The Guitar Man Sings For His Breakfast

Jannie can sing, that was clear at the meeting last Wednesday when Jannie du Toit and Susan Mouton, accompanying him on cello, spoke to the club and then sang two songs before leaving for an appointment in Pretoria.
     Jannie du Toit has been in and around the Afrikaans music scene for decades, having started out at the then Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit (now the University of Johannesburg) in 1971. I know the feeling, I started there in 1972 and Linda in 1973.

Jannie du Toit belting out a tune at the meetings, which are normally more sedate than the
gathering last Wednesday

     Jannie owns the Agterplaas Guest House in Melville. Linda and I and I'm sure other members, notably Steve and Jenine (they're in the same church), have heard him sing over the years and his voice is just as strong at the age of 66 as it was way back when he started out in the music business 48 years ago.
     He spoke about a nasty experience on Mandela Day in July when he was accosted on his way back to his car after an appointment for the launch of Aardklop at the Market Theatre in Newtown and robbed of his cellphone. He was grabbed from behind and stabbed twice in the leg in the process of trying to resist, the second wound being quite deep.

Jannie with Susan Mouton, principal cellist with the JPO

     Security guards chased the perpetrator down and Jannie says the guy was mobbed and beaten by about 40 people before being taken by ambulance to hospital. By then the phone had already been passed on to someone else.
     He himself had to rely on a friend to take him for treatment at the Milpark hospital.
     Afterwards he thought that if Nelson Mandela could be forgiving after 27 years in jail, he should follow the example and has moved on from the incident.
     Jannie spoke of his career of 25 years with the pianist Christa Steyn, who died of cancer in 2012. They visited 25 countries and performed in at least 20 of those over the years.
     In the past few years he has performed with Susan, who is the principal cellist in the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

Carl Chemaly at the meeting

     He is currently working on a new album of songs he has written himself, his first original album in some years. It includes a song titled Koffiekafeetjie about Melville, of which he sang an excerpt to the gathered members.
     He then sang the Mary Hopkin hit Those Were the Days and ended with a Jacques Brel hit Marieke, which he sang in English, Dutch and French and left the normally very vocal audience speechless. Or at least for a few moments.
     Before leaving he said he has put together a Brel show which is available should anyone wish to put on an event. There's food for thought.

Rusty van der Walt (back) and Michael Joseph

     We had a number of visitors at the meeting, including Rusty van der Walt and Michael Joseph from the organisation Wish Come True who aim to help in Steve du Plessis' dream of setting up a fund from which deserving students can be helped to further their studies and or research.
     Carl Chemaly, the Sheriff of Parkview as Paul calls him, also visited after an absence which included having a hip replacement at a relatively young age and Emilio Kiyeta Yamfu (I hope I got that right) from the DRC who is interested in Rotary and all it does. Who knows, we might be able to snare them both as members.

Emilio Kiyeta Yamfu came for a visit from the DRC

     Membership and all it encompasses, including gaining new members, welcoming and mentoring existing members and keeping members involved in club activities, were prominent at the Club Assembly on Saturday morning.
     The attendance was great and it was good to see members such as Zena Kimaro and Sam Deverneuil there, both of whom can't be at regular meetings due to work commitments.

Julian Nagy explaining (and extracting) strategy

     Julian Nagy put in a lot of work to keep the assembly structured and the debate going. He reminded us of decisions made five years ago which still hold true about the club (except the one where we wanted to have 40 - 50 members by now).
     If you couldn't make it and want to know more, speak to Julian or anyone else who was at the meeting. Minutes of the meeting will also be available once the board has approved them.

Renewing acquaintances ... Sam Deverneuil and Carin Holmes at the
first club assembly of the year

     The next board meeting is on Friday, 7 September at 4.30 at the Parkview Golf Club and is, as always, open to any member of the club just to to listen or to take part in the discussions.
     If there are any particular issues you want to raise, ask Joan Donet to add it to the agenda.
     Remember also that the Jozi Book Fair is on at the weekend, as per the email sent out yesterday. Please contact Frayne to go and help out.
     The new Rotaract club has already been active and joined the marshalling teams at the Greatest Train Race in Middelburg last Saturday, one of the coldest days in late winter. We owe them a debt of gratitude as those who have been there in previous years will remember how cold it gets at 4am in that part of the world.

