A Social Dinner, Human Evolution, a Business Meeting and Rotoract.

The Week before Last

We didn't have enough space last week to put in this picture of our Social Dinner at Dolci Cafe on Tuesday 6th March....here we are!

























Last Week

Eric Dabbs showed a very interesting presentation on Human Evolution.  Time wise our species, Homo Sapiens, has only been around in the twinkling of an eye.  What I found particularly interesting was that there was another group competing with Homo Sapiens in Asia known as Denisovans who were quite distinct from the Neanderthals around the Northern Mediterranean and as with Neanderthals there was degree of interbreeding and Denisovan DNA is found in Australian Aborigines.
Just for your entertainment, red hair is part of our Neanderthal heritage.........
The talk was so interesting that I forgot to take any photographs.  I hope we have Eric back again at some stage.
I was looking at a book in Exclusive Books which is a diary of a second hand bookshop owner in Wigtown.  He seems to have a very annoying shop assistant who is a Christian fundamentalist who always harangues customers on evolution.  She is always putting Darwin's Origin of Species under Fiction and the owner gets his revenge by putting the Bible under Novels.

This Week
As President Lyn says in her letter, it's a Business Meeting.

Blanket Drive
Steel yourselves.....it's that time of year again.  David Bradshaw is organising it as usual and is waiting for confirmation that we can be outside the Nicol Highway Pick 'n Pay from the 20th - 22nd April.  That's just round the corner so make a note.

The Ramble
I am away for two weeks from this coming Saturday and there will not be a meeting next week as it's Good Friday but the following week I will not be back so there will be a missing Ramble.
It is still not clear who the speaker will be on the 6th April so I can't give you a preview.

I thought it would be interesting to hear about a couple of Rotoractors for a change.

Joan Nairuba 26, a member of the Rotaract Club of Kololo, Uganda, and a lawyer specializing in mediation

I work at a commercial law firm, but I do more mediation than litigation. My law firm advocates for the use of alternative dispute resolution, and in Uganda, it’s also a requirement by law that parties undergo mediation. There are many cases where there’s lots of screaming. Part of the job is that you have to let both parties make some noise at first.

Then you begin to use the tools of mediation. The first thing you must do is explain to both parties that they have to meet each other halfway. They have to understand, from the start, that both sides will have to lose something to get somewhere.

The next thing you have to do is explain what happens if the mediation doesn’t work. We have a huge backlog of legal cases in Uganda, anywhere from five to 10 years, so if people can’t work together, they are going to have to wait a long time and pay a lot of money to their lawyers and to the court.

Then you ask each side to come up with a representative. This is very important, because when it’s a big group of people on each side, nobody wants to back down. It’s a lot easier to deal with individuals than with a group.

This is what I had to do with my most difficult case. It was a dispute about a local marketplace. A group of investors wanted to build a structure to house the market, and the local residents didn’t want it.

It was a tough case because it was a land issue, and land is sacred in Uganda. It’s something people kill for. So the only way to resolve this was to get two individuals who were committed to the process. You have to be patient, especially when the parties get impatient.

For me, there’s an extra challenge. I’m a young woman, and I may walk into a room where it’s all older men. So how do you get past that? The way you do it is you make clear that you understand the facts of the case and the legal issues, perhaps better than they do. You say, “I may look young, but I have the experience.”

There’s also a lot of suspicion based on tribal affiliation, so we have to reassure the parties right at the beginning that we are getting nothing from this process – no land, no money. We just want to help them come to a solution.

I’m in my second year of practice, so I have my whole career before me. I’m interested in working in the energy sector someday. But I know I’ll always be working in mediation, because people will never stop getting into disputes. This is just how life is, in Uganda and everywhere else.

Nichole Haynes, 23, a member of the Rotaract Club of Georgetown Central, Guyana, and an economist at Guyana’s Ministry of Business

When I started this job, I was 21. The first project I undertook was to make it easier to do business in Guyana. That has resulted in several collaborations and support from external bodies such as the World Bank. I’m very proud of that.

Guyana is located in South America. We are not a country in Africa, as some think. We are a very small country – the population is approximately 740,000 – and we are largely agricultural. We have recently been classed as upper middle income.

Guyana has discovered oil, and the government hopes to use the returns for infrastructure and education. So we are excited about that. It means that there is a lot of attention on the department in which I work.

My work is largely structured around policy development. I work directly with the minister of business to assess critical factors influencing the business environment. One project that we’ve been working on is improving transparency and access to information within Guyana – information on how to start your business, how to register the forms you need, how to access your forms online. It’s a small step, but it’s a big step for Guyana. We are moving into the digital age.

