Rita Henn, Simphiwe Ngwenya, Membership and a Finn.

Rita Henn of Rita Henn & Partners, Physical Rehabilitation Therapists, gave us a most interesting talk last week on what her partnership does. I'm always amazed by the patience, let alone the expertise and dedication that people who do this type of work possess.

This week it's something completely different, Simphiwe Ngwenya will talk about "Opportunities Given - Opportunities Taken". Simphiwe is a former student at McCauley House and has been on a Short Term Exchange. Eleanor will introduce her and it promises to be an interesting talk.

Two things to remember:

17,30 Friday 30th April. Membership Initiative at The SA Chefs' Association Skills Kitchen.

This has been especially organised by Graham and Allan to introduce potential members to our Club. Please ensure Graham knows that you are coming and any potential members you will be introducing.

Wednesday 30th June. Rotary Oscar Awards.

Please let Graham know about attendance as he has to book by the 7th May in order to take advantage of the early-bird rate of R185 per head.

Who is the Finn? One of my favourite tenors in the Video Bar, Jussi Bjorling.



Rotary responds to polio outbreak in Tajikistan

Rotary International and its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative -- the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- are responding to a recent outbreak of wild poliovirus in Tajikistan.

Rotary is providing a total of US$500,000 in emergency grants to UNICEF and WHO for immediate polio immunization efforts throughout the country. Neighboring countries are also increasing their surveillance efforts.

Seven children in Tajikistan have been stricken with polio, the first cases of the disease reported there since 1997, and the first in the WHO European region since it was certified polio-free in 2002.

"Polio importations such as the Tajikistan cases demonstrate our global vulnerability to infectious disease," said Carol Pandak, manager of RI's PolioPlus program. "It highlights the fact that polio 'control' is not an option, and only successful eradication will stop polio in resource-poor countries."

Outbreaks of imported cases are not uncommon during eradication efforts, underscoring the critical need to stop polio transmission in the remaining endemic countries: Afghanistan -- which borders Tajikistan -- Pakistan, India, and Nigeria.

"Our experience shows that where polio transmission has been stopped before, it can be stopped again," Pandak said. "A fast, large-scale, high-quality immunization response and strong surveillance are absolutely critical."

The Lecture, Admiral Bakkes and a Change of Speaker.

We were hoping for 50 at the lecture and ended up with 35 plus. Was it a success? Yes and no.
The lecture itself was excellent. Professor Loren Landau certainly gave a different opinion on the problems of xenophobia in South Africa and their origins. The Centre for the Study of Democracy intends publishing the lecture and that is a feather in the cap of our Rotary Club for making it happen. The questions and comments after the lecture showed just how much it was appreciated by the audience.

The small turn out was expected by Steven Friedman and was no doubt exacerbated by the sudden change of venue and perhaps by the time of the lecture as the traffic outside UJ was a nightmare. The only Rotarians present were from our club and though we hoped for Rotarians from other clubs to support the event it wasn't a surprise that no-one did with the exception of DG Beth Thomas who apologised for not being able to attend.

We now know that students are the real audience, neither Rotary nor the general public.

Thank you everyone from the Club for supporting the event.

Admiral Bakkes gave us an entertaining and, at the same time, interesting talk on the integration of the new SA Defence Force and his work with the Citizen Force. It gave interesting insights into something about which I, for one, know very little. Interesting that many years ago Mike Vink was banished to the wilds of Rustenburg by Admiral Bakkes!

Our meeting is too early for Georgio or Luiz Pagan to talk about Port so they have backed out. We must thank Rita Henn for stepping into the breach.

Rita qualified as a Physiotherapist at the University of the Freestate in 1984. She has gained vast experience in the field of Spinal Cord Injury rehabilitation, in the South African private, public and mining sectors, as well as in Australia. She is the Vice Chairman of the Southern African Spinal Cord Association. She is the senior partner in Rita Henn and Partners - Physical Rehabilitation Therapists. Click on the name to see a short video on what they do.


And here's a photo of everyone involved in the practise.


