Louis Nigrini, the Arts Festival comes to an end and $450 million more to the Rotary Polio Plus Programme

Last Week

Our guest speaker, Louis Nigrini, really made us think about why we were sitting there and what we do.  It really made me wonder about The Ramble and if it was really the answer!  I spoke to him afterwards and asked him for the answers but there aren't any.  He said he was there to ask questions.
The example he gave of volunteers to New Orleans giving $250 service yet costing $1 000 to do that is certainly not equivalent to the time we give.  For example, mentoring a student cost the mentor time but that is all and I really do not think that Firlands Fete loses money because we run the bookstall!
Still it was an interesting series of questions and volunteer stereotypes.

Eric Hackett

Esther Okehi

It was a very depleted meeting because of the Rotary Arts Festival but we do keep up our reputation as a club that always seems to have visitors.  We were delighted to welcome Esther Okehi from Texas and Eric Hackett from the Rotary Club of Bedfordview.  He was seen chatting to the speaker subsequently, obviously feeling that he should give
Bedfordview a blast too!

Sunday 

It was the close of the Rotary Arts Festival which has been a resounding success.  Here are the deskwallers at the end.

Mark Franklin, Jean Bernardo, Thembi Ndlovu, Lyn Collocott and Neville Howes

This Week.
We will be celebrating our Eternal Youth on Youth Day so t here will be no Ramble next week so after Discon will be the next one.

ATLANTA, Ga. (June 12, 2017) – Today in Atlanta Rotary President John Germ and Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, announced a commitment of up to $450 million to support the eradication of polio.

To an audience of nearly 40,000 Rotary members attending the humanitarian organization’s annual convention, Rotary and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation renewed their longstanding support for ending polio – a paralyzing, life-altering scourge on the verge of becoming the second human disease ever to be eliminated. Rotary committed to raise $50 million per year over the next three years, with every dollar to be matched with two additional dollars from the Gates Foundation. This expanded agreement will translate into $450 million for polio eradication activities, including immunization and surveillance over the next three years. This critical funding helps ensure countries around the world remain polio-free and that polio is ended in the remaining three endemic countries: Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

“In 2016, fewer children were paralyzed by polio than ever before, thanks to the dedication of Rotary members and our partners,” said Germ. “The paralysis of even one child by a preventable disease is unacceptable, and I'm proud to see our members redoubling their commitment to ensure we reach every single child with the polio vaccine.”

In a partnership spanning a decade, Rotary and the Gates Foundation, along with the other Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) partners, have led the effort to end polio worldwide. This funding extension reaffirms a commitment established at the 2013 Rotary Convention in Lisbon, Portugal, when the Gates Foundation pledged to match Rotary contributions two-to-one, up to $35 million per year through 2018. Rotary, including matching funds from the Gates Foundation, has donated more than $1.6 billion to polio eradication. 

“The vision of eradicating polio began with Rotary, and its support of that effort has been unwavering for more than 35 years,” said Gates. “Rotary’s commitment to raise $150 million over the next three years to end polio forever is a testament to the compassion, generosity, and kindness of more than a million Rotarians around the world.”

Today’s announcement comes on the heels of the news that world governments and other donors have pledged to contribute US$1.2 billion total to the GPEI for polio eradication efforts. The government funding—also announced today at the Rotary Convention—will substantially help to close the US$1.5 billion funding gap, allowing partners to immunize 450 million children every year and support rigorous disease surveillance in both endemic and at-risk polio-free countries. While the government funding announced today makes considerable headway in the fight to end polio, continued support from donors remains vital to achieve a polio-free world.

The global eradication of polio has been Rotary’s top priority since 1985. Through the Global Polio Eradication Initiative – a public-private partnership that includes Rotary, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and UNICEF – the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.9 percent, from about 350,000 cases a year at the start of the initiative to just 37 cases in 2016.

RLI, Rotary Arts Festival, Frank Taylor, Louis Nigrini & Rotary Convention 1917.

Last Week

I was on the Rotary Leadership Institute Course last Friday so I can't comment on the meeting though I can show you some of the people attending the various courses on the Saturday.

It was also the week of the start of the Rotary Arts Festival so let's just have a number of photographs.  On our Facebook Page I will put a slide show of lots of them so click on https://www.facebook.com/rosebankrotary/?ref=bookmarks

We presented Nombulelo Yena and Michelle Brook of Omnicom with Certificates of  Merit for all their help.