Access to electricity is one of the biggest constraints to doing business in Guyana. We want to go green, so we are about to pursue hydropower and solar. Oil is another opportunity for us to reduce our energy costs. Access to credit is another issue, especially for small businesses. We have introduced a credit bureau, and at the Ministry of Business, we are leading the development of a secure system to allow assets such as cattle to be used as collateral for borrowing. In addition, we  provide grants to small businesses that are in keeping with the intentions of Guyana going green and supporting a sustainable economy.

I appreciate that I get to be so directly involved in transforming our economy and in making the lives of the citizens of Guyana easier. Anyone in the public sector needs to put their country first. You must be invested in making your country better, especially if you are directly involved in policymaking. Guyana has solutions. It has natural resources; it has talented people. I want to play a part in organizing those players and those resources for Guyana’s real development – that’s why I do this. You see the potential, and you want to help.

  

Bophelo Palliative Care, the final chapter, Rotary Careers Morning and International Women's Day

Last Week

James Croswell, Project Chairman. Doreen Busingye, RI Global Grant Monitor, District Governor Jankees Sligcher,
President Lyn Collocott, Dr Neville Howes, Project Committee. Dr Sifiso Maseko,
CEO Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.  Mark Franklin, Project Committee and Dr Mpho Ratshikane-Moloko,
Director, Centre of Excellence for Palliative Care at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital

It was quite a lunch to hear Doreen Busingye's report as well as Dr Mpho's presentation on the whle project and its future.

We were entertained by the Pastoral & Spiritual Care Counsellors as well!

Saturday saw our annual Careers Morning where we had more Grade 12's than ever before despite two schools dropping out because of a clash of events.

Jackie Standish-White & Salome McBride from
Jeppe Girls' High .... seeing what their future careers might be.

What is very pleasing is the increasing

Paul Channon of Alexander Education
Committee

participation of Government Schools partly through the Alexander Education Committee who brought 36 Grade 12's and, for the first time this year, the Ruth First Scholarship learners from Jeppe Girls' High.  It's also the best feedback we have ever had and we were told that, certainly in one instant, the Career's Morning was vastly better than what that particular school provided.  I know it certainly would not be Jeppe Girls!

The feedback is particularly important as it keeps us on our toes and makes sure that we can improve the experience for next years learners.


For example, we had Architecture this year that plugged a gap but, of course some people pull out at the last minute through no fault of their own.

Our thanks to all who helped and participated.







This Week

 It's a talk on Human Evolution by Professor Emeritus Eric Dabbs who is former Professor of Genetics at Wits.
I can find absolutely nothing about him!
As for the above picture.  It is actually incorrect because we are not descended from apes, we share a common ancestor.

World Bank and Rotary International celebrate International Women’s Day

Three Rotary women were recognized on 7 March at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., USA, for their commitment to improving lives through innovative humanitarian projects. 

The celebration, hosted by the World Bank Group Staff Association, and sponsored by Rotary International and investment firm Oppenheimer & Co., was one of many events held this week to mark International Women's Day, which is on 8 March each year. It highlighted the positive changes women make around the world. Annette Dixon, vice president of the World Bank for South Asia, moderated the event. 

Speaking to more than 300 people, with thousands watching the livestream, Dr. Geetha Jayaram, Marie-Irène Richmond Ahoua, and Danielle De La Fuente, all Rotarians,  told their stories and explained how their work helped poor women in India gain access to mental health care, vaccinate hundreds of thousands against polio in West Africa, and empower refugee children around the world. 

"These are women of action who are making a huge contribution to the world," Dixon said. "They have given a lot of themselves to their initiatives and are playing a leadership role for many women."

Dr Geetha Jayaram

Jayaram, a member of the Rotary Club of Howard West, Maryland, USA, and a recipient of the Rotary Global Alumni Service to Humanity Award, told the audience that her mental health clinic has provided nearly 2,000 poor people, mostly women, each year with comprehensive care in more than 200 villages in southern India. 

The Maanasi Clinic, founded by Jayaram, has been recognized by the World Health Organization for its effort to advance mental health care in developing countries. Its services also focus on vision, hearing, geriatric care, and vocational rehabilitation. The clinic, which operates in partnership with St. John's Medical College, has received funding from the Rotary Club of Columbia, Maryland, and Rotary grants. In total, the clinic has reached nearly six million housholds since it began in 2002.

