MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT IAN BALLANTINE

Congratulations to the Knysna Rotary Ann’s on the great work put into the International Hand Washing Day, which took place on the 15th October and resulted in many school children being taught the importance of washing ones hands. The Ann’s collected soap which they packed together with illustrated fliers and together with Interactors and Knysna Education Trust, distributed to many schools and pre-schools around Knysna.

Our club inducted two new members last week – a sincere welcome to you both. Albert Lombard, who comes to us as a past President from Aliwal North club, is keen to become involved with GSE and Matching Grants, so will be joining the Foundation committee.

Andy Muir, has been in Knysna for many years, and is well know in the Knysna community, so with his local knowledge, will be joining the Service projects/ Vocational committees, to help establish where assistance is needed.

EFFECTIVE ROTARY CLUBS

The Club Leadership Plan, which was introduced in 2005, lists 4 qualities that are present in “Effective Clubs”. 

Effective clubs are able to:

Sustain and increase membership

Implement successful service projects

Support the Rotary Foundation

Develop leaders beyond club level.

The Rotary Club of Knysna is strong because all 4 of the above qualities are present within the club.

Membership is growing steadily and as a consequence many successful service projects are able to be carried out in the broader community and surrounding areas. Overseas funding (including Matching Grants, but not only MGs) is sourced and attracted to Club projects as well.  The 7 District Emphases listed in the 2009-2010 handbook are all addressed by projects of the Knysna Rotary Club and its Interact clubs. The club has enough members to have a dedicated New Generations Committee to run its youth projects, something that few other clubs can manage to do.

The Club supports the Rotary Foundation generously every year.

I would like to go further under the heading of “developing leaders beyond club level”, because it is in this area that the Knysna Club is particularly successful.  This is strength of the Club and an excellent resource for the Board to have at its disposal.  Several members of the Knysna Rotary Club have served on District Committees, several have served as Assistant Governors, 2 have been District Governors in recent years, 4 have been team leaders of GSE teams, several have hosted long and short-term exchange students and taken them on holiday, one is Councillor to the current Ambassadorial Scholar to Sweden….and so the list goes on.  I would be very surprised if any other club in District 9350 has credentials of this quality, and all in recent years.  The result is that many members of this club have vast experience, contacts and knowledge that go far beyond this club.

Members of the Knysna Rotary Club attend District Conferences and mini conferences regularly, 2 successful District Conferences have been hosted and convened by Knysna Rotary Club, 2 Knysna Rotarians have held their own successful PET Seminars and District Conferences in other towns, they have been appointed to key positions in District 9350 by various Governors to carry out the work in the District that needs to be done.  They have been asked to present the same information at District Conferences, because they have become knowledgeable in certain areas of expertise.  Many of the “senior” Rotarians have encouraged other members of the Club to have holidays to Etosha, Kgalagadi, Ais Ais, Sossusvlei, and Augrabies as a way of extending fellowship within the club.

In short….Knysna Rotarians are a knowledgeable and fun loving group and this is a special feature of the club which enables it to run well on a day-to-day as well as year-to-year basis.

Lesley Satchel

Rotarian Howard Waters won three Gold Medals and two Silver Medals at the World Transplant Games 2009, Gold Coast, Australia

The Rotary Club of Knysna is very proud of Howard for winning these medals.

Every 2 years extraordinary Games are held that are only open to those people who have had a transplant of a major organ, i.e. a heart, lung, kidney, liver, pancreas or bone marrow. They are the only Games where, if you pass the drug test, you are thrown out!
The purpose of holding these Games, which are held in different countries around the world, is to raise awareness of the benefits of transplantation, and to encourage people to put their names on the Organ Donor Register by proving that transplantation works and works well. Unfortunately a huge number of people die waiting for a transplant and it is one of the reasons Howard, one of the incredibly lucky ones, is prepared to do what he can to help get more people on the Donor Register.

Having had a heart transplant 11 years ago, he attended the latest Games that were held in August at the Gold Coast, about 100kms south of Brisbane in Queensland. He was one of the United Kingdom team of 130 athletes as, although he was born in South Africa, he was brought up and lived most of his life in the UK and had his transplant there.  These were the 5th World Transplant Games he had been to, the previous ones being in Kobe, Japan, Nancy in France, London, Ontario in Canada and Bangkok in Thailand. Transplantees and their supporters totalling about 2000 people from some 48 countries attended these latest Games.
 
The Opening Ceremony includes a procession of all the competing nations and then one of the emotional highlights of the Games – the arrival of the live donors and donor families.  They get a tremendous welcome, and rightly so, as without their sacrifice and big heartedness, the participants would not be around, enjoying a second chance of life!