 Frank Taylor
Frank is a member of the Rotary Club of Hatfield, our major partners in the Baragwanath Palliative Care Project and who approached us in the first place.

At the recent District Conference in the UK Frank Taylor received A Citation for Meritorious Service from Rotary International.

This is a rare event, not being a District award, or even a RIBI award, but one from “head office”, i.e. received out of the 1.2m Rotarians…

Many congratulations to Frank, being seen here with The Rotary International Representative Sean Doyle. 

This Week

Our Speaker is Louis Nigrini, a motivational speaker...hence the joke about motivational speakers.  He is going to talk to us about Volunteerism.

Public Speaking is not for the faint hearted. It takes a good mix of skill, courage and sheer stupidity to get on a stage and tell people all about your greatest moments of joy, pain and sometimes embarrassment. Louis Nigrini is a uniquely talented and budding speaker who has won the Afrikaans, Humourist, Impromptu Speaking and Evaluator’s categories in the Toastmasters Speaking competitions in Southern Africa. 

He has spoken at ministry events, corporate functions, schools and community projects all over the country, performing in the capacity of Guest Speaker, Trainer or MC, before audiences ranging from 10’s to thousands. He is also an ATKV accredited judge for both Public Speaking and Debating and served as the chief judge in several School Public Speaking Competitions. 

With his background of full time Ministry, being a parent, stage performances, broadcast television and Corporate Communication, Louis is sculpting the art of inspirational storytelling…with a few stories of his own. With the unique brand of “coming of age stories” and tales that shaped his life, Louis has left many a crowd laughing…sometimes at themselves, but mostly at him. He has the ability to capture the crowd in a unique way and leave them with such a powerful message that they will still be pondering about in the days to come.

Louis and his wife also enjoy writing school shows and have seen these creations come to life on several school stages. He is the Production Manager at a video production company in Johannesburg focussing on career advice. He currently lives in Randburg with his wife, Pauli and their two little boys, Luan and Reinhardt.

If you are attending the 2017 Rotary International Convention from 10 to 14 June, you should take time to reflect on the historic convention of 1917, also in Atlanta. There, Arch Klumph gave a speech calling for an endowment, a key moment in the origin of The Rotary Foundation.

Most sessions of the 1917 convention were held atthe Baptist Tabernacle on Luckie Street. The building, now known simply as the Tabernacle, is just a few blocks from this year’s convention home, the Georgia World Congress Center, so stroll across Centennial Olympic Park to Luckie Street and imagine what the convention was like 100 years ago.

Some of the speakers covered topics that were very much of the moment in 1917 (“The Creation of Public Sentiment to Demand and Construct Public Highways”) while others tackled subjects that would not be out of place today (“The Establishment of Vacant Lot Gardening”). There was a Special Assembly on the “Enlightenment of Non-Rotarians as to Rotary,” a subject of perennial concern.

Returning to Atlanta is an apt way to mark the centennial of The Rotary Foundation. It’s a powerful reminder of how far Rotary has come, and how important our core values and mission remain as we look to the next 100 years.

The Rotary Arts Festival.......Cycles and Saving Babies in Brazil

Last Week
Theoretically it was a social meeting but in fact it was taken up with the Arts Festival that officially opens this week on Thursday.

Thembi Ndlovu

Mark Franklin introduced us to Thembi Ndlovu who will be manning the credit card machines, invoicing etc for the whole of the Festival.

Artists Helene Du Preez and Sara Tabane

Malango &Rtn Elizabeth Mughogho of the Rotary Club of Mzuzu, Malawi

We had a visiting Rotarian from Malawi with her daughter and two of our artists.

Activity has really been feverish where  the Arts Festival is concerned as unexpected things go wrong or don't happen.   We are all keeping our fingers crossed that it will be all right on the night.
This week sees the Press Briefing on Wednesday and the Official Opening on Thursday but already a surprising number of sales have been made. There is a lot of time and money invested in the Festival so it is always a bit nail biting at the beginning.

This Week

Giovanni Mottalini

Despite the Festival we do have a guest speaker, Giovanni Mottalini of Qhubeka.  Qhubeka helps people move forward and progress by giving bicycles in return for work done to improve communities, the environment or academic results. Having a bicycle changes lives by increasing the distance people can travel, what they can carry, where they can go and how fast they can get there.  So far they have distributed 54 000 bicycles to people in rural areas.  It promises to be an interesting talk.

