New Dawn is growing

The meeting last week was labelled a club assembly with the theme of membership, an ongoing Rotary dilemma.
     PDG Jankees Sligcher, who is also district membership chair, led the discussion and emphasised the role of fellowship in Rotary.
     The club also announced mentors for the newcomers who have joined over the past few months.
Jankees himself will mentor Carl Chemaly; Graham Donet will mentor Frank Odenthal; Steve du Plessis will look after Llewellyn Leonard; I will mentor Emilio Kiyeya Yamfu, Julian Nagy will mentor Peta Thomas and Mike MacDonald will mentor Rusty van der Walt.

Judy Sligcher listens while husband Jankees holds forth

     The idea is to give each one of the newcomers a direct link with the club leadership to answer any questions they may have and to point them in the right direction as far as fundraising events and project work goes.
     Mentorship should help new members ease into Rotary while emphasising that it is fu8n and about fellowship, not a job, Jankees said.
     He suggested that at a next meeting when there is a bit more time, the club does its own SWOT (strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis.

After having up to 60% women members, the percentage is now 50-50 with the new intake, but who would argue that the women form the backbone of the club. Amina Frense, Judy Sligcher, Frayne Mathijs, Zena Kimaro and Lucille Blumberg are part of a formidable team

     There are many reasons why people join Rotary and each members should go through a list of these and come up with a short answer of no more than three sentences about why they joined.
     "Membership is a sales argument," he said.
     Members should move with the times and allow younger people the space in which they can make Rotary their own experience without the older members being too strict with rules and regulations which are often outmoded.

I had a quick meeting with newbie Emilio Kiyeya Yamfu to explain what mentorship means

     The question we should be asking is how does we work together to have people of different cultures working together in the same club.
     "Rotary is an open society of men and women who simply believe in helping others," he said, as neat a definition of this great movement as one could find.
     The club was also blessed with a visit by Boitumelo Magolekgo, a teacher and faculty advisor to the soon to be established Interact club that New Dawn is helping set up at the National School of the Arts in Braamfontein.

Graham and Joan Donet arranged for Boitumelo Magolekgo and Louise Simpson to pay the club a visit before they start an Interact club at the national School of the Arts

     She was accompanied by Louise Simpson, a learner who motivated the starting of the Interact club. Louise is studying dancing and was involved with Interact at her previous school.
     They aim to have the club up and running early next year, a very exciting development for the school and for New Dawn. This will be our third Interact club, with the possibility of more to come, thanks to the work put in by Graham and Joan Donet.

Peter James-Smith of rose bank showing how chopsticks should be used. My apologies Peter, I couldn't resist using the photograph!

     The week ended on a social note with dinner at the Lau's Restaurant in Chinatown in Cyrildene.
The brave amongst us tucked away at some authentic Chinese cuisine like seaweed and jellyfish, although there was also plenty of more recognisable chicken, beef and pork. And the Chinese tea wasn't bad either.

Paul Kasango brought wife Susan with for the Chinese outing. They were all smiles after an interesting meal

     Peter is aiming to get his Grub Club going again so watch out for further invitations in the months to come. It was a fun evening in a somewhat out-of-the-way spot.

Koop Lammersma, a visiting professor who specialises in rare minerals and has addressed the club on the subject, went with Linda and I

     Remember that Dave Bradshaw of the Rosebank club will be speaking this week on Friendship Exchanges that Rotary arranges from time to time for all those intrepid travellers amongst us.
     The other major event this week is Winex on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night at the Sandton Convention Centre where we'll be trying to raise funds for our projects.
     A Thought for the Week: A nation of sheep will soon have a government of wolves. - Ed Murrow (1908-1965)