"I never expected I would feel so fulfilled and gratified by these women who have so little, who will welcome you in their home and share their most intimate details of their lives," Jayaram said. "That is a large gift to me and our workers."

Jayaram is an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Marie-Irene Richmond-Ahoua

Marie-Irène Richmond-Ahoua, a member of the Rotary Club of Abidjan-Bietry, Côte d’Ivoire, served as Rotary’s PolioPlus chair for her country and now helps coordinate immunization activities in West Africa. She is an international communications consultant and worked as an outreach adviser for the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire. 

Richmond-Ahoua was recognized by Bill Gates at the 2017 Rotary Convention in Atlanta for her role in polio eradication and peace.  

"Volunteering has brought me much happiness, and some tears. It has allowed me to see the world through different lenses," Richmond-Ahoua said. "We must believe in what we are doing regardless of the challenges we will face."

She adds: "And my greatest reward? The smile of a mother after her childr has just been immunized." 

Danielle De La Fuente, a member of the Rotary Club of Coronado Binacional, California, USA, is co-founder of The Amal Alliance. The nonprofit group empowers refugee children around the world through social development and educational programs. She worked at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., where she fostered good relations across the Middle East South Asia.

De La Fuente told the audience that 65 million people have been forcibly displaced worldwide, 77 percent of whom are children. "Imagine a world where children have no dreams," De La Fuente said. "That is a reality I choose not to accept."

"The need for compassionate people has never been greater than now," she adds. "What is our future if our next generation is unable to dream? I call on all of you to take action and make a difference." 

Last week it was the Rotary Foundation. This week it's what our Rotary Global Grant has achieved, Careers Morning and Refugees.

Last Week
Our Rotary Foundation Chair, Mike Lamb, gave us an excellent overview of what the Rotary Foundation does and how much, as a District, we benefit in terms of contributions to the Foundation.
There is always the danger in any Rotary Club of only concentrating on the club and its affairs and tending to ignore the wider picture of what it means to belong to a huge international organisation and the benefits that can bring to the club and also to individual members.  Rotary is unique in terms of its Foundation and we, as a club, are well aware of the benefits through our successfully completed Global Grant for the Bophelo Palliative Care Project and the major contributions that we have made to the Foundation.....R100 000 to commemorate the centenary of the Foundation is just one example.

This Week
We start with dinner at Dolci Cafe on Tuesday night and it looks as if there will be 16 of us to entertain Doreen Busingye, our RI Global Grant Auditor.



Then on Friday we have lunch at Old Eds with lots of guests from Baragwanath who are involved in Bophelo and Doreen Busingye will address us.  I've been unable to find a photograph of her or anything about her.  If something comes my way before Friday I will put in here.  We'll have approximately 50 people for lunch on that day.

Finally it's Careers Morning at Holy Family Parktown.  Many thanks to all those Rotarians who have offered to assist.  Even if you are not helping you are welcome to call in and see what we are up to.




Don't make a mistake and go to Wanderers on Friday!

Rotary Leadership Institute Course.
Last weekend's courses were cancelled owing to insufficient numbers.  The next course will be on Saturday 28th April in Bedfordview.  Please make a note and wait for the official notification.

Discon
If anyone has booked and is not able to attend please let me know.  I stepped down to allow others to go but have subsequently discovered that I really should be there.

Rotary Anns' Appeal for Prizes

The annual Rosebank Rotary Anns Bridge Drive is fast approaching and we have sold all the tables!  We are known for our lovely prizes.  Could the Rotarians support our bridge drive by providing a prize or two?  Bottles of wine are always welcome as are chocolates.  If anyone would like to offer a time-share week that they can’t use this year, this would be great.

Looking forward to your generous response.  You could give things to Les Short on a Friday or contact me on sanjune@icon.co.za

With kind regards

June Virtue

As thousands of refugees streamed into Berlin, they strained the health care system. Rotarian and physician Pia Skarabis-Querfeld spent the last three years building a network of volunteer doctors to help those in need.

On the nightly news and around her city, Pia Skarabis-Querfeld saw the refugees arriving in Berlin after fleeing war, persecution, and poverty in their home countries.

Wanting to help, she gathered a bag of clothes to donate and headed to a nearby gym filled with refugees.

What began as a single act of charity eventually evolved into an all-encompassing volunteer project: Over the next three years, Skarabis-Querfeld would build and run a network that, at peak times, would include more than 100 volunteers helping thousands of refugees at community centers, tent camps, and other shelters across the city. 

Today, her nonprofit, Medizin Hilft  (Medicine Helps), continues to treat patients with nowhere else to turn.

