Evening Meeting @ Giles Restaurant, Cassandra, 1st September DG Visit & Mozambique

Don't forget it's an Evening Meeting at Giles Restaurant in Craighall Park, 19,00 for 19,30.
There is no Breakfast Meeting!

 Last week Cassandra Pireu came to talk to us about her Master's studies.  She is one of the recipients of the Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn Scholarship that we award through the Dept of Sociology at Wits University each year.

It was an interesting talk as it involves the perennial South African concern, Crime.  She is looking at the police and private security firms
and the effect of both on crime.  An interesting study.























5th Wednesday
It's our usual Evening meeting.  This time at Giles Restaurant in Craighall Park.  See last week's posting for more details.  I will book for approximately 15 people based on the show of hands last week.  Unfortunately I will not be there as I had agreed to give a talk to another Rotary Club.  Would somebody please take photographs and send them to me for the blog plus a few comments if something unusual happens!

1st September, the DG and Several Clubs.
This seems a little ambiguous.  First we had relatively short notice of the meeting that seemed quite important.     Several people made an effort to be there and then we had an email from Francis Callard saying that it was not compulsory and effectively an optional extra.  Club members then said effectively, "Great, we don't need to go then!"  It looks as if only Don Lindsay will be going.  I will not submit the form until after Wednesday.

Global grant provides water, sanitation for school children in Mozambique

By Vanessa Glavinskas 

 

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The Rotary Club of Maputo, Mozambique, partnered with the Rotary Club of Skanderborg, Denmark, on a global grant project to build bathrooms, a water hole, and a tank for a school in Maputo.

Rotary International on Facebook

Rotarian José Rui Amaral stood in the bathroom of the Hulene A school for only a minute before he couldn’t stand it anymore. “The smell was horrible,” he says.

The primary school outside Maputo, Mozambique, lacked money to update its crumbling sanitation system, built decades earlier, when the school served 700 students. It now serves 2,500 students and staff.

The plumbing was so deteriorated that school officials were forced to close the bathrooms and set up makeshift stalls in a neighboring open area -- one side for girls, the other for boys.

Not only were the bathrooms in disrepair, but the school lacked running water. There were two taps on the playground that ran for only two hours a day.

When the Rotary Club of Maputo began looking for a water project, its members approached Mozambique’s Ministry of Education for a list of schools with water and sanitation problems. Club members visited schools on the list one by one, and the choice became obvious.

“When we went to Hulene A, it was horrible,” says Amaral. “There was no water.”

The Maputo Rotarians obtained several price estimates to upgrade the sanitation system and install a water tank and began looking for an international partner to finance the US$55,100 project.

“Our club was looking for a Foundation project, as we had funds to use,” says Stein Schierenbeck, a member of the Rotary Club of Skanderborg, Denmark. “Being a club in the test district for the new global grant setup, we looked for areas of need within another test district. Contacts through our district and Rotary Denmark to District 9100 (Mozambique) led us to this project and need in Maputo.”

Once the clubs connected, they applied for and received a Rotary Foundation Global Grant. It took two months to complete the bathrooms, dig a water hole, and install a 5,000 liter tank. A ceremony was held in October 2011 to celebrate the new facilities.

Maputo’s minister of education attended the ceremony and told Amaral that the new facilities were “luxurious” compared with typical standards.

School officials are now charged with maintaining the sanitation system and water tank, which came with a one-year guarantee and were built to require little maintenance. The Rotarians involved were also careful to make sure the contractor agreed to provide regular maintenance of the sanitation system and tank.

“The children are very happy,” says Amaral. “A week ago, I went there to give some sports items to the school and several children ran out to greet me -- they recognized me as one of the people who gave them water.”

Last Week's Meeting......Cassandra Pireu, Giles, the Ukraine and New Members

There was a disappointing turn out for Julian Nagy's presentation on the way forward for the Club and a lot of questions were left unanswered simply because there was no-one there to answer them.  You can count the people there, just add 1 for the photographer and take 1 away for a visitor.  Our membership continues to grow and the percentage attending meetings falls in proportion.  Last week I submitted our attendance figures for July to RI, 36%.  July was a particularly bad month as many people were away but despite that it is a cause for concern.  What are we doing wrong?

