Facing the New Dawn Challenges

It was all business at the club assembly on Saturday, called specifically to address club issues, most importantly the more streamlined integration of new members into club structures.

The mediator for the day, Grant Daly, a past district governor of D9400, under whose auspices New Dawn falls, started off by saying that New Dawn is now the second largest club in the district with more than 50 members.

    Grant Daly and the assembled members

He said that with the rapid recent growth, there are bound to be growing pains, especially because the club is barely 15 years old. Recent growth has added greatly to New Dawn's diversity in terms of race and to a lesser extent gender and age.

One of the challenges is that newer members don't fully realise that the Rotary International culture is all about membership and is very people-centric as opposed to being results driven. Rotary exists because of the Rotarian and because of the club, not because of Rotary International.

    President Mbali Zulu hands Grant Daly a voucher as a token of appreciation after the session

Rotary is not a hierarchy, he said, it is flipped upside down with the clubs being paramount and district, zones and regions being administrative tools, much as RI itself.

Without the members and clubs there is no service.

Some 25 members attended the assembly, just on half of the club. About the same percentage of members filled out the short online survey that formed the basis of the assembly.

            Fellowship after the hard work with Paul Channon, Joan Donet, Julian Nagy and Helene Bramwell

The main finding of this incomplete sample of people was that about a third of members are not entirely happy or for the glass half full crowd, that two thirds of members are mainly happy with the way things are done and are going.

PDG Grant said the survey was aimed at ways to enhance the club experience. From conflict, he said, comes solutions.

              Nyami Khanyile and Zena Kimaro in a relaxed mode

The most important four messages to take out of the assembly, he said, are:

1. Tweaking the structure of the club: an example of this would be that during every presidency there is a president, the immediate past president, a president-elect to follow the president and at the latest by December of each year, a nominee president for the year after that.

For this to work, the club needs multiple volunteers for president, so start putting up your hands. The alternative is stagnancy.

2. Mentorship of new members. He emphasised that the best mentor is the person who introduced the new member in the first place.

                     PDG Grant Daly and PDG Jankees Sligcher

3. Strategic planning in terms of the scope and number of signature projects and forging a shared vision; also gaining consensus on how and on what club funds should be spent every year. This also includes the public image of the club, an important tool in raising funds.

4. Membership enhancement, he said, is very important in making members feel they are contributing something real. He included setting up a Rotary Community Corps under this point, knowing that New Dawn is very interested in the opportunities in Soweto.

The next step is to summarise the findings of the survey, put into action as many of the necessary steps as possible and as soon as possible so that New Dawn can live up to its name of being a New Dawn in Rotary.

For that to happen, more people are going to have to put up their hands to help in running the club. Without that, we don't have a club.

This Week: It's a business meeting on Wednesday where the main points of discussion will be Donate a Loo, The Link and feedback from the education committee.

A Thought for the Week: A somebody was once a nobody who wanted to and did. - John Burroughs (1837 - 1921)

 

A Rotary Woman of the World

Born in Portugal, raised in Angola, a resident of South Africa for the best part of the past 20 years and during that time becoming a citizen of the world; that just about sums up the life journey of Weza Solange, TV personality, actress, producer, public speaker and wearer of any more hats than just those.

Weza was the speaker at the meeting this week and told the club that her parents, went to Portugal for her birth, like many other Angolans of means did during the Angolan civil war. Angola had become independent from Portugal back in 1975, but that was followed by 30 years of war.

                             Weza addressing the club members

She says her father, Angolan police commissioner,  was a very stern man and strong in his beliefs, something he passed on to his children. He was heavily involved in politics and one of his tasks was to receive "troops" from South Africa, train them and send them back to fight the apartheid state.

After he was assassinated, her mother fled Angola with the family to the relative safety and superior education offered by South Africa. Weza was 13 years old and couldn't speak a word of English.

She attended Dominican Convent in Johannesburg, where she taught herself English.

       Weza with Joan Sainsbury, Nola Ostle, Babette Gallard, President Mbali Zulu and Paul Chinn

"The idea was always to get a degree and then go back to Angola. I wanted to get into politics, but my mother said no ways, you'll get us all killed."

She studied business management and along the way became involved in TV. Her whole family, these days spread all over the Portuguese speaking world, favour the professions such as medicine and law and looked down on her career choice, she said.

At university she started earning money and could finish her degree in marketing, but the TV bug had bitten and she decided to stay in South Africa.

"The best invrestment my mother ever gave me was a good education. She wanted her children to be good citizens wherever they are in the world."

