A Return to Virtual Meetings, PE Costa's Induction, DG Stella's Vision for the year ahead and "Joysterbay" wins the 50th Quiz Challenge

 From the Pen of our President.....

 

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

 Locked down again!! I hope you are all well, keeping warm and keeping safe.

Saturday’s DG handover meeting was a joyous occasion with a number of people in our club being given a mention.

Our now famous Rosebank Ramble – started in this format by Peter James Smith and done so well now by Sybille is the best in the District!!

We have not one, but two AGs mentioned for their exemplary leadership – Jean and Peter, and Kevin was recognized for his service to District and his unwavering support.

The year ahead is going to be fun and there is lots to look forward to. Incoming Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta has announced the 2021-22 presidential theme – Serve to Change Lives. He has urged members to become more involved in-service projects, saying that caring for and serving others is the best way to live because it changes not only other people’s lives, but also our own.

Service is what we are all about but in these times, I think nothing truer can be said – now more than ever.

I hope to see you all on Zoom on Friday night with your glasses charged, ready to drink to the new Rotary year as I pass the baton to Costa.

Thank you all for a great year.

Ann Hope-Bailie

President - Rotary Club of Rosebank

Last Friday.....

With the Covid cases ever rising, it would have been foolish to meet at Wanderers and so we conducted our monthly social meeting from the safety and comfort of our own homes.

We were delighted to see some faces that have been absent for a while like Howard Johnston and Kevin Wolhuter, but there was also a touch of sadness, as this was Peter James-Smith's last meeting and in true form he left us with a hilarious anecdote:

When fiction becomes fact!

When I wrote my GCE O Levels in 1961 the one subject I hated was geography, partly because I couldn't draw maps.  Our special subject was "Africa South of the Sahara" about which my knowledge was sketchy. During the mock exams I made up a place in the Congo called Hwangu Hari and waxed lyrical on the cobalt mines there on the assumption that the master who marked the paper would probably have heard of neither. I got good marks for it. When the actual exam came round I obviously repeated my fiction.

Last week, in the Business Maverick, I read that Glencor is about to re-open one of the world's biggest cobalt mines in the Congo.

 60 years later I'm right!

Our Queen of Fundraising, Sonja Hood, has managed a spectacular coup; she has approached futurist and scenario planner Clem Sunter, who needs no introduction, and asked him whether he would consider repeating his very successful presentation: Beyond 2021 - The World and South Africa - Latest Flags, Scenarios & Probabilities to our audience, and he has agreed!! A final date needs to still be confirmed, but it will more than likely be at the end of July.

An event not to be missed.

And another bit of good news: Mark Franklin acted as company secretary for  Millstream and they have very kindly agreed to donate R5 000 in his memory, as they knew how close Rotary was to Mark's heart. 

You are invited.....

Ann Hope-Bailie is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

 

Topic: Rotary Club of Rosebank - President's Induction ceremony

Time: Jul 2, 2021 07:00 PM Harare, Pretoria

 

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Could we respectfully ask that all attendees "buy" a blanket for R80  in lieu of the induction dinner.

AG Stella's Induction.....

DG Stella Anyangwe's induction was indeed a joyous occasion with many accolades and awards going to dedicated  and worthy Rotarians and Ann's and never a truer phrase was spoken when Stella said to PDG Annemarie "my success is your success".

Stella's message to us: We need to make Rotary fun! We need to sing, we need to dance!

The Rotary Club of Dar-es-Saalam clear winners of our 50th Quiz Challenge....

What a fun evening was had at our 50th quiz challenge, fought valiantly against opponents who were too clever for us. David is already organizing the rematch.

I'll leave you with three questions that our demanding quizmaster posed:

• What is the collective noun for ravens?
• What is the nickname for Dar-es-Salaam?
• What is Copraphobia?

You may google the answers!

Our monthly business meeting, Ringing out the Old and singing in the New and please join our very special 50th Quiz Challenge.....

 From our President's Pen....

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

Today is the shortest day of the year – the winter solstice. But it does not mean it will get warmer from tomorrow – winter will be with us for some time yet!!

We are getting to the end of the Rotary year – and that is next week. What a year it has been. Who would have thought that after a whole year we would still be talking about lockdowns and pandemics and things actually getting worse!! We have been in some kind of lockdown for 462 days!! In the past year I have learnt so much – about people, patience, tolerance, understanding, empathy and humility. It has been the pandemic and the lockdowns that have been my teacher – valuable lessons indeed, sobering….

