Penny Metcalf, 5th Wednesday Evening Meeting & International Rotary Disaster Relief that started in Canada.

What a fascinating talk by Penny Metcalf on teaching anyone, from deaf children to ordinary adults how to pronounce words correctly in a system that has been adapted for English, Afrikaans, Zulu and, by special request, one of the languages of Uganda!  It was an interesting story of how she had stumbled upon the method by accident whilst trying to teach a child to read and then realised that he was following her scribbles of mouth shapes, not the letters.  Thanks to Allan Beuthin we had some of our Interactors at the meeting and they immediately saw the value of the system as one of their projects is assisting young children to read.  Now Penny is off to the Dominican Convent School in Belgravia to preach the word!  Many thanks, Penny.  We are filled with admiration for your energy and dedication.

NO BREAKFAST MEETING THIS WEEK.  IT'S THE 5TH WEDNESDAY SO THERE IS A SOCIAL BRAAI AT PRESIDENT GRAHAM'S HOME  IN THE EVENING.  PLEASE LET JOAN DONET KNOW WHETHER YOU ARE COMING OR NOT - 082 321 4000.

A Humanitarian Aid project of International Rotary Clubs

Disaster Aid International provides an innovative humanitarian aid package that gives those in need a new start in family units within their communities.

The Disaster Aid International Family Survival Pack contains a dome tent complete with blankets and equipment needed to rebuild lives with hope and dignity.

The Family Survival Pack tents can also be connected together to form schools, first aid stations or even a community centre.

Now that we have housed our survivors, drinking water is the key to progress in developing countries as it improves health and facilitates quick recovery following natural disasters.

The SkyJuice Foundation water filtration system delivers up to 10,000 litres of clean water a day, is transportable and has a life span of 10 years. It is ideal for a village, hospital or school and there are no chemicals!

All this aid is delivered by trained and experienced Disaster Aid Response Team members on behalf of Canadian donors.

Chartering the Dominican School Interact Club, Earth Closets, introducing Penny Metcalf and a look at Rotaract.

The highlight of the week was the chartering of The Dominican Convent School Interact Club.  It is was a landmark occasion for us being able to sponsor  an Interact Club only 18 months after receiving our own Charter.


It didn't happen over night.  It began with Ian Widdop as Director of New Generations last year and the continuing work of Joan Donet, who took over as Director this Rotary year;  it's taken about a year.  It wouldn't have been possible without the enthusiasm of the School Principal, Mike Thiel, Julia Wright who has taken the Interact Club under her wing and the rest of the staff.  The evening was a tremendous celebration for all of us driven by the excitement and enthusiasm of the Interactors themselves.  Congratulations to Interact President Khamuka Moloi.  We wish you and the Club a successful future.  Our thanks to Mike Thiel and Julia Wright for making the evening such a momentous occasion.


And now to last weeks meeting and the subject of composting odour-free earth closets and how they can be used fitted inside homes in informal settlements.  Tilly Michaels was an eloquent advocate!  

Our speaker this week is Penny Metcalf.....and this is what she has to say about herself on her church website!  She is also a member of the Rotary Club of Orange Grove.


My name is Penny Metcalf, my car registration number is TNT and I am always teased about the way I drive my motorised wheelchair. I cannot sneak around anywhere because of the chair so I have millions of acquaintances and get easily mixed up with people's names! So bear with me!

I graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand as a speech, language and hearing therapist.  I joined St Luke's Anglican Church, Orchards in the early 70s.  I met Charles who has been at St Luke's ever since the 40s!

Charles and I fell in love over the drawing board where he was helping me draw charts for my "Face Clues Programme" to teach speech.  We were married in 1981, we have two children Timothy who is now married to Jannine, and we have a grandson Logan.  Our daughter is Kate and she is a nursery school teacher.

I am disabled I was born with mild cerebral palsy and then injured in a motorcar accident in 1975.  God has performed miracles in my life and I am still working.