Please make every effort to invite as many prospective members as possible to the membership function on Friday, 30 April at 17:30 for 18:00 at the Skills Kitchen, SACA on the campus of UJ. (Drinks [wine & soft drinks] and snacks will be provided)

Bring & Braai at the Donet's on Saturday 15 May at 17:00. Please bring own meat and drinks, salads, breadrolls, will be provided. RSVP to Joan or Graham and directions to their house will be provided.

Inauguration of Graham Donet as our President for 2010/2011 will take place on Friday, 4 June 2010 at 19:00 for 19:30 at the Waterford Restaurant, School of Hospitality and Tourism, University of Johannesburg, Bunting Road, Auckland Park. RSVP to Mike Vink. More details to follow.

The Lecture on Thursday - Change of Venue

The Venue for the Lecture has been changed owing to a UJ mix up. The Theatre seats 400 so we will rattle around in there a bit. Steven Friedman apologises but it was nothing to do with him.

There will be signs and people at the Council Chamber to re-direct people.

The Inaugural Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn Public Lecture

in association with The Centre for the Study of Democracy

(a joint project of the University of Johannesburg & Rhodes University, Grahamstown)

"Demons & Democracy"

Mobility & the Limits of Citizenship in Contemporary South Africa

Professor Loren Landau, Director of the Forced Migration

Studies Programme at the University of the Witwatersrand

Thursday 15 April 2010

18:00

University of Johannesburg Council Chamber

Kingsway Campus.

All are Welcome. Admission Free.

Many incoming Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars have studied under Professor Loren Landau so it is very appropriate that he will give the Inaugural Lecture. We hope that many Rotarians, Ambassadorial Scholars, Exchange Students and Friends will attend.

Rear Admiral Lukas Bakkes, the Rotary Oscars and the Business Meeting

Rear Admiral Lukas Bakkes is our speaker this week and his topic is:

The New SA National Defence Force & the Ethos of Volunteerism

He is an Advocate as well..see his CV below.



Rear Admiral (JG) Lukas Marthinus Bakkes(ret) SD, SM, MMM, JCD, BComLLB

Rear Admiral Lukas Bakkes, born 29 July 1938, married to Elizabeth (nee Wille), three daughters, obtained his BCom LLB at the University of the Witwatersrand whilst employed by the City Council of Johannesburg from 1957 to 1969, becoming a Legal Advisor. He joined the Rand Water Board in 1969 as Law Adviser and was called to the Bar as an Advocate of the Supreme Court in that year. In 1988 he attended the Advanced Management Programme at the University of Cape Town. He served Rand Water for twenty-five years and was the General Manager Human Resources when he retired in 1995.

He attended the SA Naval Gymnasium at Saldanha in 1956 and joined SAS RAND, the Naval Reserve Base at Wemmerpan, Johannesburg as a Reservist. He commanded the unit from 1979 to1987 and from 1987 to 1990 he served as Director Naval Reserves on the SA Naval Board with the rank of Commodore.

In 1996 the Minister of Defence appointed him to the Reserve Force Council and as the Reserve Force representative on the Defence Review Work Group. He represented the Reserve Force on the Transformation Work Group of the SA National Defence Force in 1997.

He was the Director Reserves and Veterans Policy and the Director Integration at Defence Headquarters tasked with managing down the entire integration process in the SA National Defence Force. In 2000 he was also appointed by the Minister of Defence as the first Director and Member of the Advisory Board on Military Veterans Affairs. He retired from his full time posts on 31 July 2005 after ten years service in the Department of Defence.

He continues his activities in the interests of Reserves and Military Veterans as Director and Legal Advisor of the Reserve Force Council. He serves as Chairman of the Rand Regiments Memorial Trust and of the Naval Officers Association of SA in Johannesburg. He is the Secretary General of the Council of Military Veterans’ Organisations of the RSA, a member of the Advisory Committee of the SA National of Military History, the SA Legion of Military Veterans and an honorary member of the SA Irish Regimental Association.

He is a Trustee of the SA National Defence Force Fund, the National Secretary of the National War Fund and the former Convenor of the National Annual November Remembrance Day Service and Parade at the Cenotaph in Johannesburg. He is a member of the Standing Legal Committee of the Confederation Interalliee des Officers de Reserve (CIOR), the Inter –Allied Confederation of Reserve Officers, which has a direct link with Reserve Forces of NATO countries.