I had a call from Woodside Sanctuary – a request for blankets. Our blanket drive was very successful and we have allocated all the blankets we got money for. At Friday’s meeting we decided that the money that would have been spent on the induction evening would be donated for blankets instead and then we can assist Woodside Sanctuary. Please deposit your donations in lieu of the induction dinner into the Club bank account and reference the deposit as such. Woodside Sanctuary is a home for the intellectually disabled in Johannesburg.

Our induction evening will be a hybrid event – anyone who would like to come to my house to attend should please let me know – we will limit the number of attendees and take the necessary care.

“Marmelade auctions” – it seems we have a healthy debate. Let’s take up with it once we are meeting in person again.

All meetings will be via Zoom for the coming weeks.

Please take special care, keep warm and keep safe.

Yours in Rotary,

Ann

Last Friday....

If it's the third Friday of the month it must be a Business Meeting. 

1) Report back from David Bradshaw on Membership: The good news is that Roger Lloyd might be moving down to the Cape, but after seeing how Rosebank Rotary has embraced the New Normal and welcomed a host of virtual members from much further afield than Cape Town he has decided to remain a member.

Sadly though we shall be losing Judy Powell as a member, who has been battling to cope with remote meetings and feels she has lost touch with the Club.

Another sad farewell  will be said to Peter James-Smith, who has been a staunch member since 2014 although he has been a Rotarian since 1987. He will be transferring to a club closer to his home in Bedfordview - Knights-Pendragon. 

We will however be acquiring two new members. Roger Wedlake:

A brief resume:

• He is married to Molly and has 2 sons and 2 daughters
• He is a scientist and has a PHD in Physics from Reading University
• His main hobby is Chemistry
• He was a member of the Rotary Club of Parktown Excalibur for a number of years, which club terminated several years ago

A few of you will have met Sheldon Rambanabasi who did a sterling job recently acting as our quiz master, who will also be inducted alongside Roger.

 

2) Les Short reported that the Sewing Project Report had been submitted.

Sadly we will not be eligible for a Global Grant this year, but we now have whole year to plan for a worthy project to get our teeth into.

3) Pam Donaldson, who's portfolio includes Club Service and Attendance informed us that the average attendance for the past month was 21, and that unfortunately it has been decided that given the rampaging Third Covid Wave we would not be holding any in person monthly social meetings at Wanderers, and will be reverting back to Zoom only-gatherings.

4) Youth & Publicity reported back by Jean Bernardo: Marianne Soal has volunteered to get more involved with the Interact Club of Highlands Boys High School and has some exciting ideas which she will share with us in the near future.

As Rotary Africa is a recipient of our weekly Rosebank Ramble, Sharon Robertson has often used articles which she feels might be of interest to a wider public in their monthly editions. She has asked Sybille to pen an article about our Blanket Drive for publication.

5) Sonja Hood's portfolio is Fundraising.  The annual quiz  on the 20th of October might still seem a  far way off, but we still need many more raffle prizes. 

Sonja has made contact with the well known scenario planner and strategist Clem Sunter, who has agreed to do a Zoom presentation on The Covid Economy - Beyond 2021. 

Because of the nature of the topic Sonja would like to actively market this to corporates.

Sonja has also agreed to take over the planning of the Art Festival and at present she is awaiting feedback from the Rosebank Mall for proposed suitable dates.

6) The Community & Vocational Services Committee chaired by Sybille Essmann is hard at work distributing blankets to communities in need, but the blanket production has hit a snag, but hopefully we will soon be able to resume getting blankets out there.

Because of Lockdown restrictions we were unable to present the annual Vocational Awards last year, but Covid permitting we are aiming at having an Awards ceremony at the end of September (date to be confirmed) and call on all members to please give it some thought  and submit nominations for worthy recipients before the end of July. 

Ringing out the Old and Singing in the New....

Do not forget to join DG Annemarie Mostert this coming Saturday the 26th of June at 11:30 as she hands over the baton to her successor Stella Anyangwe.

Although it will be a virtual installation we have been asked to all make sure we have a glass of bubbly at hand to wish our new  

District Governor for 2021/22 all the very best for her no doubt challenging  year ahead. 

For purposes of ease...

REGISTER HERE

The 50th  Quiz Challenge should not be missed....

May we introduce you to the Rotary Club of Dar-Es-Salaam Oysterbay. They are a young club, having only been chartered in 2009. 

They are a growing, dynamic and diverse club, who like to go by the name "Joysterbay" as their motto is to have fun while they serve.

