Guest Speaker Eric Dabbs takes us to the Baltics, Quiz 100 and Juanette opens her home to Ukrainian Refugees....

From the Pen of the President....

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

Once or twice a year we need to attend to business in the Club by holding a Club Assembly – an ideal opportunity for members to put something on the agenda and be heard/have it discussed by all the members. We are one big happy family, but, as in all families there is always someone with a differing opinion or wanting to have their say or just discuss something bothering them!!

Club Assembly is this coming Friday – please email me with your agenda items – if it is not on the agenda, it is not going to come up!! I will be sending you all, via email, our current annual budget for comment and also the goals I have selected for the club for everyone’s approval.

Please try and attend on Friday, either online or in person – we cannot make any decisions or vote on anything without a quorum!! We have 2 inductions to look forward to as well.

I was so happy last week as it seemed that winter was over – not so, but at least we know that spring HAS to come – it is the order of things!!

Keep cosy,

    

Ann Hope-Bailie

   

 Club President

Last Friday...

... We were privileged to listen to Traveller Extraordinaire, Eric Dabbs' most recent travel exploits.

Since his retirement in 2011 Professor Eric Dabbs has criss-crossed the globe extensively and with his recent trip to the Baltic countries his tally of destinations has now passed the 100 mark.

Eric titled his presentation: Travelling through the Baltics (In the shadow of War in the Ukraine).

He had been drawn to that part of the world as he had numerous friends who had originated there and these were the only European countries he had not been to.

Despite the proximity to Russia the actual war was far removed.

The Baltics consist of 4 very diverse countries: Lithuania- capital Vilnius, Latvia - capital Riga, Estonia - capital Tallin and Finland - capital Helsinki.

The countries have a rich and deep history and thankfully most of the historical castles, churches and buildings have survived, because instead of going to war they capitulated to the invading forces.

Lenore thanked Eric for his fascinating talk and we had to agree with her that we were all intrigued by the Hill of Crosses which he visited while in Vilnius. It is a popular place of pilgrimage, and it is estimated that the hill houses about 100 000 crosses.

Quiz Challenge 100...

To celebrate our 100th Quiz Challenge last Wednesday our organizer David Bradshaw invited a few of the regular Rosebank Rotary participants to his home for a hearty soup supper and the opportunity to test our general  knowledge in person. Our Zoom opponents were from the Rotary Club of Kyalami as well as the e-club of Harare. The winner of that evening was undoubtedly Fellowship!!

Juanette McCrindle shares her "Ukrainian" journey with us....

We are privileged to own 3 properties in Hamburg. We live in one of the apartments and the other 2 townhouses were standing empty. We decided that we did not want to rent them, but instead offer them to  refugee families who have come to Germany and have to start their lives all over. 

We attend a Rotary club in Norderstedt and we met a lady who I think was the previous Mayor of Norderstedt and she put us in contact with one of the departments who deal with asylum seekers. 

Heide contacted us last December and said she had a family from Eritrea who needed a home. However, this did not work out. 

Then in April after the Ukraine vs Russia war broke out we were contacted once again by Heide saying she had a family of 5 driving from Ukraine at that moment and were arriving in Hamburg within the next week and would need a place to stay. We agreed that they could immediately move into one of the townhouses. It was semi furnished so they had something to start with. It is a family, Vladimir (62) and his wife Natalia (46), Lena (58), Olga (36) and her son Nikita (3). Vladimir could leave as he was over 60 but Olga and Lena's husbands who are both under 60 could not leave, they had to remain to fight the war. 

Without any questions we gave them the keys and they moved in. We also gave them a key to the house next door and said if there was anything that they could use from that house to please take it. 

Vladimir and Natalia helped us and especially Rainer in sorting out our garages and putting up shelves to make our life easier. The language was a problem but our friend GoogleTranslate is an amazing app and we use it to type messages to each other. It took them a while to get registered and  they are now attending German classes. The German government gives them an allowance of 380 Euro per person per month. And the government also pays us rent. (We did not expect anything from the government or the Ukrainians).

