Greg Stathacopoulos, the Tutu Desk, Our Sponsored Lecture at Wits, GOLF DAY REMINDER! and an example of a Rotary Global Grant.

Many thanks to Greg Stathacopoulos, the Chair of the District Rotary Foundation Committee, for his talk about the Foundation, District Grants and Global Grants and they could best be applied to our CCCCC's Project.  Mike Sunker from CCCCC's was at the meeting and it meant that we are all aware of what we can apply for and how and the importance of sustainablility.  Many thanks Greg for explaining something that is often made to sound extremely complex but in fact is not difficult when we understand where District and the Foundation's priorities lie.

Owing to my increasingly decaying memory I only remembered half-way through the meeting that our official photographer was not present so you will have to admire Greg Stathacopoulos after his breakfast rather than in lecture mode!

We had a very good turn out, as well, after quite a lean period and it was good to see people back from  their travels.

Golf Day 16th November
Many thanks for the bottles that are beginning to flow in for the Wheelbarrow.  Just bring them to Rotary on Wednesday.  We are keeping a list of what we receive to maintain a Balanced Barrow.  Four Balls etc please pass on to Greg Smith.  I am still waiting to hear from Sweden but will let you know as soon as I do.
Don't forget to beg borrow or steal prizes, no matter what they may be....dinners at restaurants, cinema tickets, weekends away, what-ever....but remember that four people are in a four ball!


This Week
Our speaker is Shane Immelman who will be talking about the Tutu Desk Foundation.

Tutudesk's Story

In 2004 Shane Immelman recognised the need for school desks in South Africa. He came up with a simple, low-technology solution, the Tutudesk (previously called 'Lapdesk'). He quickly received demand for the desk from across Sub Saharan Africa and, since then, over 1 million desks have been distributed across 24 countries in Sub Saharan Africa.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu become Patron in 2005 and in 2011 the idea for the Tutudesk Campaign was conceived. Our goal is to provide 20 million desks to 20 million children across Sub Saharan Africa by 2015.

The Tutudesk head office is in Cape Town, South Africa and regional offices are being set up in several other countries in support of the 2015 campaign. 

                          

The Department of Sociology, Wits University 

and the 

Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn

invite you to the 2^nd Annual Rotary Lecture:

South Africa’s Democracy and Human Rights:

Progress and Challenges

Dr. Pregs Govender

South African Human Rights Commission, Deputy Chairperson

Wednesday, 3^rd October 2012

Venue:

Wits University, Southwest Engineering Building, Ground Floor, Room 10.

Safe Parking at Yale Road, Wits

Time:

5:30pm for 6:00pm

Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Johannesburg, New Dawn and the Faculty of Humanities, University of the 

Witwatersrand

Global grant helps pediatric heart surgery project in India, Pakistan

By Daniela Garcia
Rotary News -- 20 September 2012
 

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After his surgery, Momna, a patient from Pakistan, is held by his father. Photo courtesy of Ashok Kumar Agarwal/Rotary Club of Tagore Land

Rotary International on Facebook

A Rotary Foundation global grant of over US$54,000 is helping to fund Heart to Heart, which provides surgeries for children with congenital heart disease in India and Pakistan. The project supports the maternal and child health area of focus under the Foundation’s Future Vision Plan.

Rotary clubs from districts 3240 (India) and 5340 (USA) raised funds and sponsored children whose families could not afford the life-saving surgery, which was performed at Durgapur Mission Hospital in West Bengal, India.

During his term as governor of District 3240, Ashok Kumar Agarwal learned that the Rotary Club of Imphal in Manipur had sponsored 22 children for surgery. Among them was Rishikanta, a 7-year-old boy whose story was turned into the award-winning film Heart to Heart.

Agarwal took up the cause and decided to provide surgeries to young children from poor families with congenital heart defects. “I pegged the final figure at 100 children for this project,” he says.

Agarwal hopes that, in addition to improving the health and quality of life for children with congenital heart defects, Heart to Heart will help the children become active members of their communities and the project will improve India’s relations with the neighboring country of Pakistan .

The Rotary Club of Vista, California, in District 5340 is the project’s international sponsor. The club has worked on similar efforts, including a mobile medical van project that stemmed from a club member’s trip to India.

Past Vista president Matt Koumaras says it was important to club members not just to help children “in such desperate need, but also to bring some sense of community.”  

Past District Governor Larry Sundram, also a Vista club member, helped promote and implement the project, and five other clubs from District 5340 helped financially sponsor children who qualified for surgery. 

In 2010, District 3240 partnered with Korean districts 3660 and 3630 to establish Heart to Heart, and received a $70,000 Foundation grant that helped provide surgery to 46 children. Additional funds were raised for more surgeries, with the project benefitting 56 children total that year.

Agarwal says that with this second grant, along with additional funds and contributions, he’ll be able to reach his initial goal of helping 100 children.

“This project has drawn widespread acclaim in our district and the council of governors is of the opinion that we continue this project in order for as many children as possible to benefit from it,” Agarwal says.