The Games include most of the normal Track and Field events, swimming, cycling, racquet sports, golf, bowls - both lawn and 10 pin and volleyball.  Unlike the Olympics, there are separate age categories for competitors. Howard competed in the Super Veteran category which is for people who are between 60 and 69.  The youngest competitor was 6 years of age and the oldest 80!

Australia came first with 86 Golds, 54 Silvers and 50 Bronzes, the UK second with 85 Golds, 71 Silvers and 60 Bronzes. Howard’s personal tally was 3 Golds and 2 Silvers, all for swimming. The South African team did very well indeed, coming 7th in the medal table behind Australia, the UK, the USA, Netherlands, Hungary, and France. South Africa won 15 Golds, 12 Silvers and 10 Bronzes and that with a team of only about 18 competitors.

When Howard won his first World Games Gold medal in Kobe in 2001, he sent it to the family of his donor as a very small token of thanks for their amazing gift.  This year he sent another Gold medal to them to show that 11 years later their son’s heart was still beating strongly and their gift had not been in vain!

THE ROTARY CLUB OF KNYSNA SUPPORTED THE RUDOLF BALIE MEMORIAL LIBRARY

About six years ago Rotarian Gillian Carter initiated the project of having a container library erected between Masifunde and Dam-se-Bos libraries in the outskirts of Knysna.   She was then head of the library services for Knysna and pointed out to the Rotary Vocational Service Committee that women and children were not using the library services as much as they could because they had to walk long distances to reach their nearest one past many taverns, where they might be harassed.   The Rotary Club of Knysna has always had a great interest in literacy and it was decided to purchase a container for this purpose.  

However finding a suitable site proved to be a major problem. The Municipality struggled to get an ideal site and we had to roll over the earmarked funds from year to year. To the rescue came the owners of the pre-school "Magdeleentjies" with the offer of a most appropriate site right next door. The container was bought and delivered and the Municipality has had it beautifully, gaily painted and fenced. They then arranged for Epilepsy South Africa to build in bookshelves.  At the official hand-over and opening by the Mayor last week, it was announced that the turn-over of books already exceeded that of the parent library, fully justifying the vision and persistence involved with this project!   It is another well worthwhile end-result from funds raised by the annual cycle race organized by the Rotary club of Knysna.

HEATHER AND LESLEY VISIT goGOGETTERS AT YOUTH CENTRE

Both Lesley and I were very impressed with the GoGo's, and feel that they are just another social worker (just not getting paid!!)  They do an awful lot of work, outside the concept that was originally mentioned to us.  They have to assess the family situation and then they find ways to help them out.  They go to extreme lengths to get a lot of the people to get ID documents and birth certificates so they can just apply for grants!  This was the success stories from most of them!  The challengers were that they don't know where to turn for help with the families problems.  Social Services will be invited to another meeting so they can meet them and find out who to contact for what problem.  There was one family: Father dead, mother only has work one day a week, two children and not more money coming in... Lesley mentioned that the Interact clubs do a project for used school uniforms, so they now have a contact for that.

The FAMSA people mentioned other grants and a kind of loan, what a swiz, they have to be really on deaths door, get assessed, then the money will come for three months, if you get better, money stops!  The kind of loan is for until you get a grant or a job, then you have to pay back the money!  These poor people!

Heather



Dr Luke Nkinsi of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was very impressed
with the number of projects the Rotary Club of Knysna undertakes.  He was especially grateful for the work the Club does in supporting the goGogetters
and Love Life.

GLOBAL HANDWASHING DAY (GHD) 15 OCTOBER 2009

The Rotary Anns of Knysna became aware of G H D when DG Mike Saxby visited the local Rotary Club on 21 July 2009. He had heard Clarissa Brocklehurst of UNICEF speak at a RI Conference and was struck by the force of the simple, inexpensive, yet effective concept of keeping hands clean as being one of the most fundamental steps we can take to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others
The Anns became part of the global drive due to DG Mike’s passion, that is so evident, and it was a project that we felt capable of tackling. UNICEF was contacted and immediately they couriered invaluable material to us for use in launching our venture. We received posters, lapel badges and most importantly, a Planners’ Guide!
Anns held numerous weekly meetings, starting on 18 August, to explore ideas on how to initiate task of raising awareness in our community, about the benefits of hand washing with soap. The Knysna Education Trust was delighted to hear of our preparations. They offered to distribute to pre-schools under their auspices, 1 150 small soaps which we purchased and wrapped at an Ann work  party, in little cellophane bags, and fastened to flyers which were printed for us (see attachment).
The local media regularly published articles outlining our mission, starting a month prior to GHD, in which the public was invited to place bars of soap in colourful boxes identified with GHD logo. These we placed, along with information material, at the entrances to the four major supermarkets in town. Knysna Tourism urged guest house owners to support us by donating their slightly used soap bars that can no longer be used, to our initiative
We distributed GHD material to the 5 local Interact Clubs as incentive for them to participate in making the first Knysna GHD a success. Flyers and posters were delivered to Primary schools.

