PDG Annie Steijn. Careers Day, Alta McMaster & the Epic Foundation and Starting a Rotaract Club

Last Week



Unfortunately I wasn't there for Annie Steijn's talk as I had agreed to talk to the Sandton Satellite

Club about Rotary Peace Fellowships which is a pity as she is always good value for money.

I probably won't be there this week either......







By the way, if you haven't received a calendar for this year just hook out this old one as all the dates are the same.

Careers Day 9th March



I have sent out an email to all former base leaders and helpers participants but it will take a while for people to wake up as schools have only just opened and the universities are only functioning from 16th January.  It will be at Holy Family College as usual between 9:00 and 12:30 for Grade 12's.







The existing bases are:

• Medicine/Nursing
• Law
• Accountancy/Bookkeeping
• Marketing/Entrepreneurship/Retail
• Catering/Chef/Baking/Hospitality
• IT
• Building Industry/Plumbing/Tiling/Electrical
• Journalism/PR/Advertising
• Fashion
• Speech Pathology and Audiology
• Physiotherapy
• Teaching/Education
• Architecture
• Travel
• Aviation
• Social Work
• Engineering
• Logistics
• 4 x Tertiary Institutions

This is not exhaustive and I am sure that you may have ideas of additional bases, if so please email me with the suggestion, who would be manning the base and their email address and cell number.

This Week

Our speaker this week is Alta McMaster of the Epic Foundation.  There's a lot about her traumatic life on the website but what the foundation does is not so clear.  I am ensure she will enlighten us.

The Foundation was established in 2013 to supply Comfort Packs to rape survivors but subsequently other projects have been established.

Rhett Martin, Founding President, Rotaract Club of Silverton, Oregon

When I was 25 years old, I was appointed to the city council in my hometown. The mayor of our town is a very active Rotarian, and he got me involved with a weeklong Rotary Youth Leadership Awards here in Oregon. It lit the fire in me. When I got back, the mayor told me about Rotaract. It immediately clicked. We have a pretty great Rotary club here in Silverton, and there’s an Interact club at Silverton High School, but there was nothing for that age range from post-high school to 30. It was a perfect opportunity to start a community-based Rotaract club.

What steps did you take to start the club?

I started discussing it with the mayor and a friend of mine in August 2017. It took a couple of months of planning and studying the Rotaract handbook. Then we had to find people to show up and learn about it. We used word-of-mouth, talking to the like-minded people that we knew. We also reached out to local businesses, asking if they had young employees who would benefit. We had about nine or 10 people at our first informational meeting in December 2017. We were officially inaugurated in March 2018 with 14 members. 

The thing about community-based clubs is that although it’s tough to get people in the door, once you get them in, you retain them. That’s different from a college-based club, where it’s easy to get them in but you have a continuous turnover. The original 14 of us have stuck with it and are loving it.

Why did you start a Rotaract club rather than joining your local Rotary club?

I’d say half of our members are not established professionals — they’re in school or fresh out and just getting their first jobs. Our guest speakers are talking about first-time homebuying and health insurance, things that are geared toward youth.

The biggest gap between Rotary and Rotaract is financial. Every Rotary club is different in what it charges in membership dues, but most Rotaract clubs will be significantly lower or not charge at all. That’s important for young people who may not have a full-time job or an employer who pays their dues.

I know dual memberships are becoming a new thing, where you are a member of both Rotary and Rotaract. I think that’s fantastic. It allows those of us who may be reaching 30 years old to put our feet in both and get used to Rotary while still being active in Rotaract.

I see Rotaract as an investment for your Rotary club. It’s an opportunity to get them on board with Rotary ideals. Think of it as your club’s farm team, not its competitor. When Rotaractors reach a stage in life when they’re ready for the full commitment of a Rotary club, they’re all in.

What is your club working on?

We are starting a scholarship specifically for young adults ages 22 to 30 who are returning to continue their education, whether it’s a bachelor’s or associate degree, or tech or trade school. Most scholarships for college are for high school seniors. So many of those opportunities aren’t available for people who don’t go to college right away or who went to school and didn’t know what they wanted to do and dropped out but are now ready to go back.

Christmas Past & A Happy New Year, Spar Collection, Informal Meetings, a Talk by PDG Annie Steijn and More Help from Rotary for Africa.

Christmas Past and a Happy New Year!
If this was The Beano it would say "Signed:  The Editor".

First of all the Christmas Lunch!

I enjoyed it and I hope you all did as well.  Any comments on the food etc please let me know.





And next the Spar Norwood Collection.  It was very successful thanks to Costa Qually and the support he had from the Club.
President Jean sent me two photographs of one of our charities, Linda Twala of Phuthaditshaba, Alexandra, cashing in his Spar Vouchers.











Over the holiday period we always have informal meetings for lunch in Chariots Bar at Wanderers.  I was away for the whole period and again President Jean has leaped into the breech and sent me a picture of last Friday's get together.

This Week
Past District Governor Annie Steijn will be talking to us about Membership and Marketing.  This is very important as there have been a lot of changes in Rotary's strategy and we must keep up to date with new ideas.  Our membership is relatively static but none of us are getting any younger and if we are not careful the fortunes of the club could change almost over night. 
It will be interesting to hear what Annie has to say.