             Weza with fellow new Dawn members Jacinta Opany-Agbara and Amina Frense

She said South Africans reminded her of Americans in the sense that South Africans knew very little about the rest of Africa, especially in the past. This ignorance easily leads to xenophobia. "I believe xenophobia has its roots in people not understanding each other."

These days she travels all over Africa and is passionate about networking, about getting people together who have a common purpose, whether it is socially or in business.

"I'm here because someone gave me a good education. I'm here despite the trauma of the way my father died."

About Rotary Weza said: "I didn't know there are people out there who are doing good without expecting anything in return. I truly believe that in Rotary the feeling is to help communities who need it."

She said Rotary is like a business and should be run as a business and that the club should become far more focused on social media.

                                 Francis De Jongh-Marchant and Francine De Clerq, prospective members

Next Week: There is NO MEETING at the Parkview Golf Club on Wednesday. This is because of the Club Assembly on Saturday (4 November) at Twickenham Guest House, from 11 am to 3 pm. This is an important meeting to discuss club issues in a less rushed atmosphere, so do try to be there.

A Thought for the Week: Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. - Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973)

Changing the Shape of Breast Cancer

Her passion has always been about people who don't have access to decent medical care, Professor Carol Benn, renowned breast disease specialist and surgeon, told the members of the Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn.

Prof Benn spoke to the club as part of Breast Awareness Month in October. She said she firmly believes that access to healthcare should be a fundamental tight for everyone.

                                      Prof Lucile Blumberg, Julian Nagy and Prof Carol Benn

She admitted that she had woken up at 4 am on Wednesday and had already performed four surgeries before arriving for her talk. Once she'd finished answering questions, she left to go back to the operating theatre.

Prof Benn heads up the Breast Care Centre of Excellence at Netcare's Milpark Hospital.

In introducing her, Prof Lucille Blumberg said she takes a holistic approach to health care and has helped to turn breast cancer from what was an untreatable disease into a journey that often has a good outcome.

    Club members and visitors turned the Parkview venue into a sea of pink

Prof Benn explained how she had left Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto because of frustration at not been allowed to establish a breast clinic within the state system.

She left for the Johannesburg Gen (these days the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital) where she was met by what she describes as a "butchery of chopping off breasts."

     Prof Benn addresses the club    

"My worst word in the world is ignorance," she said. Only about 25% of people screen for breast cancer, something she doesn't understand.

"Breast cancer is not a little shop of horrors," and there is usually time to consider all the options and to get a second or if necessary even more opinions. "Don't put professionals on a pedestal," she said. "The only thing you can do on a pedestal is fall off."

"If you demand excellence, people will have to deliver."

                      Francine Declerq was a visitor and is a prospective member

                     Debbie Nagy and Ivone Vosloo added to the pink theme

Especially because sub-Saharan Africa has one of the highest incidences of breast cancer in the world, people mustn't get rushed into making decisions on how to proceed.

"Consent means I need time to make a decision, I need to know what the costs are and I have a right to a second opinion."

"Never make a decision in doctors' rooms."

                     Lawrence Ruele in pink mode

The pink theme at the club was not only because of Breast Cancer Awareness month, but also in anticipation of the birth of Lawrence Ruele and wife JoJo's daughter, who subsequently turned out to be a strapping boy, born on Thursday.

Club Assembly: A questionnaire has been circulated in order to collate club attitudes ahead of the club assembly on Saturday, 4 November. It will be held from 11 am to 3 and the moderator will be PDG Grant Daly. The venue is Twickenham Guest House, 66 Twickenham Ave, Auckland Park and the proceedings will include lunch and drinks to facilitate fellowship.

A Thought for the Week: The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. - Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900)

All Clean On Cleanup Day

For a day at least the section of the Braamfontein Spruit running through the Parkview golf course was pristine with wild ducks swimming in the ponds, all thanks to World Cleanup Day last Saturday, 16 September.

About 50 volunteers from Greenside High (they came in a busload), the Greenside Residents' Association and members of Johannesburg New Dawn tackled the spruit at the golf club, successfully dodging flying golf balls in the process.

                          Pristine after the cleanup last Saturday

This was all thanks to the efforts of Babette Gallard and Paul Chinn, who started the Cleanup last year, concentrating on the Braamfontein Spruit and its tributaries.

This year cleanup efforts were extended to Soweto to the north and Alexandra to the south and a whole lot of river space in between.

                            President Mbali Zulu, Babette Gallard and Paul Chinn in Soweto

Paul and Babette report that more than 100 organisations took part this year, with more than 2000 volunteers getting their hands dirty. They estimate that 25 tons of waste was removed from Johannesburg's streets, parks and rivers on the day.