The Club has won every conceivable award this year: Club of the Year,Youth Service Award, Community Service Award and Membership Growth Award. They have won more awards than any other club in Tanzania and also their District.

They will be our worthy opponents and we want to give them a warm South African welcome.

Please join us on Wednesday the 23rd of June  via Zoom at 19:00 (There is an hour's time difference)

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Everyone is welcome!!

This Friday....

.....Will be a Social Meeting. For those that have been enjoying the interaction of the last few face-to-face social  meetings it will be disappointing, but as we deal with the Third Wave and the fact that none of us have been fully vaccinated we need to take every precaution to stay safe and healthy.

Pam's Memoirs worthy of a book, Madiba Buggies and blankets distributed in Nongoma and a Quiz Milestone.....

 From the Pen of our President..

 

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

My favourite meetings are when we hear from our own members – getting a glimpse of a person’s past is fascinating and interesting. It is almost like sitting and having someone read you a story – the best of times!!

The theme this month is Rotary Fellowships – the quote reads: “What binds Rotarians together is a unity of desire and a unity of purpose to serve society and to serve mankind….a unity in diversity” Past RI President CPH Teenstra 1965. Rotarians are all so different, one organisation with people from all walks of life with different backgrounds and shaped by different times and cultures – yet we make wonderful friends and are able to work together.

According to the dictionary FELLOWSHIP is a NOUN

1.     companionship, company

2.     community of interest, activity, feeling, or experience the state of being a fellow or associate

3.     a company of equals or friends : association

4.     the quality or state of being comradely

 Is it the fellowship or the unity of purpose that binds us together? Whatever it is, we are stronger together!!

My thoughts are with those who are ill or recovering – please reach out if there is anything I, or any fellow member, can do – you are not alone.

Please keep safe, stay healthy – this too will pass.

Yours in Rotary.

Ann

PS – we are looking for someone to take on the Blanket Drive for next year – any volunteers?

Last Friday.....

One of the most compelling and fun meeting topics we have at our Club is when members are given the opportunity of letting us have a glimpse into their personal lives.

When Pam Donaldson joined the Rotary Club of Rosebank nearly 20 years ago, she was by no means a stranger to the organization. Her father had been a Rotarian for more than 50 years, and mom had been a dedicated Ann.

Pam speaks fondly of her young years in rural Rustenburg where dad started a successful dairy which was awarded a Dairy Maid ice cream licence, which must be every child's dream come true.

She and her beloved brother were shipped off to boarding school in Johannesburg, Pam to St. Mary's and John to St. Johns. She forged lasting friendships with her 12 fellow-boarders which have endured to this day.

She studied languages at the University of Natal - German, Dutch and French - and then returned to Rustenburg to teach for a year, but at age 22 she joined a tour of Europe and that is how her love affair with travel started. After 8 months traipsing  through the UK, Ireland and Spain (she remarked that she hated Paris!) she returned home and joined American Express in 1970.

Travel was quite formal in those days, and she remembers that she wore a hat and gloves to her interview. She was lucky to have had a very good mentor, her German boss, and when he resigned to head up TFC and needed 2 people to accompany him to set up a tour operator office for South African tourists in Washington she did not hesitate to take on the challenge. 

Cherry blossom time in Washington

Sadly the office closed down after 9 months, and she headed home after a 3 week sojourn in beautiful Brazil. 

A stint at Grosvenor Tours, which offered intellectual tours, then Musgrave & Watson, considered the most prestigious travel agency in its heyday, which merged with Castle Marine and was eventually taken over by Rennies, followed by 15 happy years at Rosebank Travel, then Travel Solutions and Prestige Travel.

She reminisces about crossing the Atlantic on the Concorde, the unforgettable trip on the Eastern Orient Express, a most interesting culinary experience (not necessarily good) on the Russian Waterways and tragically losing good friends on the Helderberg. Her list of travel destinations is endless, but her favourite country remains Norway and her most memorable trip took her to the Antarctic (which she did with Jack, a year he passed away).

She met her life partner Jack in 2003, and with that she bade farewell to the travel industry, so that she could spend time with him as he had already retired, and travel for fun and not for business.

It also gave her the opportunity to join Rotary and be in a position to give back.

Madiba Buggies and blankets delivered to grateful recipients....

 

This past weekend Jerry and Jean were planning on accompanying Marilyn Bassin, who heads up  Boikanyo (The Dion Herson Foundation), to the Nongoma Therapy Department and the Nkonjeni Hospital Ulundi in Natal, to assist with the fitting of 15 of the Madiba Buggies that had so painstakingly been restored by Jerry and Costa. They had been donated to deserving disabled children who had travelled for many miles from their rural homes with their care givers.

