Friendship Exchange, AGM, a Statue for the Visually Impaired & Rotary's Strategic Plan

Now I have Brazil Friendship Exchange Pictures

Last Week
It was our AGM on Saturday morning which was a great success.  President Jean agreed to do a second year and Ann Hope-Bailie will be President Elect and continue as Secretary for the coming year.  No doubt President Jean will have more to say.

President Jean also was at the unveiling of a statue of President Mandela in Mandela Square.  It's a sort of Mini-me for the Visually Impaired. PDG David Grant does the honours.

STATUE FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED

 At a ceremony on Friday 23 November 2018 Rotary District 9400 and Exxaro Resources unveiled a 1-meter high miniature version of the Nelson Mandela statue at Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton

PDG David Grant of District 9400 conceived the idea for a replica statue for the visually impaired.  Now through touch, visually impaired persons can also appreciate Nelson Mandela and the famous Madiba Jive.  

This statue has been erected close to the original 6m statue that was sculpted by Kobus Hattingh with inspiration from Jacob Maponyane.

 The statue for the visually impaired will surely  become one of the most popular statues of Mandela broadcasting Mandela’s joy and belief in peace and reconciliation while also conveying Rotary’s focus on  global peace and conflict prevention/resolution. Through Rotary’s six areas of focus, Rotarians strive to build international relationships, improve lives, and create a better world with programs that focus on explicit peace building and conflict resolution skills training plus leadership skills to promote peace and global understanding.

This Week

Cuthbert Gumbochumba talks about himself.  Knowing Cuthbert as we do....it will be fun.

Christmas Lunch

So far we have 15 people going and there is only a week to go before bookings close.  It's roughly half last year's number.

Many thanks to Mark Franklin for sending this article on Linda Twala with whom the club has a long-standing relationship.  It appeared in the local Sandton newspaper.

Community Leader gives a helping hand in society

Alexandra community leader Linda Twala, of the Phutaditjaba Community Centre, (which Rosebank helped fund), collects hampers to distribute at two Christmas parties every year – one for the elderly who survive on a meagre pension and another for children who are orphans or who head households. (Rosebank supplied Makro hampers for many years and now contribute from the Spar collections) This year the parties will be held on December 6 and 7.

Twala has been a community leader for 51 years. In 1967 he founded a centre for the aged where they could get medical care, food and companionship.

The centre grew from strength to strength, from a corrugated iron clinic to a proper satellite clinic. It now also has a library, a community boardroom and hall, and a soup kitchen. (We funded a large part of this expansion)

The centre feeds over 200 children and 150 aged people per day. Twala says that 90% of Alexandrians are unemployed.

Twala is the recipient of many humanitarian awards for his community service, including the Inyathelo Awards for Lifetime Philanthropy.

Strategic plan

Rotary's strategic plan sets the framework for our future, ensuring that we continue to be known as a respected, dynamic organization that advances communities worldwide.

As we stand on the cusp of eliminating polio, it time for us to create a new path toward bringing more people together, increasing our impact and creating even more lasting change around the world.

Rotary leadership is developing a strategic plan that will help guide our organization from Rotary year 2020 and beyond. Our current plan guides our work through Rotary 30 June 2019.

In June, Rotary's Board of Directors and Trustees approved four key priorities and objectives to serve as the foundation for the next strategic plan:

Increase our impact Rotary strives to change the lives of others for the better. Our members invest volunteer and financial resources in a broad range of service activities, but we will do a better job of measuring the results and outcomes of our work. So that Rotary can continue to attract members, partners, and donors, we'll focus our programs and produce evidence of lasting impact.

Related objectives:

• Eradicate polio and leverage the legacy
• Focus our programs and offerings
• Improve our ability to achieve and measure impact

Expand our reach People are seeking ways to make a difference in the world and connect with others. How do we help them find what they're looking for in Rotary? By creating unique opportunities for more people and organizations to get involved. Clubs will always be important. But to extend our global reach, we'll expand our current structure with innovative models that welcome more participants into Rotary and give them meaningful ways to unite and take action.

Related objectives:

• Grow and diversity our membership and participation
• Create new channels into Rotary
• Increase Rotary's openness and appeal
• Build awareness of our impact and brand

Enhance participant engagement Because we recognize the challenges our clubs face in today's changing world, Rotary will support our clubs' efforts to deliver an experience that engages and retains members. When we help clubs focus on the experience and value they give their members, we give Rotarians and other participants the opportunity to serve together, connect with one another, and have a more satisfying experience with Rotary.

