It's All About the Fellowship

Rotary is all about fellowship and the Friendship Exchange programme is one of the best ways to experience that, said Dave Bradshaw at the meeting last week.

     Dave is from the Rosebank club and served as our AG last year. He has been a regular visitor to the club over the years. He says he joined Rotary in 1976 and has been a member at Rosebank since 1982. He has lived in South Africa for more than 30 years.

Dave Bradshaw is a member of the district Friendship Exchange committee

     Johannesburg New Dawn has agreed to act as a hosting club for incoming groups from overseas, a prerequisite if a club want to join one of the various groups leaving for visits overseas.
     New Dawn has previously hosted a group from North India, who were in South Africa on a Vocational Exchange.
     Dave said Friendship Exchange groups are typically groups of ten to twelve people and visits last about two weeks. Travellers are home hosted by Rotarians in the places they visit, usually only for two to three nights at one place. Hosts are expected to provide meals, basic transport and to be local tour guides.

Terry Marshall with Graham Donet

     Visitors to South Africa have a choice of a Silver option, a Gold option, which includes a visit to a game reserve and a Platinum option which includes a game reserve and a visit to one of the other three countries that make up District 9400, being Mozambique, Botswana and Swaziland, for different prices.
     "It's the best possible way to see a country. You make new friends who often become lifelong friends," he said.
     It is also an opportunity to canvas clubs that you visit to get involved in joint projects and fundraising.

Alistair Billing, president of the Johannesburg club

     He said a tour to Alaska is in the planning stage as well as tours to Germany next year to coincide with the RI Convention and Hawaii in 2020 for the convention there.
     More importantly, there is a big thrust to get tours going to other African countries like Uganda, Kenya, Malawi and Nigeria.
     PDG Jankees Sligcher has agreed to be the New Dawn contact person for future Friendship Exchanges and has already been in touch with clubs in Kenya to explore possibilities.
     As usual it turned out to be a lively meeting with two notable visitors.
     Terry Marshall was a member at the Morningside club, which sponsored New Dawn in 2008 and 2009. He was a regular visitor at our initial meetings. He subsequently left Rotary but lives in Parkview and is a potential new member.
     Alistair Billing, president of the Rotary Club of Johannesburg, dropped by to issue a challenge; for  at least ten New Dawn people to take a table and compete in their Quiz night on 16 November.
     Please give your name to Joan Donet if you can go. It only costs R120.

Winex proved to be very popular as usual with hundreds of people visiting on each of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night

     New Dawn decided to try helping out at Winex last year and because it was a success, volunteered again this year.
     It is backbreaking work and I'm not sure I'll go for all three nights again next year, but there is plenty of recovery time until then.
     Quite a few members did all three nights this year with others joining for either one or two shifts which lasted from 3pm until 9pm. Carol Stier also helped with the setting up on Tuesday and the packing up on Saturday.

New Dawn had a formidable team on each of the three nights. On Thursday evening, taking a short break before the action began, the members there were Linda, Julian Nagy, Graham Donet, Lucille Blumberg, myself, Debbie de Vries and Carol Stier

     It is hard work but also fun and very interesting so if you can help out next year, please consider it. The more members we send, the more money we earn for our charities.
     There is also a perk in that you can order mixed cases of wine from the pool that was donated and buy them for ridiculous prices. Literally thousands of bottles of wine were donated by the producers at the show this year.

Peta Thomas, Rotaracter Victoria Adekomaya, Judy Symons and myself on Wednesday

 

Amina Frense was one of the volunteers

Peta Thomas and Carol Stier at their station organising ice to keep the good stuff cold

Linda met up with Megan Maynard of The Link Literacy Project who was tasting wine

The sheriff is in town ... Carl Chemaly seemed in a good mood

   

Carin Holmes was a real trooper. Here she relaxes on the floor with Graham Donet and myself

     Please remember that there is no meeting on Wednesday as it is a fifth Wednesday. The board meeting will be at Parkview on Friday evening and as usual anyone in the club is welcome to join the board for that. It starts at 4.30. Members can also join us on the verandah at Parkview for a little something to drink and pizzas from about 6.30 pm onwards for a bit of fellowship and tales of bravery and derring-do on the battleground that was Winex.
     A Thought for the Week: An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it makes a better soup. - Bertrand Russel (1872-1970)