Fr Anthony Egan SJ amongst other things.

Here's a rather serious picture of our speaker this week. Anthony Egan is an interesting multifaceted person. He's a Jesuit priest who did his "formation" as a Jesuit in the Philippines. He is an ethicist and lectures in Ethics at St Augustine's College yet his Doctorate is in politics.

He reviews books for The Mail & Guardian (not religious ones) and he also reviews films.

He is often on discussion panels with Steven Friedman & Adam Habib so I'm sure we'll have an interesting talk!

I attended two committee meetings this week:

Projects: It is important that we look at one project that stands out as our club project for which we are able to apply for overseas funding and yet has a multidisciplinary approach so that everyone in the club has a contribution to make. It was exciting hearing what the Projects Committee had to say and how they are really moving in this direction. I can't wait to hear what they come up with in the future when they present their ideas to the club for discussion and your approval. Congratulations to Paul and his team.

Administration: This committee is the one that runs the club. It was wonderful to see how everyone had become aware of the focus of the committee and their own individual function within the structure. Allan and his team are obviously making sure that we have a great year ahead of us.

I still haven't received the photos of the Induction Dinner from Roger Wellsted but I will publish them as soon as I get them.

I will be asking the various Directors on the Board to contribute to this blog from time to time and anyone in the club who wants to add something is welcome to do so....just email it to me, photos as well!

Such a Lot to Say!

Thank you to everyone for making the Induction Dinner such a memorable and entertaining occasion. Maybe we should make sure that the next President's name is Albert! I will post the photos on the blog as soon as I receive them from Roger Wellsted of Morningside. A big thank you to him for being our "official photographer".


A little about our guest speaker this week:

Prof Steven Friedman, D.Lit, is Director of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) and visiting professor of Politics, Rhodes University.
He is a political scientist whose has specialized in the study of democracy. During the 1980's, he produced a series of studies of reform apartheid and its implications for a democratic future. He wrote widely on the South African transition to democracy and has, over the past decade, largely written on the relationship between democracy, social inequality and economic growth. He is currently studying the role of citizen action in strengthening and sustaining democracy.

The Annual RI Convention in Birmingham (not Alabama) was addressed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu as Terry Hime mentioned at the Induction Dinner. I have posted a video of it on the first video bar...the second one is Haydn, for a change!

Here is a short notice on "The Meet the Cousins" Event on the 1st August. It is primarily a function to introduce Districts 9300 (ourselves) and 9250 (pretoria through to Swaziland & Mozambique) prior to the merger at the beginning of the next Rotary Year 2010/11.

Graham & I will be going. Please let us know if you would like to join us. There will be lunch and a bring and braai later for those who wish to stay for the rugby.


District 9300 and District 9250 – “MEET THE COUSINS”

SATURDAY 1ST AUGUST 2009
At the VW – SA Convention Center - 16th Road Midrand


DGE Beth Thomas and DGE Albie van de Venter have pleasure in inviting all Rotarians and partners in service to attend this fun filled day of Fellowship and Learning from interesting speakers as we prepare to merge our two Districts in July 2010.

In keeping with the RI theme, The Future of Rotary is in Your Hands, we will begin the day with both Districts show casing 3 of their best projects on water, health and hunger and literacy, followed by a stimulating presentation on Growing Rotary and a short, yet important update session on Rotary ‘things’ - after which, our keynote speaker will address the gathering. This is something we can all anticipate with relish.