Related objectives:

• Support clubs to better engage their members
• Develop a participant-centered approach to deliver value
• Offer new opportunities for personal and professional connection
• Provide leadership development and skills training

Increase our ability to adapt To achieve our vision and keep pace with changing global trends, our structure and culture must evolve. We'll ensure that our operating and governance structures are efficient, flexible, and effective in delivering services to all of our participants.

Related objectives

• Build a culture of research, innovation, and willingness to take risks
• Streamline governance, structure and processes
• Review governance to foster more diverse perspectives in decision-making

What's next

In the coming year, we will craft strategies and tactics for achieving these new priorities and objectives.

A Social Week, Book for the Christmas Party and a very different Dutch Rotary Club

Last Week
It was a social meeting last week.....just as well!  We had a repeat visitor, David Craik from the Rotary Club of Sevenoaks in England and he presented us with a banner.

The same evening saw us take part in the Quiz organised by Johannesburg Club.  We did not cover ourselves in glory but neither did either of our teams come close to last.  We are a middling sort of club!

.




Rotary Friendship Exchange - Brazil

Personally this was a disaster.  We happened to be on the wrong side of the dreaded cycle race.  We left at 10,00 and after wandering around Midrand until 12,00 with no success we realised that by the time we had sat in the traffic jam on the M1 of people unable to go to the M2 if we did get there it would be too late anyway so we went home.
I have one of several pictures sent to me by Charlotte of banners being handed out.  Jean has said more about it in her letter and I gather it was a great success.

If anyone has more pictures I will put them in next week's Ramble.






This Week
As Jean has reminded you there is no Friday meeting as we will be having a combined AGM and Club Assembly at REEA at 9,00am on Saturday.  The address is cnr Richmond & Marlborough Ave Craighall Park.  Just put a folding chair in the boot of your car in case there are not enough chairs.
We keep our fingers crossed that we do have a quorum!
You will also be able to see a proposed project that's been investigated by our Community Service Committee......see last week for the picture!

Rotary Club of Den Haag Nieuwspoort, The NetherlandsChartered: 2018
Original membership: 20
Membership: 27

Dateline: The Hague: Nieuwspoort (News Gate), a press center in The Hague, serves as a social hub for journalists, politicians, and lobbyists from the Netherlands and beyond. It’s a place for informal meetings as well as the site of press conferences, lectures, and other events. A new Rotary club based in the press center taps into this network of connections with the intent of making news of its own.

Club innovation: The Rotary Club of Den Haag Nieuwspoort was conceived as a way to allow Rotarians from elsewhere in the Netherlands, as well as from other countries, to stay involved with Rotary during short- and long-term assignments in The Hague. The city is the seat of the Dutch parliament as well as of the United Nations International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court. But the club also bolstered Rotary’s ranks by attracting newcomers, most of whom had never considered joining.

Looking for a new Rotary club after a job change took him to The Hague four years ago, Jan-Willem Wits learned that a past governor of District 1600, Wouter van Putten, had long wanted to start a club in the middle of the Netherlands’ seat of international influence. Wits asked colleagues and business associates, along with some prominent movers on the local scene, whether they would like to help him start a club from scratch.

“Most of our candidates didn’t have any Rotary background and were rather astonished to be asked, because they thought of Rotary as something exclusive,” says Wits, who assembled the group in September 2017. “Until recently, I was the only member who was a Rotarian before,” says the independent communications adviser, who was formerly a member of the Rotary Club of Utrecht Kromme Rijn. “My elevator pitch was very effective,” he adds with a chuckle.

Holding its Friday lunch meetings at Nieuwspoort means the club has a deep bench of members with a communications background. “They are all really well-connected,” says Wits. “And they aren’t shy.” Still, he says, “from the beginning we wanted to avoid becoming a ‘mini-Nieuwspoort’ and being seen as a lobbyist society. Therefore we looked for people in other professions, like attorneys, auditors, consultants, headhunters, and people with jobs in the cultural world.” 

Being on a first-name basis with members of parliament — and even the prime minister — is a big plus. “We are always one handshake away” from an influencer who can assist the nascent club, says Wits. That access helped ensure one of the club’s early successes: After Hurricane Irma caused $3 billion in damage to the island nation of St. Maarten in September 2017, the club organized a debate on the role of the media in St. Maarten, followed by a Caribbean buffet and salsa dancing, which generated more than $23,000 to fund journalism education on the island.