Linked through sister cities, Rotarians save newborns in Brazil

A mother is in labour, and she’s frightened. Her baby isn’t due for three months. The closest hospital is 30 miles away, and although she makes it there in time, the baby is born weighing barely 2 pounds. 

And there’s another problem. 

The hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit has only seven incubators, and all are in use, so the baby must be transferred to another hospital to receive the critical care he needs. If he survives the transfer, his parents will need to find a way to make trips to that hospital for months.

Many new mothers were facing similar situations at Dr. Leopoldo Bevilacqua Regional Hospital, a state-run facility in Brazil’s Ribeira Valley. Lack of equipment meant some of the hospital’s most vulnerable newborns had to be transferred, which was a factor in São Paulo state’s high infant mortality rate. 

“There are two realities here: people who can pay for a private hospital and those who can’t,” says Lina Shimizu, who spearheaded the project for the Rotary Club of Registro-Ouro, Brazil. Those who can’t, she says, often have to travel long distances to get to a state-run hospital such as Leopoldo Bevilacqua, which serves 24 towns. 

By partnering on a Rotary Foundation global grant with two clubs in Nakatsugawa, Japan, Brazilian Rotarians raised $172,500. They funded equipment including five incubators for the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), which nearly doubled the hospital’s capacity to care for fragile newborns. In 2013, 129 babies were admitted to the NICU; since the completion of the project, the hospital has been able to care for about 220 babies per year. 

 Other equipment provided through the grant included five ventilators, a bilirubin meter, three heated cribs, five vital-sign monitors, and a super LED microprocessed phototherapy unit to treat babies with jaundice. The grant also funded the cost of publicity to inform residents about prenatal care workshops conducted by area health workers. The publicity campaign aimed to reach mothers in remote areas who may not know what services are available to them or about the importance of prenatal care and breast-feeding. 

This global grant marked a turning point for Rotarians in Nakatsugawa, who had stopped contributing to international projects after experiencing difficulties on a past grant. The difference this time was in the relationship between the cities of Registro and Nakatsugawa, which established a “sister city” affiliation in 1980. 

“This was initially a project of another Brazilian club, but they spent five years trying to find a partner and funding,” Shimizu says. “We were able to implement it in three years because of our sister city relationship.”

Rotarians from both cities meet regularly to foster their friendships, alternating between Brazil and Japan, and because of their close relationship, the Japanese Rotarians felt confident that their financial contributions to the project would be managed well. In addition, Shimizu, who is of Japanese descent and speaks fluent Japanese, helped build trust and effective communication. 

A group of Japanese Rotarians visited the NICU after the project was completed. “After 37 years,” says Mitsuo Hara, a member of the Rotary Club of Nakatsugawa, “there’s a friendship and bond between Rotary members of both countries.” 

Advertising & PR, more Overseas Visitors and Kite Flying.

Last Week
Nombulelo Yena (Buli) of the Omnicom Media Africa Group came to chat to us about the media plan that Omnicom have put together on our behalf as a donation, effectively, for the Rotary Arts Festival.

It was very impressive and enormous help to the Arts Festival Committee.  It is a degree of expertise that we obviously do not have and a budget that we certainly could not afford and the media value is probably in the region of R2 million.  Thank you, Buli, for explaining it all to us.  It gave us the opportunity to express our gratitude to Omnicom.

We also had a number of visitors from the States, one was a Rotarian, David Savage from the Rotary Club of Lafolla Sunrise, San Diego. The others were Sherryl Elson, John Jessey & Christine Jardie.

The Rotary Artists this week were Karyn Wiggill and Janine Fanucchi who are both Miniature Artists.  That doesn't mean that they are excessively small in stature just that  their pictures take up very little space.  There was no Lord's Prayer on a  grain of  rice, though.

This Week
It's a social meeting but it will be taken up with quite a bit of business.  There's the Induction Dinner coming up next month and the Arts Festival in a weeks time.

Rotary Programme boosts Scientific Literacy in Taiwan Schools

The sky above the playground at Lao Mei Elementary School in New Taipei City, Taiwan, is dotted with kites of different colors, shapes, and sizes. Below, groups of students are busy making more kites and testing their construction skills in flying competitions.

To a passerby, the scene looks like just a fun day at school, but teachers know this is much more than play. It’s science, or to be exact, physics.

