Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Prof Michelle Williams and Shelter Box.

Last Wednesday evening Yvonne Chaka Chaka was inducted as an honorary member of our Club.  Here's what our Club PR, Linda Vink, had to say about it:

The Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn inducted renowned musician Yvonne Chaka Chaka as an honorary member at a function in March (28 March).

Chaka Chaka is fondly known as the Princess of Africa which bears testimony to her connection with everyday people and the charity work she is involved in. Amongst other involvements, she is a Goodwill Ambassador for Unicef and Roll Back Malaria.  She is Patron of the Malaria Africa Project, an initiative of which New Dawn is also part.  Her commitment to the malaria cause started when one of her musicians contracted malaria and died as a result.

When asked about her involvement with Rotary, Chaka Chaka said: “When you are part of Rotary you put service above self and I am grateful  to be part of an organization which gives so selflessly. If I can make some contribution towards the elimination of malaria then my musician’s death has not been in vain. There is still so much to be done in terms of educating the people of South Africa about malaria.”

Said New Dawn Rotarian Steve du Plessis who was instrumental in persuading Chaka Chaka to accept the membership: ” Yvonne’s involvement with malaria spans some 7 years and her contribution as Patron has ensured greater exposure for the problems  Africa faces in dealing with malaria.  New Dawn is truly honoured to have her as champion of its malaria cause and as a member of the club.”

But we did hold our normal Rotary Meeting in the morning with Professor Michelle Williams as our guest speaker.  Michelle spoke about "Fair Trade".  It was very interesting as most of us are aware of 'Fair Trade Coffee' but not much else.  A favourite project of hers is a Fair Trade Rooibos Tea Project in the Northern Cape.  Despite the best of intentions "Fair Trade" is a mere blip on world markets and I have to admit that I tended to think that it was just a marketing ploy by Starbucks!

Pride of place is given to the first thing that everyone does when they arrive.....the meeting would never start without it!

HEIVELD COOPERATIVE 
Northern Cape, South Africa 
FLO ID 2585

"We are going to complete the second phase of construction of the tea court, including the installation of water storage tanks, building a store/office building, purchase a second tea chopping machine. We have also developed a scheme to help members who experienced especially bad harvests during the 2003-2006 droughts as well as a training program for members in sustainable production of rooibos" 
Lionel Louw, Board Member of Heiveld Cooperative, 2008

"A lot has changed. Now at the end of the week there is still money left over after buying groceries" 
Koos Paulsen, Heiveld Cooperative Member, 2009

Introduction A group of 14 small-scale rooibos farmers of Suid Bokkeveld in the Northern Cape decided to form a cooperative in 2001, then called Heiveld Cooperative. When it was founded, the members wanted to build an organisation that promoted social justice and the social and economic development of the Suid Bokkeveld community.

Now the Heiveld Cooperative represents 60 small farmers and exports its rooibos tea all over the world, also thanks to the commercial links provided by Fairtrade and organic certification, both obtained in 2003.

Background 
The Suid Bokkeveld is a harsh land, where the sun sears down and the earth bakes in summer; where the white frost burns the tender buds in winter. It is also a land of gentle spring rains and wondrous biodiversity. Situated at the western edge of South Africa's Great Karoo plateau, the Suid Bokkeveld lies close to the northern extremity of the Cape Floral Kingdom.

     
(Beautiful landscapes of the Suid Bokkeveld, ©www.heiveld.co.za) 

Winter rains and acid soil create the ideal home for drought resistant members of the protea family and for the Aspalathus linearis, commonly known as rooibos tea. Sheep and goat herding also contribute to people's livelihoods. 
Periodic drought dry out water resources and desiccate vegetation. This is not an easy place to survive. The people of the Suid Bokkeveld are descended from the first people of this area, and those who came later. Discriminated against because of the colour of their skin, they spent the colonial years at the margins of the mainstream.

Services to the community were minimal, and poverty was widespread. The community was entirely dependant on the natural resources and on poorly paid employment as agricultural workers. Poor access to market resulted also in low prices for their products, exacerbated by the deregulation of the market. The income from rooibos tea was not even sufficient to pay the immediate production costs, let alone invest in future production.