At the end of April Heide contacted us and said she had another family looking for accommodation. We made it clear that this house which is available is in fact not really habitable, but if they wanted to look at it they were most welcome. We met with a tall, dark and quite handsome young man. We sat and chatted, I estimated him to be about 33/34, but as it turned out he is only 24. He has a degree in Economics and speaks good English. His manner and the way he conducts himself is very mature and responsible. And remember, this is the 2nd war he is living through. 

He went through the house with me and said yes, he would like to take it. I also gave him the keys and told him to keep what they wanted in the house. He explained that his mother, father and grandparents would be living with him. 

He then asked if he could make some changes, but who would fund these changes as was penniless? So we agreed that if he managed and organised everything, we would fund the requested renovations. Within 2 weeks, he had ripped out the old carpets and replaced them with laminate, he had all the skirtings redone and painted the walls. Once he had moved in he organized  lamp shades and curtain rails. The house has gone through a miraculous change and it has been a blessing not only for them but for us as well. 

We went away to Wiesbaden to visit our grandchildren. Davyd wanted to organise a service to remove all the garbage which had come out of the house and we gave Davyd our car keys and trailer and said: here,  please use it to remove the garbage. He has mentioned many times to me that he and his family do not know how to thank us. He said that it is so unbelievable that people will just hand over the house keys and say: here, stay as long as you like without expecting anything in return. He also can't believe that we would just give him our car keys and then leave town. These are things he said that do not happen and has given him a huge amount of trust and respect for us. 

Davyd and his mom have been in the house since mid May but his dad only managed to get out much later and arrived in Hamburg on the 3rd July. His grandparents decided to stay in Russia with their daughter, as they felt that the trip to Germany would be too much of an adjustment at their age. Which I can totally understand. Davyd and his mum have worked in the garden and continue to make changes in the house and for this I am extremely grateful. 

 I took the ladies and Nikita out for lunch... I had to laugh.. I said to my children, I took Natalia, Lena and Olga out for lunch, we spent the whole time on our cell phones... ha ha haaa.... "translating" ..... It is the only time I have been to a lunch where I agreed that cell phones were acceptable :) 

Our experience has been a humbling one. People who have fled and arrived in a country, with a culture and language they do not understand, have been pleasant, helpful, friendly, they laugh with us and they are so grateful they do not have to live in one of the communal halls where they would have to sleep with hundreds of others. 

Unfortunately other people have had unpleasant experiences when they took in guests from other countries. We have been blessed. 

I am separated from my family in South Africa by choice, but these families  are separated from their loved ones because of war. One loses sight of how fortunate we are. When you meet people who have lost everything.. and I mean everything... It is a good time to stop, reflect and be grateful. 

This Friday....

Club Assembly and the induction of Prof Shelley Schmollgruber and Vivienne Brokken.

See you all there, either in person or on Zoom.

Lorenzo's virtual tour of Fano, Picnic in the Wilds, RLI Training, and another consignment of blankets will warm persons in need....

 From the Pen of the President...

On August 9, 1956, there was a staged march on the Union Buildings of Pretoria. Over 20,000 women of all races attended the march in order to protest against the Urban Areas Act of 1950 amendments. This law required all South Africans defined as “black” to carry an internal passport that served to maintain segregation, control urbanization, and manage migrant labor during apartheid. The women left 14,000 petitions at the office doors of the prime minister. 100,000 signatures were left outside the prime minister’s door as well as a thirty-minute silent protest. After the silent protest, songs were sung to honour the event, to make sure their voices were heard. The song they sang was composed specifically for the event, titled “Wathint’Abafazi Wathint’imbokodo” which translates to “Now you have touched the women, you have struck a rock.” 

29.7 million – the number of females in South Africa as of 2019.
40 billion – the number of hours spent by women in sub-Saharan Africa collecting water.
⅔ – of the world’s 796 million illiterate people are women.
1 in 3 – women around the world experience violence.
2.7 billion – the number of women who don’t have the same work opportunities as men.
82 million – the number of women worldwide who don’t have any legal protections against workplace discrimination.
650 million – the number of women who are married before the age of 18 across the world.