“As a matter of fact, it’s pure physics. The basic ability to fly a kite teaches lessons of aerodynamics and physics,” says Lao Mei science teacher Tsai Shin Yi, who believes that making and flying kites helps students see how science affects their daily lives — including playtime — and motivates them to learn more.

And in this class, even failures are seen as positive teaching moments. When some of Yi’s students were ready to quit after several failed attempts to get their kites airborne, he asked them, “Can any of you tell me why some kites fail to fly successfully?”

The kite classes at Lao Mei School, affectionately referred to as Love Kites, Love Lao Mei, are part of the Rotary Science Education Program, the flagship project of the Rotary Club of Taipei Pei-An. The global grant project aims to improve science education for students attending public schools in rural areas of Taiwan.

“We realized that science teachers and classrooms, particularly elementary and secondary schools in rural areas, receive fewer materials and resources, and even less institutional support” than other subjects, says Pauline Leung, past governor of District 3520 in Taiwan and the club’s former president.

Local teachers and Rotary club members agree that without a proper foundation in science, students become scientifically illiterate. And science teachers need strong classroom management skills and an in-depth understanding of their subject to help their students develop an interest and aptitude for science.

“So, we designed a science education program that provides a systematic approach to learning with a number of components, including audiovisual and instructional materials, professional development, material resources, community support, and evaluation,” says Leung.

ao Mei School has used kites to help students learn about a variety of subjects, including math, engineering, and basic science. Because of the program’s success, the school added a new component that helps students understand basic science theories, says Leung.

The program involves working with simple machines — levers, wheels, axles, gears, and pulleys — along with energy. To ensure the program’s sustainability, teachers also received training. Leung says the program is partly funded by a global grant from The Rotary Foundation with help from the Taiwan district’s international partner, Rotary District 3700 in Daegu, Korea.

Since the Rotary Science Education Program launched three years ago, teachers in the 20 rural schools where it’s been implemented have reported a new enthusiasm for learning among their students and increased participation by students with learning difficulties.  Yi says the program has also affected teachers, adding that the professional development elements have helped teachers increase their science knowledge and improve their teaching techniques.

Last year, members of the Taipei Pei-An Rotary Club visited Lao Mei School to see the program firsthand.

“We realized that what students learn is greatly influenced by how they are taught,” says Irene Lu, club president. “The actions of science teachers are deeply influenced by their understanding of the subject matter.”

Infection, Print Making@ the Rotary Arts Festival, Public Relations & the Rotary Foundation.

Last Week

Antoinette Moolman came to talk to us about infections, specifically infections in hospitals.

Antoinette is an Associate Lecturer in the Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases Unit at Wits and she is an Infection Control Specialist.

What was particularly interesting was how late it was..in the 1970's ....that infection between patients and visitors was taken seriously and something was done about it.
When you listen to a talk like this the amazing thing is that any of us are alive at all!  If you shake hands with anyone or breathe, even, you are at risk.

I rather stupidly deleted the picture of our visiting artists...if anyone has one with names etc then I will replace this blank paragraph.
Well it's not quite blank because this is something you can do at the Rotary Arts Festival.  We have effectively established an ongoing business with our donation of the press last year and Joan Sainsbury has mentored the embryo business on our behalf.

This Week

Our guest speaker will be Nombulelo Yena (Buli) of the Omnicom Media Africa Group.  She is an Implementation Planner…type of strategic Media Planner.  She and Michell Brook, Media Director have been assisting us on a daily basis with the Arts Festival.

Buli will introduce the agency, what they do and how they are assisting the Rotary Arts Festival.

The Association of Fundraising Professionals recognized The Rotary Foundation with its annual Award for Outstanding Foundation at its 2017 conference in San Francisco.

Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair-elect Paul Netzel accepts the Award for Outstanding Foundation, on Rotary's behalf, at the Association of Fundraising Professionals 2017 conference.

The award honours organizations that show philanthropic commitment and leadership through financial support, innovation, encouragement of others, and involvement in public affairs. Some of the boldest names in American giving — Kellogg, Komen, and MacArthur, among others —are past honorees.

The announcement came on 15 November, known to industry professionals since the 1980s as National Philanthropy Day. The award was presented 2 May at the AFP’s annual conference.

Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair-elect Paul Netzel accepted the award on Rotary’s behalf, and Eric Schmelling, Rotary's chief philanthropy officer, also attended the conference. The event drew more than 3,400 senior-level fundraising professionals from 33 countries.