It is common knowledge that Jean and Jerry tested positive for Covid, Jean luckily had no symptoms, Jerry sadly ended up in hospital where he is thankfully recuperating well, but of course they were not in a position to join Marilyn.

Boikanyo is also one of the recipients of this year's Blanket Drive, and Marilyn took along 20 donated blankets and towels from the linen section of the Humanitarian Centre. 

Marilyn reported back that there are so many desperate souls in the rural areas and with the plummeting temperatures these blankets are lifesavers.

We celebrate our 50th Quiz Challenge....

With the heavy Lockdown restrictions that came into play at the end of March last year we had our first Quiz against Kyalami on the 21 May.

I acted as Quiz Master for the first few Quiz’s before Sonja’s son Gareth took over and took it to another level.

On the 23rd June we will hold our 50th Quiz having met against 16 other Rotary Clubs in South Africa plus Gaborone in Botswana and the Rotoract Club of Bukoto in Uganda . We have also had “In-house” quiz’s, Ladies v Gents Quiz and 3 club Quiz evenings.

To celebrate our 50th Quiz night we will have as our Opponents from District 9211, the Rotary Club of Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania, known as the Joysterbay Club “as they have fun as we serve”. They are expecting to have 20 members take part in the Quiz.

Talking of members, they started the Rotary year with 58 members and are currently sitting on 93 and hoping to reach 100 by the end of the month. This has won them the Rotary Club of the Year award in their district.

This Friday......

A Business Meeting.

Our Guest Speaker Paul Channon enlightens us about the Alexandra Education Committee initiative, Service in Action and Save the Date...

From the Pen of our President.... 

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

There is so much going on at the moment – got to have your wits about you to keep abreast of the load shedding, the lockdown, the weather, the politics, the vaccines, the diet, the exercise and the tablets!!

Quite exhausting isn’t it?? And none of that has anything to do with Rotary!! We have DG Annemarie’s handover meeting (26th June), and we have our own induction (2nd July) coming up – do you have them diarized??

You have heard about Rotary Discussion Groups? Discussion Groups | My Rotary There are so many options – surely something will ‘tickle your fancy’!! Take a look at all the options available and get involved – you may enjoy reading what other people are doing, thinking, or discussing and you could join in.

Have a wonderful week – see you all on Friday

Keep safe and be ‘in the moment’!!

 Yours in Rotary.

 Ann

Last Friday.....

....We were privileged to be addressed by Paul Channon, who is the Director of the Alexandra Education Committee.

The AEC was founded in 1996 and its  mission is to uplift the standard of education for children from the Alexandra township through offering high school bursaries, academic support programmes  and school teacher training.

In 2020, despite the challenges of Covid, their 33 matric learners on bursaries attained a 100% pass rate, and 91% achieved a university entrance! In fact the average marks were the highest they had been in 5 years. 

Other noteworthy achievements:

• offering Saturday and Holiday School programmes
• 100s of Alexandra primary school teachers trained in the gateway subjects
• Strong mentorship and sponsor support for "bursars"
• A very active Alumni Association - over 400 alumni, many holding professional positions.

The focus of the AEC is to identify high school learners of promise from the township of Alexandra who come from households of very limited means.

It is their intention of increasing the number of bursars significantly over the next 5 years, and they are constantly evaluating the quality of schools they send their bursars to, as well as investigating new possibilities. In respect of the schools they use, the AEC contributions are heavily subsidised by the schools themselves.

Their sponsors are asked to commit in supporting a child throughout high school from Grade 8 through to Matric.

The bursars attend Saturday Schools for lessons in Maths, Physical Science, Accounting and English.

Bursary placements for 2020 were at very diverse schools around Alexandra and it was great to see that Highlands North Boys High School had accepted 26 scholars into their bursary programme.

Bursary selection is a difficult and time-consuming process. Last year 350 applicants applied for the 176 places, and each application has to be evaluated in terms of the AEC criteria, namely, living in or close to Alex, having academic potential and being in a household of very limited income. Most of the candidates attend a Grade 7 Academic Enrichment Programme offered on a Saturday morning, where their progress is assessed throughout the year.

Furthermore the AEC also runs about 30 teacher workshops a year in Maths, English and Science to teachers in and around Alexandra. This is a much-valued and well-attended programme which strengthens education in Alex for maximum impact beyond their core business of selecting talented children for bursaries.