The business sessions will end in good time to switch over to the Big Screen Rugby match between the Springboks and the Kiwis when we will proudly stand together to sing the national anthem and cheer the Boks to victory


VENUE: VW – SA Convention Center - 16th Road Midrand

PROGRAMME:

09h 00 to 10h00 - Registration – Tea / Coffee with Muffins, Scones, Biscuits & Rusks

10h00 to 12h15 - Session 1
D 9250 and D 9300 show case their projects
Growing Rotary

12h15 to 12h30 Stretch break – Tea and Coffee available

12h30 to 14h00 - Session 2
Rotary ‘Things’
D 9400 Update
D 9300 Discon March 2010
D 9250 update
Keynote Speaker

14h00 to 15h00 – LUNCH – Scrumptious Finger lunch with a CASH Bar

15h00 to 17h00 - Big screen Rugby with Rugby fever and fellowship

17h00 onwards - Bring & Braai with good music and more fellowship

18h30 - Witblitz Tasting and more fellowship
19h00-ish – it will be home hosting / own home and to bed
DRESS CODE for the DAY is - RUGBY!
Prizes will be awarded for the best dressed Player 23.
So, even if your blood is ‘Blou Bul blue’ – let’s join together and support the ‘Bokke’

What you should bring with you:
- Your own supply of biltong, naartjies and droewors to munch during the game
- Your own meat and marinade to braai
- Braai tongs
- Maybe a headband torch so you can watch your meat braai ??
- Supporters flags, beanies and jackets (for the evening chill) or any other
Player 23 items are most definitely welcome

What is provided:
- Braai fires
- Plates, knives, forks etc plus salads and rolls
- As this is a licensed property, a cash bar will available

We look forward to a very happy and successful day when new friendships will be made and some old friendships re established. See you there!

Incidently the new district to be known as 9400 has been chosen as one of the 100 pilot districts to run the new Rotary System as from 1st July 2010.

Finally, a word from Don Lindsay:

President’s Note

As my term as President has drawn to a close, this will be my last president’s newsletter.On Saturday I handed over the chain of office to Peter at the Induction Dinner whereupon he and his new team took over the reins.
They have very interesting plans for the coming year with which I wish them every success. I look forward to being part of these new initiatives .
All that remains is for me to say thank you to everyone for your support in getting New Dawn off the ground. It has been an enriching experience and I have made wonderful new friends in the process. I believe that we have consolidated ourselves not just as a club but also as a symbol of change in the District and, from this firm base, I have every confidence that New Dawn will go from strength to strength in the future.

Fond regards,

Don

The AGM & Emma Chen

Thanks for making the AGM so short and allowing us time to chat. Thanks to everyone who had to produce reports for getting them out on time so that we all had them before hand and discussion was minimalist!

Our speaker this week is Emma Chen who is an alumnus of RAU, Wits and the University of Taiwan so her natural inclination was to open a restaurant!

She has always tried to bridge the divide between the Orient & the Occident by using food as an opening to Chinese culture. Her family come from the North of China and she has been very helpful to me in my growing understanding of the four main Chinese cuisines.

In our forthcoming events you will see that our new District Governor will be visiting us on the 8th July which would normally be a Business Meeting. It will, in practise, be a Club Assembly so please make every effort to attend. The DG's visit is very early in the new Rotary Year. As nothing much will have happened we can promise performance and not have to show any!

Looking forward to seeing you all at the Induction Dinner on Saturday 20th June.

Bert Ettekoven joins New Dawn

What a pleasure to have Bert join our club. He and his wife, Marja, have been constant guests after Jankees Sligcher recruited them as visitors at the Woolworths Check Out in Rosebank. Marja belongs to the Rotary Club of Delft in the Netherlands but Bert wasn't a Rotarian until last week and he is our first architect.

He has already been inducted before the photograph was taken. President Don Lindsay is busy reading him the Riot Act here.

Jankees suggested that we should spend more time in Woolworths if we wanted to recruit more Rotarians. I don't think other clubs should be made aware of our recruitment methods. If you mention this to Rotarians from other clubs don't mention Woolworths just say it was Pick'n Pay!

Wheels4Life

What an interesting speaker Tendai Khumalo turned out to be! It really gave us more than a few pointers on how to look at wheelchairs and our approach to the project in the future.

Thanks, Tendai, for fitting us into your schedule.