with friends very weekend. He found that his health and mental wellbeing improved markedly.

When the opportunity arose to sell his business in February 2020, he decided that he would grab it and make a career change into the tourism industry.

Then of course came Covid!

Undaunted, he qualified as an advanced guide and tour operator, completed an Intuitive Wildlife Guiding course and in July 2021 started his bespoke walking experience business called Wide Open Spaces.

Anthony painstakingly explored various hiking trails and now is able to offer two unique hiking trips, or as he prefers to call it - walking experiences, one in the Outeniqua Mountains and the other in the Karoo, in the New Bethesda area. 

His slack-packing walks include a variety of activities, from coastal and fossil walks to wine tasting, visits to San rock art sites and star gazing. 

In the near future he is planning to add a further 4 night, three day walking experience in the Overberg, in the Botriver area close to Hermanus.

Initially Anthony's target market was the over-55-age group, but he soon realized that his walking tours suit any age group and that he has 80-year-old hikers that leave the young'uns in their dust.

In other words, anyone with the love for Wide Open Spaces is welcome.

Highlands North Boys High School Interactors are awarded their Interact scrolls....

On Friday 2nd September AG and Youth Chair Jean Bernardo had the pleasure of awarding six exemplary young men with their Interact Scrolls which they can proudly wear on their school blazers.

At the same time they also were given their Certificates of Merit for having completed a First Aid course.

AG Jean Bernardo with Neo Segooa, Allan Sibanda, Njabulo Seruto, Wandile Mtshali, Levi Nyathi and Mashudo Papala under the watchful eye of teacher Mimie van Deventer

All Hands on Deck for All Spruits Cleanup Day....

Followed by...

This Friday....

...We welcome District Governor Koekie Makunyane-Quashie to our club and your attendance would be greatly appreciated.

 

Juanette shares her remarkable Story with us, The Anns August Club 100 winners (omitted last week), what are the Anns getting up to? and celebrate Heritage Day the EcoBrick way....

From the Pen of the President..... 

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

Spring has sprung and there is something in the air!! EMBRACE the feeling….

I found this on Facebook and thought it appropriate to the time of year.

JOY

Joy does not arrive with a fanfare, 

on a red carpet strewn with the flowers of a perfect life.

Joy sneaks in, as you pour a cup of coffee,

watching the sun hit your favourite tree, just right.

And you usher joy away,

because you are not ready for it. 

Your house is not as it must be,

for such a distinguished guest.

But joy cares nothing for your messy home, 

or your bank-balance,

or your waistline, you see.

Joy is supposed to slither through the cracks of your imperfect life,

that’s how joy works.

You cannot invite her, you can only be ready when she appears.

And hug her with meaning,

because in this very moment, 

joy chose you.

Donna Ashworth

Yours in Rotary….

Ann Hope-Bailie

Last Friday.....

As Editor-in-Chief I don't think I would have done Juanette McCrindle's  "Story" any justice if I had condensed it, so here it is as written and told by Juanette herself. 

" My journey started 55 years ago… as my mother stood in the queue to go to the cinema in Umtata in the Transkei.  She never made the movie, my dad took her into hospital and then went back to watch the movie…..

Apparently I was a very difficult little girl and hence my grampa offered to adopt because my mother could not manage my charming and challenging personality. I am not sure if I have changed much and Rainer probably would love for my Grampa to adopt me now….:)

I have an older sister in the UK, a younger sister and brother in Australia and my parents who are both still alive in Australia.

My dad worked on West Rand Cons mine and my mother was a hairdresser.  As a child I attended 3 primary schools and 2 high schools. Most of my childhood was spent in a place called Mooinooi near Rustenburg. We commuted by bus daily in primary school and in High School I asked to be in the hostel so I could participate in after school activities. We were not wealthy, but I do not remember feeling compromised in any way.

Academically I did alright and I played tennis for the first team. I started ballet at the age of 4 and continued until age 12 when I gave it up for jazz dancing. Hostel prefect.

Do any of you remember POP SHOP with David Gresham???? Well I was on one of the dances on a couple of his shows.

 In my matric year I was fortunate to go the United States on a tour, without my parents. It opened my eyes to a whole new world.  I had just turned 17. Because I had taken Maths, Science, Accountancy and Economics… a good thing I felt would be to learn how to type. So I went to technical college for a year and got a secretarial certificate and worked part time for a clothes designer.