As an NGO the AEC receives no State funding and they are therefore fully dependent on donor funding. The offices and classrooms of Waverley Girls High School are utilized for the AEC Saturday programmes and teacher workshops.

What an inspiring initiative, worthy of being promoted and receiving public support. 

Greetings Mr Dave.....

 

Just wanted to let you know that we collected Tony’s wheelchair on Friday. We would like to say a very big thank you to Rotary on his behalf. Thank you for carrying the community of Alexandra on Eagles wings for all these years. You are the pillar of our township.

 We keep discovering more and more people that are in need and we are hoping and believing that Rotary will be able to come through for us.

 Yours forever in community service

Gcina Twala

Save the Date.....

And this Friday.....

Pam Donaldson will have the opportunity of telling us a little bit more of her story. 

 From the Pen of our President....

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

We managed another social meeting and had some success with technology this time – will it ever be right?

With our third wave on the horizon here, it is not clear how the socializing is going to go in the immediate future – let’s take it a day at a time. There are many more people in our circle that have contracted COVID at this stage than previously and also many of us who have had at least one dose of vaccine – a day at a time.

PDG Peter seems over the worst and is very positive, although Elaine is in hospital. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers, along with Jeannette, Jean, Jerry and anyone else who may be ill.

 

We have an induction and new beginnings to a new Rotary year to think of in a month – a new theme, changes all around and lots to look forward to.  I went ahead with the board’s approval and bought 40 bricks towards the Rotary Exhibition Centre – for each of our members, plus a couple!!

 

You have all heard about Rotary’s Action Plan -or have you? (Action Plan | My Rotary)

“ to increase our impact, expand our reach, enhance participant engagement, and increase our ability to adapt..”

There is so much information on the Action Plan – presentations, courses, guides and flyers – FAQs, Blogs and more – go ahead and read some of it – it is inspiring, makes one excited to be a Rotarian.

 

Keep safe, keep warm and be inspired!!

Yours in Rotary,

Ann

 

Last Friday.....

.....saw 14 members once again meet in person at Wanderers for our monthly social meeting with 7 members joining on Zoom.

We had some nail biting moments, as Wanderers WiFi had gone down, but Ann managed to purchase additional Gigs on her mobile phone and then used the device as a hotspot to connect to Zoom. As they say in the Classics " 'n Boer maak 'n Plan".

Michael Lamb was our Duty Sergeant and presented PDG Ken Stonestreet with a pair of Rotary suspenders, which, judging by the look on his face,  he was pretty chuffed to receive this unexpected gift.

Mike proceeded to regale us with some hilarious jokes and this anecdotal story was too good to relay, so I asked Mike to share it with us verbatim:

Many of us will have great memories about some of the projects we worked on in Rotary or have related anecdotal stories about our times in Rotary.

Here's mine in the latter category.

In 2008 I was on a  European Union mission in Bangladesh focussed on infrastructure development.

I and my project team were staying in a little hotel in Dhaka where I had stayed on previous missions there and developed a close friendship with the manager/owner.

We needed a little light relief one weekend so I decided to try and get a few six packs of beer. Not an easy exercise in a Muslim country!

I went to the manager’s office to enlist his support, the services of a “facilitator” and directions to source.

He had a distinguished visitor there, a doctor and Past Rotary District Governor.

I saw his Rotary badge and said that I too was a Rotarian. After some discussion, he asked what I was doing that Friday. I replied “Nothing” and he, there and then, invited me to be his guest at a major Rotary Banquet in honour of then Rotary International President, Wilf Wilkinson who was visiting Bangladesh as part of a world tour.

Introduced as a visiting Rotarian from South Africa, I was seated at Table #2 with the Past District Governor. During the evening’s proceedings, which were lengthy, I was invited to Table #1 to talk with Wilf Wilkinson. He told me that he was visiting South Africa in a few weeks time as part of his tour and wanted to ask me a number of questions about the country, my Rotary activities, my Club and the District’s activities. 

A few weeks later I was back in South Africa and at a District function arranged at the Sandton Sun Convention Centre to welcome visiting Rotary International President, Wilf Wilkinson.

I was talking to then Rosebank Rotary President, Kevin Wolhuter when the crowd separated  and Wilf Wilkinson walked up to me, gave me a hearty greeting, and we talked about our previous meeting. 

After Wilf moved on, I turned back to Kevin. Open mouthed, he said in amazement,

“You’ve only been a Rotarian for three months and already you know the Rotary International President!”

It was a moment to savour and remember! 