    There was no shortage of volunteers to help pick up rubbish in Soweto

    Pupils from Greenside High after their Cleanup session

The cleanup confirmed that community power can literally move mountains and transform trash-filled landscapes, says Babette.

"We must safeguard the natural environment and strengthen our city's response to the waste management problem. United with local communities, we believe we can make a meaningful difference, leave a legacy of hope, and sustain a cleaner future for generation to come," said President Mbali.

                         Brad Neille and one of his  daughters, Suzy

One of the visitor volunteers at the Parkview Golf Club was Brad Neille, our speaker from last week and a resident off Parkview, where he is an estate agent.

Brad spoke to the club about his experiences as a Rotary exchange student in Brazil, a programme he had learnt about from a Brazilian boy who had joined them at St John's College in Johannesburg as a Rotary long-term exchange student in 1995.

                        Brad with Joan Sainsbury and Barbara Angove at the meeting

The following year Brad set off for Brazil to a world where nobody else around him spoke English and he could immerse himself in a new culture. He says he was the only "foreigner" in his first home village, about 4 hours south of Sau Paolo.

There he founded an Interact club, which is still going strong after 27 years.

While at the University of Pretoria he formed the Rotaract Club of Hatfield, in 2001 and said he'll be willing to talk to other Rotary clubs about forming and maintaining Interact and Rotaract clubs and about spreading the word about the value of exchange programmes.

Meeting: The meeting tomorrow will feature feedback on Donate a Loo and on the World Cleanup Day.

A Thought for the Week: If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. - William Blake (1757 - 1827)

                        

The DG Came, Saw and Was Conquered

There's a new energy in Rotary of recent, District Governor Riana Pretorius of the Rotary Club of Pretoria Capital said in  her address to the club during the weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn held at the National School of the Arts in Braamfontein on Wednesday.

"I find such a good vibe at the moment. It's as if everybody is suddenly waking up after Covid."

"There's a new energy for projects, many in new directions such as tackling environmental issues, developing entrepreneurs and others."

     DG Riana Pretorius addresses club members in the Beethoven music room at the NSA

She emphasised the value of training in Rotary, the importance of paying your dues, of the Rotary Foundation and of sustainability in projects. With regard to sustainability she pleaded for the establishment of economic hubs in townships. "We meed to show that we can work together. Rotary can play a huge role here."

She said not enough members attend training sessions such as PETS (training for Presidents-elect and club officers), pointing out that ordinary members are also allowed to attend these as well as courses on global and district grants. Not enough people do the myriad online courses available on the My Rotary website either. Members should follow these and revisit them regularly, as the organisation changes every year.

     President Mbali Zulu, Weza Solange and Joan Sainsbury at the New Dawn plaque at the NSA music rooms

After a stirring organ recital by an NSA pupil, the focus moved to the seedling farm run by Frolinah Malaza and Mpho Mphatse of Lemang Fresh Table, who explained to DG Riana what they're doing, how they're doing it (both seem to have become accomplished seedling farmers) and what their aims are going forward in terms of the sustainability of the project.

Frolinah, who also addressed New Dawn at the previous meeting at Parkview Golf Club, said then that they had increased production from 16 000 seedlings to 60 000 seedlings a month and explained that they accept orders for seedlings, plant the seeds and have them ready for delivery according to the orders.

They also sell surplus produce at markets and have been in a position to donate seedlings.

                       DG Riana, PP Ian Widdop and Mpho Mphatse in the seedling tunnel

Frolinah said their next step is to supply schools in the Braamfontein area close to the NSA with seedlings and advice on how to plant them and tend to them, to overcome the logistical problems of transporting the seedlings over long distances.

The two entrepreneurs agreed that they now need a proper business plan to map out the way forward and Glen Meyer has indicated that he's willing to help them do this.

                       Glen Meyer, Frolinah Malaza and President Mbali with the moringa seeds

Glen also handed over a whole sack full of moringa seeds, a so-called superfood rich in vitamins and antioxidants worth about R1600 that had been donated to Lemang Fresh Table, much to the delight of Frolinah. These seeds are apparently quite easy to grow and thrive even in poor soil,

Moringa trees grow all over the world and are found in most provinces in South Africa, most commonly in Limpopo and the seeds, leaves and bark have been used in traditional medicine for centuries.

      Frolinah, DG Riana, Mpho, district secretary Alice Meyer, and President Mbali

The next stop on the way to the monthly board meeting, was at the Izwe Lethemka Day Centre in Soweto where Donate a Loo have installed toilets for the children and staff.

