A Healthy Look at the RFHD

The health days at the new site in Albert Street in downtown Johannesburg, have come and gone (much to the relief, no doubt, of Steve du Plessis and Paul Kasango) and Paul briefed the meeting last week on the immediate impressions.
     Paul reported that, according to the registration records, 317 people were screened in total over the three days, of whom 147 were male and 170 female.

Paul Kasango (right) with a helper from the aid group Gift of the Givers, who brought food parcels 

      Carol Stier, our president, disputed the figures, saying that not everybody had followed the same registration process and many had gone for tests before registering officially, or not registering at all.
     The figures are more or less in line with the number of people who came for tests at the previous two sites in Soweto. The Albert Street venue was chosen because the local health department thought it would be more effective in servicing people who don't normally have access to health services and testing and screening.

Frayne Mathijs explaining procedure to a visitor to the site

     These figures were achieved despite a late start on the first day and rain on the Friday. Despite this Paul, who was and is the club champion of the RFHD effort, as well as the others that helped, seemed in favour of retaining the site in future.
     The RFHD is a showcase event for Rotary and an opportunity for clubs to work together outside of the District structures. Over the years it seems to have taken on a life of its own and the club is very lucky to have a champion at ground level like Paul and in District Governor Jankees Sligcher, who is a tireless promotor of the RFHD.

DG Jankees Sligcher and president Carol Stier at Albert Street

     That's not to mention Steve, who is the head of the Gauteng province's arrangements.
     DG Jankees has proposed that the health days be held more regularly during the year and that the clubs use the opportunity to build a more solid relationship with the staff at the clinics
     Paul says one of the chief difficulties is working with department of health officials from all three tiers of government (municipal, provincial and national) who don't always communicate with one another.

President Carol Stier and Debbie de Vries take down particulars of the visitors coming to register

     Everybody agreed that the food parcels that Gift of the Givers brought provided a highlight of the three days. Many of the parcels were taken to the most desperate of the slum dwellers on the fringes of the CBD, providing much needed nutrition where it mattered most.
     It was a busy weekend for Paul, as he spent the Saturday at the Rotary Foundation seminar at Van Gaalen's Cheese Farm near the Hartbeespoort Dam in the Magaliesberg.
     Paul says he came away from the seminar with fresh insights into global and district grants and our District Governor Representative, Christopher Thompson, who also attended the meeting, agreed that the process of applying for TRF grants has been much simplified.

Humanitarian Centre
     Last Saturday Frayne, Amina Frense and I had a busy time at the Humanitarian Centre, overseeing a school who were collecting books for two new school libraries in KwaZulu Natal.
     They had been there for a few days before Saturday and by the time they left at about midday, had collected more than 8000 books. Each of the sites will get a brand new library made out of two joined containers.

The team of Interactors who helped collect the books, flanked by Amina and I in front of the Humanitarian Centre. From left they are Sameer Alli, Aadilah Alli, Justine Pillay and president Kashmiri Rajbally of the Interact Club Crawford La Lucia. From the Interact Club Reddan House were Katelyn Schenck, Isla Just, Akshay Makahn and Daniel Klopper

Peter Rittles of Crawford La Lucia, who is
 overseeing the new libraries

Dates to Diarise
     Right everybody, out with the diaries and let's start taking notes; there is a very busy time ahead for the Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn.
     First up is the meeting on Wednesday, where Ian Widdop and Julian Nagy will be speaking on the proposed Arts on Main fundraising project. There promises to be a few surprises in the pipeline.
     For the following Wednesday, 26 October, the speaker will be Barnard Beukman, editor of Beeld. We bumped into him recently and Linda snagged him to come and speak about the media in a changing political landscape. He also promised to give us a prediction on what could happen in the ANC in December.
     The next fundraising event is Winex on Wednesday 25, Thursday 26 and Friday 27 October. It's being held at the Sandton Convention Centre and starts in the afternoon and runs into the evenings.
     The volunteers so far for the Wednesday are Frayne Mathijs, president Carol Stier, Judy Symons and Linda and I.
     On the Thursday Joan and Graham Donet, Julian Nagy and Linda and I will be there.
     The Donets, Sam and Rob Verceuil and Linda and I will do duty on the Friday.
     It'll be a busy weekend, as the Macsteel Cycle Race is being held on Sunday, 29 October.  The usual suspects will be there: Carol, Judy Symons, Frayne, Paul Kasango and Linda and myself have committed, but we need two more marshals. All volunteers gladly welcome!
     In preparation for the Golf Day on 10 November there will be two sessions of raffle ticket sales, on Friday 3 November at the Parkview Golf Club (from about 5pm to 7pm) and on Sunday 5 November at the Parkview Spar from 10am to midday.
     We're still in dire need of players, hole sponsors, prizes or prize sponsors and raffle prizes if we're going to be able to make R50 000 out of the golf day.
     Also, please remember to bring a few bottles of booze for the barrel of booze to the next few meetings.
     A Thought for the Week: In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards. - Mark Twain (1835-1910)