 

Let’s celebrate women – our mothers, grandmothers and friends!!

 Ann Hope-Bailie

 Club President

Last Friday...

...through the power of technology, our e-member Lorenzo Locatelli-Rossi, who is spending the summer with his family on the Danish Island of Fanø, hopped on to his scooter with his video camera and gave us a virtual tour of his surroundings.

Fanø is a small island off the West coast of Denmark, and is a mere 16 km long and 3 km wide. It has a population of 3000 souls and  is a popular weekend and holiday destination as it is only a 12 minute ferry ride from the mainland. Copenhagen is 1 1/2 hours away. Germany is also not far away and many Germans have built holiday homes on the island.

Lorenzo took us down to the harbour just as a ferry was arriving, and pointed out a few of the 60 -70 wind turbines that have been erected just out to sea.

Ferries arrive and depart frequently and the cost is an affordable 5 Euros one-way.

We also had the great pleasure of meeting his lovely daughter Anna Maria.

Lorenzo then took us into the village which boasts an old age home, a cinema, a nine hole golf course, croquet ground and in Lorenzo's opinion the best butcher in Denmark. On the outskirts there is a little forest which is the home to an abundance of rabbits.

It was a wonderful whirlwind tour of this beautiful little island. And we had good weather! 

Thank you Lorenzo for sharing it with us and giving us some insights into your second home.

Picnic in the Park.....

Early risers joined Ann in the Wilds for a picnic breakfast and a stroll through the beautifully maintained gardens. It is heartwarming to see that this Johannesburg landmark is once again worth a visit.

RLI Training Program...

This past weekend Sybille attended Part 3 of the RLI Certificate course as well as Part A of the RLI Graduate course.

The course content of Part 3 consisted of:

• Strategic Planning
• Foundation & International Service
• Public Image and Public Relations
• Building a Stronger Club
• Making a Difference

and Part A:

• Motivating Volunteers
• Membership Issues

We were hosted by the Rotary Club of Henley-on Klip/Meyerton who pulled out all the stops to make all the delegates feel welcome and well-fed. Thank you Fiona Brokensha for delicious lunches and the best carrot cake south of the Border.

Trainers Wendy Damoes and Rita Millan made the subject matter relevant and interesting and we all walked away feeling enriched, motivated and empowered. 

RLI Training is ongoing and continuous, so please watch this space as more courses are being planned and will be held in the closer Johannesburg area in September.

And more people will be kept warm...

A NGO close to President Ann's heart is Let's Work, run by the tireless Felicity Lawlor, and today they benefited from a delivery of blankets donated by the King Edward VII School 

Unfortunately we did not get to meet Felicity as she was running urgent errands, but Sibusiso and Clare gratefully accepted the blankets on her behalf.

If you would like to find out more about Let's Work you may click into this link.

https://northcliffmelvilletimes.co.za/273336/lets-work-towards-a-brighter-future/

This Friday....

.... let us welcome guest speaker Eric Dabbs.

Eric Dabbs is from Surrey, England. After an undergraduate degree from Cambridge he completed a PhD at Harvard Medical School in the U.S. followed by a decade of research at the Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics in West Berlin. He then moved to South Africa where he was Professor of Genetics at Wits before retiring in 2011. A major part of his life since then has been travel: in countries visited, during this journey through the Baltic States he passed the 100 mark.

And in Closing....

From Lyn Collocott:

The grass is turning green in front of our eyes, loadshedding has been suspended and I'm singing ' Looks like we  made it' from Shania  Twains  famous song. .... ..

It's been a tough couple of years, but think what our Club has achieved:

*100 online Quizzes

* A fully hybrid Club

* Blanket drive and Norwood food collections  going strong.

And this Rotary year...

*The  Careers Day was an outstanding success.

* President Ann hosted a most enjoyable Walk on the Wilds side. 

And to come.....