That day she went to the gym was a few days before Christmas 2014. Skarabis-Querfeld had been busy with work and preparing for the holidays. She was looking forward to a much-needed break, and she thought clothes for the refugees would be a kind gesture befitting the spirit of the season. 

When she arrived at the gymnasium to drop off her donation, Skarabis-Querfeld found sick children, most of them untreated because hospitals in the area were overrun. Helpers were not allowed to give out pain relievers or cough syrup due to legal constraints. All they could do was send people to the emergency room if they looked extremely ill.

This is what a Rotary Global Grant can achieve.

Seeing this, and knowing about the treacherous journeys the refugees had just made across land and sea, Skarabis-Querfeld, who is a medical doctor and Rotarian, returned that same afternoon with medical supplies and her husband, Uwe Querfeld, who is a professor of pediatrics and a Rotarian. 

The couple spent most of that holiday treating patients in the gymnasium. 

“The suffering of the people, their bitter fate, it wouldn’t let go of me,” says Skarabis-Querfeld.

‘You just don’t forget’

In 2015, the German ministry in charge of refugees received more than 1 million applications for asylum, straining the public health system. 

Germany was a popular destination during the mass migration of people from Syria and other countries with conflict, in part because Chancellor Angela Merkel embraced them. Unlike some other European leaders, Merkel said it was Germany’s responsibility to help, and she called on citizens to welcome those escaping hardship elsewhere. 

By 2017, the political winds had changed. Many Germans had become indifferent to or skeptical about the immigrants. The balance of power in Germany’s parliament shifted during the September election, and the country continues to grapple with the logistics and cost of helping refugees and their families.  

While the politics played out at the famed Riechstag building in the heart of Berlin, Skarabis-Querfeld and other volunteers were treating patients only a few kilometers away. 

“I had a young girl whose whole family was almost beaten to death because they were Christians,” says Skarabis-Querfeld, a member of the Rotary Club of Berlin-Tiergarten. “The girl began to have epilepsy after being beaten into a coma. I’m not used to seeing these kinds of scars and burns.” 

In another case, Skarabis-Querfeld treated a Syrian girl named Saida who had fever and bronchitis. When the examination was almost over, Skarabis-Querfeld noticed Saida was limping. She coaxed Saida to take off her shoes and saw both feet were infected. 

“I had seen a lot of children with small shoes on. Some had probably started walking in those shoes and worn them for one year,” Skarabis-Querfeld says.

“The soles of both feet were infected. These are things that you just don’t forget.” 

After she treated Saida with antibiotics, the girl from the war-torn country took an interest in helping at the clinic when the doctor was in. She would wait at the door half an hour before Skarabis-Querfeld arrived and delight in taking on small tasks, such as making copies. 

“Her biggest wish was to become a doctor,” Skarabis-Querfeld says. “I told her, ‘You’re a smart girl. You can do it.’”

Peace Fellowships, Foundation, a Sunday Lunch Invitation and RI President Elect, Barry Rassin.

The phrase at the top of The Ramble is Rotary International's new Mission Statement.

Last Week
It was a Business Meeting.  I came under fire for not suggesting that the club look for a possible Peace Fellowship applicant.
I pointed out that clubs had been circulated by District at my request for possible applicants and that I am not the Club's Foundation Chair.

I was asked what the criteria are and the closing date.....the date I got hopelessly wrong!  It's the 31st May...so my apologies.  It was 28th February last year.
The criteria?  I referred members to the RI website which everyone should be familiar with but here they are:

Peace fellowship applicants must meet these requirements:

• Proficiency in English; a second language is strongly recommended
• Demonstrated commitment to international understanding and peace 
• Excellent leadership skills
• Master’s degree applicants: minimum three years of related full-time work or volunteer experience, bachelor’s degree
• Certificate applicants: minimum five years of related full-time work or volunteer experience, strong academic background.
• The applicant has to apply through the RI website and then the application is routed to me to my specific District page and I then assess the application and subsequently call likely applicants for an interview.  If they are miles away we conduct the interview via Skype.
  