Penny Bentley

President Ian attaching soap containers at the Rondevlei School for Handwashing Day

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A ROTARIAN

The “Rotarian” magazine requested that we submit photographs of our club enjoying a day of fellowship. Well, here are a few pictures of a group of Rotarians from The Rotary Club of Knysna doing what they do best – enjoying fellowship together!

EXTRACT FROM AMBASSADORIAL SCHOLAR DAMIEN’S BLOGSPOT

I know this might seem like a strange title for a post, but so much has happened in the past week I really wanted to talk about it altogether. Plus counting weeks is a very Swedish thing to do especially at university where each weeks timetables are completely different. It really helps keep track of what is going on. Anyway after this little piece of information let me tell you about week. .

I had hardly recovered from Intervallen when I was on my way to Stockholm (the capital of Sweden) for the first time. I say first time because I'm definitely going back! What an amazing city full of history, beauty and water, oh my word so much water! It was so hard not to take hundreds of photos of the buildings and landscape because I had the words of Aldo, my brother, ringing in my head, "...stop taking photos of the stupid old buildings, we already have enough of those in South Africa!" I really had fun exploring the city and I was spoiled rotten when I went to Emma's house. Emma is a Swedish girl who lives on an island in the Stockholm archipelago. I spent the night there with her family and was treated to Swedish pea soup, fillet steak on the braai and of course kanebulle and coffee! We also watched Sweden loose to Norway in the World Cup Qualifier and now they won't be coming to South Africa in 2010, which kind of stinks!

I also had a lot of class work this week where I worked on a group presentation about nature and business ethics. We presented it today in a seminar and I think it went well. (Just had to mention this because I really want to give a complete overview of a typical week in Sweden.)


Rotary was also a very big part of the past week. Apart from my Rotaract meeting on Monday night and the Linkoping: Aurora breakfast meeting on Tuesday, I went to dinner with some Rotarians and a GSE (Group Study Exchange) team from the Netherlands, who I'd met at the District Conference, on Wednesday. On Thursday I went to my first Ice Hockey game, also with the GSE team and Rotarians. It was fantastic and I really had a good time. Such a good time that I'm going again this Thursday with some friends. LHC, the local team, winning made it even better! GO LIONS! Ice Hockey is really big here and one can't help, but get caught up in the vibe, even the buses fly little flags to support the team. For Friday lunch I went to Linkoping: Filbyter Rotary Club where I once again met the District Governor, the GSE team and a local youth exchange student from Australia, Meg. It was a really nice meeting and I even got the opportunity to introduce myself to the club.

After the lunch I went to town with the GSE team and Meg. Of course we ended up having a fika as the weather was a little sour. Just a quick note on the weather. It is autumn and it is so beautiful. The leaves are changing colour from green to yellow to red, sometimes all three colours are on the same tree...its really quiet breathtaking! The weatherman even says there is a chance of snow soon, but still no luck!

There is a little Thai restaurant in Ryd and my friends and I thought it would be fun to eat out on Friday night instead of making our own food. Talking about food I just remembered that I even cooked South African this week. It was a last minute decision, but on Tuesday night I made some Bobotie with Bread and Butter Pudding! It was really nice and the mixture of smells, red wine and SA music made me feel at home. Going to have to plan another dinner like that soon!


As it had been so long since I'd been at home, I decided that Saturday would be a good day to do my grocery shopping and luckily Henning and his car were going and I was able to tag along and really stock up. That was only after having a really nice, small and cheap breakfast at IKEA. (I really like that shop!)

Reading back through this post it does seem to be a little random, but I think it really illustrates a feeling I've been having the last couple of weeks; I'm no longer on holiday in Sweden, I actually live here now! Thinking about why it has taken me so long to realize this I came to the conclusion that it's because of all the wonderful people I've met. Every single one of them is the reason why I feel so at home in Sweden...and for that I'm extremely grateful.

Hej då

PS: I think I'm a little home sick!