Most of the club’s members are between 40 and 50 years of age, and two-thirds are women. The club’s diversity means that both the membership and speaker rolls include “the ‘not-so-usual suspects’ for a Rotary club, like left-wing politicians and trade union representatives,” Wits says.

The club has come a long way in a short time. “It’s true we started with hesitation. There are eight clubs in the area that were struggling to get new candidates. Some of the other clubs were afraid of the competition,” Wits says. Those fears were allayed by the fact that few members of the Den Haag Nieuwspoort club had had Rotary experience. 

“You shouldn’t be afraid to start something,” says Wits — and you can quote him on that.

Leon Louw, a Possible Project, The Quiz! Brunch & a Concert with Brazilian Rotarians and Rotary Day at the UN.

Last Week





Leon Louw of the Free Market Foundation spoke to us about the current situation in South Africa with particular reference to the people he knows and has worked with in the past including President Cyril Ramaphosa. 
It was very interesting and in many ways heartening after the Zuma Presidency Years.  We all came away from the meeting feeling a lot more positive.










I accompanied Roger Lloyd to look at a possible project at REEA Foundation, an organisation that assist people with epilepsy.  The spin off from our visit was finding that they were willing to host our AGM and Club Assembly on Saturday 24th.  Let's hope that this is the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship.

Here is Roger standing in the middle of the possible project.  The conversion of a dilapidated glass house into an environmental education centre.  With him is Sandra Dewes, an architect who runs the vegetable gardens there and who dreamed up the idea of how best to use the glass house and Alex Sheffield, the General Manager of REEA.  They are standing in what is currently the bathroom.

This Week

It's a Social Meeting preceded by a Board Meeting but apart from that it's a busy week.

Friday evening sees the our participation in the Quiz Night....good luck, everyone.  I trust we will cover ourselves in glory.  As long as we beat Johannesburg Club who have billed themselves as the cleverest club in Johannesburg.











Sunday sees the us entertaining the Brazilian Rotarians participating in Rotary Friendship Exchange.
Our International Committee under James Croswell have put together a very comprehensive programme for the two days they are with us and we must especially thank the Anns for assisting with hosting.

The Brunch on Sunday is at 11:00 at the Wolhuter home in Kyalami followed by a JSO concert at the Linder Auditorium.

Rotary honors six who are changing the world

Innovation was the theme at Rotary Day at the United Nations on 10 November. Nearly a thousand Rotary leaders, members, and guests from around the world met in Nairobi, Kenya, to hear about creative solutions to challenging world problems.

Charlie Ruth Castro, of the Rotary E-Club of Sogamoso Global, Boyacá, Colombia, who leads a program that teaches vocational and business skills to women in prison in Colombia. Castro, who visited prisons across Colombia for her project, said education is the way to empower women, even those who are imprisoned. “In prison, there are seeds of peace and reconciliation. We are teaching these women how to create a new beginning and how to use their skills to create innovation even with very few resources.” 

The annual event, held at the only UN headquarters in Africa, recognizes Rotary’s long-standing special relationship with the United Nations . UN officials and humanitarian experts inspired participants to find innovative strategies for addressing humanitarian needs both locally and globally.

Albert Kafka, of the Rotaract Club of Wien-Stadtpark and Rotary Club of Wien-Oper, Austria, who launched Intarconnect, an online platform for establishing mentorships and encouraging service across generations, including helping to build houses for the poor. He was assisted in the project by Phillip-Sebastian Marchl, Peter Rabensteiner, and Rotary clubs in Austria and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

 Six Rotaract and Rotary members age 35 or under were also honored as Rotary People of Action: Young Innovators. All of these leaders spoke about how they used ingenuity to launch efforts that brought about measurable and lasting results.

Christina Hassan, of the Rotary Club of Calgary Fish Creek, Alberta, Canada, who launched the nonprofit FullSoul, which trains midwives and supplies safe, sterile childbirth equipment to hospitals in Uganda. Recounting her experience witnessing a mother die while giving birth in Uganda, Hassan emotionally spoke about how her project, with Rotary’s support, has safely helped 65,000 mothers deliver healthy babies. 

