Cycling, Rotary Grants, a New ADG and a Rotary Grant to Somalia.

Rotary Information Meeting

Krugersdorp

Luderitz

Steve du Plessis gave us a presentation on the 9-Day Rotary Cycle Tour, Krugersdorp to Luderitz starting on 18th April, 2014 which we are organising in conjunction with Morningside Club.



Graham Donet then gave a presentation on the new Grant Structure of the Rotary Foundation and how we would be able to fit in with this, project-wise.

DISTRICT GRANTS

District grants fund smaller, short-term activities that address needs in your community and communities worldwide. Each Rotary district gets to choose which projects it will fund with these grants.

GLOBAL GRANTS

Global grants support large international activities that have sustainable, measurable outcomes in one or more of our areas of focus. Rotarians create their own projects and carry them out. We accept and review applications as they arrive.

PACKAGED GRANTS

Francis Callard

Packaged grants are designed by Rotary and our strategic partners. They fund activities that are similar to those for global grants, but the work of designing the activity’s general framework has already been done.

This Week is a Business Meeting but Past District Governor Francis Callard who is the head of our Region will be introducing our new Assistant Governor for this year.


An Email from Don Lindsay

Dear Joan, Mike and the members of New Dawn,

Don Lindsay

Thank you for the information you sent.  I did my little talk this morning and, as with all things South African here, there was a lot of interest and a good turnout.  The members of my new club were most impressed with the achievements of New Dawn.  They particularly liked the concept of New Dawn trying to reinvigorate the character of the organisation, in general.  While far bigger, Rotary here seems to face many of the same problems as in SA.

I must say that I was, myself, very impressed as to the achievements of New Dawn, when writing up the talk.  The club really has achieved something very special. A point that particularly surprised my audience was the breadth of projects and relationships that the club has developed in four short years.  I know there is a concern that New Dawn needs big sexy projects but, from an external perspective, you make a big difference to a lot of people and it is debatable whether you would touch as many lives with a focus on large, time-consuming projects. 

Don Lindsay

Don Lindsay

Such was the impact of the New Dawn story that I was immediately approached to be president of the club - the RC of Curitiba Agua Verde wants to be 'New Dawn-ised'!  This can have been in little part due to my presentation skills which suffered through my elementary Portuguese but it is, rather, a testament to the merits of the New Dawn project and the contribution of its members over the last 4 years.  Congratulations, New Dawn is going international!

Now, any chance I could persuade some of you to transfer - I need Peter to do a blog, Linda to do PR, Alan Beuthin to do membership, the Donets and the Vinks to set the standard for socialising and it would be nice if Steve could organise for Yvonne to sing for us at fundraisers.  John or Sam would help greatly with the average age……………..

Abraços,

Donald Lindsay


These people are all called Don Lindsay.  Try and guess which one sent the email.

 Trouble Finding a Job?  See Below:

ROTARY APPROVES $500,000 EMERGENCY GRANT FOR SOMALIA

A child receives the oral polio vaccine during an immunization campaign. As of 14 August, 110 cases of wild poliovirus have been reported in the Horn of Africa.

Photo Credit: Iman Morooka/UNICEF

Rotary has approved a $500,000 Rapid Response grant to the World Health Organization (WHO) to address a recent polio outbreak in Somalia. The outbreak occurred in the Banadir region of Somalia, where a large number of children had not been vaccinated against polio due to inaccessibility. 

As of 14 August, 110 cases of wild poliovirus have been reported in the Horn of Africa—100 cases in Somalia and 10 in Kenya. This is the first outbreak in Somalia since 2007 and in Kenya since 2011.

The Rotary grant will cover operational costs, including human resources, training, and transportation of health workers, aimed at immunizing children under 10 in all accessible areas of Somalia in August. 

To date, five vaccination campaigns have been held in Somalia, three in Kenya, two each in Ethiopia and Yemen, and one in Djibouti.  Additional campaigns are planned through the end of the year.

Drawing on lessons learned from previous polio outbreaks, the first vaccination campaign was carried out within a week after the first case was confirmed.

“Until polio transmission is interrupted in the endemic countries, outbreaks such as the one in Somalia are to be expected,” says Dr. Hamid Jafari, director of Polio Research and Operations at WHO. “So long as the budget for the new Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan is fully funded, we’re well-equipped to pursue endemic and outbreak priorities simultaneously.”

Rotary’s emergency funding for responses to polio outbreaks in Somalia and other countries has been critical to ensuring that immunization activities proceed without interruption, thereby minimizing the risk of the disease’s further international spread. 

In addition, the governments of the United Kingdom and Japan recently announced financial commitments of $15.3 million and $1.3 million, respectively, to fund similar emergency vaccination campaigns in the Horn of Africa.

The United Nations has warned that without further intervention, polio could quickly develop into an epidemic across East Africa and put countless lives at risk. The UK’s assistance will allow WHO to immunize 6.1 million people most at risk from the disease in Somalia, northern Kenya, and other countries in the region. This new funding is in addition to a $457 million pledge to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in April.

Japan’s emergency grant will pay for more than 5 million doses of oral polio vaccine for supplementary immunization activities in November and December, expected to reach more than 2.8 million children under 10.