Apologies Kevin!

James's famous marmalade garnered a healthy R100 from Sybille for the Club coffers, and Ann taking a breather after tense moments with technology 

Our delightful exchange student Masego, or Momo as we have gotten to know her, has been wanting to share a special video she had made of her most precious memories of her stay in Thailand but had some challenges along the way, so finally last Friday she had the opportunity to present her video in person.

For those who missed it, or wish to watch it again, please click into the link and enjoy!

Momo's Thailand Memories

Calling all Quizzers....

This Wednesday the 3rd of June it's the Rosebank Gals versus the Guys, so here's a shout out for the Ann's to join in the fun and test your general knowledge.

Please let David Bradshaw or Ann Hope-Bailie know and they will gladly send you the Zoom link.

This Friday....

Our guest speaker will be Paul Channon.

Paul is a Director of AEC, the Alexandra Education Committee which creates opportunities for children of promise in Alex.

Paul was Headmaster at the Ridge School in Johannesburg from 1997-2014.During this time he attended the Harvard Principals Centre and was invited to be a sponsored fellow at Columbia University’s Klingenstein Centre.

Paul has close contacts with the Leadership of independent schools, having served as Chairman of the South African Heads of Independent Schools Association (SAHISA) and as Vice Chair of the Council of the International Confederation of Principals.

While in the ISASA/SAHISA leadership structures, Paul worked with the Wits Graduate School of Business to structure Executive Development Programme tailor-made for heads and senior leaders in the independent schools, the LDP, with an emphasis on enhancing financial skills and developing a strategic mindset.

A Business Meeting, The Anns head for the Wilds and DG Annemarie presides over her final Assembly and AGM

 From the Pen of our President....

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

I am getting my ducks in a row – getting an asset register in place, checking on our club goals, archiving photographs – ticking the boxes and dotting the i’s. And “about time too!!” you may say – it is like spring cleaning!! I can safely say that as a Club we are in good shape – we made our goals, paid our dues and have money in the bank!! I would like to make sure we look after our assets and archive our memories – please help me to collect photographs and digitize them to preserve our club history. Bring along any pictures you would like to have scanned or I will fetch them.

Check your garages and cupboards for banners or Club assets and we will try to take more care of them in future.

A week or so ago I mentioned the Rotary Exhibition Centre – we need to buy bricks to have our Club represented – I think we should buy 37 bricks @ R50 each – that is one per member – what do you think? Time is running out so please let me know.

DID YOU KNOW?? Rosebank is well represented in District – Jean Bernardo, Peter James Smith, Costa Qually, Kevin Wolhuter, James Croswell, Richard Moloney – when we have our social meeting this Friday, 28th May, at Wanderers - ASK THESE MEMBERS what they have been up to!! Then there is also David Bradshaw and Chrispin Matthieu – they are also busy behind the scenes – what are they doing??

There is always something to talk about – looking forward to seeing you all on Friday.

Yours in Rotary,

Ann

Last Friday.......

... was our monthly Business Meeting.

President Ann's tenure is nearing its end and PE Costa  asked us to save the date for his induction on Friday evening, the 2nd of July at the Old Johannians Club. It will be a formal occasion.

Pam Donaldson reported back on Attendance for the past month, which averaged out at 22 members per meeting. For now the plan is to continue with hybrid social meetings at the end of the month. It is felt that the need for Fellowship is great, and we will rather adhere to more stringent Covid regulations than forfeiting in person get-togethers. 

Last month quite a few of us paid our R50.- lunch money into the newly acquired Yoco Point of Sale and we ended up not having sufficient cash to pay for the pizzas. It is great being able to pay by credit card, so no doubt someone will be able to pick up the tab and then get reimbursed.

Our treasurer John Symons reported back on Club Finances.

All subs are up-to-date.

Thus far R73 130 have been deposited into the Rotary Project account towards the Blanket Drive,     R40 000 came from the Bryanston Methodist Church and was remitted to District.

 Lorenzo made a very generous donation of R4 000. 

Peter James-Smith received two requests for financial assistance to procure wheel chairs for needy persons, one from St Vincent's and the other for a gentleman living in Park Cottages, Bertrams.

We were sent a photo of the grateful Martin Botha, whose life will have been made just a tad easier.

David Bradshaw reported back on Membership: Our goal was to expand our membership by 5 members in this Rotary year, which we have achieved despite lockdown restrictions and David is hoping that we might be able to induct two further new members at Costa's Presidential inauguration.