The Rotaracters fighting off the cold in at the Greatest Train Race. From left are Alfred Kadunga, Monique Marques, Paulina Nqubeni, Victoria Adekomaya, Nadine Mitchell and Minenhle Majola

     Minenhle Majola reports that their experience in the Rotary family have been great since their inception on 1 August. They renewed their acquaintance with District Governor Charles Deiner in Middelburg, as the Rotary Club of Middelburg will also be heavily involved with their research projects for their postgraduate studies.
     Their visit for the Greatest Train Race was a learning curve, says Minenhle.
     "We got to witness at first hand how contemporary management aspects were applied for the success of the event; and the collaboration between the Rotarians and the community as a whole."
     Apparently they enjoyed the good old Rotary fellowship as well! Well done to the Rotaracters. They've also volunteered to help at the Jozi Book Fair at the weekend and later with the Golf Day.
     A Thought for the Week: Whatever you are, be a good one. - Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

Doing Things the Chinese Way

Michael is doing a good job of rowing his boat, all the way to China and back again and in September all the way there again on a slow boat to China for his second year at the University of Ningbo, a coastal city slightly more than two hours south of Shanghai.
     Michael joined the meeting last week at the invitation (or is it insistence) of his father, Paul Kasango, to tell us about his experiences in China and his studies in microelectronic science and engineering.

A proud Paul Kasango and his son, Michael

     His is a fascinating journey into a strange land and culture, but then he is following in his father's footsteps, who graduated at the University of Zagreb!
     Michael says Ningbo, with a population of about 7 million (Johannesburg numbers just over 4 million) is relatively small by Chinese standards, with both Shanghai and Beijing numbering well over 20 million each.

Michael Kasango's presentation on Ningbo

     The university has 25000 Chinese students and a further 5000 from overseas.
     The Chinese government has granted 800 bursaries for South Africans to study in China, but much to Paul's frustration he has not yet been able to access those funds.
     Michael says he is enjoying his studies, even learning Mandarin, which is compulsory. It took him 3 days to master the art of eating with chopsticks, but he looks healthy enough, so he must have leant the right way.

Michael says he has met people from all over the world in China

     He lived on campus for his first year, but is moving into digs for the second year with a student from Morocco and a fellow South African.
     The nightlife consists largely of going to karaoke bars, he said.

The life of a student is full of fun and hard work

     It's not the first time Michael has spoken to the club. He went on a Rotary Short-Term Exchange Programme in Germany before his university studies and came and told us all about his experiences there.
     He says he initially thought of qualifying in Germany, but chose China instead when that proved impossible to arrange.

Mike MacDonald talking about the Golf Day

     The rest of the meeting was taken up by club matters, most notably the Golf Day.
     After the meeting when Carol went to speak to the Parkview Golf Club management about arrangements, we found out that the Golf Day reservation had never been made, as we had believed.
     This has meant a date change and the Golf Day will now be held on Friday, 30 November.
     Please change this date in your diaries to avoid confusion.
     Frank Odenthal has pledged a "good old German Bollerwagen" (his words) to help sell raffle tickets. We'll have to see whether it is in addition to, or replaces the wheelbarrow we customarily use for the Barrow of Booze.

The sturdy German Bollerwagen

     Mike MacDonald is helping with the arrangements for the Golf Day, as Greg Smith is finding it difficult to attend meetings because of the nature of his work. They'll be speaking at the meeting again this week to make sure we're on track.
     In the meantime, please bring any spare bottles you have at home so that we can start filling the wheelbarrow (and/or Bollerwagen) as soon as possible. It helps no end to have a full barrow when selling the raffle tickets.
     Mike asked each member to provide one fourball to the competition to help make it a success.
     Please do anything you can to help; apart from players, we need sponsorships, prizes for the players and of course help in selling as many raffle tickets as possible.

Lucille Blumberg told the club she had been given an award by the Medical Research Council
 "for making the public safe"

     There was also a short discussion on social meetings and Carol Stier, who chairs the social subcommittee, asked that any suggestions of things to do or places to go, should first be sent to her for consideration.
     The club decided that the upcoming 5th Wednesday would take the form of a Spring celebration at the home of Julian and Debby Nagy. It will take place on Saturday, 1 September from about 4pm and members are asked to bring guests along, but also to bring something to braai and something to drink.
     The address is: 9 Roxburghe Ave, Craighall Park.
     Remember, the speaker this week is the Afrikaans singer and Mellvillite Jannie du Toit, a special guest indeed.
     A Thought for the Week: There are two theories to arguing with a woman. Neither works. - Will Rogers (1879-1935)




   

Woman Speaking About Women

A good speaker program helps to keep meetings lively and interesting, attracts members who may otherwise have decided to sleep in on a Wednesday morning, especially in winter and is one of the measures whether a club is going down the right path.
     Good speakers also attract guests who get to know the club and Rotary and could be enticed into becoming members.