• 28 August  -  A couple of hours of planting and clean up at the Sensory  Garden in Delta Park.
• 14 September  -  A Rotarian table taking part in the Anns Bridge Drive.
• 17 September -  World Clean Up Day....We will be taking care of a beautiful part of the Braamfontein Spruit.
• October is the Youth Leadership Course... Rotarians are always  invited to the Sunday braai.
• Also, our fundraising  quiz  at Parkview Golf course.
• Vocational Awards..... 
• Regular skittle evenings..

 The list goes on. .

We are a magic Club ....And yes, we have made it.

--

A busy week indeed....

 From the Pen of the President.....

August is Membership and new club development month. Rosebank got off to a great start and we are hitting our membership goal early!! Rosebank rocks!!

It has been such a busy weekend – besides our Careers Day, which was just great, the Commonwealth Games and T20 cricket. Love a good win for SA!!

I told the young people on Saturday when we welcomed them that they should choose a job which they enjoy!! I think most of you would agree that there were not as many opportunities when we were making career choices. So many options now!!

Hope to see you all as we take a walk on the WILDS side on Saturday – you can walk, talk or just relax – your choice!!

Have a good week.

Ann

 

Last Week...

... we might not have had an official Friday lunchtime meeting, but it was a busy Rotary week nonetheless.

Monday

Charles Mpofu and his band of Rotary Community Corp volunteers donated sanitary pads to needy girls at different avenues in Alexandra as part of Mandela month. The sanitary pads had been bought by members of RC Rosebank in support of Alex RCC.

Tuesday

President Ann, Jean Bernardo and Sybille Essmann accepted an invitation from PP Grace van Zyl of the Rotary Club of Johannesburg to listen to a fascinating talk by renowned military author Simon Green who has travelled the length and breadth of Southern Africa to explore the thousands of block houses that were erected by British soldiers during the Anglo-Boer War. Meeting up and exchanging ideas with Rotary members from other Johannesburg clubs is always a pleasure.

Wednesday Evening

Our weekly Wednesday Zoom Quiz Challenge was against members of DG Koekie Makunyane-Quashie's home club of Manzini, Eswathini. Our quiz coordinator David Bradshaw is making sure that our quizzes remain relevant and fun.

Next week, the 10th of August will be our 100th quiz!!

A few facts regarding the quizzes we have had:

We started on the 21 May 2020 .

Our first two Quiz’s were against Kyalami.

We have so far had quizzes with clubs from the following countries(8).

Botswana.

Uganda(Rotaract Club Bukoto).

Tanzania(Joyster Bay Dar es Salam).

Zimbabwe(EClub Harare).

Lesotho(Mantsopa Maseru).

India(Cochin, Smart City, Beachside Periyar, Uptown, Tripunithura Royale) all Kerela Clubs.

Malawi(Lingadzi Lilongwe).

Eswatini(Manzini).

Western Cape.

Cape Town(Newlands).

Cape Town(Somerset West).

Hermanus

Limpopo.

EClub Boabab.

 

Local Clubs

Meyerton-Henly on Klip.

Pretoria/Centurion.

Hatfield.

Benoni

Fourways 

Main Reef.

Johannesburg

Kyalami

Morningside.

New Dawn

Northcliff

Randburg.

Rosebank Rotary Anns

A total of 25 clubs in all, including 17 South African Clubs, and 8  from outside including 7 in Africa plus India.

We have also had some Rosebank Men v Ladies evenings, one South African three club evening, 5 or more Indian clubs in one evening.

That is very impressive!!

Thursday

The Interactors from the Highlands North Boys High School distributed much needed blankets to Rays of Hope in Alexandra.

Rays of Hope is a Non-Profit Company (NPC) and a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO), which manages a large number of social outreach programmes in Alexandra Township (Alex) in northern Johannesburg.  The organisation aims to enable individuals and families to improve all aspects of their lives, thereby creating a lasting impact on the broader Alex community.

The young men were accompanied by Marianne Soal and Jean Bernardo, as well as teacher Mimie van Deventer.