 I could not see myself living and marrying a man on the mine, I had other ideas, I was stubborn, determined, focused, I wanted to go places and meet people.

I then left home at the age of 18 and moved in with my aunt and uncle in Springs…. Yes there was a reason… he was a year younger than me and we met because his mother and my mother were in school together.

I worked a part time job in a video store for a few months before getting a job as a junior bookkeeper. I moved into my own flat. My relationship ended, life went on and by then I was a senior secretary for a Customer services manager and later a bookkeeper for an asset manager with Liberty Life in Braamfontein.

I initially commuted to Johannesburg and back until one day I was in the train going home when it was stoned by an angry mob of people who could not get home because the 2^nd class compartments were full. Yes it was back in the time when you had 1^st class and 2^nd class SAR coaches. It was however during one of my train rides to and from Johannesburg that I met my ex-husband Doug, I was 20 at the time.

I then moved to Johannesburg to stop this commuting to and from.

Doug and I had been going out for just over a year when I bought my first townhouse and he and I bought a piece of property together. After 4 years we got married. I was 23 and 3 weeks pregnant, had my first child when I was 24, my second when I was 25 and my third at 27. 

When my second child was 2 months old we moved to Botswana. Doug was a chartered accountant and took a position in Selebi Phikwe, where my youngest was also born.

So, arriving in the desert I asked myself what am I going to do?? I used these years to develop my domestic skills, I learned to sew and made some of my children’s clothes, I learned to cook and helped run a community coffee shop. I continued my dancing exams and I developed my thespian skills. I also did the books of a florist. 

After 4 years we moved back to RSA to Richards Bay of all places. I applied for a position with Knight Pieshold as righthand woman to the person running the office. I got the position but 6 months later we moved to Zambia.

Again, it was what am I to do here in Africa. I joined the PTA and later the board of directors for the school my children were attending, it was also here that I met Rainer for the first time.

 These were crazy times and I remember going to Bangkok for a weekend with 6 women… we never slept. We shopped until we dropped and I came back and sold the goods I bought and this covered my costs of this fantastic trip… ..

I joined the International Woman's Club and for a year was the president of the club, which took me to meet the elders of a leper colony which lies an hour or so out of Lusaka and at that time, the people in this community were not allowed to attend any public hospitals. We provided seeds and other assistance which they needed…  I helped at an AIDS orphanage.

Needing some self-development, I completed a diploma in teaching English as a Second or Foreign language and started my own import export company specialising in ladies’ garments.  Ran an audiology business.

A friend asked me to be the area manager for a cosmetic company and this awarded me the opportunity to do the makeup for the miss Zambia pageant.

It was through the cosmetics business that I met a lady who was to be the daughter in law to the now late President Sata… she came to purchase her wedding underwear from me and I was invited to the wedding. There were 4 whites at a wedding of 800 people… my husband and I had such a good laugh… Mr Sata was then the Minister without portfolio, and thought that because we had been invited to the wedding that we must be really important people… he served us wine the whole night… I hope no one ever told him we were nobodies in the biggest sense… ha ha ha…

Because of my good experiences in Botswana, I joined the amateur dramatic club and was picked for the role of Magenta in the Rocky Horror picture show… this was a hoot from the first rehearsal in our underwear till the final of 14 shows where we had a lawyer in the wings because of the possibility of being arrested for being scantily dressed in a public place

After 4 wonderful years in Zambia our lives took us to Botswana once again and then back to South Africa. Back in South Africa I enrolled in a B ed degree and started teaching in a private school. However, my interests had changed and I swapped my degree to a psychology degree.

I was asked to assist in a special project at AirChefs working with a team of Chartered Accounts to sort out their “Creditors”… it was an interesting project and they asked me to stay on permanently….They offered to double my salary but I chose to work with Rainer instead. At an ex-Zambian get together… at Rainer’s house… he was talking to a friend of mine and he asked her… “Do you know anyone who can set up and run my business in South Africa?” I turned around and said.. “I can”… That was the start of my business with Rainer… we developed a network in Africa selling specialised equipment to the breweries and soft drink companies… we were working with engineers from Germany and responsible for 21 countries. At the same time, I got involved in the Harveytile business and developed the Zimbabwe region as well as help manage and direct the Zambian operation.

