Last Week
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| Francis Callard came to promote Foundation |
Steve du Plessis gave us a very good presentation on the Rotary New Dawn Cycle Tour. The tour to Luderitz will be in alternate years and next year will be a circular tour through Southern Gauteng and the Free State. Congratulations, Steve, on such a successful first tour! This is a project that will go from strength to strength.
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| Jankees Sligcher |
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| Amina Frense |
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| Steve du Plessis |
President Joan Donet presented Certificates of Appreciation to Amina Frense & Jankees Sligcher for their hard work at the Rotary Family Health Days and to Steve du Plessis for the Rotary New Dawn Cycle Tour. Congratulations!
This Week
It's the monthly Business Meeting, the last one of this Rotary Year.
I think that this Turkish Project is fantastic!
ROTARY PROJECT CREATES COOKBOOK FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED
A woman with a black apron is stirring tomatoes into a pan of vegetables in Bursa, Turkey. Visually impaired, she is being helped by an assistant, who is a spouse of a Turkish Rotary member.
Elsewhere in the kitchen, other cooks and Rotary spouses are preparing meatballs, slicing and peeling eggplants, and measuring out cookie dough. At a table in an adjacent dining area, a man is reading a recipe from a Braille cookbook.
The cookbook, "Good Smells From the Kitchen," has enabled many members of the Library of Turkey for the Visually Disabled to enter the kitchen with new confidence.
"For the first time I made lentil meatballs," says Sϋheyla Karayalçin, a book recipient. "I had never done it before. I let others taste it, it was nice. I am very excited to have a special recipe book for us [people with visual impairments]."
The activity is part of a project by Rotary members in western Turkey, who have partnered with the library to produce the country's first cookbook for the visually impaired, printed in Braille and recorded on audio CD. Several dozen copies of the book have rolled off the library's presses and have been recorded in the library's studio, and given free to library members. Additional copies are printed as Rotary members secure funding and line up new sponsors.
Günes Ertaş says fellow Rotary club members came up with the idea after they had helped the library purchase Braille machines and other equipment through Rotary grants. Ertaş's wife, Fίgen, collected more than 100 recipes.
"We asked for recipes from Rotary spouses living in the areas from Canakkale to Fethiye," Fίgen says. "We asked them to empathize with persons with visual impairments before sending recipes. There would not be any sentences like 'add flour until the mixture comes together'; the recipes would be precise. We did not want to have measures in grams. Instead we asked for adjustable measures like tea cups and spoons."
A committee made up of a food engineer, a dietitian, several recipe contributors, and library users tested each recipe before selecting 100. Bursa chef Omur Akkor cooked each recipe with his eyes closed and made further adjustments.
"I came across an interesting description to dice a carrot in the book," says Karayalçin. "It says slice like a backgammon dice since not everybody may know what a cube is, but everybody knows the size of a backgammon dice. I usually do not spend much time in the kitchen, but thanks to this book I am more interested in cooking."
The recipes are divided into categories including soups, salads, starters, vegetables, main dishes, desserts, pastry, and bread. While the cookbooks were coming off the library's printers, Rotary spouses recorded the recipes for the audio version in a recording studio.
The recipes are divided into categories including soups, salads, starters, vegetables, main dishes, desserts, pastry, and bread. While the cookbooks were coming off the library's printers, Rotary spouses recorded the recipes for the audio version in a recording studio.
Four cooking courses were held in Izmir and Bursa to give library members a chance to practice the recipes. They were each given a free copy of the book and cooking utensils. Another course was organized by Rotary spouses in Balikeshir in December for children with visual impairments and their mothers.
The cookbook won first place among all Turkish entries in the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in the categories of Best Innovative Cookbook and Best Charity Cookbook. It now advances to the world finals in Bejing. Günes says he and his wife plan to attend the award ceremony in May.
The project has also been featured on Turkish television and was selected by the Sabanci Foundation as one of its 100 changemaker projects. Günes says Rotary members continue to seek new sponsors to print additional copies of the cookbook, which costs $150. The name of sponsors are included on an inside page.
"This book is the first of its kind in Turkey," Günes says. "That's what makes this project special. That and a lot of people were involved. It shows what can be done in Rotary through collaboration."
And here's something from the RI Convention in Sydney:
ROTARY’S HISTORIC CLIMB IN SYDNEY
During Friday's world record-breaking Sydney Harbour bridge climb, Rotary members raised enough money to protect 240,000 kids from polio.
Despite the physically grueling four-hour trek up and down the bridge's storied steel arches, the 340 participants kept their good spirits and stood side-by-side waving 278 flags.
"When the helicopters were going around, you just felt like one great big nation," says Graeme Davies, district governor of the Rotary Club of Kincumber in Australia.
The massive turnout eclipsed Oprah Winfrey's world-record climb in 2011 when she summited the bridge alongside 315 of her most ardent fans. But for Rotary members, the record paled in comparison to the experience and the opportunity to take a step closer to ending polio forever. The event raised 110,000 Australian dollars (US$102,300).
"It made me even prouder to be a Rotarian," said John Avakian from Healdsburg, California, USA. "It was an incredible experience of tremendous camaraderie."
Rotary members cheered for each of the 26 groups as they made way through the lobby to the entrance of the bridge climb. Cloud cover hid the sun for most of the morning, but light broke through briefly as the climbers unfurled their flags, which had been tucked into their sleeves during the ascent. Helicopters circled overhead from a variety of local Sydney news stations. Climbers cheered, danced, and even broke into the "Wave" from 400 feet above ground.
"I think that's exactly what Rotary needs," said Nate Harimoto of Thousand Oaks, California, "a show of force from all around the world."
Climbers from Taiwan, Australia, China, Japan, United States, and dozens of other countries and regions supported each other during the event. They watched each other's backs, literally and figuratively, helping to steer climbers' heads away from hanging steel beams. For a day, their commitment to help others also became a commitment to help each other. And in the process, they raised enough money to show the world how committed they are to polio eradication.
For Leilani Ross of Queensland, however, the climb was also about closing an important family chapter. She had long wanted to climb the bridge with her father, but didn't get the chance before he died a few years ago.
"The friendliness is just wonderful," Ross said. "Everyone is very welcoming."
Cheryl Drozdowicz, a former Youth Exchange student from Wisconsin, USA, who stayed with Ross 35 years ago, watched her go up. After the convention, Drozdowicz will travel back to Queensland for the first time since her program all those years ago.
"I always feel like a piece of my heart is still there," Drozdowicz said.
Fondly known as the "Coat Hanger," the bridge officially opened in 1932. The bridge is also referred to as the "Iron Lung" because it employed so many Australians during the Great Depression. Tourists began climbing the bridge in 1998, which is now considered a tourist must with over 3 million visitors from more than 130 countries in that time.
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