General sessions and workshops covered the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the technology revolution, and young people’s role in creating change. A special session on the environment emphasized the importance of sustainable development and suggested concrete actions that people of all generations can take to build a clean and healthy future.

Ludovic Grosjean, of the Rotaract Club of Melbourne City, Victoria, Australia, whose Ocean CleanX company is developing technology to monitor pollution and remove it from waterways. Calling it a “scary statistic,” Grosjean noted that each year 8.8 million tons of plastic gets into the ocean, causing continual distress to marine life. “I always wanted to save the oceans. We have to stop the pollution at its source,” he said, adding that the effort must start with removing plastic from the land. 

For the first time, the event also featured an Innovation Fair where Rotary clubs, businesses, and other organizations exhibited projects and cutting-edge technology designed to address humanitarian challenges.

Paul Mushaho, of the Rotaract Club of Nakivale, who organized a Rotaract club in a Ugandan refugee settlement; the club conducts service projects in the camp and fosters a sense of family among the refugees. “Our refugee community realized our local challenges needed local solutions. And that we can solve them ourselves,” said Mushaho. “We are not beggars, we are a generation of change and inspiration.”  

Keynote speakers included RI President Barry Rassin, who is a member of the Rotary Club of East Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas, and Sushil Kumar Gupta, Rotary International president-nominee and a member of the Rotary Club of Delhi Midwest, Delhi, India.

Rassin said the Innovation Fair inspired him to pair Rotary’s older generations’ resources  and experience with the energy and ideas of young people.

“We want to take you on as equals, as colleagues,” Rassin told the young audience members. “You bring to the table your ideas, your ambitions, your perspective on the world’s problems. We help you to enlarge your horizons, to think big, and to make your innovations practical.” 

He added, “Youth innovators and Rotary can make the impossible possible.”

Shadrack Nyawa, of the Rotary Club of Kilifi, Kenya, who traveled to remote areas of the country to supply toilets and handwashing stations to schools most in need.

With more young people in the world today than ever before — more than 50 percent of the population is under age 30   — it’s imperative for them to harness their talents, said Hanna S. Tetteh, director-general of the United Nations Office at Nairobi. 

“For a more peaceful and more sustainable world for all, we need the active participation and leadership of young people,” said Tetteh. “I’m grateful Rotary is representing that here today.”

Cesare Vidulich, Leon Louw, a Brunch for the Brazilians and the Scourge of Hepatitis

Last Week


Cesare Vidulich talked about himself and it was fascinating.  These talks are much more interesting than 'My Job' talks because they have become very much where I come from , what my family was like etc.  Much more personal and really give us an insight into who are members are.
Despite his surname we were all under the impression that Cesare was Italian.  He is and he isn't because he was born on a small island off the Dalmatian coats that was Italian when he was born, became Yugoslavian after the 2nd World War and is now part of Croatia.

Many thanks, Cesare.

Our AG, David Price, visited us and with him came Candice de Carvalho.

I'll leave you to guess who's who.

It was also the monthly collection at Norwood Spar and congratulations to everyone because we were able to fill all the vacant spots and collect through-out Saturday and Sunday.  This is the Saturday 11.00 till 13.00 shift  whose photo appeared on Facebook, and Twitter and they held the record for collection for the day.....

This Week

Our guest speaker is Leon Louw of the Free Market Foundation of which he was the co-founder and

executive director.

The Free Market Foundation (Southern Africa) is an independent public benefit organisation founded in 1975 to promote and foster an open society, the rule of law, personal liberty, and economic and press freedom as fundamental components of its advocacy of human rights and democracy based on classical liberal principles. It is financed by membership subscriptions, donations and sponsorships.

The FMF was established to counter the steadily increasing intervention in the economy by the government of the time. Protectionism, high inflation, price controls, bureaucracy and relentless enforcement of racial discrimination all escalated during the 1970’s. In 1977 the FMF became a national body when it received the support of major institutions, including SACOB, AHI, NAFCOC, TUCSA, the National Black Consumer Union, and the National Consumer Union. Representatives of major companies played an active role in the reconstitution of the Foundation and commenced participation in its affairs.

The book, South Africa: The Solution (1986), by Leon Louw and Frances Kendall (a project initiated by the FMF) and the subsequent Let the People Govern by the same authors, provided all South Africans with positive proposals for a peaceful constitutional settlement, based on the principles of direct democracy upon which the Swiss government functions. These books and the follow-up work by the two authors had an undoubted influence on the negotiation process.