Thursday Evening

We held a raucous skittles fundraising evening at the Swiss Club in Vorna Valley to help Tsjamo Nyato, who has been selected as a Rotary Exchange Student, get to to Finland next year. Through the generosity of Rotarians and Friends of Rotary who bought ample raffle tickets we managed to raise      R5700 that evening!

Saturday

After a hiatus of nearly two years we were finally able to once again host the annual Careers Fair at the Holy Family College in Parktown.

Team "Youth" (Jean Bernardo, Les Short, Marianne Soal, David Bradshaw and Ann Hope-Bailie) managed to invite  a diverse and eclectic variety of representatives  from the medical fraternity to all avenues of engineering, architecture, financial planning, law, real estate, hairdressing, coding, fashion design, electrician, teaching, journalism and entrepreneurship. 

Various universities, colleges and other institutions of higher education were also there to inform the learners about their options and choices.

Grade 10, 11 and 12 learners from various schools in Johannesburg had been invited, and the turnout on the day was exceptional. 

A big thank-you has to go to Marianne Soal for coordinating and liaising with the presenters and making sure that everything ran smoothly on the day.

Headmaster Franc Sobreira and his PA Bela also played a big part in making this day a huge success.

He is already giving thought to making this event even bigger and better next year.

Thank you to all the Rosebank members who showed their support on the day.

Howard Johnson and James Croswell showcasing their profession with pride.

This Friday....

Please join us either in person at Wanderers or on Zoom and let Lorenzo take us on a virtual tour around the island of Fano in Denmark. 

 

A Business Meeting with a lot of content, Club 100 monthly winners announced, A visit to the Sensory Garden in the Delta, and an appeal for assistance.....

 From the Pen of the President.....

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

 

We have so much to be grateful for – and yet we spend a lot of time complaining and going on about silly issues we can do nothing about!!

We belong to a world renowned, world class organisation which brings people together to use their talent and time to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges. We should not be joining those who complain, we do not have time. Let’s go out there and be the people of action we say we are!!

I am going to be sending out the Club’s goals this week on email and would love to hear from members, ahead of the Club Assembly on the 19^th August, what you think. Our goals are what we are measured on, we need to feel proud of what we achieve.

Let’s see what we can do..

See you next week.

Ann

Last Friday....

...the meeting room was abuzz and attendance (in person and on Zoom) was the best it has been since lockdown.

It was our monthly Business meeting where the various committee chairs had a chance to report back what the club has been getting up to in the previous month and what the plans are for the year ahead.

It is the first month of the Rotary year, so there have been a few changes in leadership and committee members, so activities will gain momentum as we go along.

Report backs in a nutshell:

John Symons remains Club treasurer and holds the purse strings.

• The annual budget has been put forward but will be finalized at Club Assembly.
• Still to be ratified at Club Assembly on the 19th of August, but club subscriptions to remain at R2000 for the year, payable as a lumpsum or in installments. Please let John know how you would like to pay.
• In total R74 000 came into the coffers for our annual blanket drive, and most blankets have now been disbursed.

David Bradshaw remains responsible for Membership and is our club almoner:

• We lost four members in the previous year, due to circumstances beyond our control, but so far we have inducted Michelle von Benecke and we are looking forward to welcoming Prof Shelley Schmollgruber and Vivienne Brokken as members, both no strangers to our club, as they have always helped with the nomination of the Lester Connock Award candidates. They have attended a couple of meetings already and hopefully we will be able to induct them in the near future.
• David, as club almoner makes sure that he regularly contacts people like Bernard Neuhaus, James Byrne, Judy Powell, Carol Lawrence and Roger Lloyd and it was lovely to welcome Yvonne Franklin to last week's meeting.

President Ann presents our newest member Michelle von Benecke with the Rotary Charge

IPP Costa Qually is taking over the Rotary International Foundation chair

and President Ann has also made him Executive Secretary, as well as head of tech, so that our hybrid meetings run smoothly.

Feedback about the quality of the hybrid meetings by Zoom attendees would be appreciated.

• Please let Costa know about any potential Grant projects.
• Inhouse RLI (Rotary Leadership Institute) training is planned for all interested club members in the near future.