As Club Almoner David also stays in contact with members, Anns  and friends of Rotary who need additional attention. He had spoken to Bernard Neuhaus, Judy Powell and Carol Lawrence and Hugh Rix who were all bearing up. Peter Margolius had developed an aneurysm behind his knee and sadly had to have his leg amputated above the knee. David said that he had sounded surprisingly positive when he spoke to him shortly after the operation. We hold him in our thoughts and all wish him a successful rehabilitation.

James Croswell will be handing over the reigns of the International portfolio to Richard Moloney at the beginning of the next Rotary year, but plans on still having a formal handover of the palliative care container at Baragwanath before the end of June.

He urged the members to join HEWRAG (Health, Education and Wellness Rotary Action Group) now that you no longer have to pay to belong to the AG.

And on that note Ann Hope Bailie asked us to consider joining the Environmental Action Group.

Ann reported back on Jean Bernardo's Youth portfolio in her absence: The annual Youth Leadership Course will be going ahead; it has not been decided yet whether it will be in person or online. They are aiming for October.

While attending the opening of the newly built classroom at the Highlands North Boys High School donated by The Class of 81, Marianne Soal met the President and Vice of the HNBHS Interact Club, and remarked how evident it was to her that these young men are in desperate need of mentoring and career guidance.

Career's Day will become part of the Youth Portfolio in the new Rotary Year.

Most of Sybille Essmann's  Community  and Vocational Services Report Back was dedicated to the successful completion of this year's Blanket Drive.

With the funds raised we will be able to supply the following:

100 blankets to Phuthadijhaba (Alexandra)

25 for Assemblies of God (Alexandra)

50 for the Boeregemeenskap

50 for St. Vincent de Paul

15 for Kaya Manzi (Crossings Church)

50 + for Boikanyo

30 for Charity Begins With Me

30 for the Fordsburg Old Age Home

80 for Inner City Street Children

20 for Refilwe (Gracepoint)

That is a total of 430 blankets

Jeannette Horner is in constant touch with Florence Sebeko of Umnotho for Empowerment who were instrumental to get get the sewing project in Muldersdrift off the ground.

Among other  community driven projects Umnotho is very involved in Youth Development. They offer training programs in:

• Plumbing
• Welding
• Waitering and Bar Tendering
• Computer Literacy
• Business Development
• And Job Seeker Support

To that end Florence sent us a wish list that could assist in setting up their training centre:

Please peruse the list and if you are in the position to assist in any way you can get in touch with Jeannette who will liaise on your behalf.

The District AGM and Club Assembly....

DG Annemarie presided over the AGM and her final Assembly as District Governor.

Various topics and issues were discussed which will no doubt be covered in the next District newsletter.

One slide worth sharing from DG Elect Stella Anyangwe:

On behalf of PDG Grant:

We believe it is in everyone’s interest to take cognizance of the present thinking at Rotary International and in particular the committee titled “Shaping Rotary’s Future Committee" which you can find at the following link:

 

Barry Rassin Special Resolution No 3 pertaining to future governance structure as a pilot District.

 

In addition we herewith also recommend your club watches the following YouTube presentation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM9t1vFscws

This Friday.....

We can look forward to Fellowship and Pizza at Wanderers and for those that are joining us via Zoom: Wish you were here!!

Sybille shares her story, a Visit to the Humanitarian Center and Rosebank Rotary gets a mention in the Killarney Gazette....

 From the Pen of our President.....

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

 

It strikes me that there are times when people do good, make donations and spend time without getting appropriately thanked. Sometimes it may seem that your contribution is not appreciated, not acknowledged and you do not get direct thanks. Apologies and THANK YOU.

While on the subject – thank you to all those who sold blankets, bought blankets, donated towards blankets and had anything to do with the Club’s blanket drive – final figures pending!!

 

I heard today that the WHO has said that people who work long hours reduce their life expectancy by 20% - now that is scary!!   

Worse than this though is a TED Talk I listened to about loneliness – not having meaningful relationships in your life and being lonely is seriously bad for your health. It is as bad as too much alcohol, too much smoking and being obese!! Take a listen Frientimacy: The 3 Requirements of All Healthy Friendships | Shasta Nelson | TEDxLaSierraUniversity - YouTube

 

So there’s a good reason to be a Rotarian, make new friends in Rotary and spend time having fun while being of service!!

It is getting colder – keep warm and stay healthy – nearly said ‘hug a friend’ but we are not encouraged to do that yet!!

Yours,

Ann

 

Last Friday.....

A short notice change in the Friday program put Sybille in the spotlight and she quickly had to put together her life story.

