From the Pen of the President....
Wish you were here....
“Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change — across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.”
We meet every Friday from 1:00 to 2:00pm at Wanderers Club, Illovo, Johannesburg. You can also join us on Zoom - https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86496040522.
Wish you were here....
Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,
It feels very much like we are hurtling towards the end of the Rotary year, with some of our expectations left unfulfilled – so we will adjust them!!
This is why I would dearly love to make a BIG show of our WINTER WARDROBE project. We will be circulating a list of members for you to make your pledge – time, money, whatever suits you.
We have 1500 children to assist with something warm to wear – we will have the sewing/knitting day sometime in April – but still plenty of time for donations and effort before the cold weather hits.
I do know that we should have no meeting on the 31st March – as it is the 5th Friday. However, I would like to have a meeting – a meeting when you bring your PC, tablet, cell phone and we do a workshop to get everyone loaded onto ClubRunner – onto MY Rotary as well. Members can join online as well and we will demo what to do, discuss people’s particular issues and work together. Those who are not in attendance will be telephoned to get your details!!
The consequence of this will of course be – a comprehensive address list and the potential for a REAL Booklet of members!! How does that sound??
It is Water and Sanitation Month at Rotary – we have had lots of rain in our neck of the woods, if you have not fallen into a pothole, spare a thought for those who have had no rain. If you can flush – spare a thought for those who cannot!!
Have a good week.
Yours in Rotary.
Ann Hope-Bailie
Roger Wedlake then took on an enlightening and controversial topic: The origins and history of Masonry, which is a subject matter shrouded in mysticism. The Masonic Order is considered the largest society in the World with 5 million members - all male, many famous.
Roger's intriguing presentation was based on a book Hiram Key, written by two Masons Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, who maintained that Masonry can be traced all the way back to the ancient Egyptians, early Christianity and the Knights Templar.
The talk sparked lively dialogue.
It will be a day of creativity, fun and fellowship and every member - male and female - is expected to donate a few hours towards this very worthy cause.
Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,
So our “Winter Wardrobe” project seems like it could get exciting – AG Jean has offered to provide the venue, we have a number of Rotarians with sewing machines. Those who can knit should get started – scarves, beanies, snoods, mittens or shawls. There is a lot of wool floating about (heard about it) – start bringing it in please. We need donations of fleece and ribbing. Do not be intimidated if you cannot sew or knit – I am sure you are able to use a pair of scissors? Make a cup of tea? Please do not hesitate to ask friends and family for help with knitting or donations of clothing or any materials. The wardrobe is going to require some shoes as well – Lorenzo’s son has given us some fabulous donations of shoes and caps (just need transport from Cape Town). I would like this to be a CLUB effort – you know what that means – if you cannot be there – we need your money, donations or time.
There is something about reacquainting oneself with old friends – it brings such pleasure! We had that last Friday listening to Mike Greeff, and over the weekend I received an email from President Richard of the Rotary Club of Otway, UK – they would like to reignite the relationships we had and assist with one of our projects!! Lets see what develops. CONTACTS - This is also what David would like us to do – approach our everyday contacts and friends to become Rotarians.
Back to sizzling weather – no rain – are we ever happy!!??
Have a good week.
Ann
....Rosebank Rotary club said “hello” and gave a warm welcome to Mike Greeff, who was part of the Rosebank Rotary family for over 20 years, and many
of the Rotarians and Rotary Anns that attended the meeting, spent time
afterwards chatting, catching up and making plans to visit with Mike and his wife Fiona in Clarens where he now lives.
Mike Greeff's introduction to the Senior Youth Leadership Course was serendipitous. At that stage he was working for FNB and had been asked to help out and present a motivational talk to the learners, and the rest as they say is history.
Mike ran the annual courses for more than 20 years and he reminisced fondly of the family hitching up their caravan and heading out to Kloofwater for the weekend. They so enjoyed “going to the Mountain” each year! He even remembers Lorenzo singing O Sole Mio!
His skills in leadership and strategy inspired the learners attending the camp to aim higher in their aspirations. More importantly, his decision to join St.Davids's Marist Brothers College as CEO was as a direct result of his involvement with SYLC.
He was awarded a Paul Harris fellowship. This is awarded for excellence in service to Rotary. This humble, but qualified and capable leader was unaware that he would be a recipient and he still regards this honour with awe. He will also forever be grateful for Rotary's sponsoring his overseas MBA trip.
