A Helping Hand in Mozambique

Load shedding (now thankfully at least temporarily something of the past), the floods in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique, the atrocity in Christchurch, New Zealand and of course the ubiquitous state capture revelations have all dominated the news.
     These issues impact widely, no less on Rotarians.
     Mopping up operations are in full swing in Mozambique after the destruction caused by Cyclone Idai that left thousands of people homeless and destitute and destroyed property, crops and livestock in and around the city of Beira.

The devastation caused by flooding in Beira, Mozambique, after Cyclone Idai struck the city with winds of up to 170 km/h

     How can we as a club help?
     Mozambique, with three Rotary clubs, is part of District 9400, which is why District have set up a central fund that will go towards helping the hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

PDG Jankees Sligcher took Dave Tuzewski to see the new miniature Mandela statue on
 Mandela Square in Sandton

     DG Charles Deiner, PDG Jankees Sligcher, PDG Grant Daly, PDG Francis Callard and others who were involved in setting up the fund, have called on all clubs in the district to contribute. New Dawn has already agreed in principle and the details will be discussed at a special board meeting next week.
     District has already been in touch with the Mozambique clubs and others to discuss the best way to use the funds most effectively.
     One of the people who will definitely be helping is Dave Tuzewski, a Rotarian from Adelaide in Australia and an old friend of District 9400.
     With his Sky Hydrants Dave hopes to help the district deliver safe drinking water to disaster struck areas. These Sky Hydrants can each deliver 12000 litres of water a day without electricity, therefore helping combat the outbreak of diseases such as cholera.

Mike Cadman with Julian Nagy and Jankees Sligcher in the background

     Disaster of another kind also looms for South and Southern Africa's wildlife, according to Mike Cadman, the speaker at the meeting last week.
     Mike is a journalist, TV producer and writer for ITV in London. He devotes his time mainly to environmental and wildlife issues through organisations such as the Endangered Wildlife Trust and Born Free.
     He spoke to the club on how wildlife poaching feeds into international crime. In South Africa this fits into the broader picture of a failure to decisively deal with crime.

Game Rangers in the Kruger National Park on patrol for poachers

     The two general types of wildlife crime, global, organised crime and subsistence crime, driven by poverty, are symptoms of an inefficient society with inefficient policing and a broken criminal justice system.
     Organised wildlife crime is estimated to be worth $19 billion a year, making it the fourth highest most lucrative area of criminal enterprise behind drugs, counterfeiting and human trafficking.
     It is not just rhinos and elephants that are at risk, he said. Songbirds, cycads and perlmoen are all facing extinction. More than 3000 tons of perlemoen get poached annually, estimated to be 20 to 30 times the sustainable amount that can be taken.
     "We can shoot as many people we like in the Kruger National Park, it will not stop the poaching. There's a lack of political will to do anything about it."
     He cited a case where a poacher who had been caught with 58 leopard skins in KwaZulu-Natal, was sentenced to community service as a first offender provided he wasn't caught again.
     Four years later he was caught with another 92 skins, destined for the muti trade mainly in Gauteng and other areas. He is still a free man.

An adult pangolin weighs about 9 kg

     Nine tons of pangolin scales and meat were recently confiscated. These are prized in countries like Laos, Vietnam and parts of China for supposedly healing and other uses, much as rhino horns are supposed to have magical properties.
     South Africa has lost 7800 rhinos since 2008. The population in the Kruger National Park, one of the few places in the world where they still live in the wild, has dropped from 9000 to 6000 in that time.

A mother rhinoceros with her calf in the Kruger National Park

     There is a flourishing illegal trade in scorpions, spiders, tortoises, sharks, birds from Madagascar, vulture body parts, lion and tiger bones.
     Vets, big game hunters, game rangers, wildlife officials and many others are involved in the illegal trade.

Ian Widdop, Paul Kasango and me with Tony and Carolina Reddy

     On a more positive note, following the induction of four new members at the previous meeting, Paul Kasango, President Linda Vink, Ian Widdop and I had a fireside chat with Tony and Carolina Reddy on Friday, where they said they were keen to join New Dawn.
     Once we have received their CV's these will be circulated and discussed by the board for a recommendation. Note that the board meeting has been forwarded to Monday, 1 April at 5 pm at Twickenham Guest House. Drinks and snacks will be available and as usual all club members are welcome to attend.
     Paul has decided to step down as president-elect for the coming year, citing business reasons, so the search is on for a replacement, whose name has to be forwarded to Rotary International before the end of March.
     Paul has promised to explain to the club himself what has led him to this decision.
     Julian Nagy and I travelled to Pretoria after the meeting last week to see the Tax Exemption Unit of SARS about our PBO application and returned full of hope that the application will soon be lodged.
     Julian told the club that the Bridge Drive was a great success, netting almost R35000 for the club funds.
     Carin Holmes quoted ex-president Kgalema Monthlanthe on the future, to provide a glimmer of hope in trying times: Hope, he said, has two sisters; anger and courage. Yes, we should be angry about what happened in the past in the country; also angry at the present state of the country, but let's have the courage to change the future together.
     Please remember that there is no ordinary meeting this week. Instead, we'll be meeting at Tashas on Mandela Square at 7am for breakfast.
     And finally: Pastor Mike Sunker of the 5 Cees has asked if the club could provide Easter eggs for Easter as we have done so often in the past. Please bring some to the next few meetings.
     A Thought for the Week: Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired. - Jules Renard (1864 - 1910)