Easter in Lockdown

Another two weeks of lockdown as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday is a bit of a blow to the solar plexus, but in true South African fashion, we'll knuckle down and, in the words of the president, we shall overcome!
     The Easter weekend will be a good time for reflection, although for most people it'll probably slip by largely unnoticed now that we're all so isolated.

All smiles at the meeting on Wednesday. It was a very good turnout

     Rotary's work goes on and interventions are even more critical now than ever before given the hardship suffered by so many people living in enforced lockdown.
     The taxi rank project spearheaded in our club by Audrey Gatawa, Ian Widdop and Jankees Sligcher, has already paid out more than R100000 on hand sanitisers and sanitising spray bottles and Standard Bank employees and their company have donated an extra R11000, over and above the R500000 that the bank donated to this multi-club effort.

Eckard Steyn of the Rotary Club of Sandton Satellite handing
 over the first consignment of sanitisers to Thabiso Molelekwa,
 head of communications of Santaco

     The first consignment of sanitisers was delivered to the SA National Taxi Organisation last Friday by the inter-club task team and orders for the delivery of sanitising liquid and more bottles have been placed for speedy delivery to taxi ranks, initially in Gauteng, but later to all parts of the country.

The sanitiser bottles, branded with the Rotary logo, are being handed over to taxi
 passengers, drivers and others

     As far as New Dawn is concerned, hats off to Frank Odenthal who first said we should consider ways to make a direct contribution to the fight against the Covid-19 virus.
     This was discussed at length last week and the decision in the end is to create a separate fund within the club so that our current projects aren't compromised seeing that fundraising in the normal way (bridge drive, etc) is not possible at the moment.
    President Judy Sligcher and president-elect Ian Widdop will consider all proposals for feeding schemes put forward by members and choose one that we can support. Judy has asked that any such proposals be put in writing and and submitted by Monday so that we can come to a decision sooner rather than later. The need is great.
     Donations to this effort can be made to the normal club account, but please remember to reference the donation with your name and Covid-19 so that we can keep a tally of money that is specific to this purpose.

Paul Kasango with the first 30 face masks from Carol Stier

     A word of thanks to our champion seamstress, Carol Stier, for making 30 face masks, the first of two consignments for Woodside Sanctuary. They're colourful and functional all at the same time and could become a more permanent fashion accessory if things carry on like this.
     Upcoming Meetings: At the meeting next week we'll be inducting Christoff Plate of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and Sarah de La Pasture. These will be our first online inductions ever,
     Christoff is inviting members of his German club to join our Zoom meeting.
     Rev. Rudi Swanepoel will be the speaker on 22 April, which will mark the first time we've ever had an online speaker. Rudi is an inspirational man and is still deciding on an uplifting theme in these dark times.
     He's from the NG Church Andrew Murray in Johannesburg. We met him when he married our Rudi and Peet Kruger in 2017 in Plettenberg Bay.
     In the meantime, stay safe!
     A Thought for the Week: He who does not risk will never drink champagne. - Russian proverb