Setting Goals and Keeping Warm

Write your goal in life down on a card, keep it in your pocket and read it many times a day. You're then almost guaranteed to obtain that goal, the mindset coach (amongst other many talents) Lee Roebeck told the club at the meeting last week.

     Lee has already spoken to other Rotary clubs in the area (Sandton and Northcliff and came highly recommended by PDG Frances Callard.)

     Lee offered a free 45 minute call to the first three New Dawn members to discuss their goals and how to unlock them.

Lee's Facebook page with the address for a private consultation

     He said there are three types of goals: Type A is something you already know how to do, which means it's not a challenging goal. B-Type, he said, is what you think you can do. The real goal is the C-Type, he said, and is what you really want to do. You don't know how, but you know what you want.

     It was a well-received message, especially now during the coronavirus lockdown.

Delivering baby clothes, toys, nappies and other supplies to Mbali Maistry, supervisor at Hotel Hope in Melville

     We celebrated Nelson Mandela's birthday on Saturday by collecting baby clothes and other items for Hotel Hope in Melville. For those who don't know them, Oliver Quambusch, a German by birth, started Hotel Hope Ministries a number of years ago to help place orphans into deserving families, some as far away as the old Soviet Union Countries.

     He and his team fund the home mainly with three charity shops in Melville where they sell the usual sort of stuff that people donate, but also wood furniture items made as part of their upliftment scheme and sold in the shops.

     New Dawn has been a part of the Hotel Hope family for a number of years and a few years ago we donated a flatbed truck for them to transport goods to the shops. It's handed with the Rotary logo and can often be seen in and around Melville.

Warm feet, warm hearts

     Sarah Sunker of the 5Cees sent a few more photographs after we delivered warm winter socks to the Berea home last week. Sarah says they managed to save some socks for the kids at their Bramley home, as can be seen in the photograph above.

Children at 5Cees in Berea with their socks

     She thanked the club again for the donation. Sarah runs the administration of the Christ Church Christian Care Centre and is the daughter-in-law of Pastor Mike Sunker.

     Other club news is that New Dawn bagged a Platinum Presidential Citation for the previous year, the highest award by the Rotary International president honouring clubs that meet the strictest standards of successful operation.

     President Ian Widdop also announced that New Dawn has been granted a District Grant of $1000 by Rotary International, which has been earmarked for fixing and upgrading the playground at Zoo Lake. This falls somewhat short of the amount required and will of course be on hold until the current lockdown is eased considerably more than at present. This will give the club a bit of time to decide on how to proceed once it is possible to do so.

John Mahlangu with a packet of seeds

The veggie garden in Alexandra, with the Sandton skyline in the background

     Along with the socks and baby stuff, there's also been a big push for seeds in the past few weeks and during the last round seeds were also delivered, via Paul Channon, to a community vegetable garden in Alexandra.
     Rotary is all about sustainable projects and, as President Ian has said, about being people of action. New Dawn is made up not only of big projects, but gets its aura from the accumulation of the myriads of smaller (and some not so small) projects that members tackle, also including the work that Joan Sainsbury is doing at the Leeuwkop Prison.

     Speaker: Peta Thomas has been heavily involved in choosing candidates for the Rotary International Peace Scholarships and will be speaking to the club on this process on Wednesday. She has asked PDG Frances Callard, another member of the selection team, to join us. It's a very important new RI initiative and should make for an interesting meeting.

     A Thought for the Week: The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. - Saint Augustine (354 - 430 AD)