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.