“In our Centennial year, we are deeply honored to receive this recognition from the Association of Fundraising Professionals,” said Netzel.

AFP’s committee of judges cited Rotary’s comprehensive campaign to eradicate polio as a major driver of the selection.

With the generous support of our members and partners, we’ve taken on some of the toughest humanitarian challenges in the world, none more so than the devastating disease of polio,” said Netzel. “We will defeat polio, and it will be a landmark achievement for global public health.”

The committee also mentioned that Rotary applies a methodical, purposeful approach to support a wide variety of causes, from providing clean water to educating the next generation of peace professionals.

“This award helps to spread our belief that service to humankind truly changes our world, and for that reason, it is the greatest work of life,” said Netzel.

Elizabeth Louw, Artists, Infections and another Ambassador for Polio Plus in Nigeria.

Last Week

Elizabeth Louw, the Director of the College of Orientation & Mobility at SA Guide Dogs Association came to talk to us about the college.  We have donated a substantial amount to the college over a number of years and last year we were in a position to pay for a trainee for the whole year.  The trainees are sighted people who are trained to assist blind people,particularly in the  rural areas, with white cane training, home orientation to make their life easier and even simple things like recognising the different bank notes so that they ensure that they receive the whole of the social grant they are entitled to from the person who collects it on their behalf.
The depth and scope of the training was amazing even to the extent of taking trainees into shops and shopping centres with the assistance of shopkeepers.  Those of us who are sighted take so much for granted.
It was pleasing for us all to hear what good use is made of the money that we raise for the college.  Congratulations to you, Elizabeth and all your co-workers.
The big surprise was that Mpumalanga is the only province that pays for a number of trainees every year and at the same time employs trainers to assist blind people through-out the province which is quite shocking as it certainly is not a wealthy province.

Henry Jensen introduced this weeks Rotary artists.

Ronel Potgieter, Dini Condy, Henry Jensen, Hilary Bateman and Joan Sainsbury

This Week




Antoinette Moolman is going to talk to us about 'Infections'.  I am afraid I know little more than that!
Antoinette is an Associate Lecturer in the Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases Unit at Wits and she is an Infection Control Specialist.

Nigerian singer/songwriter Tiwa Savage is the newest face to join Rotary’s ‘This Close’ public awareness campaign for polio eradication.

Savage, who has been described by CNN as Nigeria’s biggest pop star, will help Rotary achieve its goal of a polio-free world by raising awareness about the vaccine-preventable disease. Savage administered a vaccine to children in Lagos in late April. Nigeria regularly conducts mass immunization campaigns to vaccinate every child under the age of five in the country.The singer's participation in this program comes at a critical juncture. Last year, Nigeria experienced a polio outbreak that paralyzed four children after passing nearly two years without a case of the disease. Her involvement in the campaign will raise important awareness that will help ensure the outbreak is stopped. 

“This is a cause that hits close to home for me, not only as a mother of a small child, but as a proud Nigerian, whose country has been battling this disease for many years,” said Savage.

Savage’s musical career began when she was 16 years of age as a backup singer for George Michael. Before going out on her own, she worked with many other well-known musicians, such as Whitney Houston, Kelly Clarkson, Andrea Bocelli, Mary J Blige and many more. Tiwa Savage is also a successful songwriter. She was signed to Sony/ATV Music before establishing her own label 323 Entertainment which teamed up with Marvin Records in 2012. 

Last year, Savage signed with Roc Nation as a management client  Already a superstar in her home country, her social media has amassed to a staggering 2.9 million followers on Instagram, 1. 8 million on Facebook, and 1.7 million on Twitter. 

Savage announced her new partnership with Rotary last week in New York City at a World Immunization Week event. As part of the ‘This Close’ campaign, Savage will be featured in ads raising her thumb and forefinger in the ‘this close’ gesture with the tagline ‘we're this close to ending polio.’ Since the initiative launched in 1988, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.9 percent, from about 350,000 cases a year to less than 37 cases in 2016.

The Nigerian music star joins other public figures and celebrities participating in Rotary’s public awareness campaign, including Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation;  actress Kristen Bell; Supermodel Isabeli Fontana; Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu; action movie star Jackie Chan; boxing great Manny Pacquiao; pop star Psy; golf legend Jack Nicklaus; conservationist Jane Goodall; premier violinist Itzhak Perlman; Grammy Award winners A.R. Rahman; Angelique Kidjo and Ziggy Marley; and peace advocate Queen Noor of Jordan.