Founding of the Heiveld Cooperative 
With the founding of the Heiveld Cooperative in 2001, the rooibos farmers in the group were keen to cut down on production costs by establishing a collective tea processing facility. Before, they were all dependent on tea-making facilities owned by large farmers, and felt that all the profit that they could have made was spent on transport costs and excessive rentals for use of the facilities. Building a own tea court would change all that.

   
(Cutting the rooibos plant, ©www.heiveld.co.za) 

  
After initial discussion with representatives from Fairtrade organisations in the Netherlands, the prospect of a reliable market for some of their tea at premium prices was an important encouragement in investing in the future of the cooperative.

The Heiveld Cooperative has since then moved steadily towards fulfilling the dreams of its members. After renting a tea court from a neighbour for its first five years, it completed the first phase of our own tea court in 2005 and processed its first harvest in 2006 on it. Employment was created for local community members from the Suid Bokkeveld and especially business initiative of women were supported for product packaging.

Fairtrade 
The economic impact of Fairtrade marketing has been very significant. By selling rooibos tea to Fairtrade importers, the income of the farmers' families tripled from circa 1 Euro/Kg to currently around 3 Euros. In 2005, the cooperative received 5,80 Euros plus a Fairtrade premium of 0,50 Euro per Kg of processed tea in order to compensate for bad harvest. "There is a huge difference from when we sold to the large farmers. In the past the link between buyer and seller was missing - the buyer just gave whatever price they wanted, it wasn't related to our standard of living. Fairtrade changes this." comments Lionel Louw, board member of the Heiveld Cooperative.

Impact of Fairtrade 
The impact of Fairtrade, namely the better income from sales and the additional Fairtrade premium paid to the cooperative for economic and social projects, has greatly benefited, and is still benefiting, the member of the Heiveld Cooperative as well as the members fro the whole community.

Besides improving the farmers' standards of living, the main goal from the beginning was to make the smallholders independent from wholesalers and neighbouring commercial farms. Due to the Fairtrade premium this became possible. They were able to buy their own equipment for tea production, such as their own tea-chopping machine, and subsequently to build their own tea court, a primary processing facility where raw green tea is finely chopped, fermented and then dried. The premium is also used to train staff members and to support local schools as well as disadvantaged members of the community.

    
(Tea court, chopping machine and board meeting, ©www.heiveld.co.za)

This week is a Business Meeting.

ROTARY CLUB OF JOHANNESBURG 

ANNUAL WINE AUCTION

TUESDAY 24TH APRIL 2012

18.30 FOR 19.00 AT THE COUNTRY CLUB, AUCKLAND PARK

THIS WILL BE A WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY TO TASTE SOME WONDERFUL WINES AND THEN TAKE PART IN AN AUCTION TO STOCK YOUR CELLAR AT EXCELLENT PRICES.

SUPPER WILL BE SERVED!

ENTRANCE FEE: R100 PER PERSON (SUPPER INCLUDED)

RSVP TO PETER : pvschaar@mweb.co.za or 083 655 3598

Or to Peter Alexander 011 4403104 sithanda@iafrica.com

Rotary International signs project partner agreement with ShelterBox

By Ryan Hyland 
Rotary International News – 30 March 2012 
 

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Top: Tom Henderson, CEO of ShelterBox, and John Hewko, RI general secretary, during the signing of a project partner agreement this month. Bottom: ShelterBox teams distributed more than 550 tents to Madagascar for families left homeless by a powerful cyclone.Photo by Angela Spencer-Smith/ShelterBox

Rotary International on Facebook

Rotary International and ShelterBox, a grassroots disaster relief organization, signed a project partner agreement this month, allowing the two organizations to collaborate more closely to provide relief and temporary shelter to survivors of natural disasters.

“Project partner” is a special status RI gives to groups started or managed by Rotary clubs. The agreement will build on the strengths of both organizations in responding to disasters all over the world.

“Our Rotary friends have always been there ready to assist – from generous donations to direct operational support on the ground Rotary has always been part of our DNA,” said Tom Henderson, ShelterBox CEO. “I feel like we have 34,000 ShelterBox offices around the world working together to help those who have lost everything when they need us the most.”

Saving lives

RI General Secretary John Hewko said the agreement will enable Rotary club members to have an immediate, lifesaving impact in communities hit by natural disasters. “ShelterBox will be able to ensure that local Rotarians are provided an opportunity to participate in the distribution of ShelterBox containers,” he said.  