She has had a life that could probably fill a book, but for purposes of this newsletter let's keep it brief:

She and her twin sister Sabine were born in Windhoek, (then South West Africa now Namibia) to German speaking parents. Her sister Sonja was born a mere 13 months later. Sybille spent her first 7 years in Walvis Bay before moving to Cape Town where she attended the German School till matric.

She decided to spend a gap year in Germany, which eventually stretched out to nine years.

She did a few odd jobs and then decided to train as a nursing sister at the Bavarian Red Cross in Munich.

After her training she nursed for a further 3 years, but following a 6 month sabbatical on a kibbutz in Israel  she made a life changing decision to return to South Africa and never nursed again.

Instead she used her knowledge of German to become a tour guide which took her to all parts of the country but her then husband (now ex-husband) was not happy that she spent so much time on the road, so she changed tack again and became a medical rep, which she hated and so was open to another change and joined Sanlam as an insurance agent, eventually going into brokering and qualifying as a Certified Financial Planner. She subsequently started her own financial services practice which she eventually sold in 2012, mainly because she  wanted to realize her passion to travel the world.

On her 59th birthday in 2014 she boarded a plane to New Delhi and  travelled solo for eight months through India, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia and Borneo and Nepal.

The Thar Desert in Rajastan, India and hiking to Laguna 69, 4600 m above sea level in the Andes, Peru                                                       

The sun rising over the Annapurnas in Nepal and summiting Mount Kinabalu on Borneo 

No doubt Sybille has thousands of memorable pictures of her travel adventure, but these are the ones  she felt she would like to share.

After spending a few months back in South Africa she headed for the continent to the left in 2015 and started her next travel adventure through Brazil, which took her on a 6 day trip on a rust bucket along the Amazon to Manaus, on to Colombia, Ecuador and  Peru and five months into her trip, just before she could make it to the bucket list Machu Picchu she broke her leg at the beginning of a 2 day hike into the Colca Canyon. And that, as she says, was that.

Home for surgery and a long arduous path to recovery, which took over 5 years and 7 surgeries. Today she is healed, she is able to walk 10 km on a Saturday morning and manages to push her own golf cart around the golf course.

She is a passionate Rotarian and her plan and dream is to travel to far flung places and connect with fellow Rotarians all over the World. 

And maybe one day she might just write that book.

A Visit to the Humanitarian Centre.....

 A few weeks ago President Ann and Sybille decided to take a drive to Bedfordview to visit the Humanitarian Centre.

It was a busy Thursday morning and a number of Germiston Rotary Anns were sorting linen and toiletry bottles they had received from Tsogo Sun, who donate all their old linen and hotel toiletries to the Centre.

You are able to collect linen items from the Centre for school sick bay rooms or homes in need. The request generally comes via a Rotary club and the recipient has to have a letter of introduction to be able to receive the goods.

For the past 13 years, the Rotary Clubs in Texas have been collecting educational and recreational books from schools, universities and many other sources and these are shipped to South Africa. Funds are raised by their Second Wind Foundation and the Humanitarian Distribution Centre of SA.

This project allows people in Southern Africa access to free educational or recreational books. Free books are collected by school teachers, nursery school teachers, churches, prisons, government departments, orphanages and homes for the elderly and independent folks who just love reading!

You are welcome to collect books from the centre. However, you need to have a letter from your local Rotary club inviting you to collect the books. We need to also have a letter from the organisation or school etc who the books will be for. The collectors will need to complete a form stating how many books were taken and who they are for. We will also need the ID number of the person collecting the books.

David Bradshaw had recently liaised with the Wonderland Christian School and had received this letter of thanks.

Good morning David.

 Thank you for your support towards our Wonderland Christian School book drive. The Rotary's Humanitarian Division allowed us to select and get books. We managed to get over 430 reading books. On behalf of Wonderland Christian School, I would like to extend our gratitude to the Rotarians for according our growing school an opportunity to access the readers. 

Stay Blessed.

The Community Services Committee is planning a further visit to explore to explore future library projects.

The Rosebank Club of Rosebank's good deeds do not go unnoticed.....

A young Caxtons journalist intern happened to come across a post on our Face Book page and contacted Sybille for an interview to elaborate on our involvement with the vegetable garden project for Charity Begins with Me.

Click into the link to read all about it.

https://rosebankkillarneygazette.co.za/362013/rotary-club-of-rosebank-lends-a-helping-hand-to-charity/

This Friday....

Join us for our monthly Business Meeting