  Professor Steven Friedman assists me with the interviews as he has much more experience in conducting student interviews that I have!
• Last year candidates just applied without being recommended by a club but this year we are insisting on a club recommendation because this will hopefully weed out those looking for a free overseas holiday.  Last year we put forward 1 candidate out of 10 applicants and he was not awarded a Fellowship.  RI funds 50 Masters and 50 Certificates per annum so competition is intense and we do recommend that if an applicant is turned down that they consider applying again having gained more experience in the field.  It's the lack of full-time or volunteer work where they generally fall down.
• Picture Quiz
• Not one person knew their Bouvier des Flandres from their elbow.
• This Week
• Mike Lamb is the Club's  Foundation Chair and he has specifically asked to speak about the Rotary Foundation.
• While we are on Foundation don't forget the upcoming visit of Doreen Busingye , the Dinner on the 6th March...book with me...and the lunch on the 9th March...book with James Croswell.
• This is what Doreen Busingye is all about:

Cadre of Technical Advisers

The Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical Advisers is a group of volunteer Rotarians who provide technical expertise and advice to Rotarians planning and carrying out Rotary grant projects around the world.

What we do

Cadre members review, monitor, and evaluate projects and ensure grant funds are being used properly. Our assignments include:

·         Technical reviews. Cadre members evaluate the technical feasibility of a project and submit a written evaluation. Reviewers don’t travel or communicate with the project sponsors.

·         Site visits. An advance site visitor evaluates the technical feasibility of a proposed project. An interim monitor reports on the implementation of an ongoing project. A post project monitor evaluates the impact and resolution of a completed project. For these assignments, cadre members travel to the project site and meet with the project sponsors and the benefiting community.

·         Audits. Auditors evaluate the financial management and oversight of grant funds. Audits can be targeted or random. Cadre members travel to the project site and meet with the project sponsors and the benefiting community.

·         Operational audits. Cadre members assess the controls grant sponsors have to ensure qualification. This involves evaluating financial books, records, and documentation.

Invitation

We received this invitation from Johannesburg East at PETS/AG Training.

If anyone is interested we could possible make up a Rosebank Table.

Friday 13th April

     

      Ronnie Kasrils will be talking to us at our normal meeting.  You might like to invite a guest or two.

President-elect Barry Rassin on where Rotary has been, where he hopes to lead it – and how the organization profoundly changed his life

Terry Cannon, Youth Exchange Chair, RI President Elect Barry Rassin, DG Elect Charles Deiner & Unknown Rotarian

Q: You want Rotary to have a transformational impact. How should we allocate our resources to do that?

A: It’s OK to do small projects – don’t get me wrong. We’re always going to be doing them. But I’d like every club to think of at least one high-impact service project they can do to change people’s lives. They don’t have to cost a lot of money. I always use the jeep we provided in Haiti as an example. For $60,000 or $70,000, we provided a pink jeep to a group of midwives who go out into the community and give prenatal care to mothers who wouldn’t get it any other way. The mortality rate has gone down dramatically. That’s transformational.

The Rotary Foundation has talked about sustainability for a long time. To be sustainable – to make the good we do last – you should be transformational, so that fits well into what the Foundation’s trustees and global grants are doing. The districts could look at district grants and do the same kind of thing. We have the resources. We just have to think a little differently.

Q: Did the act of rebuilding in Haiti have a positive effect on Rotary?

A: If you go into certain parts of Haiti with the Rotary wheel, they’re going to say thank you, because they know what Rotarians have done. Rotary has provided them with food, with water, with a school for their children. When we talk transformational, one project we’ve been working on is to bring potable water to the entire country of Haiti. The prime minister is a Rotarian and past president of his club. He is working with us, and he’s got a government agency that’s going to work directly with us. That’s way above any global grant, but we can plan for that and figure out how to do it in chunks. I’m sure districts and clubs around the world would love to be a part of it. That’s transformational. That’s the kind of thing that could change a region for the better, forever.

Q: What other goals do you wish to accomplish during your year?

A: There’s a disconnect between what we do at Rotary International – and do really well – and what Rotary clubs are doing. I’d like to bridge that gap. One of our strategic priorities is strengthening clubs, which involves things like membership and Foundation giving. We’re not reaching the clubs to get them to understand why we need to do some of these things, and therefore some don’t do them.

I want to explore ways of starting new Rotary clubs. There are a lot of clubs out there. We keep telling them, “You’ve got to get new members.” But their club culture may not be attractive to other people. Fine – they should enjoy their club, and then start another club next door. We’re working on making sure everybody knows that Rotaract clubs can start Rotary clubs. We need to tell Rotaractors they can start a Rotary club they’re comfortable with when they move on after 30. Rotaract is our secret weapon, and we need to spend time developing the transition from Rotaract to Rotary in a different way.