I have worked at Baragwanath (Chris Hani) Hospital, Forest Town School, Independent Living Centre in private practice and with lawyers doing medico legal assessments of head injured clients. I have taught English as a second language, at businesses, call centres and a college. I do counselling and voluntary work with adult literacy and teaching English to three Grade 1 classes and one Grade R at a local Government school.  I am rewriting the "Face Clues" manual and adapting my "Face Clues Programme to fit into Grade 1 classes.


Next Wednesday's Meeting is the 5th Wednesday of the month and our meeting is an Evening Braai at President Graham's Home with partners.   THERE WILL BE NO BREAKFAST MEETING!

Rotaract 

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In March 1968, the Rotaract Club of University of North Carolina-Charlotte, USA, planted a tree on its campus to commemorate receiving the first Rotaract charter. Rotary Images

Rotary International on Facebook

In the late 1960s, noting the success of the recently formed Interact program, the RI Board realized the need for a program of service, activity, and fellowship for young adults no longer of Interact age (14-18). The name Rotaract (Rotary in Action) was selected to show the program's close affiliation with both Rotary and Interact clubs. 

RI President Luther Hodges inaugurated Rotaract in 1968, with the Rotaract Club of University of North Carolina-Charlotte, USA, being the first club. The club received its charter on 13 March and had 21 members.

Within a day of the certification of the Rotaract Club of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, the Rotaract Club of the University of La Salle was chartered in Tacubaya, Mexico. The Rotaract clubs of Florence, Italy; Gaston College and Sylva, both in North Carolina; and Secunderabad, India, were all certified in the following weeks. Since the 1950s, many Rotary clubs had been starting unofficial clubs for young adults, so this fueled Rotaract’s rapid growth in its first few years. Rotaract grew from 21 clubs in 1967-68 to 289 clubs a year later. There are now 7,000 Rotaract clubs in 163 countries and geographic areas.

Rotaract clubs were originally open to young men and women ages 17-24. Since 1991, young adults ages 18-30 have been welcomed.

Earth Closets, Our Interact Club & an Interact Competition

Thanks to Jenine Coetzer we have all these photos of last week's meeting!  We are going to miss you this week.

This week it's earth closets.  Here is an example of Henry Moule's favourite invention as used by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle.  Earth and water closets were in stiff competition but with piped water, the earth closet lost out! Now-a-days it's the "Composting Earth Closet" and our environmentally friendly speakers, Tilly Michaels & Anne-Marie Botha will be putting it through its paces!

The rural version is more my style!



Don't forget that our Interact Club at the Dominican Convent School is being chartered this Saturday!

And here's something especially for them!


2nd RI Interact Video Competition

Grab a camera and create a short video about this year's theme, "How do you Interact?", for a chance to have your entry featured at www.rotary.org and to receive a certificate signed by RI President Ray Klinginsmith.

Enter Rotary International's 2010 Interact Video Contest.

The contest gives participants the opportunity to tell the world about the impact Interact has made on their lives, while bringing Interactors and Rotarians closer together.

"They are still celebrating," says Virginia Barr, liaison to the Interact Club of Communities-in-Schools at the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice, USA, which was the 2009 Interact video contest grand-prize winner.

"Giving Back Through Interact" was directed and produced by Interactors enrolled in the Communities in Schools curriculum at the juvenile corrections facility in Columbia, with help from adviser Andy Broughton, an employee of the Juvenile Justice Department.

"It really became an avenue for them to share what the Interact club has meant to them," says Barr, a member of the sponsor Rotary Club of Lake Murray-Irmo. "It changed their perspective on where they fit in the community and reinforced to them that they are indeed a part of the community."

"We didn't think we could make a video, but we did," says Jalen, 17, a member of the Interact club. "I discovered it feels good to do things for others and not get anything back."

How to enter

To enter the 2010 video contest, create an account on YouTube and upload your video. Then submit thecontest entry form  by e-mail, fax, or post by 11:59 p.m. Central Standard Time on 1 December.

All Interact club and sponsor Rotary club members are eligible to enter. Interactors must be 12 years of age or older to enter. (Entrants under 18 years of age will need to indicate parental consent on the entry form.)