Next Week plus One Day

• The Quiz on Friday 16th November...don't forget. Victory depends on YOU!

• Brazilian Rotary Friendship Exchange Brunch 11.00 Sunday 18th November chez Wolhuter

This is being organised by James Croswell and the International Committee and he will give more details later but it will be a Bring Booze but not Food event.  It is imperative that you let him know how many of you will be there. so email him on jcroswel@iafrica.com

In 2010, Humberto Silva was getting ready to travel from Brazil to South Africa to watch his country’s soccer team play in the World Cup. When he went to get the necessary vaccinations, his doctor recommended he also be tested for hepatitis.  

Humberto Silva behind the wheel of a converted military ambulance in which two brothers, Fred Mesquita and José Eduardo, are traveling the world educating people about hepatitis.

Silva thought this was silly. He felt fine. How could he have hepatitis? When the results came back, he was shocked: He had hepatitis C. If he didn’t get treatment, his liver would fail and he would die. 

As Silva thought about how he might have contracted the disease, he remembered that when he was eight years old, he had received a blood transfusion after a surgery. If that was the source of the infection, it meant that the virus had been in his body for nearly 40 years, attacking his liver over and over.

Silva, a member of the Rotary Club of São Paulo-Jardim das Bandeiras, underwent treatment and is now free of the virus. And he knows much more about the disease. 

There are five main types of hepatitis, each of which involves a different virus that attacks the liver. The most serious are B and C. There is a vaccine for hepatitis B, which is spread through contact with blood or bodily fluids, but not for hepatitis C, which is spread almost exclusively by blood contact. There is, however, a treatment that eliminates the hepatitis C virus from the body; it costs around $120 per person. 

Roughly 325 million people worldwide live with some form of viral hepatitis, and the disease causes 1.34 million deaths per year. Globally, an estimated 71 million people are infected with hepatitis C, but only 20 percent of them have been tested and are aware of their status. For those with hepatitis B, that figure is just 9 percent.

In 2011, while he was being treated for hepatitis, Silva founded the Associação Brasileira de Portadores de Hepatite (Brazilian Association for Hepatitis Carriers), which opened a free clinic in São Paulo to test and treat people for hepatitis. “There is a finger prick test like the diabetes test,” he says. “In three minutes we can diagnose if people have hepatitis.”

This was so successful that the ABPH opened four more clinics in Brazil, plus one in Mexico City, and has seen some 60,000 people. But Silva knew there were still tens of thousands of people who were unaware of the threat that hepatitis posed to their health, just as he had been. He wondered how he could reach them all. He established Hepatitis Zero, a worldwide campaign to identify and support people with hepatitis, educate the public about the disease, and aid in eradication efforts.

In 2015, the Rotary International Convention was held in Silva’s hometown of São Paulo. So he set up a booth there to test people for hepatitis. 

At the convention, Silva spoke to Rotary’s incoming president, K.R. Ravindran, who suggested that they form the Rotarian Action Group for Hepatitis Eradication. The action group launched last year with Silva as its founding chair. 

Since then, Argentina has embarked on a nationwide campaign, and countries including Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Korea, Mexico, and Nigeria have begun testing. Currently, the action group has hepatitis eradication projects in countries in the Americas and Africa. 

In the small African island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe, ABPH and the action group are working with Rotary clubs and the government to make it the first country to eradicate hepatitis. “We are going to test the whole population for hepatitis B and C,” Silva says, “and we are going to provide the medicine to the ones we find who are sick.” And that’s just one of the places where these organizations have projects underway. 

The action group is also setting up committees across Africa and recruiting ambassadors to publicize and coordinate testing in preparation for the Pan-African Week Against Hepatitis from 20 to 28 July. It is sending two testing machines to Africa and plans to organize another major campaign.

Silva hopes these will be major steps toward ridding the planet of the disease. “It’s not going to be easy,” he says. “But we are going to win. There are people who are standing on the edge of a cliff without realizing it. We’re going to tell them that they are sick and we are going to give them medicine. Rotary is going to do that.”   