Shireen Hassim with our latest member, Frank Odenthal

     Shireen Hassim, the speaker last week, turned out to be one of the best we've ever had. Shireen was invited to speak on the theme of Women's Day and why it is necessary to celebrate such a day.
     She did this with the life and struggles of Fatima Meer and Winnie Madikizela Mandela as a focus point, both women on which much of her research has focused in recent years.
     Shireen is a professor in politics at the University of the Witwatersrand, has gender politics as her main focus and has recently returned from a year as a research fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard in America. She has also studied at Oxford and got her doctorate in Canada.

Shireen Hassim addressing the club members and guests

     She described her year at Harvard as one of the greatest experiences of her life and described how, when she got there, she and her classmates were told they had free access to everything and anything at the university including any seminars you wish to attend.
     She described Winnie Mandela as "a kind of wound in our society that needs to be dealt with."
     She was one of a group of women in the apartheid years of the 40s and 50s who revived the role of women to advance justice. Although Winnie was too young to be a leader during the Women's March on August 9th 1956, she was very much involved.

Listening attentively ... Carin Holmes, Debbie Smith and Julian Nagy

     She later married Nelson Mandela in the early 60s before the Rivonia Trial and the beginning of his 27 years in jail.
     She spent two years in jail in 1969-1971, of which 491 days were in solitary confinement where she was tortured and and suffered a nervous breakdown. This radicalised her and taught her to fight violence with violence.
     After her involvement in the 1976 Soweto riots she was banished to the town of Brandfort in the Free State. In the subsequent years she became more radicalised and was involved with the Mandela United Football Club, which went out of control and was an embarrassment to the ANC, which by then had chosen the path of a peaceful transition.

Shireen chatting to Tina Stucke, Linda's sister

     It is fair to say that Shireen did enough to whet the appetite of those of us who were able to make it to the meeting and that there was general agreement that she should be asked to speak to the club again in future.

Frayne Mathijs with Judy Sanderson, an ex-journalist from the SABC and good friend of the club

     We had a good turnout of members as well as a whole handful of (obviously mostly women) guests. Linda railroaded her sister, Tina Stucke and daughters Rudi Kruger and Greta Schuler into attending. Also there was Judy Sandison, a retired SABC editor, up from KZN for a Sanef meeting.

Paul Kasango played nanny when Lizette of the DRC pitched up at the meeting with her baby. Greta Schuler looks on

Speakers
     There is no speaker this week, so the meeting will be used to discuss club business, especially the arrangement for the Golf Day on Friday, 9 November.
     Last year the income from the golf day was almost R90 000 and we've set ourselves the challenge to top R100 000 this year, not an impossible task if everone contributes where and with what the can.
     PDG Jankees Sligcher has also asked that the club discuss the PBO application as to when it will be done (the sooner the better) and why it is so urgent.
     We must also decide on what we're going to do on 29 August in place of a 5th Wednesday meeting.

Jannie du Toit will be speaking and singing next week

     The speaker next week (22 August) will be the singer Jannie du Toit, a fixture on the Melville scene for many years now. Jannie is also a guest house owner and had a recent narrow escape when he was attacked and stabbed during a robbery in Newtown.
     He has promised to bring his accompanist with to the meeting and will sing a few songs!

Dates to Diarise
     Remember the club assembly on Saturday 25 August at Twickenham Guest House at 9.00 am.
     The Jozi Book Fair takes place from 30 August to 2 September at Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown and Frayne Mathijs has called on all members to pay a visit as New Dawn has a stall there with the Books in Homes organisation.
     The Rotary Family Health Days are from Wednesday, 3 October to Friday, 5 October this year. Please talk to Paul about when you can help out on those days.
     On 6 October, also a Saturday, the club plans to visit the Vulture Feeding Scheme of the Brits-Hartbeespoort club in the Magaliesberg.
     Winex, another joint effort with other Rotary clubs, is on 24-27 October this year.
     A Thought for the Week: Some cause happiness wherever the go; others whenever they go. - Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)


   

A New Dawn for the Club

The meeting on Wednesday in many ways marked a coming of age for the Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn.
     We hosted the new District Governor Charles Deiner in the presence of PDG Jankees Sligcher, PDG Francis Callard and DGA Colleen Deiner along with PDGA Judy Sligcher and PDGA Janet Callard.

President Linda Vink introducing the DG, Charles Deiner. From left are Janet and Francis Callard, Mike and Linda Vink, Charles and DGA Colleen Deiner, and PDG Jankees and PDGA Judy Sligcher, whose birthday it was

     The meeting was held to welcome DG Charles and for the board to meet with him afterwards for the annual review by the district governor. We were lucky to be met by a still fresh DG Charles before he embarks on his travels for the next six months visiting all of the 79 clubs in the district.
     During the meeting DG Charles also presided over the induction into Rotary of the new Rotaract club of Johannesburg, jointly sponsored by New Dawn and the the Rotary Club of Johannesburg, the oldest club in Africa.