Each ShelterBox typically provides a bespoke tent designed to withstand extreme weather conditions, stove, water purification kit, blankets, tools, and other necessities to help a family survive for six months or more after a disaster.

Henderson, a civil engineer and former search-and-rescue diver for the British Royal Naval, founded ShelterBox in 2000. Its response teams of trained volunteers have brought lifesaving supplies to victims of more than 175 disasters in nearly 80 countries.

Mutual goals

“For more than 10 years, ShelterBox has given light to over one hundred thousand families worldwide in their darkest hour,” said Hewko. “This project partner agreement represents our mutual goal of helping those in need. It gives RI a forward-facing approach to immediate disaster relief.”

Noted Henderson: “This partnership with Rotary International is a formal recognition of our good work over the past 12 years. It will help Rotarians get a better understanding of what we do. I hope Rotarians worldwide will see us as a coherent and able disaster relief organization.”

Earlier this month, a ShelterBox team distributed more than 550 tents to communities in Madagascar where powerful cyclones left more than 250,000 people homeless.

Alex Gano's SA Dinner, Dr Michelle Williams & David Cameron, PM of the United Kingdom honoured by Rotary International.

As promised here are the pictures and the account of the South African Dinner arranged by Alex Gano with his US club, the Rotary Club of Charleston, Illinois as a fundraiser to match the new Dawn Thanksgiving Dinner!

An Evening in South Africa

Posted by Darcy Duzan on Mar 08, 2012 on the Rotary Club of Charleston website.

This fundraiser for a vocational scholarship in South Africa was held Thursday, March 8, 2012 at the Charleston Country Club. Guests enjoyed appetizers of chicken sosaties and frikadellers while enjoying a performance by Eastern Illinois University's Afro-Cuban Ensemble. The themed dinner consisted of salad, Cape Malay chicken, bobotie (an Indonesian beef casserole), and vegetables. For dessert pampoenkoekies with cinnamon sugar were served.

Following dinner, Dr. Roger Beck, Ph.D. in African History and author of The History of South Africa, provided a brief overview of the country. Then Alex Gano, District 6490 Ambassadorial Scholar, provided a captivating account of his year in South Africa. One of his special accomplishments was a Thanksgiving fundraising dinner hosted by his host club, The Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn. They raised more than enough funds to send a worthy South African to culinary school for a year. The club president and the scholarship recipient were seen in a video link. In the next few weeks Alex will report on the success of our dinner, which hopefully raised enough funds to provide another vocational scholarship in Johannesburg.

He expressed special thanks to Andy Methven, Mary Droste, Danelle Larson, Deborah Muller, Judi Konrad, Rick Hunt, the Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn, the Rotary Foundation, his parents, and the people of South Africa. We were also honored to have District Governor Ron Schettler and his wife and Tom Hodson, District Outbound Ambassadorial Scholar Committee leader, and his wife in attendance. Thank you to everyone who supported this enjoyable evening and worthy project.

Alex will also be the featured speaker on Friday night, April 27, 2012 at the Annual District 6490 Conference in Effingham. 


And this is what Rotary Africa had to say about the Thanksgiving Dinner last year:

This Week

Our Speaker is Dr Michelle Williams, a Sociology Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences at Wits.  It's through her that we organised our public lecture last year given by Constitutional Court Justice Zak Yacoob.  This year we are doubling up our contribution to a deserving student to R10 000 and no doubt that will be one of the things she will talk about.

Here is a little about her:

Professor Michelle Williams

BA, MA, PhD (University of California, Berkeley)

Michelle Williams received her BA (Political Economy of Industrial Societies and German), MA (Sociology), and PhD (Sociology) from the University of California, Berkeley. She was a Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Sociology and Political Studies at Wits (August 2005-December 2006). Her research and teaching interests include political sociology, social movements, social theory, qualitative research methods, and comparative historical analysis. Her book, The Roots of Participatory Democracy: Democratic Communists in South Africa and Kerala, India (Palgrave, 2008), compares the political projects of the communist parties in South Africa and Kerala during the 1990s.  She co-edited South Africa and India: Shaping the Global South (Wits University Press, 2011).  She is currently working on a book project with Vishwas Satgar on cooperatives in the global political economy tracing the linkages from consumer markets to producer cooperatives.

