An Onslaught of Youth

Youth was on the top of the agenda last week with two speakers, one from Rotaract and the other a short term exchange student from France, as speakers.
     Minenhle Majola is the new president of the Rotaract Club of Johannesburg, jointly sponsored by New Dawn and the Rotary Club of Johannesburg, Africa's first Rotary club that is celebrating 100 years on the continent in 2021.
     Minenhle also spoke at Judy Sligcher's induction at the Nyoka Vulture Restaurant in the Magaliesberg and it seemed like a good idea for him to repeat the speech for those members who could not make the induction ceremony.

Minenhle Majola, president of the Rotaract Club of Johannesburg, with Nadine Mitchell, secretary

     He told how André Brandmuller of the Rotary Club of Middelburg had told him the story of the little boy on the beach throwing starfish back into the sea, despite the fact that there were tens of thousands stranded.
     Why are you doing that? asked an old man out for a walk. The boy said he was trying to save the starfish.
     "But there are tens of thousands on the beach. You surely don't think you can save them all."
     The little boy bent down, picked up another starfish and said: "Probably not, but I've just saved that one."

Paul Kasango and Graham Donet with Cara Kotzé and Luba Montcomble

     Although she was initially overcome with shyness, Luba Montcomble, a 16-year-old from France, managed to eventually tell the club a bit about herself and how much she was looking forward to the six weeks with her host, Cara Kotze and her family. The were planning to visit Durban and Cape Town and spend some time in the bush.
     Luba hails from the town of Pernois near the city of Amiens in north-western France.
     Her sponsoring club is the Rotary Club of Abbeville in District 1520.

Abigail and Adriaen march into a future together

     Congratulations are in order to club members Abigail Barrell and Adriaen Sligcher, who tied the knot in Mtunzini on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast on Saturday.
     It was a splendid affair held at a rustic old hatchery (prawns, not chickens!) in Gingindhlovu a few kilometres from Mtunzini.
     The club was well represented by the Sligcher parents, while John Vink was the best man. Linda and I were also there to share in many special moments.

Lucille Blumberg with Graham Donet

     Ongoing projects form the life blood of any club and one of these is the wheelchair project of the Rotary Club of Northcliff.
     Lucille Blumberg has helped many people at the NICD project in Limpopo province and was recently able to arrange four wheelchairs for needy recipients there, amongst them the daughter of Petrus Sibiya, the man who runs the project on behalf of the community. Lucille has also helped them with books for their library
     The speaker tomorrow is David Marshall, who will be talking about his recent trip on the Volga River between St Petersburg and Moscow in Russia.
     On Wednesday 21 August we'll be inducting two new members, Adele Dabbs and Hannes Dressler.
     A Thought for Women's Month: Man does not control his own fate. The women in his life do that for him. - Groucho Marx (1890 - 1977)