Rotary launched its polio immunization program PolioPlus in 1985 and in 1988 became a spearheading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative with the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and more recently the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 

Rotary’s roles within the initiative are fundraising, advocacy, raising awareness and mobilizing volunteers. To date, Rotary has contributed more than $1.6 billion and countless volunteer hours to fight polio. Through 2018, every dollar Rotary commits to polio eradication will be matched two-to-one by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation up to $35 million a year. To date, more than 2.5 billion children have been immunized against polio, a paralyzing and sometimes deadly disease.  

Interact, Bophelo Palliative Care, College of Orientation & Mobility and Recreational Reading for Wrinklies

Last Week
I am sure those who were able to attend had a great informal meeting in Chariots, the Wanderer's bar!

Highlands North High School for Boys Interact Club

Cesare, Bongani and me.

I was privileged to be able to present the regalia to Bongani Sakhile Lunga, President of the Interact Club.  I took a photograph of the whole club and the teachers who assist...and naturally Cesare Vidulich as well.





The Letter from Dr Mpho to James as mentioned in the President's Comments

Hi James,

I am not sure if you received this e-mail I sent on the 13^th April.

I also thought I should give you the good news that you can sent to all those who supported us. The South African National Policy and strategic Framework for Palliative Care that we presented on the 6^th April was approved by the National Health Council (Minister of Health, 9 MECs from different provinces, Provincial Heads of Departments and National Executive- Director General and all national DDG).

This means that Palliative Care is now part of the care to be provided for all those wo need it in South Africa.

I have attached some of the correspondence following the presentation in the e-mail from the MEC of Health Kwazulu Natal Dr Dhlomo, who is the chairperson of the Steering Committee, and Dr Jeanette Hunter, the Deputy Director General Primary Health Nationally.

Rotary International has made a mark in the history of Palliative Care in South Africa through supporting the Gauteng Centre of Excellence for Palliative Care. The Centre is the recognized model of care for Palliative Care in Tertiary hospital in South Africa.

For the first time, Spiritual care is officially part of providing health care interventions. This would not have been possible without the training we received from Debbie.

I believe Rotary will continue to see their name being mentioned when discussing models of care for palliative care for years to come.

Thank you all very much from all staff at the Centre.

Best regards,

Mpho

This Week

Our Speaker is Elise Louw of the SA Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.  We have had an ongoing relationship with the Association for a number of years and for last few we have sponsored training the trainer at the College of Orientation and Mobility so that blind people in the rural areas can benefit.  This is very worthwhile project.

Freedom and Independence mean different things to different people, but to a person with a visual impairment, it can mean the ability to function in their own home independently, go where he/she likes when he/she likes, be able to continue to work and travel there and back safely on a daily basis, go shopping unaided, visit friends, and go to church. This means the need to adapt or develop new skills to function at home; to learn new skills to know where you are; to know how to get to a desired destination; as well as to be able to move about safely within your own home and further afield independently.

In 1969, the S A Guide-Dogs Association for the Blind became aware of the need for this type of service as a complementary service to Guide Dogs. In 1974, the Orientation & Mobility school was established to train sighted Orientation & Mobility Practitioners, from all over southern Africa, who would in turn train people who were visually impaired. The school became a college in 2006, after becoming an accredited training provider in 2005. There is now a two-year, SAQA-accredited diploma training course run by the College of Orientation & Mobility.

The college was honoured on 25 July 2014, when the COM building was renamed in honour of the late Ken Lord, past Executive Director of the S A Guide-Dogs Association for the Blind.

Presently it is estimated that in South Africa, there are approximately 388 000 individuals who are blind, and approximately 1 300 000 individuals who are partially sighted (formulas taken from the 2010 WHO statistics), and there is a need for professionally-trained practitioners to assist these individuals on an ongoing basis.

From Rotary Down Under...I just liked the heading.

Rotary recreational reading for wrinklies

Since 2005, the Rotary Club of Padstow, NSW, has collected unsold magazines from local newsagents and distributed them to nine local nursing homes and aged care facilities, as well as a local school.

Some nursing homes have local primary school students read the magazines to the residents.

The Rotary Club of Padstow encourages other clubs to consider similar projects to foster literacy rates.

Rotary recreational reading for wrinklies

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