President Linda Vink and DG Charles Deiner

     We packed quite a bit more into the allotted hour, because the newest member of New Dawn, Frank Odenthal, was inducted as a member.
     Also on the agenda, PDG Jankees Sligcher was welcomed as a Paul Harris Fellow by PDG Francis Callard for sustained giving of $1000 per year in his personal capacity.

Our newest member, Frank Odenthal, flanked by President Peter Rokitta of Kyalami and Joan Donet, club secretary for the year

PDG Francis Callard pins the Paul Harris Fellowship pin onto PDG Jankees Sligcher's lapel

     In his speech DG Charles alluded to the importance of growing membership, something he hopes will flourish with PDG Jankees as Membership chair for District 9400 for the next three years.
     He called for Rotarians to be People of Action, a theme that is being given much emphasis in Rotary.

DG Charles and DGA Colleen Deiner with Tia the bear, whose namesake is on his way to the North Pole

     He also told of the adventures of Tia the Teddy Bear, who is on her way to the North Pole. Tia is travelling by boat with Lungi Mchunu, who aims to be the first woman from Africa to get to the North Pole. The expedition left three weeks ago and aims to leave the Arctic by September before it gets iced in.
     The original Tia came to South Africa in a container from Canada to Middelburg, home of the DG's home club, the Rotary Club of Middelburg, with books, desks and chairs.

The intrepid explorer Lungi Mchunu, who has taken Tia the Bear along for her attempt to become the first woman from Africa to sail to the North Pole

     With the help of Catherine Deiner, Tia hopes to publish a children's book about her adventures to the North Pole with Lungi.
     DG Charles also promised that there will be a Teddy Bears' picnic at his Discon in Middelburg next June.
     During his meeting with the board after the club meeting, President Linda Vink introduced the new board to him and it was remarkable that he could remember each members' name.

Rtn Ian Widdop, Foundation chair for the club this year, gave a very gracious thanks to the DG for his visit to the club and being the speaker

     Board members reported briefly on their areas of interest and the DG emphasised the importance of the club applying for PBO status and pointed out the potential dangers of not complying.
     He also managed to elicit a pledge by Ian Widdop to join the district Foundation committee to put the experience he has gained in the ongoing global grant application to general use.

Charne Haak with her mother, Anita van Rensburg

    In the runup to the establishment of the new Rotaract club Charne Haak, Past President of the Rotary Club of Johannesburg, told how the original Rotaract Club of Johannesburg, of which she is a past president, fizzled out and became dormant.
     After a meeting with Steve du Plessis she decided the club could be resurrected. She told the new Rotaract members that they were joining an international network of Rotarians and Rotaracters that would stand them in good stead in the future.

The new members of the Rotaract club of Johannesburg. In the back row are Janet Callard, Alastair Billing, Peta Thomas, Charne Haak, Charles Deiner, Steve du Plessis and Graham Donet.

     Charne wasn't the only guest at the meeting. Other guests, apart from the seven Rotaract members, were PDG and PDGA Francis and Janet Callard from Northcliff; AG Peter James-Smith; President Alastair Billing of the Rotary Club of Johannesburg, President Peter Rokitta of the Rotary Club of Kyalami, PP Ivan Allen of RC Johannesburg, Dave Bradshaw, our AG last year, President Lucy Mbugua of RC Johannesburg North Central, Anita van Rensburg, a member of the Rotary Club of Johannesburg and Charne's mother; and Rtn Alfred Kalinga of the Rotary Club of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Speakers
     Our speaker for the last meeting in July was Carin Holmes, a club member as well as the head of PR at the Salvation Army. The club knows her as a passionate Rotarian and she addressed us on the work theSalvation Army does to combat human trafficking.

An arresting image from Carin's presentation

     She described the trafficking of humans, a modern form of slavery, as one of the fastest growing areas of organised crime in the world and a scourge that has not passed South Africa by. The main reasons for it are the trade in body parts for muti, child labour and of course sex slavery with 70% of people kidnapped being young girl between the ages of 5 and 15.
     It is estimated that 1.2 million people are enslaved annually, half of them in Africa.

Fascinating facts from the presentation

     Only 0.08% of people enslaved in this way ever go free. Carin said it is surprising the number of people who come forward after Salvation Army presentations to tell of experiences where family member or friends have faced capture.
     The Salvation Army helpline, 0800073728 is manned around the clock for anybody who wants to report an incident.

Shireen Hassim of Wits

     August is Women's Month and our speaker this week is Shireen Hassim, who will be talking about the importance of having an annual Women's Day.
     Shireen is a professor in political studies at the University of the Witwatersrand and a widely published author in the field of gender politics in South Africa.
     A Thought for the Week: Women who seek to be equal to men lack ambition. - Timothy Leary (1920-1996)