Welcome, Gidon Jude. President Graham was away in Durban so I had the privilege of inducting him into our Club. We have inducted 4 new members in the last 6 weeks.
Allan Beuthin and the Membership Committee are confident that we will reach our target this year....that's what he said at our Club Assembly on Saturday!
The Assembly was well attended and very constructive and what is more to the point, it was great to be there. New Dawn has the ability to keep things short, light hearted and to the point so we all enjoyed it! Here's a collage of the Assembly.
Our speaker last week was Kate Henry, recently moved from the Rosebank & Killarney Gazette to the Sandton Sun as News Editor. She spoke on what it meant to be a journalist on a community newspaper. It was interesting. Our Club has two former and one active journalist as members which put a different complexion on her talk. Our speaker this week is Tom Wheeler of the SA Institute for International Affairs on "The Great Game in Central Asia" where he was South African Ambassador for several years doubling, or trebling up as ambassador to Turkey. Here's Tom, just out of bed, greeting the then Uzbek President, Islam Karimov, in October 1997.
The video is of Julie Andrew's triumphant début on Broadway as Eliza Doolittle in the original version of My Fair Lady in 1956.
Canadian Rotarian Swims to End Polio
A 43-year-old Rotarian from Dundas, Ontario, Canada, raised thousands of dollars for polio eradication through her attempt to swim 32 miles across Lake Ontario earlier this month.
Although Thie Convery’s Swim to End Polio did not end as she had hoped -- weather conditions forced her to stop halfway across the lake -- she helped her Rotary club raise US$44,000 for Rotary’s US$200 Million Challenge. The Rotary Club of Dundas hopes to bring in an additional $30,000 through three future fundraisers that will capitalize on the publicity the swim generated.
“I was plugging along. I could have swum to Newfoundland. But we just didn’t have luck on our side,” Convery said, of the decision to end the event after eight hours. The 6-foot waves were getting larger, and support boats were having difficulty keeping Convery in sight. “I was very disappointed. But safety is the most important thing,” she said.
Her effort received extensive print and broadcast coverage, both before and after the event. She said Rotary clubs throughout Canada have contributed directly to Rotary’s challenge after hearing about the attempt.
“We wanted to raise awareness, and we certainly did that,” she said.
Convery, a financial adviser, said she decided to take on the endeavor after club members gathered last year to discuss raising money for the challenge.
Motivation
She was also motivated by her friendship with two polio survivors. Sadique Alli, a former Dundas club member, contracted the disease as a child in India and now uses a leg brace to walk. Convery also met Ramesh Ferris, of the Rotary Club of Whitehorse, Yukon, several times, and earned his support. Ferris hand-cycled across Canada in 2008 to raise more than C$300,000 for polio eradication.
Before her training, she had never swum more than a few laps in a local pool.
"I'm not a distance swimmer. But when the idea came up a year ago, I decided to begin training," explained Convery, who achieved a national ranking in Canada as a drug-free bodybuilder six years ago. "I'm used to being physical. But this was really something different."
After months of practicing the efficient, gliding strokes necessary for long-distance swimming, Convery completed a 12-mile swim across Lake Erie in June, which served as a qualifier. Solo Swims of Ontario, a volunteer group that governs solo attempts to swim long distances, assesses swimmers and their crew for preparedness.
On 7 August, Convery dropped into Lake Ontario at Niagara-on-the-Lake at around 9:40 a.m., accompanied by a small fleet of boats loaded with support crew, physicians, and lifeguards. About 15 miles into the swim, and well short of her goal to reach Toronto, Convery's crew decided to pull her out of the water.
“She made a fantastic effort,” said Karen Cumming, a friend who handled publicity. “If it had not been for the weather, she would have made it across.”
Convery said that she has not ruled out another attempt, and that she was touched by the dedication of her crew and the support of Rotarians. “To look around and see the faces of the people who committed their time, energy, and money -- that was the most powerful experience.”
“We did make a difference,” she added. “We didn’t get across the lake, but we definitely made a difference. Ask the children who will be receiving polio vaccine if it was worth it.”
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