Business, Quiz, Making up at an e-Club and welcome Sushil Gupta

Last Week
We had a very successful business meeting. We had one visitor, Laura Bos who must be the only person suggested directly from RI who has turned up for a meeting.  There was much hilarity when I introduced her as someone else....an existing Rotarian looking for a daytime club but has never materialised.
Laura was particularly interested in the Cervical Cancer Project that is being championed by Richard Moloney.  Not only is it a potential Global Grant Project but the African Union is interested in the project as having potential for the continent as a whole.
Laura has 10 years of experience as an international public health expert with a track record in strategy consulting, finance, supply chain management and health insurances. She has experience in a wide range of international, national, provincial and local government public and private sector projects in the health sector and beyond. Her passion is focused on healthcare innovation and delivery as well as competitive dynamics, which explains her interest.  She is particularly interested in Mother/Child Health Care.

This Week

Cesare Vidulich is talking about himself.  

These talks by members are extremely popular as we know so little about each other.  We do know that Cesare works exceptionally hard with the Interact Club at Highlands North and makes sure that a close contact is maintained with the club.
 We also know that he sings with the Italian Choir....but that's about all.

And we also know that he is married to Donny.




Quiz Night 16th November
So far we have two teams of 10 but there is still space if you wish to come.  Just be in touch with Pam Donaldson.

Spar Collection, Norwood this Weekend
Don't forget!

Making up at the e-Club

-You must visit the website of the Rotary e-club for a minimum of 30 minutes. Please note that this is 30+ continuous minutes. You cannot claim a make-up credit if you have 6 x 5 minute visits in a week. Many visiting Rotarians stay longer than the minimum 30 minutes because website content is very interesting and informative.

At that rate we could have 200% attendance without coming on a Friday at all

Fourth Indian to head global membership organization

NEW DELHI, (1 Oct. 2018) — Sushil Kumar Gupta, chair and managing director of Asian Hotels (West) Ltd. and owner of Hyatt Regency Mumbai and JW Marriott Hotel New Delhi Aerocity, will begin his one-year term as president of Rotary International on 1 July 2020. 

Gupta, a member of the service organization for 41 years, belongs to the Rotary Club of Delhi Midwest. As head of Rotary’s global network of 35,000 clubs, Gupta aims to increase the organization’s humanitarian impact and club member diversity. 

"I’m humbled to join the distinguished ranks of those who have led this organization before me,” Gupta said. “I hope to leave a mark on Rotary that reflects selfless leadership and an unwavering commitment to service.”   

India’s 3,700 Rotary clubs and 146,000 members take action to address humanitarian challenges and implement sustainable projects that fight disease, promote peace, provide clean water, support education, save mothers and children and grow local economies. More than $221 million awarded over the past several years through The Rotary Foundation has supported these programs. 

Last month, Dakoju Ravishankar, a real-estate investor and Rotary member from Bengaluru, donated $14.7 million to The Foundation. “People support Rotary because it is a trusted organization that supports communities through tangible projects,” Gupta said. “In fact, CNBC named Rotary one of its top 10 charities in the world. In India alone, Rotary has positively impacted our communities through polio eradication, installing sustainable and safe latrines, building schools, providing potable water, and countless good deeds.”

Gupta has served as president of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India and on the board of directors of Tourism Finance Corporation of India Ltd. He was the president of Experience India Society, a public-private partnership between the tourism industry and the government of India that promotes India as a tourist destination. He is currently vice chair of the Himalayan Environment Trust and serves on the board of Operation Eyesight Universal in India. 

Jokes, Rotary Grub Club, Collection at Norwood Spar and More

Last Week
Social Meetings always bring out the worst jokes and we had a change of pizzas.  We normally alternate but last week we kept the Mexican and had a Margarita and a Regina.  Nobody complained so we will ring the changes more often.

Michael Hadjihambis won the bottle of wine. 
It looks as if Mike Honnet is going to share it

A well as Stewart Mutegeki we had two new visitors, Michael Hadjihambis from the Rotary Club of Nicosia-Salamis in Cyprus and Nigel Bellamy from the Rotary Club of Selibe Pikwe in Botswana.  Our Past District Governor, Jankees Sligcher had lent his moustache to Nigel and I for a moment thought that Jankees was visiting us.

President Jean, Nigel Bellamy and Cesare Vidulich listening to jokes.

Rotary Grub Club
Here are the Rosebank members and partners at Lau's Restaurant in Cyrildene last Thursday.

And the other table, mainly members of Johannesburg New Dawn.  

I added Jellyfish to the appetiser for my own amusement and most people enjoyed it.