The grand-prize winner's video will be featured on the RI website. First-prize winners will have their videos featured on the Interact video contest channel on YouTube. All winners will receive a personalized certificate signed by RI President Ray Klinginsmith.

To ensure that your video is not disqualified, check out the short list of do's and don'ts below, and read the complete contest rules .

Do

• Be creative and have fun.
• Incorporate the theme "How do you Interact?"
• Keep your video between 30 seconds and three minutes.
• Submit your video in English or with English subtitles.
• Use royalty-free music

Don't

• Include copyrighted music, images, footage, artwork, or videos.
• Include any trademarks, logos, or brand names other than the official Interact logo or name.
• Submit a video that has been previously published, submitted, distributed, or aired.
• Submit a video that you did not create.
• Enter multiple submissions.

The Rotary Charity Fun Walk, Rotary Humanitarian Centre, SA Cuisine & Hurricane Katrina.

Here are the happy Sunday walkers, with the exception of Peter Rolfe who maybe sensibly missed the photo!

Nici Hammerschmidt sneaked in later!

Everyone finished and contributed valuable funds to the Club!

Hugh Rix and I were both on duty at the Rotary Humanitarian Centre on Saturday.  Here's Hugh at the seat of custom and a very happy customer about to drive off with a trailer full of books to Tarkastad.  He is also supporting Bafana Bafana against Niger, as you can see and will not miss the match as he was only driving down the next day.

Our speaker last week was one of our members.  Steve du Plessis spent 13 years in Hawaii and it really was interesting hearing what he had to say about it.  The most remote archipelago in the world!  Jenine took lots of photos of members and guests. thanks, Jenine!

The Board Meeting has been moved to Wednesday as President Graham is not available on Monday so Wednesday will not be a Business Meeting.  Instead you will have to suffer me on "What Went Wrong with South African Cuisine? Part 2".

Rotary Clubs remain committed to Katrina Recovery Effort.

Humanitarian group’s international convention in New Orleans, delayed four years by the storm, will pump millions into the local economy in May 2011

NEW ORLEANS (Aug. 26, 2010) – Five years ago, the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina made it impossible for New Orleans to host the Rotary International convention as planned in June 2007.

But even as they coped with their own personal and professional losses and pitched in to rebuild their communities, New Orleans area Rotary club members remained determined that the humanitarian organization’s most important annual meeting would return when the city was ready. Their dream will be realized May 21-25, 2011, when more than 17,000 Rotary members from around the world will convene in the Crescent City for the first time in 35 years, injecting a much needed infusion of at least $20 million into the local economy.

After Katrina ravaged New Orleans and the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, Rotary members worldwide raised more than $19 million in donations and grants for relief and recovery efforts throughout the region. This includes a special Katrina Relief Fund that eventually exceeded $1.9 million, with support from Rotary clubs as far away as Australia, Japan, Sweden, Panama, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

New Orleans Rotarians were particularly involved in the restoration of Warren Easton High School, which was severely damaged by the floodwaters that inundated much of the city. Rotary clubs in California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, and Germany helped raise $60,000 for repairs. Rotary volunteers from California and other states joined their New Orleans counterparts during the sweltering summer of 2006 to get the school ready for its reopening. Project coordinator Henry Lowentritt, of the Rotary Club of New Orleans, said opening the city’s schools was crucial to the overall recovery. “Teachers, parents, and kids who have left New Orleans won’t be back without quality schools,” he said.

In the immediate aftermath of the hurricane, the UK-based charity ShelterBox, supported by Rotary clubs worldwide, provided 1,320 emergency shelter kits benefiting 13,200 people. Rotary clubs launched and continue to support scores of humanitarian and educational projects throughout the region, such as re-supplying a library and establishing low-income housing in Pass Christian, Miss.; replacing surgical instruments at a medical center in Houma, La.; providing a van for a senior center in Slidell, La., to help with the influx of new clients; and building a new community center in Bay St. Louis, Miss.

Looking ahead to the 2011 New Orleans convention, Rotary’s volunteer service again will be front-and-center as registrants can opt to participate in a local housing project and a wetlands restoration effort immediately before and after the sessions.