He is a Founder Trustee and the Chairman of the St Paul’s Lutheran Charitable Foundation, which owns and manages the Fairland Retirement Village in Johannesburg and is the Chairman of the Cecily Bagley Residents Association of the suburb where he resides.

He is the full time Office Manager of the legal firm, Elizabeth Bakkes Attorney.

He has been awarded the Southern Cross Decoration, Southern Cross Medal, Military Merit Medal, General Service Medal, Unitas Medal, 40 Years Long & Distinguished Service Medal, 30 Years Good Service Medal Gold, John Chard Decoration and John Chard Medal.

You will all have received invitations for the Rotary Oscars on the 30th June. Last year we were not eligible to win anything as we hadn't been in existence for 6 months. We booked a bit late so we ended up being split up a bit. Let's try and book a whole table this time. Bookings and money to Graham Donet so that we can take advantage of the early booking that expires on the 7th May.

Oscars Award Ceremony - Turffontein Race Course

on 30 June 2010 at 18:00 for 18:30

A very special Early Bird cost per person – R 185 (Early bird bookings before 7 May 2010 please)

Dress code: Black tie/Traditional – dress up for the OSCARS! : Cash bar

ALL BOOKINGS TO BEV FRIESLICH @ bevfrieslich@telkomsa.net : payments to Rotary Club of Three Rivers DG Events account;
Standard Bank, Code 014 637 : account number 24 012 810 9

Beth and Sylvia – DG & DGA 2009-2010

It was a very successful Business Meeting last week. I'm looking forward to the chartering of our new Interact Club. Well done Joan Donet and Ian Widdop!

It's Business As Usual!

This week is a Business Meeting. The first for two months as the GSE Team visit effectively replaced last month's. We had a Board Meeting a week early because of the public holiday, so there is quite a bit to discuss.

Thanks to Allan Beuthin and Joan Donet we had an enjoyable evening at Mantra last week. I didn't think to take any photos for the blog so here's a picture of one of our potential members instead.

Dave Morris and his wife Precila came to the dinner and he brought the wine he and a friend made. We had a lot of fun tasting the various bottles. It goes under the Pormor label!

I hope you had a very enjoyable long weekend. One of the few occasions when the Orthodox and the Western Easter fall on the same date.

Our speaker programme for this month is a very varied one - congratulations Joan - as we have a retired SA Navy Admiral and a Portuguese Wine importer as well as an equally diverse unconfirmed speaker!

To get back to wine, Walter Findlayson sent me this email just before Easter concerning our proposed involvement with the Rotary Club of Paarl Wine Auction in September. It will be on the Agenda for Wednesday.

Dear Peter,

This email has been delayed by my visit to NZ, wonderful country- my fifth trip!

Thank you for your club’s support & interest in joining our Paarl Rotary Club’s Wine, Art & Jewellery Auction which is to take place on Saturday 4^th September 2010 7pm. @ Rhebokskloof Estate in Paarl.

There will be viewing of wines & art from 5.p.m.

We envisage +- 80 lots of wine mainly collectors items which will be auctioned by Emile Joubert (son of Maureen & Fritz)

Obviously we do not want to prescribe how you run your side of the event!

Our thoughts on this are that we will provide a telephone link for your people to bid on & some sort of audio visual connection. Maya Friederick say’s she will send you a CD that will provide the necessary soft-ware; but I will put her in touch with your IT experts closer to the time.

This will be our eight Auction. Last year’s net proceeds were R190,000 & the year before R250,000.

We will need to sort out your Club’s share of the income.

I will post you last year’s Catalogue to give you some idea of how we run this event. We envisage having between 220-280 people attend.

Look forward to hearing from you with any thoughts you may have on this project.

Enjoy your long weekend!

Regards,

Walter.

Finally, the Video Bar includes the famous concert given by Johnny Cash at San Quentin Gaol in 1969 during which he sang "A Boy named Sue" for the first time. The released version had the language toned down!