Last week Steve Du Plessis spoke to us about the Princess of Africa Foundation and Yvonne Chaka Chaka's involvement with the club.She really has been involved with the club and that is quite amazing when you think how busy she is. We are lucky to have an honorary member who is much more than that!
Business MeetingThis week is a Business Meeting, the first one of the year so it's a very important one! Our President and board members have been having sleepless nights trying to sort out the year ahead. Monday's board meeting will be a marathon session and President Amina has advised board members to bring sleeping bags and a bottle of brandy just in case we run into the following day.
Short-term Exchange Students
Our incoming and outgoing Short-term Exchange students will be attending Wednesday's meeting if their unreliable taxi driver manages to get them to the meeting.....help...I must remember to pick them up!.......
Larissa Szecsey is here from Germany and our outgoing student, Miriam Ssebunnya from Dominican Convent School, leaves in December for Germany.
Rotarians carry the Olympic torch
Rotarian Bob Izon carries the Olympic torch through Hereford, England, in May. Photo courtesy of Bob Izon
In 1958, Bob Izon ran the mile in world-record time in the under-16 age category, becoming the English schools champion.
But the most meaningful run of his life took place in May, when the founding member of the Rotary Club of Hereford Wye Valley, Herefordshire, England, carried the Olympic torch through his hometown.
Izon is one of several Rotarians who have carried the torch on its relay to the new Olympic Stadium in London for the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics on 27 July.
“I consider myself very fortunate to have been chosen, as half the bearers are ages 15 to 25,” he says. “It gave me a chance to pursue three objectives: inspire the younger generation, publicize Rotary’s good works, and show that a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease does not always condemn one to a nonactive life.”
Parkinson’s disease
Izon was diagnosed with the disease in 1992 but has remained active as a Rotarian, a justice of the peace, and a school board member at St. Paul’s Church of England Primary School in Hereford.
The school’s students and their parents lined the road on 24 May for Izon’s portion of the torch relay. Members of his club bore a huge banner publicizing Rotary and their upcoming charity duck race. During an all-school assembly the next day, students spent more than two hours taking turns holding the torch that had carried the flame and having their photographs taken.
“The atmosphere within the school hall was highly emotional, and quite a few of us were close to tears,” recalls Izon. “This was truly the most remarkable week in the 144-year history of the school.”
Izon’s Parkinson’s is now largely under control. In 2003, he participated in a trial procedure at the University of Birmingham Hospital, in which electrodes were placed in his brain, alleviating many of the symptoms.
He has continued to participate in Rotary service projects. Serving as a volunteer dentist on a medical mission to help Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong years ago, he says, reminded him that millions lack access to health care.
“Having Parkinson’s, being a school governor, being a Rotarian, these have all combined to give me an effective message,” he says. “I can say to the kids, don’t give in, and they believe it.”
Other torchbearers
Ken Logan, a member of the Rotary Club of Braids, Lothian, Scotland, ran his segment of the relay in June. He was nominated in part for his role in an Edinburgh charity that delivers aid to Bosnia, for which he has raised over £10,000 through marathons and long-distance swimming.
Mike Thorn, a member of the Rotary Club of Cheam, Greater London, carried the torch through Kent in July.
“It’s an opportunity to be part of history. It’s priceless, and it doesn’t get much better than this,” says Thorn. “It’s the nearest thing to running in the Olympics.”
Rotary ready for London 2012 Olympics
Rotarians across Great Britain and Ireland are ready to welcome the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Rotary offices in London are opening their doors to all during the Games, offering a relaxing place to draw breath and provide a meeting point for Rotarians who have travelled from all over the world to support their Olympic athletes.
John Minhinick, President of Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland (RIBI), says Rotary is ready to welcome all: "Rotary is always looking for ways to bring people together and the London Olympics is a marvellous way to make that happen. We have people from so many countries making the journey to London and the other Olympic venues, it is so fitting that Rotary is offering a welcome.
"The Rotary in London headquarters in York Gate will be open for business throughout the Games, thanks to Rotary volunteers and I believe our friends from Inner Wheel are also helping. That's not all that Rotary is doing. I have heard that Rotarians are hoping to greet people at airports, welcoming them to our country, and some are getting their hands dirty by cleaning Olympic apartments whilst raising money for good causes.
"Also, two of the RIBI youth competitions have been awarded the Inspire mark which means that they have been approved by LOCOG and are using the Olympics as a theme. The London 2012 Inspire mark is only awarded to carefully selected events which capture the spirit of the London 2012 Olympics, in recognition of their work in one of six areas: sustainability, education, volunteering, business, sport or culture. These, and the many other RIBI competitions, are open to youngsters everywhere and are well worth entering.
"All of us in Rotary wish every Olympic athlete the best of luck this year and hopefully our local participants will pick up a few medals too."
Rotarians wishing to help the Olympics achieve success can visit the RIBI Olympic Committee pages.
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