Rex van Olst, an Associate Professor of Telecommunications Engineering Research in the School of Electrical & Information Engineering at the University of Witwatersrand, is a member of Benoni Aurora Club and heads up "Ambassadorial Scholarships" on the District Rotary Foundation Committee. He is our guest speaker this week and has asked if we are prepared to host an ambassadorial scholar. It will be interesting to hear what it entails.

We have a speaker who is used to getting up early in the morning to go to Rotary!


I spent the weekend in Vryburg as a hanger-on at the Inner Wheel District Conference. The new District Chairman is from Vryburg Inner Wheel and it was great fun meeting people again who I only see once a year including the Bloemfontein contingent where I used to live. One of the benefits of Inner Wheel is that as a mere partner we are entertained by the Vryburgers whilst the women have their conference. We just had to turn up for the opening party and the formal dinner on the Saturday night. We were fed so much steak that we ended up having fish for lunch on the way back on Sunday!

Many thanks to those who supported the soccer. Here is a letter from Beth Thomas:

Dear Rotary friends A huge thank you everyone who assisted on making this a very special day on Saturday 28th May at Milpark Sports Centre, Johannesburg. Special thanks to the clubs who came to support their teams and bring the refreshments, for those who contributed towards the T shirts; the photographers and sound system all organised and supplied by clubs, the help with transport and encouragement, the tickets donated and the soccerballs and kits. For the 12 clubs involved the good news is that you will also receive a large supply of soccer balls quite soon to distribute to other schools and organisations you are working with. Roger thank you for the huge supply of e'pap which you most generously contributed also and which will be used for the events during the school holidays which are being organised for street children to keep them occupied and safe. All the coaches, drivers, staff and caregivers were provided by organisations working with street children in programmes off the street and we would not have been able to put this event together if it was not for their hard work as well. Special thanks to Sam, Patrick, Connie, Tahiyya, Martha, Aubrey and others who are involved in the daily lives of the children. When we have received all the photographs from Roger and from Ivan's great photographer these will go to the website. I am attaching a report on the total exercise just to let you all know how special this programme was. The Chairman of National Alliance has asked if Bev and Ivan could please repeat their presentations and if we could video these so that they can be shared throughout the country at our Child Participation conferences, This message is also going to a Rotarian from my club who is presently in Sudan! Just to let you see what you've been missing JJ!! Everyone of you have made an impact on the lives of the children who attended on Saturday - a HUGE THANK YOU from me. Sincerely Beth
Our soccer team this week is The Netherlands as Bert will be back for the Induction Dinner on Friday.

Don't forget to book with Mike Vink for the Induction Dinner on Friday Evening. We will also be inducting two new members, Tilly Michaels and John Paisley.