Sybille Essmann will remain  chair of the Community and Vocational Services committee.

• Our club will be taking over the Khensani Collection EcoBrick project from the Rotary Club of Randburg as they do not have the capacity. Khensani is planning on building additional classrooms with EcoBricks and we are very excited to be part of this monumental project.
• We are also looking forward to further collaboration with Stephan Ferreira from Charity Begins with Me, who so tirelessly works to uplift children in the Durban Deep informal community.

Lyn Collocott remains responsible for the Environment portfolio.

Paul Chinn and Babette Gallard, Eco- Warriors and members of The Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn in collaboration with numerous other community forums are planning the mother of all river clean-ups, and being People of Action we call on all our members, family and friends to volunteer their time to help make a difference.

Lyn met with the organizers and on behalf of our club expressed our willingness to be part of this project and  we have been allocated a portion of the Braamfontein Spruit in Delta Park from the blue pedestrian bridge (Delta Cafe) up to the Conrad Drive bridge (close to the Fresh Earth coffee shop).

Lenore Terblanche has agreed to take on the International Portfolio.

• She has chaired her first committee meeting and for the year ahead they would like to try and get smaller projects off the ground, with the emphasis being on Health and Wellness. 
• They would like to identify a children's hospital ward that might need upgrading. 
• They would also like to further investigate the bio-degradable sanitary pad project and will soldier on with the cervical cancer project.
• Club involvement with the Rotary Family Health Days taking place 12th, 13th and 14th October.

The Youth Portfolio will once again be chaired by Jean Bernardo

• The Highlands North Highschool Interact Club is up and running. They received 25 plus 20 blankets from us to hand out at an orphanage and an old age home that they support.
• The Youth Senior Leadership Course has been confirmed for the 14th - 16th October.
• District has approved three Rotary Exchange students. One of them is Emma, Michele von Benecke's daughter who will be going to Germany next year. Some of us will have met her as well as Tsjamo Nyato who attended President Ann's induction party. As the young man will need financial assistance to make his dream to go to France come true a number of smaller fundraisers will be organized in the next few months.
• The 2022 Careers Day is taking place at the Holy Family College this Saturday the 30th July. About 200 - 300 learners from various schools in Johannesburg have been invited to attend.

Sonja Hood remains our Fundraising Queen

Another fun quiz fundraiser will take place on Wednesday the 25th of October. The venue is confirmed, our quiz master Larry has been booked and Sonja is making an appeal to all members to assist with donation of raffle prizes.

Public Image will fall into Rosebank Ramble editor Sybille's domain.

• It has been decided to terminate our website and rather concentrate on improving our Facebook image. 
• It is a work in progress.

Follow-up Visit to the Waterwise and Sensory Garden in Delta Park...

This past Sunday Lyn Collocott and a few of her environment committee took a stroll through the Waterwise and Sensory Garden which we, with the help of willing volunteers, cleaned in April this year. We identified three areas that need attention:

1) Strip and paint the metal railings of the bridge.

This would entail quite a bit of material and hard labour.

2) Clean the metal signposts.

With a bit of warm soapy water and a bit of elbow grease these signposts could be easily transformed back to their original glory. There are seven or eight of them.

3) Filling the empty planters with water-wise plants.

Most of us would be able to find suitable succulents in our own gardens that we could transplant into these containers.

We have earmarked Sunday the 28th of August to gather members and willing volunteers to spend a day beautifying a valuable part of our city. 

Save the date!

An Appeal for Help....

The rector of St Francis in Parkview has forwarded this appeal to us to see whether we could assist in any way.

Roger Wedlake makes "light" of Eskom, and Support the Anns Bridge Drive....

 From the Pen of the President....

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

 

Today’s theme was – Do what you can, with what you have, where you are!! – in memory of Nelson Mandela who would have been 104 years old today. It was heartwarming and uplifting to hear all that was being done across the country – especially at a time when the need in the country is so great. Thank you all for what you did – big and small, it all counts in the end.

