Our Speaker last week was Nkanyesi Myeni, a learner at Macauley House School. She talked about her life and how people had helped her. It is always humbling to hear how successfully a young person has triumphed against all odds in achieving an education with no support from her family but with assistance from educators and ordinary people. Above all it is her own determination and strength of will that makes this possible as without that no-one would be prepared to assist.For me this just underlines the importance of our support for Interact Clubs at Macauley House and the Dominican Convent School. It was a delight to see the school principal, Eleanor Hough, at our meeting. Though she is no longer a member of our Club owing to time constraints we do have this continuing contact through the Macauley House Interact Club.
Club Assembly
Our Club Assembly was held last Saturday at Twickenham Guest House in Auckland Park. There was considerable dissatisfaction with some aspects of the way the Club is being run. Concern about leadership was expressed. The way the Board is constituted was criticised as it was felt that one Board Member could not possibly manage three major portfolios. There was no direction given as to how Projects, Fundraising or Membership intended moving forward this year. One member went as far as to say that having been a member of the Club for three months and never having been asked to do anything, what was the point of belonging to Rotary?
Fortunately there were excellent presentations by the Directors of Foundation, Public Relations and New Generations that redressed the balance to some extent. Also the Club Finances are sound and the Club will be set up as a Public Benefit Organisation this year.
President Jankees Sligcher said that now that membership of the various committees had been established the Club's concerns would be addressed at the next Board Meeting and he would report back to the Club at the Business Meeting on the first Wednesday in August.
Many thanks to Linda & Mike Vink for hosting us so well.
This Week's Speaker is Ryan Edmunds of SADAG, the South African Depression & Anxiety Group, Africa’s largest mental health support and advocacy group.
SADAG is committed to quality counselling, outreach and capacity building work throughout South Africa, and this commitment to promoting mental health was recognized by the World Bank Development Marketplace in 2003 with a substantial grant towards SADAG’s Rural Development Programme.
The South African Depression and Anxiety Group also boasts over 180 Support Groups nationwide, and has an extensive referral guide reaching into the most remote regions of the country. Highly trained counsellors operate the Mental Health Counselling Centre and the toll free Suicide Crisis Line everyday from 8am to 8pm.
Rotarians from France, Côte d'Ivoire distribute bed nets to fight malaria
A child carries two insecticide-treated bed nets during an antimalaria Matching Grant project in Cote d'Ivoire. Photo courtesy of John Kedzierski
Thousands of mothers in western Côte d'Ivoire rushed out of their homes to receive insecticide-treated bed nets during an 11-day antimalaria campaign initiated by French Rotarians near the town of Man in November.
The effort was part of a €56,300 (US$79,500) Rotary Foundation Matching Grant project sponsored by the Rotary clubs of Garches-Marnes-Vaucresson, Hauts-de-Seine, France, and San Pedro, Côte d'Ivoire.
John Kedzierski, project coordinator and a member of the Garches-Marnes-Vaucresson club, joined nine other volunteers in distributing 17,600 nets, which were treated to repel the mosquitoes that carry the parasitic disease. The project benefited more than 50,000 people.
"This region has been battered and torn by civil war and recent election violence. The health needs of the population are tremendous," says Kedzierski, noting the country's one-in-five mortality rate for children under age five. "Half of that is due to malaria. It's endemic in this region."
The volunteers drove through 38 villages, announcing the availability of free nets over a loud speaker, and provided them to pregnant women and mothers of children under five.
"Once we showed up, women ran out of their huts and through fields to get their mosquito nets. They were tremendously excited and grateful," says Kedzierski.
Club members also distributed nets to a pediatric ward, orphanage, and elementary boarding school.
The group partnered with Handicap Sans Frontières, a nongovernmental organization that aims to address medical needs and provide employment opportunities to teenagers with disabilities in Côte d'Ivoire. The organization, well-known locally, provided free transport of the nets by helicopter. Members of the Rotary clubs of Daloa Centre-Ouest, Côte d'Ivoire, and Versailles, Yvelines, France, were part of the distribution team.
Because malaria is often misunderstood, says Kedzierski, "we also wanted to take advantage of the women’s enthusiasm by educating them on malaria prevention." Club members hired a nurse, who taught the women how to use the nets.
In the months after the project, the nurse made follow-up visits to homes in each of the villages. The survey revealed that 341 out of 350 homes were properly using and maintaining the nets.
The project supported Rotary's disease prevention and treatment area of focus.
"The rate at which children in Africa are dying because of malaria is unacceptable," says Kedzierski. "Rotary is the right organization to focus on the solutions."
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