This Week

Our Speaker is Cassandra Pireu who is the second of the recipients of the Rotary Club of  Johannesburg New Dawn Scholarship granted to the Dept of Sociology at The University of the Witwatersrand.

Why didn't I just say Wits?  So many people from overseas read this so I thought I better spell it out.  'Wits' could be a skin-lightening cream manufacturer as far as they know!

Guess which one is Cassandra in the photo.  All will be revealed on Wednesday...there are no prizes.  Is he the same Cassandra Pireu who writes for Business Day?

Meeting Wed 29th August (5th Wednesday) No Breakfast Meeting
We will be going to Giles' Restaurant, 9 Grafton Avenue, Craighall Park, 7,00 for 7,30.  We will be able to order from the menu without any problems.  It would be easier to split yourselves into groups of 6, say, for billing purposes as it can be problematical if there is one big bill!  Unfortunately I will not be able to attend as I am giving a talk to another Rotary Club.

Please let me know if you are coming plus any guests you might be bringing with you by Monday 27th August. Many thanks!!!!!

Opened in 1994, by Ian and Jenni Gillies, Giles began as a small neighbourhood pub with a rather large restaurant. The name was spawned through the combination of Ian’s nickname and from the title of Giles cartoon books (drawn by Roland “Carl” Giles and published in the London Daily Express from 1945 – 1991) some of which were copied and pasted on the original dinner tables. Tragedy struck on December 6th 2005, when Ian was murdered, a calamity that devastated the Giles community and all who knew this much loved restauranteur. THE FAMILY: Giles is still in the family and it is owned by the three Gillies’ children, Benjamin, the current managing member, and Kiarin and Bryn, both silent members. Like many family businesses, other family members also get involved and Sandy is still the bookkeeper.

THE MENU: The menu has changed somewhat over the 17 years yet the favourite dishes still remain unchanged, namely, The Grandma Burger, Andy’s Fish and Chips, Flo’s Delight and the Oriental Chicken Salad. To keep the menu fresh, varied and interesting there are monthly specials. The wine list is extensive, non-expensive and features some unique estates. The Giles cartoon theme still remains on the tables and within the menu with additions from Ian’s personal collections that he drew.

 

 

Top: The Rotary Club of Cotonou Ifê, Benin, celebrates Rotary's anniversary with a cake in February. The club is one of several formed recently in Benin. Photo courtesy Boris Crestia. Bottom: Claudio Spiguel, third from left, and other members of the Rotary Club of Guaxupé, Minas Gerais, Brazil, with a car they purchased for a school for at risk youth. Decals on the car helped publicize Rotary's involvement, and led to several membership inquiries. Photo courtesy Claudio Spiguel

Rotary International on Facebook

Eight years ago, Géné Villaça-Crestia was asked by her district governor to start a new Rotary club in her country, Benin.

She had been a Rotarian for only four years and didn’t really know where to begin. But she had a few things working in her favor: Villaça-Crestia is extremely passionate about Rotary, and she doesn’t take no for an answer.

“I don’t hesitate to drive to people’s places and come back again,” says Villaça-Crestia of her recruitment style. “I don’t wait for them to get back to me and tell me they don’t have time. I insist and go after them until they understand what Rotary is all about and the good it will do them to join.”

Villaça-Crestia’s techniques have been extremely effective. Within three months of her district governor’s request, she helped launch the Rotary Club of Cotonou Rive Gauche, Benin, and became the charter president. During the next two years, she helped form three other clubs, including two composed almost entirely of younger Rotarians.

This year, she and her son, Boris Crestia, a public relations specialist and Rotary Public Image Coordinator for Zone 20A, have teamed up to recruit advertising, public relations, and media professionals for another new club, which will soon be seeking its charter. Members have set goals of promoting basic education and literacy in Africa and serving as a public relations resource for other clubs.

Be passionate and persistent

Villaça-Crestia says the key to recruiting new members is to show them how passionate you are about Rotary and be persistent.

“People say they came to Rotary because they felt my passion and I could communicate it to them,” she says. “In this state of mind, any challenge is never really impossible.