And don't forget Yvonne Chaka Chaka becomes an Honorary Member of our Club on the evening of the 28th!  Book with Mike Vink.

Rotary honors Prime Minister Cameron for supporting a polio-free world

Rotary International News -- 16 March 2012
 

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Andrew Mitchell (left), United Kingdom International Development secretary, accepts the Polio Champion Award on behalf of Prime Minister David Cameron from RI President Kalyan Banerjee. Photo by Maureen McLean

Rotary International on Facebook

Rotary International has recognized David Cameron, prime minister of the United Kingdom, with its Polio Eradication Champion Award for his leadership and dedication to a polio-free world. 

RI President Kalyan Banerjee presented the award to International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell, who received it on the prime minister’s behalf at a reception at the House of Commons on 14 March.  

The award is the highest honor Rotary presents to heads of state, health agency leaders, and others who have made significant contributions to the global polio eradication effort. 

"We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rid the world of the evil of polio,” Cameron said in a statement about the recognition. “The commitment of Britain and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, with the support of millions of Rotarians, has helped bring this crippling and often deadly disease to the brink of eradication.” 

India's milestone

“On behalf of Rotary’s 1.2 million members worldwide, I am honored to recognize the commitment of Prime Minister Cameron for his outstanding support of efforts to eradicate polio,” said Banerjee. “My own country, India, has just surpassed the milestone of a year without polio. We would not be so close to achieving the goal of a polio-free world without the longstanding support and continued leadership of the United Kingdom. We encourage other G8 countries to follow the UK’s lead in continuing their support so that the world will soon be polio free.”

The United Kingdom has been a strong supporter of the global polio eradication initiative with contributions and commitments totaling more than US$960 million through 2012. 

"It is an honour for the UK and the prime minister in particular to be recognised in this way,” said Mitchell. “Britain is at the forefront of the fight against polio and last year alone, Britain helped fully immunise over 45 million children from the crippling disease. None of this would be possible without the public-private partnership of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and the tireless leadership of Rotary International and its dedicated members. I urge all other countries and organisations to play their part now to achieve our ultimate goal of a world free from polio." 

In receiving the award, Cameron joins a roster of distinguished leaders, including India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari.

Human Rights Day - No Meeting, Bestnet and Yvonne Chaka Chaka becomes an Honorary Member of Johannesburg New Dawn.

No Meeting on the 21st March, Human Rights Day - Public Holiday

Next week I will include pictures of the South African Dinner organised by Alex Gano for the Rotary Club of Charleston, Illinois as a fundraiser for our projects.

And to think that last week was St Patrick's Day!  I thought this might be appropriate.

Last week's meeting was a fascinating talk about treated mosquito nets by Christina Anderskov of Bestnet Europe.  It just adds weight to our Malaria initiative.  It was a fascinating presentation.  Christina had just come from Liberia where malaria is a major problem.  We are lucky in South Africa as incidents of malaria are very isolated as most of the country just doesn't have the climate for the mosquitos.

Our unofficial official photographer, Jenine Coetzer, is back so you don't have to put up with my happy snaps any more. Here she is in action!

The collage of members, as you can see, shows many more individuals than my quick flash round the room.

Our next meeting is on Wed 28th March and there is an extra meeting in the evening to induct Yvonne Chaka Chaka as an Honorary Member of Johannesburg New Dawn.

Wednesday the 28^th March, 6.00 pm for 6.30 at the Saca Skills Kitchen for Yvonne Chaka Chaka’s induction as an honorary member of New Dawn. The cost is R120 per person for a cocktail and drinks evening. Either transfer the money to the New Dawn bank account (FNB Parktown, 62217422609, branch no. 250455 or the FNB number for electronic transfers, 250655) or bring cash. Bring lots of friends, too, as this is a very important evening for the club. Please let me know by return email if you are coming, so that we get an idea of numbers for catering purposes. And please bring a bottle of your favourite white wine.  To book contact Mike Vink.

Mind over antimatter

by Susie Ma
Rotary Canada -- January 2012  
 

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Makoto Fujiwara Photo by Josh Fassbind

Long before Makoto Fujiwara began trapping antimatter, he was a timid Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar whose primary concern was passing his classes. The Rotary Club of Kofu South, Japan, had sponsored him to study physics at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver. Fujiwara, who had found out about the Ambassadorial Scholarships program as a Rotaractor, landed on Canadian soil in the summer of 1992.