We’ve got to get better at social media. When you look at our numbers versus a celebrity’s, we’re nothing. We need Rotarians and Rotaractors to access social media and use it to improve our public image. And that’s the other part of it: I don’t believe our communities understand what Rotary is. I want to hold Rotary days so clubs and districts can get into their communities and talk about Rotary – what do we do and why do we do it.

I want clubs to have leadership development programs for their members. Rotary’s new vision statement says: “Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.” It is a great opportunity to remind everybody that as members of Rotary clubs, we’re also there for personal development. Young people are looking for ways to grow and develop, and that gives them another reason to join Rotary. Those are the key things I want to go with.

Q: You mentioned Rotary’s new vision statement. We already have a motto, Service Above Self. We have presidential themes every year. Why do we need a vision statement too?

A: A vision statement allows us to tell the world what our ultimate value is for the long term. It helps Rotarians and non-Rotarians understand what our goal is when it comes to changing our world. This vision statement came from Rotarians, who recommended each phrase. The end result shows our vision for the future and the path to get there.

Q: Rotaract and Rotary clubs in the Caribbean have a good relationship. What’s the key?

A: My club is an example. When a Rotaractor comes to our club, they’re not our guest for the day. They sign in as a member. So right away they’re feeling like they’re a part of us. That’s important. We also make sure that a Rotarian from our club always goes to Rotaract meetings so there’s always a connection. In the last two years, I believe we’ve got 100 percent transition from Rotaract to Rotary. They come and join our club because they know us. We’ve got to keep that connection going.

Q: What have you learned from Rotaractors?

A: Rotaractors are energetic. They’re passionate. They want to do good, and they really like working with each other. The frustration is that they then find it difficult to transition to a different club that has a totally different culture, doesn’t have the energy, doesn’t even know how to use social media. Rotaractors are the Rotary of the future, and we need to help them get there. What are they going to want in a club when they’re 40? We have to come up with that answer and then create Rotary clubs, or help them create Rotary clubs, that can get them there.

Q: Imagine your life without Rotary.

A: Wow! That’s hard to do, to be quite honest. I have put my heart and soul into Rotary for 37 years, and without it I wouldn’t have the friends I have or the ability to do some of the things I can do. I always give the example of my first speech. I was holding on to the lectern reading the speech I wrote, and when I got to the bottom of the first page, I was so nervous that I couldn’t turn the page. But my club kept asking me to speak, so I kept doing it, and now I speak publicly with confidence. I couldn’t do that without Rotary.

Q: How do you begin a speech?

A: It’s important to recognize and acknowledge who’s in your audience. You want to connect with them in one fashion or another, either by saying thank you or it’s nice to be here, or by recognizing a particular individual. Whenever I make a speech, I want to make it as personal as I can.

Q: If there’s one thing you could change about Rotary, what would that be?

A: One of our challenges in Rotary is our Council on Legislation. We meet every three years to consider changing Rotary’s governing policies, but it takes more like four and a half or five years to accomplish this because of the deadlines to propose legislation. The world is changing far too fast for that. We need a way to make major decisions that affect the organization on a quicker basis. Our Council on Legislation needs to understand that maybe it’s time to make that change. I’d love to see our Council restructured. One way would be to conduct those meetings electronically every year. It would be a challenge because it’s hard to have a dynamic debate online, but I think Rotary is smart enough to figure out how to do that.

Q: Is there a Rotary tradition you would never get rid of?

A: I would never get rid of our Four-Way Test. I would never get rid of vocational service. Some of the traditions from weekly club meetings could go. I don’t think there’s a need to be that formal in a club meeting anymore. But when you look at core values or ethics or classifications, those are things that have to stay with us. That’s who we are and what makes us different, and we need to appreciate that and keep developing those principles. 

Lester Connock & Vocational Service Awards, Business Meeting, Doreen Maheru's Visit and the First Woman Rotary Club President.

Last Week

On the outside, Lester Connock Awardees Sizakele Hadebe & Shakiera Saallie.
On the inside, Vocational Service Awardees David Heritage & Josephine Mhlongo.
In the Middle, President Lyn Collocott

It was time for our annual Rotary Vocational Service Awards where we recognise people who work hard for the community but would never receive recognition and we also presented certificates to the Lester Connock Awardees who received a bursary each of R20 000 to assist them in their post graduate research at Wits University's Faculty of Nursing.

The Vocational Service Awardees receive a certificate and we make a donation to the charity of their choice.

David Heritage

David spoke to us at Rotary a couple of weeks ago and it was reported in The Ramble so there is no need to repeat the work he does as an ex prisoner in assisting prisoners on parole to ensure they do not re-offend.