“More than once, I had to wait hours in a reception area in order to meet an important or busy person and be able to convince them to join Rotary or give to The Rotary Foundation,” she adds. “But when you just explain to people, for instance, that the same money they pay for a nice meal in a good restaurant could help immunize a great number of families against polio, most people are sensitive to this and react immediately.’’

Villaça-Crestia says her favorite thing to say to prospective members is that by being Rotarians, they can be a bridge between the millions of dollars available through The Rotary Foundation and the poorest populations of the world. “Knowing that, and not becoming a Rotarian, is almost criminal,” she says.

Be involved in service and be visible

Brazilian Claudio Spiguel is another Rotarian who has succeeded in recruiting members. When Spiguel became president of the Rotary Club of Guaxupé in 2005, the club was hovering below 20 members and in danger of losing its ability to make a significant contribution to the community.

By focusing on getting members involved in service projects and publicizing those projects, he had helped raise membership to 34 by the end of his second stint as president. While serving in various leadership roles since, he has spread that enthusiasm to other clubs in the district, with similar effect.

Spiguel shared the following tips:

• Teach club members the Foundation’s grant process and immediately engage them in pursuing projects that benefit well-known service organizations in need in your community. “To date, we have done five Matching Grant projects, and each has improved our credibility in the community.”
• Broadcast the results of your work through partnerships with local media. “We created a weekly program at a regional TV station called ‘Rotary in the Community,’ a talk show with interviews and presentations about our work and Rotary in general. It has reached many people with our message.” ( Read a blog post from Spiguel)

What you can do

Share your passion for Rotary with your family, friends, and community during Membership and Extension Month in August. This year you’re invited to take part in two activities designed to help you remember why you joined and convert that excitement into inviting others to join.

By taking the Rotary Membership Challenge, you commit to sponsor a new member, tell a friend or colleague about your club’s projects, or volunteer as a mentor to prospective or new members. After you complete the form, Rotary will email you links to resources to help you meet the challenge.

Put Foot, New Dawn New Beginnings and a look at the New Grant Structure.

Katinka Vreugdenhill gave a fascinating talk on her participation in the 2012 Put Foot Rally.  It's a rally especially designed for non 4-wheel drive vehicles.  In fact there were quite a few ancient cars on the rally!  She obviously had a wonderful time rallying through 6 countries in Southern Africa and at the same time distributing soccer balls and shoes.  It's always great when a presentation includes video footage!

This Week
This week Julian Nagy will be giving us a presentation on New Dawn, New Beginnings.  This is a direct result of our Club Assembly and the subsequent Board discussion on the way ahead.  It's an attempt at a three-year plan and the strategy we should be adopting.  We have been very successful in certain areas and far less so in others so we need to address the imbalance.

Ten lessons learned from the Future Vision pilot

 
Rotary News -- 20 July 2012 
 

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Expanded criteria for the basic education and literacy area of focus will include secondary education.

Rotary International on Facebook

As The Rotary Foundation prepares for the global launch of its new grant model next July, a number of changes are being made based on feedback from Future Vision pilot districts.

Rotarians can expect to see these improvements in coming months:

1. A user-friendly online system for district qualification and grant application

2. A streamlined global grant application process with clearly defined expectations and a list of resources to help applicants get started

3. Clear guidelines on how to meet global grant requirements for area of focus and sustainability

4. Expanded criteria in two areas of focus: basic education and literacy now includes secondary education, and disease prevention and treatment covers prevention of noncommunicable diseases and health promotion; in addition, all areas of focus allow certain types of infrastructure projects

5. The elimination of a requirement that applicants for global grant scholarships provide proof of language testing

6. Adjustments to the composition of vocational training teams, reducing the minimum number of travelers to three and allowing, with Foundation approval, the team leader to be a non-Rotarian

7. Funding for international travel to implement global grant projects

8. An option for a contingency fund of up to 20 percent of the total district grant spending plan

9. A reduction in the minimum budget for a packaged grant from US$50,000 to $20,000

10. The addition of a district stewardship subcommittee to ensure careful management of grant funds

The Foundation expects these improvements to help Rotarians develop projects that meet the eligibility requirements for global grants, thus reducing the time from application through payment.

