The Black Tie Ensemble, an Unofficial Breakfast and Fair Trade Coffee for a Cause.

Arnold Cloete, Managing Director of The Black Tie Ensemble, was our guest speaker last week.  It was an interesting talk about how the Ensemble started and how it had become a fully fledged Opera Company.  The full history is in our previous post.

President Jankees Sligcher is keen that the Club be involved with the Black Tie Ensemble and no doubt we will hear more about that in the New Year.

There was a great meeting of savants trying to get the computer and the projector to link.  Eventually it happened  but with no sound.  Calvin Meter suddenly leaped into action, moved a cable across and voila!

The intrepid person sticking his finger in where no one has dared venture before is Graham Donet.

The rest of us just carried on as usual:

This is our last official meeting before the long holidays, Christmas & New Year hence the Champagne..well a French sparkling wine...and Angela Neill produced a little red and white twisted sugar walking stick for us all that we duly ate.  She had lost her voice so Amina Frense acted as interpreter and also spoke German.  A hidden talent we had not suspected!

There is an Unofficial Breakfast next Wednesday at Café Sofia in Greenside at 135 Greenway.  7,00am.

First Meeting of 2012 will be on Wednesday 11th January and Sunday 14th will be Champagne on the Stoep at the Sligchers.  This is what President Jankees has to say about it:

Last year Judy and I started this event, having the start of a tradition for Rotary Club Johannesburg New Dawn in mind!

For you who could not make it this year, we are trying to kick start the year with a little bit of Fellow ship and a sip (probably more than one of Champagne)

We will organize a bit of Lunch and I would suggest you bring a bottle of your favorite Champagne.

The bottles we do not drink can either be taken home or kept as a donation to the club, for events where we would need a bit of champagne to celebrate!

(We can discuss who will be the keeper of those bottles) and suggest you exclude me and some other members…

I will remind you all during the regular meeting of the 11th of January 2012 at our normal venue and at this meeting we will probably have a good indication who will take part..

You can of course let Judy and I know by mail before hand, but do not stress, this is a real social event and the 11th of January will do perfectly.

Please feel free to forward this message to some of the new members I missed as I do not have an updated email list yet

We wish you and your families all the very best for this festive season, with loads of Love and Friendship!

See you on the "stoep"

Judy & Jankees Sligcher

Selling coffee for a cause

By Megan Ferringer

• 
  

A village in Bolivia now has access to clean water as the result of a project supported by The Rotary Foundation’s Clean Water for Coffee Growing Countries Donor Advised Fund. Photo courtesy of Five for Water

By selling fair trade coffee to Rotary clubs throughout the United States, a former Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar is helping to raise money to fund worldwide clean water initiatives.  

A pump provides water to a village in Tanzania -- part of a project made possible by the Foundation’s donor advised fund. Water and sanitation is one of Rotary’s areas of focus under the Future Vision Plan. Photo courtesy of Five for Water

Five for Water, a project started by Bill Prost, a member of the Rotary Club of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, USA, finances a Rotary Foundation donor advised fund for water projects in coffee-producing countries. After forming a partnership with Green Mountain Coffee, Prost invited clubs to purchase the organic coffee and sell it in their community. Funds generated from the sales would go toward water projects throughout Africa, Central and South America, and Indonesia. 

“I wanted to create a year-round project that’s fit for any size club,” says Prost, who studied in England as a 1979-80 Rotary Scholar. “Any club, no matter how large or small, can help be a part of this. It’s a really simple project.” 

Coffee sales

Even though the project was launched only a year ago, more than 300 clubs in the United States are already selling the coffee. Their efforts have netted nearly $184,000, providing more than 50,000 people in 10 countries with access to clean water. 

An estimated two million people die every year from waterborne diseases, and more than one billion lack access to clean water, according to the World Health Organization. “I told myself that, as a Rotarian, it was my responsibility to do something about [that],” Prost says.  

After the money is raised, clubs seek an international partnership with another club and apply for a Rotary Foundation Matching Grant. A big focus of Five for Water has been funding the installation of wells to serve schools, orphanages, and medical clinics -- but, according to Prost, the project’s scope goes beyond that. 

“We’re not narrow-minded on what we’ll fund,” he says. “It’s always about water and where we can have a good partnership.” 

Wells in Bolivia

Recently, Five for Water installed eight wells in Bolivia and pump stations near a reservoir in Sumatra. Prost has also partnered with a club in Missouri and Engineers Without Borders to create a pipeline in Honduras that supplies water from an existing well and a water tower. The project’s goal is to provide more than 300 families with clean drinking water. 

Because Five for Water only sells coffee in the United States, and several clubs elsewhere have expressed an interest in getting involved, Prost says the next step is to expand the project internationally. 

“This is a simple and fun project designed for any club,” he says. “It works because Rotary has so many international components, and we’re all wanting to work together for a similar cause.”