 We opened up a business in the DRC and for 6 years tried to break into the market amid the bribery and corruption which is rife. Sadly, we left after making a huge loss… but the experiences are irreplaceable. Let me share a few short stories with you… first… I never saw another white woman walk across the Congolese border…..

… we were attacked in Kinshasa walking down the road.. 2 guys jumped Rainer and they rolled on the ground… it was not looking good and the only way Rainer saw out was to stick his finger in one of the perpetrators throat… just then a 3^rd guy approached and said stop stop.. we ran one way and they ran the other…..

…on another occasion we took a local minibus and because Rainer understands a bit of Kiswahili understood that the discussion in the bus was whether to rob us or not, half the bus said yes… we got off at the next stop…

… One Friday going to the airport in Lubumbashi we were stopped a few km before only to find out there was a shoot out between the rebels and the Congolese army going on… we turned the car around and drove to the Zambian border… we did not want to risk being caught up in a war….

.. another time crossing from Congo to Zambia by foot we were stopped by the officer of the president to be searched…. They thought I was a journalist and wanted me to unpack my bag… I did.. by showing the panel my garments one by one.. until the lady got upset because she thought that I would buckle and offer a bribe… instead I just repacked my bag neatly…. And on one occasion Rainer and I were separated at the border… they took the passports and left me alone … then they came back with Rainer and 2 men took me away… only for them to end up arguing in French and me asking if I can leave… I looked calm… but inside I was shivering with fear as I did not know what they wanted to do. …

Shortly after our return to South Africa my ex-husband took a job in Abu Dhabi and we in essence moved in different directions and got divorced. I went through a difficult time and in order to find myself again decided to enter a triathlon and completed the Psychology degree I had started some years ago… just this time at a different institute. I completed both. I will continue my studies in the hope to open my own practice at some point.

I joined Rotary in 2005 and since 2012 am a proud member of the RC of Rosebank… until they fire me for lack of personal attendance … 😊

I married Rainer in 2018….. and we have relocated to Hamburg in Germany.

The day Juanette married Reiner

As I said in the beginning… which parts of my crazy life do I share and in what detail…so I have given you the straight forward uncomplicated version… and now I would like to share some of the crazy things that happened during what seemed to be a relatively normal life….

Ø  3 Bungees - Highest Bungee in the world

Ø  Zambezi White River Rafting

Ø  Hot Air ballooning, champagne breakfast, etc.

Ø  Skydiving over dunes in Namibia

Ø  Quad biking through the dunes and sand boarding on the dunes.

Ø  Completed a 5-day hike through Drakensberg, did not summit in Lesotho due to storm

Ø  Completed the Otter trail

Ø  Shark diving (in a cage in Hermanus)

Ø  Snorkelled the Great Barrier Reef

Ø  Driven Great Ocean Road and Gold Coast

Ø  Visited the 12 Apostles in Australia and in Cape Town 😊

Ø  Visited Blue Mountains

Ø  Blue butterflies in Cairns (Special place where only they are found)

Ø  Enchanted Gardens in Sintra, Portugal, where Harry Potter roamed

Ø  Eaten Star Fish, Sea cucumbers, Duck tongue and Sea Cockroaches in China

Ø  Played tennis with Egyptian Ambassador in Zambia.

Ø  The late President of Zambia, Sata, served me wine at his son’s wedding because he thought I was someone important 😊

Ø  Valentines Picnic on the Eifel Tower

Ø  Skiing in Austria

Ø  Visited Buckingham Palace

Ø  Visited the White House

Ø  Swimming with Dolphins in Mauritius

Ø  Diving in Mauritius

Ø  Parasailing over ship wreck in Comoros

Ø  Travelled 1^st and Business class over 50 times – do not belong to the Mile High club ☹ but have showered and slept in a suite

Ø  Visited Ann Frank’s House and the Rijksmuseum

Ø  Visited the Hole in the Wall in Transkei

Ø  Thrown sticks off Poohsticks Bridge

Ø  Walked through the 100-acre Wood

Ø  Played Magenta in the Rocky Horror Picture Show

Ø  Participated in a speed Triathlon …. And finished it!

