The problem with Zoom meetings is that everyone looks as if they are the accused at Nuremberg....count the smiles.
Last Week
Isabella Holden, Executive Director of Lifeline, gave us talk on everything that Lifeline is involved with and, generally speaking, it's anybody that has problems and needs counselling as well as companies and organisations that require assistance with counselling or training internally.
What has made a huge difference is electronic and social media. I suppose the image of Lifeline tends to be Lifeline at the end of a telephone line without any thought to who is phoning up. It's pretty obvious that the other person is not phoning from a public call box! No, so much is done on WhatsApp with the counsellor sitting at home and it's free.
It was a very impressive talk and we were amazed at the variety of the work done and also the lack of geographical boundaries.
Food Parcels
As you read in Jean's column packing of food parcels took place last week and finished during the Rotary meeting. 200 were produced and the beneficiaries were:
- Gracepoint Church
- Rosettenville Baptist Church
- Northcliff High School
- Boeregemeenskap Transvaal
Every month Momo has to send in a report. So far we have received April and a project she has been involved with. I have set up a page so that you can read and at the same time, see, what she is up to and what a good ambassador she is for the club and Rotary International.
A Word from the Anns
Life under lockdown has highlighted how important a part the whole fellowship aspect of Rotary is. We have missed two monthly meetings. But thank goodness for the Rotary Anns’ chat group on WhatsAapp! We only got it going in 2020 and it has been most useful in this isolated time. We have exchanged business news, but also shared some inspiring videos and writings. The next step is to get going with Zoom as Rotary has.
Reluctantly we have cancelled the fundraising Bridge Drive scheduled for 13 May and in the true spirit of Rotary most of the ‘tables’ have opted to donate the money they had paid to book, to charity. So some of the money will go to the Animal Shelter in Soweto but some will go to hunger relief in this very fraught time among the poor and unemployed.
To any Rotarians who had planned to donate prizes for the Bridge Drive, thank you for your generosity. Perhaps next year. .. . ..
Liz Short has collected a lot of knitted items from various knitters who support the Anns projects and we have decided that they need to be out the warming people who would otherwise be very cold. We contacted the Gift of the Givers who will collect and distribute the stuff where it is needed.
To any who are reading this we send love and best wishes for your safety and good health as we adjust to all the changes that will need to be made to the new ‘normal’.
This Week
Our speaker is Jerry Selwane who started Soweto Animal Rescue
Selwane is a former SPCA inspector who now runs his own animal rehabilitation centre, the Soweto Animal Rescue and Advisory Centre (SARAC), from his Zuurbekom home, South of Johannesburg, which he established in 2011.
He has many kennels full of healthy dogs that he rescued from negligent owners, he has hectares of space he intends to put to good use in the future.
It is all part of his dream to give back through education and prosecute those who disregard animal rights.
His dream is to turn a part of his home into a fully fledged animal clinic, while continuing with his plans to run a mobile clinic so that he can take his work to communities in and around Soweto.
There was the time when Selwane got hold of a YouTube video where a man was beating up his goat for the supposed “crime” of eating his maize crops. Selwane did not see this viral video as just another video. Armed with his best private investigative skills, acquired through years of practice, he went out of his way to find and apprehend the man who had shown terrible cruelty to an animal.
“I could not sit and fold my arms. I drove 600km to Tonga and spoke to the person who had posted the video. After a few phone calls, l finally tracked down the person responsible for the worst form of animal abuse.”
With the help of the police, Selwane was able to apprehend the culprit, who was charged, and later fined and told to apologise for his behaviour.
Not one to wait for hand-outs, Selwane continues educating young people about caring for animals.
He has recruited his wife and three sons to spread the word. But his other soldiers are young people who constantly keep an eye out for lost and neglected animals in their communities. He calls these spirited soldiers Jerry’s Rangers, and says teaching young people about animal care is more immediately effective than rehabilitating older minds about the importance of taking care of animals.
For their efforts in reporting animal neglect and abuse, Jerry’s Rangers are rewarded with colouring books, pens and pencils.
“While it is important to reform old habits through speaking, teaching and motivating older people, there is no greater comfort than teaching young people, as they are the future and receptive to new information – more than old people who are set in their ways.”
His vision is to educate and change people’s attitudes towards animals by teaching the young the value of animal care, and making them aware of how wrong it is to be cruel to those without a voice.
Once a month I try to include a relevant innovative new club hoping that it might strike a chord with someone who receives The Ramble.
Rotary Club of New Voices, District 7780
Chartered: 2019
Original membership: 22
Membership: 37
Camp fires: Every year, dozens of District 7780’s Rotary Youth Leadership Awards alumni ages 17 to 27 return to Camp Hinds near Portland, Maine, to serve as staff. The Rotarians who oversee the program created a Rotary club tailored to these RYLA champions, with the operation of the four-day summer camp as a central part of its mission. Club members get invaluable experience in matters such as applying for grants.
Club innovation: The club, with a widely scattered membership, relies on digital tools to connect. There is a monthly online meeting, and members conduct frequent chats using the Google Hangouts app. The club is tailored to RYLA alumni but is open to all.
Phil Giordano, a member of the Rotary Club of Scarborough, Maine, and the executive director of the Camp Hinds RYLA, noticed the chemistry among program alumni who serve as camp staff. “Instead of just coming together one week out of the year, they started getting together many times during the year,” he says. “They wanted to do more and be more.” So he broached the subject of chartering a Rotary club tailored to them. “I started texting, and within 15 minutes I had 10 to 15 people wanting to start.” He and Marty Helman, a past district governor and member of the Rotary Club of Boothbay Harbor, Maine, saw an opportunity to create a club built around these highly engaged members of the Rotary family.
“Rotary has some absolutely marvelous youth programs,” says Helman, a staunch proponent of Rotary’s evolution. But once the program is over, she says, too often “we say, ‘Have a nice life. Go look for a Rotaract club, if there is one.’ There’s no reason why a young person has to go through Rotaract to become a Rotarian.
“Members are in their first adult experience in a volunteer organization, so they need some guidance,” Helman adds. “Not in how to run a meeting or work with each other. But in expectations, how to communicate with other Rotary clubs, process points. That’s why we’ve got tenured Rotarians helping.”
After attending RYLA camp in high school, Sam Klemarczyk, now the club’s co-president, remained active in Rotary through college but was struggling to stay involved. “I moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, and I’m transitioning into a new job. The flexibility of New Voices was a big thing. It helps open a lot of doors,” says Klemarczyk, 25.
New Voices requires five hours of service a month, not counting the work overseeing RYLA. “We’ve completely gotten past the obstacle young professionals face, which is the idea that they are not ready for Rotary,” Klemarczyk says. One club initiative is a project to raise awareness of Lyme disease, a potentially debilitating infection transmitted by tick bites. “The focus is on creating a coloring book targeted to elementary school students about when you’re outside in the fields and woods,” says Caitlin Morrison, co-president-elect and a cellular and molecular biology student at the University of Rhode Island. “It also consists of informational posters and cards at RYLA each year. In Maine and New Hampshire, everybody knows five-plus people who have been affected by Lyme disease.”
While the camp “defined the kind of person I wanted to be and my commitment to others, I like how being a Rotarian is a long-term commitment,” says Morrison. “I have something I can stay with for many years to come.