In spite of his fears, he ended the year with the highest marks in his class. And he abandoned his plan to return to Tokyo to work as an engineer, instead finishing a two-year master’s program and going on to earn a doctorate in physics at UBC. Though he accepted a postdoctoral position through the University of Tokyo, at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Geneva, he returned to Canada in 2004. As a research scientist at TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics in Vancouver, he has since helped lead an international team of researchers to a groundbreaking discovery in antimatter – a breakthrough that has propelled him to the forefront of particle physics research.

“Sometimes I wonder what kind of life I would have had if I had gone into industry,” says Fujiwara, who is also an adjunct professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Calgary. “So far I can’t complain.”

When he came to Vancouver as an Ambassadorial Scholar, one of the first Rotarians Fujiwara met was Jane LePorte, of the Rotary Club of Burnaby-Deer Lake, B.C. She gave him some household items, including a quilt for his bed, and connected him with other scholars and Rotarians. Affectionately characterizing him as an “absent-minded professor,” she notes that the shy young man she met now speaks confidently at conferences around the world. “Rotary deserves a lot of credit for helping him come to a new country and blossom,” she says.

Fujiwara describes himself as an inquisitive kid who was fascinated by science fiction and who occasionally watched Star Trek. He liked making radios in elementary school, an interest triggered by uncles who were amateur radio enthusiasts.

Now, his attention is focused on antimatter, a mystery of modern physics. According to the big bang theory, matter and antimatter were created in equal amounts when the universe was born. However, virtually no antimatter remains, a phenomenon that science has been unable to explain. “Our approach is to produce antimatter atoms artificially in a lab and then study their properties, to see if there is any difference between matter and antimatter that might explain why antimatter disappeared,” Fujiwara says.

“Makoto is an exceptionally smart scientist,” says Nigel Lockyer, director of TRIUMF. “All scientists are smart at some level, but he combines it with a great deal of energy and drive.”

This combination enabled Fujiwara to secure funding for his research and to recruit about 15 Canadian scientists to study the issue. He and his team spend six months of the year at CERN, using its particle accelerator to run experiments.

Their first breakthrough in antimatter occurred at CERN in 2002, when they created large quantities of antimatter atoms. Then, in November 2010 at TRIUMF, Fujiwara and his team trapped antimatter for the first time – a major feat, because as soon as matter and antimatter meet, they annihilate each other. This past June, the team built on its achievement by containing antimatter for more than 16 minutes, long enough to begin studying its properties.

“Now that we have trapped antimatter, there are so many things we can do with it,” Fujiwara says. “It’s impossible to stop now. It’s this whole new field of science opening up in front of me.”

Looking back, Fujiwara credits Rotary with opening the doors that led to his success. “I wouldn’t have studied physics if I hadn’t come to Canada as a scholar,” he says. “It was the start of everything for me.”

Welcome Georg! Blanket Drive, Bestnet and a Rotary Alumni Award.

PP Graham Donet was, as Mike Vink put it, 'let out' on Friday (Are we sure it was a hospital?) and was asked to rest for a few days before flying back to Johannesburg.  Our best wishes to him and Joan.   

Welcome Georg Knoke as a member of our Club!  From the photograph I'm not sure who is inducting who!

Last week's meeting was a Business Meeting as you can see by the questioning faces of some of our members!  Others text absent members with a blow by blow account of the meeting.


Some discussion took place on the Blanket Drive and the assistance required.

There was even a brief fashion show with Allan 'Catwalk' Beuthin kindly modelling the latest style to the excitement of many members.


This Week

Christina Anderskov, CSR Manager, Bestnet Europe

Our guest speakers are from Denmark, Christina Anderskov and Anzill Adams of Bestnet Europe.  I immediately assumed that it was an IT/Telecommunications company as Steve Du Plessis phoned me about them........but no!

 

The philosophy behind our products is to continuously develop good ideas and make them into products for use in the fight against malaria and other vector-borne diseases.

Netprotect^®, our innovative family of long lasting insecticide incorporated mosquito nets (LLINs), is an example of this philosophy into practice. Netprotect^® incorporates the insecticide into the actual fibers of the yarn.  Through its controlled release system, Netprotect^® ensures that just the right amount of insecticide is always on the surface of the net. This creates a more effective and durable product.