A bus full of New Dawners left the NSA bound for Lebo's Backpackers for the board meeting and visited the day care centre on the way there, where they were met by Helene Bramwell, fellow club member and founder of Donate a Loo, one of the beneficiaries of the Golf Day last month, and IPP Julian Nagy.

                                   Paul Kasango testing one of the new loos

This is a project close to the DG's heart as she has pledged to help 120 schools with decent ablution facilities in honour of Rotary International's 120th birthday in February next year.

The DG told the club that apart from support from our own district, D9400, many other Rotary bodies have become involved in this effort, amongst them D9370, the district that includes the Western Cape, the UK-Southern Africa Inter-Country Committee and Rotary International itself.

"How can you have dignity, whether you're male or female, if you have to 'go' in the veld," she said.

Fundraising: With a number of late payments now in, the total income from the Golf Day has risen to R150 000, making it a new record. Well done, everyone!

If there's still anybody who doesn't know why we're so proud of our club, read through President Mbali's excellent Club Overview 2023 powerpoint presentation to the DG. It covers a lot of ground on our most important efforts and yet somehow only scratches the surface of all the myriad efforts big and small that New Dawners get involved in. It was emailed to all members.

A Thought for the Week: Leap, and the net will appear. - John Burroughs (1837 - 1921)

And the Winner Is ... New Dawn

The big winner on Friday night wasn't the ecstatic golfer Koena Sesele with his wheelbarrow full of bottles of the good stuff. It wasn't even the Springboks who gave their traditional rivals the All Blacks a rare and thorough thrashing later that evening.

It also wasn't the Parkview Golf Club, even though they were superb hosts to an enthusiastic crowd of rowdy (but well behaved) golfers and New Dawners of the kind that they probably seldom see in their sometimes staid environment.

The big winner was of course The Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn at our premier fundraising event of the year. That was to the tune of more than R125 000.

                           A very happy Koena Sesele with his barrow of booze and President Mbali Zulu

While all the money is not in yet, the gross amount to date is about R125 000, out of which the Parkview Golf Club still needs to be paid for green fees, halfway house meals and the curry buffet for dinner.

More than R25 000 of the takings are from the raffle for the barrow of booze. The take just for Friday was R11 400 and the rest came from pre-sales like Jeni Lobel's R1400 for her birthday lunch.

Included in the raffle amount for the barrow of booze was an extra R2100 for the raffle of a bottle of Johnny Walker Black donated by Barbara Angove for the closest score prediction for the rugby. Alas, there was no second prize because my score was the closest but for one of the golfers, Alexander Buchanan, who guessed even closer to the real runaway score of 35-7.

    Mbali and some of the team after a hard day's work

A big thank you to everybody who pitched in to help on Friday and all the sponsors of bottles for the wheelbarrow, of contributions to the fantastic prize table and of connections for the hole sponsorships.

As usual the planning for the next golf day started at the 19th hole on Friday and there promises to be some exciting new developments including an emphasis on getting many more hole sponsors.

    Nazreen Benjamin and Natasha Sallie at the registration station with the New Dawn team

A very big thanks too to Nazreen Benjamin and Natasha Sallie from Adele Dabbs's office for once again taking on the registration and creating sense out of the chaos created by Mike MacDonald and Linda Vink!

    Amina Frense and the two Mikes (Vink and MacDonald) welcome Greg Smith and Debbie de Vries

    A wee dram from a sponsor was just the thing for Amina Frense, Joan Sainsbury, Ivone Vosloo and Wendy Challis

                                 Adele Dabbs with Peter Primich, both staunch supporters of Donate a Loo

                                 Nola Ostle was ever the stalwart at selling raffle tickets

                                Paul Chinn surprised himself by winning one of the golfing prizes

                 Adele Dabbs, myself, Amina Frense, Julian Nagy and Linda Vink at the registration station

This all means that we haven't done too badly compared with previous years.

In 2015 the income was about R40 000 of which the club kept almost R30 000, with the raffle contributing R10 000. This grew up to 2019, when the income was over R115 000, of which the club kept more than R75 000. The raffle takings were R33 000.

Then came Covid, with no golf in 2020, an iffy 2021 but a bounce back last year to earnings of more than R80 000 and a raffle contribution of R29 500.

With money in the bank already over R100 000, some 80 golfers in the field, an eye-catching wheelbarrow full of thirst-provoking tipples, a slap-up curry buffet for dinner and a golf club brimful of enthusiastic golfers, Golf Day 2023 can be pronounced a success. Bring on Golf Day 2024!