Ø  Spent 6 hours in a Sweat Lodge

Ø  Fasted for 12 days (no food, only water)

Ø  Sat with Elders from a Leper Colony

Ø  Worked with orphaned HIV Aids babies

Ø  Swam the Midmar Mile

Ø  Held a Koala bear, Boa Constrictor and Crocodile

Ø  Lay on rocks hanging over Victoria Falls at devil’s pool

Ø  Visited Twin Towers

Ø  Been up Empire State

Ø  Saw Liza Minnelli Live at Radio City Hall in New York when I was 17

Ø  Climbed down part of Grand Canyon

Ø  Seen Old Faithfull explode

Ø  Been to Disney, Universal Studios and Epcot centre

Ø  Watched the Sun Set and skinny dipped in Key West

Ø  Been on the Biggest Cruise ship in the world

Ø  Cried my eyes out on Robin Island

Ø  Danced on television and performed on stage many times, acting and dancing

Ø  Sewed my children’s clothes and made their birthday cakes

Ø  Watched a traditional burial, the burning of a body in Nepal

Ø  Saw the Kama Sutra engraved in wood around the top of a temple in Nepal

Ø  Travelled the Rovos Rail from Pretoria to Cape Town

Ø  Briefly met Richard Branson

Ø  Been on a house boat on Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe and the Mürizt in Germany

Ø  Seen the Iguazu falls

Ø  Climbed up the Erawan Falls (4^th of 7 levels) in Thailand – 4^th level where little fishes eat the dead skin off your body

Ø  Visited Kanchanaburi, Thailand walked over the Death Railway, visited the JEATH war museum where underneath every loin cloth the artist with much effort gave each man a penis :0 LOL

Ø  Slept in Hotel Del Lago where the rich and famous met their lovers in the late 1800’s

Ø  Been through the Everglades on an airboat to visit an old Indian village

Ø  Travelled on a train in Vietnam

Ø  Visited Angkor Wat in Cambodia

Ø  Stayed 4 nights in a Buddhist temple in the South of Korea

Ø  Swam in a crocodile infested river in the Thuli block

Ø  Am privileged to ride a Harley Davidson

Last but not least… been booed of the stage because I cannot sing

…… I have been blessed with three amazing children who are successful in their own right…

…. My blessings have been bountiful and I have been blessed with more than I need which gives me the opportunity to share and care for others…. and I am grateful every day for the full and amazing life that I have been able to live….

…. The people in my life including my Rotary friends have enriched me in so many ways and it is to each and every one of you that I am thankful for the experiences and love you have embraced me with…

What are the Anns getting up to?

President Shirley is full of spring energy.  Recently a relative passed on without leaving a will.  Shirley, not daunted by the scale of the task, asked if the Anns could have the contents of her apartment and the family agreed, provided that the Anns do the work of clearing out and transporting the goods.  Another Ann, Anne Whitehead made space available in her garages and outbuildings, for the goods.  It took a team of workers, marshalled by Shirley, to clear out the premises so the apartment could be sold.  In the process some of the goods were sold and a tidy sum of money was raised to be put towards current and future projects. 

On Saturday 3 September a sale took place at Anne Whitehead’s home where clothes and household goods were sold and a further tidy sum was raised.  Friday morning was devoted to sorting and laying out the goods for sale on the Saturday morning and some Anns pitched in and helped.  A team of Anns turned out on Saturday morning to conduct the sale.  A WhatsApp text and photo reported that they had had fun and raised a pleasing amount of money. 

There is to be a jumble sale at the end of September to dispose of more of the goods.  This will be a wonderful shot in the arm for the Anns funds for projects.  Special congratulations go to Shirley and Anne and all the Anns who helped and will help with these sales.

Bridge Drive

With Liz Short’s drive and outstanding organisational skills, we are preparing for our first post COVID fund raising bridge drive on 14 September.  A committee has been meeting monthly to make all the arrangements and the final details are being planned.  There is still time for Rotarians to donate raffle prizes – wine and chocolates are always greatly appreciated.

EcoBrick Heritage Day Celebration...

This Friday....

...We welcome guest speaker Anthony Rosenbaum, who organizes bespoke slack-packing experiences to tell us a little bit more about hiking trails in the Outeniqua Mountains and the Karoo.