From the Pen of our President......
Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,
I am square-eyed!! I watched the various presentations and
discussions of the Conference ALL weekend. What an amazing conference –
exhibition booths, panel discussions and awards, very good presentations and an
excellent selection of speakers. There were a few breaks in internet but took
less than a minute to get back. The recordings will be made available on the
District website and I highly recommend taking some time to listen to a
selection.
Looking forward to seeing you all on Friday at Wanderers –
if you have not decided yet, please come along – we have missed out over the
past year and the pizzas are still good!!
It is already 3 years since we moved my parents into our
home and out of theirs – I am still sorting out my Mom’s endless papers!! My
mother was the Queen of Quotes and Sayings (on scraps of paper). I quite like
this one, found on a coaster from a coffee shop – BE THE PERSON YOUR DOG THINKS
YOU ARE.
Enjoy ‘Freedom’ on Tuesday and see you on Friday.
Yours in Rotary,
Ann Hope-Bailie
Last Friday.....
She was born in Durban and grew up in Pietermaritzburg and
had a very convoluted family. She grew up thinking she had a mom and dad and a
sister, but in her early teens she found out that she was adopted , and that
her aunt was in fact her biological mother and that the father was unknown by
choice; this meant that she had 3 sisters and one brother, two mothers and two
fathers and that was just who she knew about.
Her childhood memories were of lots of cousins and friends
but one thing she says she gladly left behind in her youth was camping – she
came from a family of campers but as soon as she flew the coop, she knew that
was one pastime she would never attempt again.
In 1988 she started working at FNB in Pietermaritzburg, and
she found out coincidentally that Lynn Collocott had also worked in that self-same
branch a few years before her.
There was no money to go to university but with a lot of
tenacity she obtained her degree in 2005 and completed her honours in 2016 –
this just shows that you are never too old to learn.
In 1989 she moved to Durban with Wesbank, which is the
vehicle / fleet division of FNB and where her career and passion for banking
and more specifically fleet management started.
She worked for First Auto for 21 years, in various roles and
lived in many towns, Pietermaritzburg, Durban, Richards Bay, Empangeni, East
London, Port Elizabeth, 2 months in Cape Town and even had a 6-month stint in
Windhoek in Namibia. and finally, Johannesburg
Sonja was fortunate to travel to many countries and cities,
but Paris remains her favourite destination.
She eventually took a career leap and joined Absa where she
remained a further 10 years and then for the last two years she has been
consulting to Sanral with a major focus
on the Tolling solutions in South Africa
including e – toll.
Her career molded her and allowed her to meet various people
who have been instrumental in defining the person she became, especially in her leadership roles.
But her biggest achievement and honour in life is her family!
Her husband Steven is her greatest love story. Their two boys, Gareth and Josh
have grown into two amazing young men and in her own words: “I still want to
put them over my knee and brain them half the time, but how amazing it has been
to see them grow and become the young men that they are.”
A major part of her life has always been to give back to the
community.
She will never forget the first time she volunteered, albeit
not willingly (she lost a bet), spending time at the Ark,
based at the bottom end of Point road in Durban, a halfway house for homeless
and destitute families. Part of it housed a creche for children who lived
there; this creche operated 24/7 as it offered a free service to
the “ladies of the night”, to offer care for their children in the evening,
where the children were dropped off, were cleaned, fed and most times all
their laundry was done as well. This was her turning point to do more for the
community and taught her a profound life lesson at the tender age of 19.
Since then, she has been part of various communities,
focusing on enabling people in various ways, however mostly to educate on how
to start uplifting themselves, by establishing bank accounts, budgets and often
just being an ear. And as Sonja says - teach them to fish and not giving them
fish
After she moved to Johannesburg she got involved in a number
or charities and eventually became the driving force behind the JHB North
region of Santa Shoebox for a period of 7 years, a very special initiative
which collects shoe boxes containing 8 “gift” items, and which are handed out to
vulnerable and less fortunate children of various communities at Christmas
time.
In 2019 she was invited to attend Rotary meetings and
subsequently joined Rotary of which she
says she feels very honoured to be a Rotarian.
I believe in forming and continuously working on
friendships and keeping my business networks alive,
Her story is not yet complete, and she looks forward to
creating, living and experiencing the next chapters, continuing to love life
and embracing all those who are part of it.
Being Part of The All-Africa Centennial District Conference......
The Durban Deep Community can finally water its Vegetable Garden......