Weekend Collection at Norwood Spar

We really do struggle to get enough people to man or woman these collections which is extraordinary for a club with over 40 members. It

is quite depressing.
With the four collections we should be able to give more to the charities we support at Christmas than we have ever managed with the previous collections at Makro and this much easier and we need fewer Rotarians yet it's a problem.
Please get hold of Costa Qually if you can help.

The Quiz 16th November
Don't forget to book with Pam Donaldson.

This Week
It's a business meeting so there isn't much to say other than it's important to be there to hear what is being done in your name.

Rotary Club of Vancouver Yaletown, British Columbia

Rotary Club of Vancouver Yaletown members Lejla Uzicanin (from left), Neil Mort, and Rebecca Donnelly.  

At first glance, everything about the Rotary Club of Vancouver Yaletown seems modest: its meeting space (a cozy conference room in the lobby of a downtown high-rise); its roster (11 members at the start of this Rotary year); even its short list of past presidents (several of whom have held the office more than once in the club’s 10-year history).

But Yaletown’s achievements are disproportionate to its size. The secret to the club’s success? Every member is an active member. 

“We’re a small club, but we do great things,” says Neil Mort, who is in his second term as club president. “They call us ‘the little club that could.’”

Indeed, the calendar that Mort projects onto the wall during a recent meeting is packed with activities: fellowship and service opportunities; networking, fundraising, and outreach events; and a celebration of the club’s first decade. 

Yaletown Rotary was founded in 2008 by Rotarians who wanted a structure that was more economical and convenient than their traditional clubs. They meet for one hour right after work, with no meal, and plan social activities and patronize local businesses together. 

The club is a favorite of out-of-town Rotarians. “We have visitors all the time because of our location,” says Jane LePorte, club secretary and youth services director. The Yaletown neighborhood sits at the southern end of Vancouver’s downtown business corridor, about a mile from where the cruise ships dock at Canada Place. High-rise buildings tower above street-level boutiques and sidewalk cafés. Restaurant menus reflect the city’s many cultures. A few blocks from the club’s meeting place, water taxis zip back and forth across the False Creek waterway to the Granville Island Public Market. A popular bike path parallels the park-lined shore. 

As members joke around and discuss plans for their 10th anniversary party — which, it appears, will likely include either polka dancing or the use of a club member’s recently acquired karaoke machine — it’s clear that this isn’t just a Rotary meeting; it’s a gathering of friends. 

The club’s outgoing nature is reflected on its active social media accounts. Its Instagram page has more than 600 followers, and members recently used Facebook to launch a fundraising campaign called the Every Drop of Talent Challenge, which called on supporters to post a video of themselves performing their talent, then tag three friends to do the same or to make a donation. 

Another tip for small clubs? The Yaletown Rotarians piggyback on other groups’ outreach events, such as a Canada Day celebration put on by the Rotary Club of Lionsgate, which drew more than 20,000 attendees to a park in North Vancouver, a town across the harbor from Vancouver. Yaletown Rotary hosted a booth that featured a small pool filled with dirty water. “People came by and said, ‘What’s that?’” says Karen McDiarmid, membership chair and two-time past president. “We said, ‘Do you want to drink this water, or do you want to drink clean water?’ Then we’d get a conversation started.” 

The Yaletown club’s focus on clean water came after hearing a presentation on rainwater collection last year. The club decided to partner with the Rotary Club of Hurlingham-Nairobi on a project that aims to bring fresh water to four rural schools in Kenya via a rooftop collection system. 

“There’s a desperate need for water there,” Mort says. “They simply don’t have a water source that’s close by and sustainable.” During the dry season, children sometimes have to walk up to 20 kilometers per day to fill a 5-gallon bucket with water of questionable quality. “That’s all they do all day,” he says. “They don’t go to school.” 

At the Canada Day event, a volunteer face painter and a stack of coloring pages kept kids busy while their parents learned about the project. The back of each coloring page featured information and a link to the club’s fundraising page. “We decided as a group to commit to the project,” says Mort, who traveled to Kenya for a site visit last year. Other members are promoting the project on social media.

There are challenges to being a small club, but there are also advantages. Unlike some clubs that have time for only a few members each week to share their news and contribute “happy dollars,” at Yaletown meetings, every member shares a happy thought each week and drops some coins in a can. 

When everyone is engaged, a little can go a very long way.