Former RI president helps send hundreds of volunteers around the world to perform 67,000 surgeries, examine 250,000 patients

During a 2016 mission to Kigali, Rwanda, Saboo demonstrated that he had overcome his discomfort with blood to become an effective member of the medical team.

When Rajendra Saboo finished his term as president of Rotary International in 1992, he started thinking about how he could continue to help people. And by 1998, after serving as Rotary Foundation trustee chair, he knew he wanted to do something hands-on. 

“When I was Rotary president, my theme was Look Beyond Yourself,” says Saboo, a member of the Rotary Club of Chandigarh, India. “I was thinking about service beyond borders. So I thought, ‘Is there anything that India can give?’ I realized that medical science in India is fairly advanced, and there are doctors — Rotarian doctors — who could give something to Africa, where the medical needs are tremendous.”

Saboo talked to Nandlal Parekh, a fellow Rotarian and a physician who had worked in Uganda before being forced out by dictator Idi Amin. Parekh thought Uganda, even though it was still in the midst of a civil war, would be an excellent place for a medical mission. The trip that Saboo organized in 1998 was the start of 20 years of medical missions and over 67,000 surgeries.

To accompany him on that first trip, Saboo assembled a team of surgeons with experience performing corrective surgery on patients with polio, as well as a team of ophthalmologists. Then, a few days before they were scheduled to depart, terrorists bombed the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing hundreds of people. A third attack, in the Ugandan capital of Kampala, was foiled.

“We were terrified,” he says. “The doctors were also saying, ‘Should we go? Will we be safe?’” 

Then Saboo’s wife, Usha, talked to a woman who had returned from volunteering to help people wounded in the war in the former Yugoslavia. Usha asked her if she had been afraid.

“You die only once,” the woman replied. “And it is the way you die that matters. I did not find any fear at the time, because I was serving humanity.”

“That answer hit Usha,” recalls Saboo. “She told me about it. Then we called a meeting where she recounted her conversation. The doctors and the volunteers said, ‘We are ready to go.’”

They arrived three days after the bombings. From Kampala, one team took a bus four hours east to Masaka, while another went north to Gulu to perform eye surgery. The local hospital hadn’t seen an ophthalmologist in seven years. Some of the old women danced after their eye surgery because they had never seen their grandchildren.

Saboo, who has no medical training himself, got squeamish when he saw blood. But the team needed all the volunteers to pitch in — by washing the dirty feet of children in preparation for surgery, loading patients on stretchers, helping to start the IV drips, and doing anything else that needed to be done.

“Madhav Borate, who was the leader of our medical mission, said, ‘Raja, change your clothes and come to the operating theater. You have to hold the patient’s wrist while we are operating and monitor the pulse,’ ” Saboo recalls. “I said, ‘Madhav, are you mad? I can’t even stand seeing someone receiving an injection. I can’t stand the sight of blood. I would faint.’ ”

Borate recalls that day too. “The operating rooms were lacking in monitoring equipment, including a device called a pulse oximeter,” he says. “So we decided to train three Rotarians to feel the pulse of the patients and inform the anesthetist if it became too fast or too slow. We started referring to the volunteers as our pulse meters.” 

“I saw blood,” says Saboo. “I saw everything, and nothing happened to me. That changed me totally.”

Immediately upon their return to India, the team members started planning their next trip, this time to Ethiopia, with additional specialists. The third year they went to Nigeria. In the 20 years since that first trip to Uganda, they’ve sent more than 500 volunteers to 43 countries, performed 67,000 surgeries, examined 250,000 patients, and received $2.4 million in grants from The Rotary Foundation and from districts in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and other countries. They’ve arranged for patients in Africa with complicated medical problems to be flown to India for treatment, and have conducted missions within India itself.

Last year, for the mission’s 20th anniversary, the team returned to Uganda. The country is wealthier and more peaceful now but still has many needs.

“The infrastructure and facilities at the hospital were much better, and the nursing staff was cooperative and helpful,” says Borate. “But there was still a severe shortage of supplies, instruments, and equipment even for routine operations.”

Nonetheless, with the help of Rotarians and doctors from Uganda, the team performed 1,100 surgeries, including 440 eye operations, 452 dental procedures, 25 reconstructive surgeries, and 84 general surgeries. 

“It is the greatest impact I have seen in my 22 years as a Rotarian,” says Emmanuel Katongole, past governor of District 9211 (Tanzania and Uganda). “To see so many people with such complex problems, queuing for days for operations, and to see the happiness on their faces. We’re still getting calls asking, ‘Where are the Indian doctors? Can they come back?’ ”

For 2019, Saboo has an even bigger goal. “Sam Owori, who was selected to be the 2018-19 RI president but who passed away in 2017, said to me, ‘Raja, during my year as president, I would like you to arrange a team of medical doctors to go to every district of Africa.’ I said, ‘I’ll try,’ ” he says.

“After Sam died, President Barry Rassin said to me, ‘Raja, let us see if we can fulfill the dream that Sam had.’ So now we are planning on that.”