The main reason for Mike's visit however, was to talk to us about the Royal Drakensberg Education Trust of which he is a founder member and Trustee.
https://www.royal-drakensberg.org.za/
The Trust's humble beginnings were in 2007 when the Carte family of the famous family run Cavern Hotel near Bergville asked him to share in their vision to create an Early Childhood Development Centre in this rural and disadvantaged part of the Drakensberg. Mike lived on site for a year to ensure that the project got off on a sound footing.
The Trust has three main areas of focus: The Royal Drakensberg Primary school, the Khanyisela Project and the latest addition Baby Boost.
The school caters for children up to grade 3 and has 102 learners.
The Khanyisela Project is the main recipient of the Rosebank Rotary Anns fundraising initiatives. It works to improve the lives of 650 pre-school children in the impoverished Amazizi district and concentrates on education, social, emotional and cognitive development as well as health and nutrition.
The objective is to learn to read so that students can read to learn. Mike shared the vision of the “Valley of Excellence” which has international support, including that of Redford Rotary Group in the United Kingdom.
Their latest initiative, Baby Boost, started by Dr Marisha Nash, is a carer and baby project and concentrates on the first 1000 days of childhood.
Mike said that in affluent Johannesburg one's wealth is measured by the cars or houses, but in rural Drakensberg, Mike was asked how many chickens he had. He answered that he had no chickens at all, only 5 dogs.
His title is “Umkhulu Mike” – “Grandfather Mike” and he bears that title with pride.
When a pebble is thrown into water, no one can tell how many subsequent ripples form or on what distant shores the ripples unfurl. This is Rotary in its very essence.We
got soaking wet last week and the week before. The rain simply got the best of
us. Today the sun was out, and we took some time out to catch up on reading. A
lot of the kids really struggle with reading and don't have access to
libraries. If we can just see a little improvement this year, it will all be
worth it. I am also planning a few reading competitions so be sure to watch
this space!!--
Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,
Having spent Saturday Rotary training , I recall how good it is to meet other Rotarians in person and hear about the wonderful things going on in our District. I am inclined to motivate that ALL new members are required to attend training in the first 6 months of their membership and I challenge those members who have not attended any in person training to register and attend.
We have some RLI training coming up… come on!!!
So much rain and so much water and the flooding has spread to the Vaal dam area and the Vaal and Orange rivers. I grew up on the Vaal river and lived through a few floods, also in February as it happens. My gran lost her house in 1975 floods and the one house on the farm was under water to the window ledges – you have no idea what it is like afterwards – the damp and fine silt in everything!!
Keep those affected in your thoughts and if you are still wondering what climate change is all about – this is it!!
Have a good week.
See you on Friday and I challenge you to do that training!!
Ann
·
Arrive well before 1pm and check the
venue of the meeting - sometimes they send us upstairs.
·
The key for the bureau is in the drawer.
·
Place the large Rotary Discs in 3 visible places -----
upstairs at the top of the stairs; at the bottom of the stairs outside the
lounge entrance; outside the outer door where one comes from the parking lot to
the Bowlers lounge. If the venue is upstairs then just “use your head.”
·
Put the lectern on the President’s table and the
bell/gong. (Note: Some presidents prefer not to have the lectern there at all).
·
Put 2 Rotary banners on the hooks of the wooden stands
- one on each table and the small RSA flag on the attendance desk, together
with the sheets of name badges.
Raffle system - The numbered discs are kept in a bag with the Attendance
Officer’s float and attendance sheets. The sergeant should obtain the bag of
disks from the attendance desk. At the appropriate time ask someone to draw a
disk and consult the attendance sheet for the winner. RETURN THE BAG OF DISKS
TO THE ATTENDANCE OFFICER.
·
At 13:00, after checking with the President, ring the
gong to call the meeting to order.
·
When called upon, ask the members to stand and you say
Grace.
·
When the food arrives see that it is being served and
assist with serving.
· Sergeant’s Time: have a list of members’ and partners’
birthdays, wedding anniversaries and dates of Rotary induction-for that week.
Tell a joke or two or ask someone before the time to help with a few jokes, or
read out something of interest.
·
Ask someone to draw the lucky number.
·
Keep order during the meeting - use gong if necessary
and pass the collection bottle around the tables.
·
At the end of the meeting ask members to rise and say
with you THE FOUR WAY TEST.