So down to business – our first board meeting of the year this week, followed by a business meeting on Friday. All members are expected to be involved in one or other committee, where the projects are discussed and executed. It is vital for members to attend business meetings to hear what the other committees are doing and hear the state of our finances, our membership etc.

Let’s get back to business – no more epidemic to blame!!

“There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” 

Nelson Mandela.

Till then…..

 

 

   Ann Hope-Bailie

    Club President

    Rotary Club of Rosebank

    +27 82 570 6627 mobile

    ann@hopebailie.com

 

Last Friday...

...in a nutshell.

Roger Wedlake gave us a very insightful and sobering talk on the woes of Eskom. 

Roger had been associated with this power producer since his arrival in South Africa 50 years ago, and has followed its steady decline with dismay.

In his view Eskom is very much a story of two halves: The rise and the demise.

Although founded in1923, Eskom came into its own after WW2 when the Nationalist Party came to power. 

Because of the abundance of coal in the Mpumalanga coal belt, the government owned the mining rights and  had contracts with the mining houses to supply coal on a cost plus basis. The building of power plants along the coal belt proliferated in the 1980s, and Eskom was able to produce some of the cheapest electricity in the world. 

So where did it all go so wrong? 

In Roger's opinion the  answer is not entirely obvious and the demise did not start with corruption but was mainly due to misguided advice rendered by overpaid advisors to the new government and a business model that led to gross mismanagement. 

The building of new power plants stopped in the year 2000 and by 2004 the warning signs were clearly evident when experts predicted that we would run out of power in 2008. Who remembers the first rolling blackouts back in precisely that year long before the Zuma era that then heralded the beginning of endemic corruption? 

Roger has a very bleak outlook on our future power supply and has reservations as to whether solar and wind power generation will be our salvation. 

The Rosebank Rotary Anns Bridge Drive is back....

The Anns fundraising endeavours were sorely curtailed during the two past lockdown years and they are therefore putting in  every effort in making their flagship fundraiser a resounding success.

Please diarize their Bridge Drive, which will take place on Wednesday the 14th of September at the St Michaels Church in Bryanston, between the hours of 10:00 and 14:00. They would like us to encourage participation but also have put in an appeal for Rotarians to donate some much needed prizes, like wine, chocolates or meal vouchers. 

The funds they are hoping to raise will go towards the Khanyisela Projects in the Drakensberg.

The Cavern Berg Resort has long been involved in providing aid to to schools, creches and the communities in the Amazizi area. Together with donations and assistance from other resorts, guests, friends and businesses, they hope to give the local children a sound foundation on which they can build and assist  in the long-term prosperity of their area and their country.

Please click into the link  Khanyisela Projects to find out more.

This Friday....

.... Please attend our monthly business meeting either in person at Wanderers or on Zoom.

A visit from the President of the International Women's Club, and Rotary proves that we are People of Action....

From the Pen of the President....

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

We are on our way with our Rotary year. Thank you to those who donated to Rotary Foundation on 1st July - we have R2450 to start our giving.
I was contacted by Knights Pendragon Club, who asked us to join with them to help the Gerald Fitzpatrick Home for the Aged. Those members at last Friday's meeting voted to assist - I am sure others will agree. They have no emergency lights.
I took it upon myself to plan for our 5th Friday meeting - morning coffee at the Wilds, but on Saturday 30th.

https://www.jhbcityparksandzoo.com/services-facilities/nature-reserves-bird-sanctuary/find-a-reserve/the-wilds-nature-reserve

There is a lot of talk at times about membership, and lets face it, without members our club will suffer. I would like to adjust our focus to other important topics as well. Members who are serious about being Rotarians need to be part of a committee, take part in projects. As a hybrid club, we appreciate that 'online' is as good as in-person and I think we are doing pretty well, and thank you to you all . Committee meetings are hybrid too and the meetings should be short, to the point and at a convenient time. Chairpersons are obliged to send minutes ahead of our business meeting.

In August we will have an Assembly and can finalize our goals.
My goal for the year is to have fun - join me!! We can be successful at the same time.

Keep warm.
Ann

Last Friday....