Josephine Mhlongo

Josephine was involved in the squint correction project which the club undertook last year. During one of Josephine Mhlongo’s outreach projects visiting Pohopedi Primary to give out uniforms to children in need, she came across Agnes Moremi which lead to Rosebank Rotary Club engaging with Dr Vercueil to correct Agnes’ squint.

She did an Alpha course at the Bryanston Catholic Church and then went out to start the first Alpha course in Soweto. She has facilitated many courses extending /reaching other denominations in Soweto. She has even extended her work to work in prisons.

 In 2016 Josephine worked as a volunteer for six months at Johannesburg Prison Medium B.   She involved herself with the program of caring for ex-offenders. She strongly believes that by visiting those in Prison she can help them as well as visiting ex-offenders after prison to prevent them from re-offending

Josephine is actively involved in church matters and the Catholic Woman’s League since 1994. She was the vice president for 3years and currently is the treasurer. She takes responsibility every year to fundraise and uses this opportunity to empower others.

She supports all activities plus she initiates new programs and projects. She motivates people to get involved and to help themselves and their community.

She took an active part in starting the Sunday school at her church, Holy Rosary.

 She inspired her church to adopt the Wolmaraanstad Catholic Church. Josephine concerns herself with vulnerable children and pensioners in Wolmaraanstad. She attempted to get ZoZo tanks to establish a vegetable garden for the pensioners.

Each year Josephine finds and invites special ‘cases’ to the Christmas parties. With teachers’ help Josephine finds children who have never had a birthday party and who live in extreme poverty. These are the children that Josephine takes to a Christmas party.

 Josephine does not wait for hand outs and donations. Her fund raising events focus on family and community involvement. She will arrange a Sports Day for the community. Members of the community are invited to set up tables selling home crafts to raise funds. Her Mother’s Day tea party fund raiser is another hugely successful event.

Josephine is the person who makes it her business to take care of the children who have disabilities in her church. She used her initiative to help a mentally ill little girl Hadio Lebuso by taking her to the Mother Theresa Home in Yeoville. Her intervention did not stop. Josephine then opened a case of child abuse against the mother. The list of how she helps is endless..... ! One of her best contributions is her reliability and willingness to take responsibility for projects. She will dedicate her time to make sure that the projects are well organized and involve members to uplift their communities themselves.

In December 2006 she inspired a group of ladies from Bryanston, lead by Mrs Florence Banahan and Mrs Bernadette Winderley, to get involved in charity work in Soweto, very far from their comfort zone! They started a program of doing a Christmas party for the disadvantaged pensioners. Josephine said she started with 60 food parcels for the pensioners and annually it has increased. Now her group looks after 650 families. Josephine focuses on child headed families and pensioners from the poorest of the poor such as Protea South informal settlement, Orange Farm, Kliptown, Poortjie informal settlement and Wolmaraanstad in the North West. Josephine encourages involvement from volunteers to assist in the packaging and distribution food parcels to these extremely poor families.

As her sister is a teacher at Pohopedi Primary School in Poortjie, Josephine got involved with this group of children. Through her contacts she gets funding to buy school uniforms and blankets for pupils who come from struggling families. 

As keeping warm in winter is important to her, she was actively involved with an NGO called Knit-a -Square when it first started in 2009 by Ronda Lowrie. She also involves herself in a “Jersey drive” to get jerseys and jackets for pensioners, children, unemployed moms and unemployed men.

She is involved in providing sanitary towels for girls and counsels teenage pupils.

She is passionate about not forgetting the boys who get given a bag with toiletries, a pair of socks and underwear.

Josephine helped a young Wits University student who was unable to get accommodation in the first year of his studies. She assist Ishmael Motsweneng by paying for his accommodation until he managed to get NAFSAS support after which she only provided him with meals.

She helped a young man who was seriously injured in a car accident last June. He was sent home from hospital with wounds in a terrible state. By November he was  critical and unable to walk. Josephine called upon her contacts. getting the wounds dressed properly, rehab care and physio each day to teach him to walk again. Josephine arranged a wheel chair and a commode. Josephine’s insistence on care and treatment saved this young man’s life.

Josephine  assist families to access grants if they are eligible and she finds proof of birth for many so that they can become eligible for an ID document  Sometimes this info requires Josephine  to visit farms and travel far afield to visit families in order to get the documentation that is necessary.  One is filled with admiration as she runs to and fro often at her own personal cost.

Josephine is driven to improve the lot of others and to empower them to help themselves. This is what Josephine uniquely brings to the table of humanity.

