Chartering the Dominican School Interact Club, Earth Closets, introducing Penny Metcalf and a look at Rotaract.

The highlight of the week was the chartering of The Dominican Convent School Interact Club.  It is was a landmark occasion for us being able to sponsor  an Interact Club only 18 months after receiving our own Charter.


It didn't happen over night.  It began with Ian Widdop as Director of New Generations last year and the continuing work of Joan Donet, who took over as Director this Rotary year;  it's taken about a year.  It wouldn't have been possible without the enthusiasm of the School Principal, Mike Thiel, Julia Wright who has taken the Interact Club under her wing and the rest of the staff.  The evening was a tremendous celebration for all of us driven by the excitement and enthusiasm of the Interactors themselves.  Congratulations to Interact President Khamuka Moloi.  We wish you and the Club a successful future.  Our thanks to Mike Thiel and Julia Wright for making the evening such a momentous occasion.


And now to last weeks meeting and the subject of composting odour-free earth closets and how they can be used fitted inside homes in informal settlements.  Tilly Michaels was an eloquent advocate!  

Our speaker this week is Penny Metcalf.....and this is what she has to say about herself on her church website!  She is also a member of the Rotary Club of Orange Grove.


My name is Penny Metcalf, my car registration number is TNT and I am always teased about the way I drive my motorised wheelchair. I cannot sneak around anywhere because of the chair so I have millions of acquaintances and get easily mixed up with people's names! So bear with me!

I graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand as a speech, language and hearing therapist.  I joined St Luke's Anglican Church, Orchards in the early 70s.  I met Charles who has been at St Luke's ever since the 40s!

Charles and I fell in love over the drawing board where he was helping me draw charts for my "Face Clues Programme" to teach speech.  We were married in 1981, we have two children Timothy who is now married to Jannine, and we have a grandson Logan.  Our daughter is Kate and she is a nursery school teacher.

I am disabled I was born with mild cerebral palsy and then injured in a motorcar accident in 1975.  God has performed miracles in my life and I am still working.

I have worked at Baragwanath (Chris Hani) Hospital, Forest Town School, Independent Living Centre in private practice and with lawyers doing medico legal assessments of head injured clients. I have taught English as a second language, at businesses, call centres and a college. I do counselling and voluntary work with adult literacy and teaching English to three Grade 1 classes and one Grade R at a local Government school.  I am rewriting the "Face Clues" manual and adapting my "Face Clues Programme to fit into Grade 1 classes.


Next Wednesday's Meeting is the 5th Wednesday of the month and our meeting is an Evening Braai at President Graham's Home with partners.   THERE WILL BE NO BREAKFAST MEETING!

Rotaract 

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In March 1968, the Rotaract Club of University of North Carolina-Charlotte, USA, planted a tree on its campus to commemorate receiving the first Rotaract charter. Rotary Images

Rotary International on Facebook

In the late 1960s, noting the success of the recently formed Interact program, the RI Board realized the need for a program of service, activity, and fellowship for young adults no longer of Interact age (14-18). The name Rotaract (Rotary in Action) was selected to show the program's close affiliation with both Rotary and Interact clubs. 

RI President Luther Hodges inaugurated Rotaract in 1968, with the Rotaract Club of University of North Carolina-Charlotte, USA, being the first club. The club received its charter on 13 March and had 21 members.

Within a day of the certification of the Rotaract Club of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, the Rotaract Club of the University of La Salle was chartered in Tacubaya, Mexico. The Rotaract clubs of Florence, Italy; Gaston College and Sylva, both in North Carolina; and Secunderabad, India, were all certified in the following weeks. Since the 1950s, many Rotary clubs had been starting unofficial clubs for young adults, so this fueled Rotaract’s rapid growth in its first few years. Rotaract grew from 21 clubs in 1967-68 to 289 clubs a year later. There are now 7,000 Rotaract clubs in 163 countries and geographic areas.

Rotaract clubs were originally open to young men and women ages 17-24. Since 1991, young adults ages 18-30 have been welcomed.