 

...Our club invited International Women's Club President Helen Langridge to tell us a little bit more about this organization.

Helen has been a longtime member and the President of the IWC for the past three years. The club was originally established in 1967 as a lunch club to help newcomers to Johannesburg to settle into their life in a new city.

The IWC is first and foremost a friendship club bringing together women of all nationalities and walks of life. They meet once a month at the Bryanston Country Club, where they will have a guest speaker and have a chance to socialize, and they also have a monthly activity where they will visit a place of interest, this month for example they plan to visit the holocaust and genocide centre and the following month a pottery class has been organized. You can also participate in various other special interest groups like book clubs, travel club, garden club, MahJong and bridge club.

Although they are not a charitable organization, they do however participate in various charity drives throughout the year, like Santa Shoebox and blanket and animal food collections.

Like many organizations they too were hard hit by Covid and as a result they saw dwindling membership numbers, but slowly it starting to pick up again.

As a number of members are only here for a finite time and move on to other parts of the world or return to their country of origin, it means that the friendships that have been forged during their stay in South Africa are far reaching and often long lasting.

It was lovely that fellow IWC member Liz Wolhuter was able to join the meeting as well as being able to greet Rita Millan from Rotary Club of Northcliff.

As young Tutty Faber was unable to receive his 100% attendance badge at President Ann's induction, she pinned it to his chest at the Friday meeting. Well done Tutty!

Rotarians, People of Action.....

"Together we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change - across the globe, in our communities and in ourselves"

This past weekend Rotarians Costa Qually, Jean Bernardo, Sybille Essmann and Rotary Ann Shirley Eustace had the most profound opportunity to make a difference in a few hapless souls  lives, when we were invited to be part of a group of 11 volunteers headed up by powerhouse Marilyn Bassin of the Boikanyo - Dion Herson Foundation who had identified the Sivenathi Care Home in a community on the outskirts of Fort Beaufort, Eastern Cape which takes care of 36 severely mentally and physically disabled persons, who were in desperate need for specialized mobility devices. The other driving force behind this initiative was Ruth Stubbs of The Paige Project, who is a vastly experienced occupational therapist, specializing in the treatment of persons born with cerebral palsy. Kerry, a young comm serv occupational therapist, who singlehandedly heads up the OT department at the Victoria Hospital in Alice was our girl at the coal face who was tasked to identify the children and persons who would be receiving a wheelchair.

The preparation for this outreach started months ahead of time. The mobility devices had to be individually prepared and shipped down to the Eastern Cape. Our fellow Rotarian Anne Padmore employed all her connections to organize Value Logistics who transported the wheelchairs, equipment, 171 blankets and ePap, generously donated by the Croswell family and Marilyn Bassin. All free of charge!

Flights to East London had to be booked, accommodation organized, we needed a vehicle big enough to carry 11 persons plus luggage, food parcel donations had to be organized.... and the People of Action stepped up to the plate

We were indeed humbled to see how an impoverished community manages to survive with dignity and with what minimal resources they have to make do. There is no running water, electricity is sporadic and by all accounts the refuse removal is non-existent, the result of which was that we saw two of the children having been bitten by rats. As the care home did not have a First-Aid kit Dr Shirley Eustace headed for town to obtain an anti-biotic and buy the necessary resources to  clean  and bandage the offending sores.

Nevertheless it must be said that we no doubt made a difference to the quality of life of these desperate souls.

Please look at the makeshift wheelchair this young man had to make do with.

Before and after.

We also managed to refurbish a number of old wheelchairs . We even found one that had been donated by Rotary Great Britain & Ireland.

In between we also handed out much needed blankets, because it can get bitterly cold in that part of the world.

The caregivers are the unsung heroes of this care centre and as a small token of gratitude Boikanyo donated food parcels to them and their families. They also each received a blanket donated by the Rotary Club of Rosebank

This Friday....

...Join the meeting either in person or via Zoom when Roger Wedlake will educate us on Anti-Aging Part 2.

Please let Ann know whether you will be attending in person, so that Ann can order sufficient pizzas.