·
Pack all the regalia away, lock the bureau and replace
the key. This is an important part of the sergeant’s duties; please do not
leave it for somebody else to do.
Rotarians are professional people and should take personal responsibility for finding someone to replace them when they are unable to fulfil their duties.
Once they have
found someone, it is then also their responsibility to let the Master Sergeant
and the attendance officer know.
The topic of today’s talk was on the History of Ukraine (which means ‘borderlands’).
Who knew anything of Ukraine before the recent
historical events? We may have been aware of the Great Famine of the 1930's and that USSR premier Nikita Krushchev hailed from Ukraine and we would have heard about the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. Eric
filled in the gaps in our knowledge of Ukraine’s rich and interesting history.
At the start Eric gave us statistics on Ukraine: it is a
country of 43 million (South Africa is 57 million); the average life expectancy
is 72years (South Africa’s is 67 and Germany is 82) and the GDP Purchasing
Power Parity figure (USD) is 11.6, compared to Romania (which was also
previously in the Soviet Bloc) at 40.2; Germany at 59.1 and South Africa at 19.3 (Source: ‘CIA
FACTS’, 2022).
Some highlights of this captivating talk were:
·
that the first people in the area were Neanderthals
(45 000 to 55000 years ago) and showed how the society had gradually changed
to become agrarian.
· Interestingly, earlier than Stonehedge, around
the year 4000BC, in Ukraine, there was the relatively wealthy and sophisticated
culture of Cuouteni-Trypil that had cities of 3000 dwellings each with around
20 000 people. An interesting fact was that, according to Ruth Tringham, in
a ritual ‘cleansing,’ all the houses in those cities were burned to the ground
every 60-80 years. Marija Gimbutas, a historian, hypothesized that this
matriarchal society of Cuouteni- Trypillian was later replaced by a patriarchal
society with classes based on wealth (as indicated by rectangular burial mounds).
· Around 3500 BC the factor which changed the
course of history in Europe (including Ukraine) was the domestication of horses (We know this from cave paintings). The
increased mobility and speed of the horse-mounted warriors gave them the upper hand.
· The Vikings arrived in the area, rowing large
warships. A Muslim ambassador who went to the Volga via Ukraine, described with
horror that the people of the area were tall, fair, filthy, drunk, immoral and
worst of all cremated their dead by setting a boat containing the corpse
alight. This fits our image of Vikings well!
· Around 370AD The area was populated by the Huns. Curiously, the elite families of the Huns deformed the skulls of the babies. This same anomaly was found in the Mayan culture of South America. The most famous Hun was, of course, Atilla the Hun. The DNA of the Huns reveals that they were a mix of Mongol and West Asians. The Huns were transient – after 100 years, they moved out of the Ukraine area. There were “waves” of Asiatic Nomadic peoples in this area in the years that followed.
Ar
T The Slavs were largely polytheistic, worshipping
a chief god Perun. However Vladimir, the leader of the Slavs in 980AD, adopted
Christianity. The result was that the elite became literate, and the new
religion was reflected in architecture and in art, primarily icons.
· Around 1162 Genghis Khan invaded Ukraine. His armies were ruthless,
killing mercilessly. The invasion by the Mongols created the vast Mongol
empire. His son succeeded him as leader, but Genghis Khan’s grandson
divided the Mongolian Empire into four, and it disintegrated. Fortunately in
the Far North-west area of Ukraine, the Slav people were not impacted by the
Mongolian invasion. Their leader was Alexander Nevsky and in 1242, he took
control but he grovelled to the Mongols and the nation survived!
· The two Ivan's in Ukraine history were Ivan the Great (iii) and Ivan the Terrible (iv) who killed one of his sons, and the remaining son who succeeded him was an ineffective and weak leader and so the dynasty ended.
· In the 1700s the Romanov dynasty came to power; there were two notable leaders –
Peter the Great and Catherine the Great. At this time, Crimea became part of
Russia, but was re-united to Ukraine later.
·
Ukraine, Eric told us, has only had two periods of independence, immediately after the end of the
first World War and in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union when Ukraine became an independent country.
Eric had researched the history of Ukraine in great depth and the talk was fascinating! It would be wonderful if Eric’s knowledge and research of Ukraine and of other related topics could be captured into a more permanent form such as in videos, podcasts or books, although he has made PowerPoint slides.
We look forward to hearing Eric present to the Rotary Club
again.