To start preparing for the transition to Future Vision, consult the transition timelines for clubs and districts.

Short-term Exchange Students, Put Foot and the Olympics.

What a delight to have a our incoming ( Larissa Szecsey) and our outgoing (Miriam Ssebunnya) short-term exchange students visiting us last week.  Unfortunately Larissa goes to Botswana with Miriam this week and we won't see her again.

Last week's business meeting was quite entertaining,especially when Georg demonstrated a palet-like board that is intended for school children in country districts where there is unlikely to be a desk!

This week Katinka Vreugdenhill is talking about the Put Foot Rally.  It looks very exciting...just the sort of thing that many of us would like to do!  The inaugural rally was last year........



Someone suggested a speaker to me last week and I said "How about the 15th?"  Next week.  I've completely forgotten who it was!  Please remind me!

Olympic athletes help Rotary promote polio eradication

By Arnold R. Grahl 
Rotary News – 1 August 2012 
 

The best athletes in the world have gathered in London for the 2012 Summer Olympics, and some of them are helping to spread the word about Rotary’s campaign to rid the world of polio. 

 

 

Olympic diver Tom Daley is featured in "This Close" posters as part of a publicity campaign by the Rotary Club of Plympton, Devon, England. Rotarians in India also lined up several members of Indian's Olympic team, including boxer Vijender Singh, for their "This Close" campaign. 

Rotary International on Facebook

Rotarians in Plymouth, Devon, England, used a few connections to line up Olympic divers Tom Daley and Tonia Couch for “This Close” posters, which have been displayed around Plymouth and at the training facility used by Ghana’s Olympic team. 

Darren Hands, a member of the Rotary Club of Plympton, was put in contact with the athletes’ coach by a photographer friend who takes pictures of the divers regularly. The coach was happy to approach Daley and Couch and help make arrangements, Hands says.  

“We did the shoot quite early in the morning so as not to impede their training,” he says. “We then produced various-size posters and postcards, as well as got the images printed in the local press and onto club and district websites.” 

District 1290 received a public relations grant to use Couch’s image on bus advertisements around the counties of Devon and Cornwall to raise her image during the Olympics, promote Rotary’s polio efforts, and help with a membership drive.  

“The campaign has received a lot of praise,” says Hands. “Together with the Rotary Club of Grantham’s Swimarathon, we were awarded the Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland (RIBI) PR Award at our national conference back in April.” 

Other Olympic athletes participating in the “This Close” campaign are more than a dozen members of India’s team, including members of the men’s boxing, men’s and women’s weightlifting, and men’s and women’s wrestling teams.  

Appealing to parents, wrestler Sushil Kum, a bronze medalist at the 2008 Beijing games, said: “In 1988, 500 children were getting affected by polio in India every day. Today, our country is reaching steadily toward eradication of polio. We need your help to win this fight.” 

And Vijender Singh, a member of the boxing team who won a bronze medal in Beijing, said: “Polio vaccine can save a child from polio paralysis. Let us ensure that children are not paralyzed by giving them the vital drops.” 

Home hosting and cleanup 

Rotarians have displayed the Olympic spirit in other ways, as well. Tony Betts, a member of the Rotary Club of Redbridge, Greater London, volunteered to take part in home hosting organized through District 1130 and is playing host to a Rotarian couple from Jacksonville, Florida, USA, who are attending the games.  

A Rotarian for six years, Betts says he has always been interested in the international aspect of Rotary and in meeting people from around the world. “It’s why I’ve attended the RI convention every year since I became a member,” he says. “I’ve always seen Rotary as bigger than just your local club.” 

Through an initiative of the RIBI Olympic Committee called Work for Purpose, more than 300 volunteers signed up to work as cleaners in the athletic village to raise money for various Rotary projects. One effort includes members of the Rotary clubs of Hatfield and Stevenage, Hertfordshire, whose work will benefit several local children’s hospices.  

Rotarians have also signed up to clean up after the games. 

“Rotary and the Olympics share a common ethos,” says Debbie Hodge, governor of District 1260. “That is the building of a more peaceful world.”