Lester Connock Awards to:

Shakiera Saallie

for her ongoing contribution to the understanding of cross infection within a hospital environment

with a view to ongoing training and the resultant saving of lives.

Sizakele Hadebe

for her ongoing contribution to the nursing of cancer patients within a hospital environment

with a view to ongoing training in the development of a sympathetic understanding of the needs of patients and their families.

This Week

It's back to normality and a Business Meeting.

Cafe Dolci

Doreen Maheru's Visit to audit the Baragwanath Palliative Care Project 

She will be addressing the club at a special lunch at Old Edwardians on Friday 9th March at R120 per head and James Croswell has sent out invitations to all club members and special guests...if you are not yet a member get in touch with him as you wouldn't have received anything.

In addition there will be a dinner to which anybody at Dolci Cafe, Clarence Rd Craighall Park on Tuesday 6th March, 7:00 for 7:30pm.

 The menu is Italian and includes Arancini which no-one guessed in the picture quiz.

We'll choose from the menu so you can spend as much or as little as you like.  Please book with me.

Picture Quiz

Last week's vegetable was Chou Chou.  Only Lyn Collocott got it right.  The Chinese call it Chow Chow and it is terribly boring. See if you recognise this week's breed of dog.

Women in Rotary - How it all began.

Sylvia Whitlock became the first female Rotary president after her right to membership went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The mandate that Rotarians welcome women to their ranks came down 30 years ago. She asked for arms in the air: Who was a Rotarian 30 years ago? A handful went up and she nodded. Someone shouted, “All men.”

Her club, in Duarte, was small. The president looked at the community and saw women in leadership roles, and invited some.

“This didn’t start as a women’s issue, but as a simple attempt to recruit more members into Rotary,” she said.

It was 1976. She had never even heard of Rotary.

Whitlock accepted the invitation and in 1982 she became a member of the club. She was ready to be a part of the good Rotarians do.

At the time, Rotary had more work to do to eradicate polio. (Today, she pointed out, there is just one place polio still endures: Afghanistan.)

The Rotary district governor told the club president it was OK to invite women, but, he said, don’t send their names to Rotary International; just send initials. Whitlock pulled a face of disdain and mentioned this was not in line with our Four-Way Test of the things we think, say and do. The first filter is truth.

So there they were with women in the club, thriving, for years.

Then they got caught and were told they had to ask the women to leave, or the club could be declared “not a real Rotary.” The club held firm and lost its charter.

It went to appeal to the board of directors, but only real Rotary clubs could address that board, which they were decidedly not, what with all those members in skirts.

So it appealed to the Council on Legislation and the ousting was confirmed.

“It was not an issue of whether women could be in, but whether Duarte had violated the bylaws by inviting them, which of course they had,” she said.

The California Superior Court sided for exclusivity too.

But then the California Appellate Court reversed the ruling and said the Duarte club could be both inclusive and officially Rotary.

This was the year she was president-elect of what they had renamed the “ExRotary” club, and she was sent to the annual conference for incoming leaders. She, like the other participants, was reminded in advance to take her jacket and tie, “so I took my jacket and tie and went,” she said.

“I was one woman out of 290 men,” she said. “The most interesting part was during restroom breaks ….” Everyone started laughing and she was cut off. “I never get to finish that line.”

At the event, her club’s incoming governor announced that the fight to remove the rogue Duarte club was not over: “Rotary International will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and I have every reason to believe we will win.” Forthwith Whitlock had a banner made that read “Rotary Club of Duarte, the mouse that roared — equal opportunity for all.” And she heard somebody say, “They’re forcing us to take everyone in, just like a hotel.”

The court was determining whether the group had a First Amendment right to exclude, and it was looking like it did not.

Judge Sandra Day O’Connor didn’t vote, because her husband was a Rotarian, but the judges found for the Duarte club. It was 1987.

The judges’ statement was progressive: “Even if there were a slight encroachment on the rights of Rotarians to associate, that minimal infringement would be justified since it serves the state’s compelling interest in ending sexual discrimination.”

As of that moment, all clubs in the nation had to welcome women. If a club did not, it would lose its charter.

Whitlock was on her way to work as the principal of an elementary school when the news was announced.

“Twenty minutes after the announcement all the media in California descended on the school,” she said.

She went into a room to give interviews, and for hours gave intelligent, researched responses to their questions. Then one reporter asked, “How did you get chosen to be president?”

She shrugged  and said, “What do good Rotarians say? ‘Oh, I don’t know, I must’ve missed a meeting.’ ”