Mirirai Gumbochuma, Visitors from Panama, a Busy Weekend, Christmas Lunch and Something to cheer Theresa May.

Last Week

Cuthbert Gumbochuma chatted about himself.  We expected it to be entertaining and it was.  There seem to be so many siblings I wondered if they ever got together, formed cricket or soccer teams or whatever!  Thanks Mirirai Cuthbert for a most enjoyable talk. 
As you can see, rapt attention from the club!








We had two new visiting Rotarians from Panama, of all places.  It certainly increases our Worldwide Spread!

Exchanging Banners with President Jean, Jackie & Mark Kendziorek of the Rotary Club of Playa Coronado, Panama

El Club Rotario de Playa Coronado es un club bilingüe en el área de "Playas del Pacífico" de Panamá, fundado en junio de 2014. Somos un grupo de hombres y mujeres de diferentes nacionalidades que han hecho de Coronado su hogar. Estamos dedicados a implementar programas que ayuden a los necesitados en la comunidad local. Les damos la bienvenida a las personas, rotarios e invitados para que nos acompañen a almorzar los martes a las 12:00 PM en el restaurante Nazca 21 en Coronado y vean de qué se trata.

The Rotary Club of Playa Coronado is an English/Spanish speaking club in the "Pacific beaches" area of Panamá, chartered in June 2014. We are a group of men and women of different nationalities that have made Coronado their home. We are dedicated to implementing programs that help those in need in the local community. We welcome individuals, visiting Rotarians and guests to join us for lunch on Tuesdays at 12:00 PM at Nazca 21 restaurant in Coronado and see what we are all about.

Drinking water supply

Buenos Aires is one of the eleven towns in the County of Chame in the province of Panama West, Republic of Panama. According to the 2010 census, Buenos Aires has a population of 2,030 inhabitants.

The community is supplied with water by a rural aqueduct in very poor condition. The residents pay a monthly voluntary maintenance fee of $1.00/household to receive water for approximately one hour each day. The water supply is unreliable and unhealthy, causing regular disruptions and non-supply, often lasting several days. The current water source is 5 kilometers away in a spring near the neighboring town of Chicá. The aqueduct works by gravity and recently the little water available is affected by a real estate project which bought land which includes the spring’s location. This puts the inhabitants and school at even greater risk.

The Rotary Club of Playa Coronado proposes to construct a new water source, fix the reservoirs and distribution system, put a filtration system and have workshops at the school about the importance of water.

The proposed project in the middle of a study: A professional engineer was engaged to study the problem at no cost and already proposed a solution. A Rotary Grant will be written and applied for by The Rotary Club of Playa Coronado and international partner clubs are needed.

We have determined that the cost of the project will be around $30,000 just for materials. Labor work will be required by the people of the Community and the City Hall of Chame.

The Weekend

It was our final collection at Spar Norwood for the year.  Here 's just one of the trolleys.  

 We really appreciate what Spar does for us.

DG Charles Deiner addresses us at the start.

Kevin Wolhuter and I attended the District Strategic Planning Session in Pretoria on Saturday.  Some really good ideas came out of it.  What remains to be seen is if they will be implemented.
Unlike many voluntary organisations Rotary is well aware of the problems it faces in today's world and because there is intellect at the top it means that there is a vision for the future and this certainly is not the case with many such organisations.  That's why Rotary has survived for so long and will no doubt manage to adapt to face the problems we face as an organisation at all levels.





This Week

 



It's the Christmas Lunch at Parkview Golf Club and we will be there in strength, I'm delighted to say.

Our President is hoping that we will wear something to mark the occasion and this is what she will be wearing amongst other things, I hope.


This will be the last Ramble until next year when I will include the Christmas Lunch pictures.

Rotary honored Theresa May, prime minister of the United Kingdom, with the Polio Eradication Champion Award for her leadership and political support toward ending polio. 

Alistair Burt, left, the UK minister of state for international development and minister of state for the Middle East, accepts the Polio Eradication Champion Award from RI President Barry Rassin

Rotary International President Barry Rassin presented the prestigious award to Alistair Burt, the UK minister of state for international development and minister of state for the Middle East, at a round table discussion on polio eradication on 27 November in London, England. 

Rassin told Burt, who accepted the award on May’s behalf, that the UK has repeatedly demonstrated an unwavering commitment toward a polio-free world. 

“Britain’s leadership in making multiyear commitments in support of global polio eradication has been an example for other countries to follow,” Rassin said. He added that flexible funding from the UK has given the Global Polio Eradication Initiative  more resources to respond quickly to “dynamic needs.”

Under May’s leadership in 2017, the UK pledged about $130 million to the GPEI for 2017-19, bringing the country’s cumulative support for polio eradication to $1.6 billion — second only to the United States. May has also been a strong advocate for other countries in the G-20 and G-7 to maintain their financial and political support for a polio-free world, Rassin said. 

Rotary established the Polio Eradication Champion Award in 1996 to recognize heads of state, health agency leaders, and others who have made significant contributions to ending polio. Past recipients include Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. 

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.”