This week and next: It's back to Rotary business this week when Frolinah Malaza and Mpho Mphatse from Lemang Fresh Table will be speaking to the club about their efforts at the National School of Art, part of the New Dawn seedling project.

We'll also be seeing them the following week at the NSA during the District Governor's visit to New Dawn, as that meeting will take place at the NSA before those who can, depart with the DG for a tour through Soweto. The details are all in the WhatsApp chat group if you can join.

A Thought for the Week: Wanting to meet an author because you like his work is like wanting to meet a duck because you like paté. - Margaret Atwood (1939 -)

A Victor, Not a Victim

She was born underprivileged in Ventersdorp in what was then the Western Transvaal (these days Northwest Province and Eugene Terre'Blanche territory) in a one-roomed house. In this world there was no-one to look up to, no mentors, Mpho Mogotsi told the club at the meeting on Wednesday.

Mpho, who is in charge of the youth portfolio in the new New Dawn board, was talking on the theme of challenges to a woman's dreams for Women's Month.

"For met to go back to my rural roots and giving back, is a no-brainer," she said.

                          Mpho Mogotsi, former Mrs Universe Africa

"My mother made sure I kept my dreams alive. She made it her mission in life that we'd re-educated." She said her mother had improved her own lot to the point where she could work as a secretary and her father was a teacher.

"They spent everything, all their money, for me to spend 5 years at Potchefstroom Girls High. When I went off to school for the week, I knew there was no food in the house."

I was the poorest child at Potch. In Matric I designed my own dress for the Matric dance. I had new shoes and looked at myself in the mirror and my dreams were validated.

"I knew then I was not a victim but had tasted victory."

                   Mpho being congratulated by President Mbali Zulu after her talk

After school she moved to Johannesburg where she met a boy and got married, but he was abusive, "physically, mentally and financially."

She eventually left him as she was afraid for herself and her son, who is now 16 years old. She wrote a book, Awakening to Truth about her experiences and the lessons she has learnt. In it she describes herself as an entrepreneur, life coach, energy healer, visionary, author, gender-based violence activist, humanitarian and philanthropist. She can add TV presenter to that list, as she presents the show Come Alive with Mpho Mogotsi on Soweto TV on Channel 251 on DStv.

She remarried and has three children aged 31 (her husband's son), 16 and 4. After university she was an investment banker for 21 years.

She had tried out for Miss South Africa and then Mrs South Africa, until becoming Mrs Universe Africa offered her the opportunity to represent her country.

     Mpho with Nyami Khanyile, Babette Gallard, Ian Widdop, Joan Sainsbury, President Mbali and Paul Chinn

"Often as women we go through a lot, but we are victors. We have permission to shine. Be fearless, be unapologetic for who you are.

"I want to be the person who intervenes when I see social evils."

Mpho says she was the first one in her family to get a degree, to be on TV, and to write a book and loves the fact that when she goes back to Ventersdorp (she goes often to visit her parents) she can be a role model and mentor to young people in what is still an impoverished area.

   Glen Ross, President of RC Brits-Hartbeespoort, DG Riana Pretorius, John Wesson and PDG Jankees Sligcher

Last weekend a number of Rotarians attended the official opening by PDG Jankees Sligcher of a new lookout hide at the vulture restaurant in the Magaliesberg near the Hartbeespoort Dam. The container for the new hide was donated by Pas Reform Southern Africa, represented by PDG Jankees and Judy Sligcher and their son, Adriaen.

The hide, near the old hide where PDGA Judy Sligcher had her induction before the Covid years, features one-way glass and special hatches for photographers to put their lenses through.

New Dawn members, President Mbali Zulu, Julian Nagy and Linda Vink,  also attended a big strategy session of The Link, one of the main New Dawn projects for which the club obtained a Rotary Foundation Global Grant a few years ago. The Link has had to change focus to some extent and adapt to the changing world brought about by the virus and the lockdowns that went with it, but seem to be going full steam ahead.

Dates to Diarise: The meeting this coming week is a club assemble and also the last opportunity to bring contributions for the Golf Day next Friday. These include selling raffle tickets, contributing to the Barrow of Booze and donating items to be included in the hampers for prize-winning golfers.

A shining example of quick thinking was given by fellow club member Jeni Lobel, who contributed R1400 to the raffle, for instance, by asking friends and family to buy tickets rather than a birthday present for her.

DG Riana Pretorius will be visiting the club on 6 September a meeting where a good turnout will put the club in a good light.

A Thought for the Week: If you wish to avoid seeing a fool, you must first break your mirror. - Francois Rabelais (1484 - 1553)