Books for Madiba's Birthday

We celebrated what would've been Nelson Mandela's 100th birthday last Wednesday at the Johannesburg Children's Home in Observatory, one of the oldest Johannesburg suburbs.
     With the help of a very generous discount from Mistry's in Fordsburg we bought 7 bookcases, which in total cost only R5000, and stocked them with books from the Humanitarian Distribution Centre.

The New Dawn gang, from left Peta Thomas, Mike and Linda Vink and Debbie de Vries were joined by Celeste Honeywill and Annette Brokensha of the Johannesburg Children's Home and Greta Schuler

     Linda and I were joined there by club members Frayne Mathijs, Debbie de Vries, Debbie Smith, Peta Thomas and Carol Stier.
     We brought Greta Schuler along and Debbie de Vries brought a friend, Danika Vosloo, with to help pack the bookshelves under careful supervision of Frayne!

Peta Thomas, Debbie Smith nd Frayne Mathijs at the Johannesburg Children's Home. Peta and Frayne selected the books

     It was a fun morning, although very cold, but many more books are needed to fill those shelves.
     The children at the home live in 7 different houses and their ages range from very young to 19 years old. Peta Thomas and Frayne Mathijs selected books from the Humanitarian Centre to reflect the interests of children of the appropriate ages.
     Some club members brought along books as well, so please go through your bookshelves and pass on anything you think children would like to read. This could become an ongoing project.
     The Johannesburg Children's Home seems to be well run but as with most such institutions, they need every bit of help they can get.

Debbie de Vries and Greta discussing where a book should go

     Despite there not being a formal meeting last Wednesday, it was quite a busy Rotary week and included the induction of Alastair Billing as president of Africa's oldest Rotary club, the Rotary Club of Johannesburg.
     Alastair was also at our own induction, along with Jan Christoph Hadenfeldt, the incoming president of the Rotary Club of Northcliff, whose induction is on 1 August.

Linda, John and I represented New Dawn at the Rotary Club of Johannesburg induction. Also there were Jeanne and Peter James-Smith, PDG Francis and Janet Callard and Alastair, who was inducted as president

     The Rotaract club we are inducting in 1 August (a busy day lies ahead!) is a joint operation with the Johannesburg club and there is also an upcoming quiz night with the Johannesburg and Northcliff clubs.
     Our three clubs all fall under Peter James-Smith as AG, so it makes sense to tackle joint initiatives with them.

Linda and I joined Nick Stier, who played in the ProAm and Mike MacDonald at the Wanderers

     Wednesday also saw Mike MacDonald's ProAm Golf Day at the Wanderers, traditionally held the day before the British Open. New Dawn was a beneficiary to the tune of R10 000, which will go towards the money we've pledged to The Link Literacy Project. By the way, they've already spent almost R75 000 of that money.
     Mike managed to draw a sizeable field to his Golf Day and will hopefully put his selling skills to good use when our own Golf Day is held in October.
     Remember that Carin Holmes is speaking at the meeting on Wednesday, so make an effort to be there.
     A Thought for the Week: In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on. - Robert Frost (1874 - 1963)