The product family Netprotect^® not only meets all relevant industry standards for LLINs, but exceeds the efficacy and durability of other alternatives.

Further at Bestnet , we recognize that an LLIN will not be used, if it does not meet end-user needs. So that our products fulfill market and end-user requirements, we always perform product development in close interaction with the market.

Existing products are constantly reviewed and evaluated from the standpoint of our customers' and end-users' needs. All Netprotect^® products are specifically designed and developed to meet those needs, no matter how varied they may be. Over time, the Netprotect^® product family of products has continued to grow into and extensive line of LLINs.

 How wrong can you be!

Australian scientist, German association to receive top Foundation alumni awards

By Ryan Hyland and Megan Ferringer 
Rotary International News -- 9 March 2012 
 

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Top: John Skerritt (back left), recipient of The Rotary Foundation 2011-12 Global Alumni Service to Humanity Award, works with a family in Papua, Indonesia, to raise pigs on a healthy diet to help prevent diseases. Photo courtesy of John Skerritt Bottom: Rotary Foundation Alumni Deutschland, recipient of The Rotary Foundation 2011-12 Alumni Association of the Year Award. Photo courtesy of Rotary Foundation Alumni Deutschland

Rotary International on Facebook

John Skerritt, a research scientist who is deputy secretary of the Department of Primary Industries for the state of Victoria, Australia, has been chosen by The Rotary Foundation Trustees as the recipient of the 2011-12 Global Alumni Service to Humanity Award. 

Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Carlingford, New South Wales, Skerritt studied as a 1983-84 Ambassadorial Scholar at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. A member of the Rotary Club of Hampton, he will receive the award on 8 May at the 2012 RI Convention in Bangkok, Thailand.

“An award like this has so many well-deserving candidates. I’m honored and humbled to be recognized,” says Skerritt.

Over the past 30 years, Skerritt has led a wide range of training and assistance projects addressing agriculture, medical science, environmental, and public administration issues in India, Indonesia, and other Southeast Asian and African countries.

Skerritt, who manages a staff of 1,250 and an annual budget of US$250 million, is one of the government’s top public policy architects for fisheries, forestry, and agricultural emergencies. In 2010, he led a successful response to a major locust plague in eastern Australia, which otherwise would have caused $2 billion in damage. And last year, his team helped the farming community in that region recover quickly after unprecedented flooding.

A former Rotaractor and Interactor, Skerritt has received numerous awards for his research and governmental work in agricultural science and development.

“I learned during my Ambassadorial Scholarship how international collaborations are such a powerful way of addressing big issues,” says Skerritt. “Whether it’s medical, food security, or environmental causes, the basis of my work is to improve the lives of others. Rotary showed me the importance of giving.”

German alumni group recognized

Rotary Foundation Alumni Deutschland (RFAD), the alumni association in Germany, has been selected as the recipient of The Rotary Foundation 2011-12 Alumni Association of the Year Award.

“We are thrilled to receive this award, which honors the joint effort of many generations of RFAD presidents and members,” says Christoph Saenger, president of the group. “We feel like appreciated members of the Rotarian family, and hope the award will raise the awareness for TRF alumni among Rotarians.”

Chartered in 1998, RFAD is dedicated to maintaining and strengthening contact between alumni and Rotary. The group’s 270 members organize seminars for participants in inbound and outbound Foundation programs and regularly meet with Rotarians. They support a variety of humanitarian projects internationally and fund their own Rotary scholarship through the Foundation every five years.

In 2010-11, RFAD raised about US$13,500 to complete a water project in Costa Rica, provide water wells in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and help a school in a tsunami-affected region of Japan.

“This gives our alumni the wonderful feeling to make a difference by, for example, helping an incoming scholar to overcome the cultural shock of arriving in Germany, or by engaging in service projects,” Saenger says.

Among other activities, RFAD’s International Oktoberfest Alumni Event, open to alumni worldwide, includes workshops on how to improve alumni collaboration and cultural activities.

“The RFAD success story provides evidence that the generous support from Rotarians for young scholars bears fruit,” Saenger says. “After being volunteers, Group Study Exchange team members, peace fellows, or Ambassadorial Scholars, these grateful and enthusiastic alumni become a valuable future resource for Rotary.”