Venue: Castello's Cucina, Living Choice
Guest Speakers: Rtn Chris Dawson & Chuks Ajaero
Guests: Rtn Briony Casburn, Graham Ey, Steve Finos, Robert Freak, Julie-Jahmer Freak, Michael Freak and 6 carers of Robert.
Attendance: 23 members 14 guests
Opening
Leonie Kewen bounced out with her greeting/invocation extolling the virtues of Tim Tams and Outback adventure with a well-stocked eskie...........and of course continuing to serve people through Rotary..........oi oi oi. Editor is not sure who developed the script but it worked a treat.
President John opened the meeting, welcomed our many guests and announced that a meritorious profit of $377 had been made at the Mitre 10 BBQ last Saturday
Guest Speaker: Rtn Chris Dawson - Men's Kitchen
Chris from RC St Peters was paying a flying visit to Unley to announce the debut of the Blokes Kitchen. They are looking for men in the upper age range who would benefit from learning about cooking and enjoying mateship.....ie feeding nutritionally with fellowship.
This is the gourmet version of the Men's shed. M
ushrooms may not be on the menu for a while. The first kitchen event cooks off at 10am next Wednesday until 1pm at the Payneham Community Centre. It will be held every third Wednesday there with the initial visit free and $15 thereafter.
Looking around the room it was hard to identify any male member suffering from malnourishment......maybe salad prep may be a good option.If interested, contact Chris 0432 920 964 or email chris.dawson1@gmx.com.
Induction Of Robert Freak
President John asked sponsor Jerry Casburn to introduce Robert who is married to Julie with 2 children - son Michael attended and daughter Rosanne was interstate. He was educated at Unley High (
only the best) and Adelaide Uni. He is a Human Relations Consultant and founded the COPE organisation based in Hutt St as an alternative to sending the little tearaways to McNally Training Centre - he achieved a great success rate of 70% against reoffending. He managed a Q&A column in the 'Tiser and established
Just Good Friends to help shy people meet others.
Robert is well known for his prowess as an elite cyclist and basketball player. In 2014 he was critically injured in a car accident while cycling and became a quadriplegic. He is a past member of RC Adelaide South. His furry mate Kobi accompanies him everywhere.
Robert was inducted into the club by President John with applause aplenty. He will be joining the International Committee under the stewardship of Graham Beckett.
Robert responded by relating his positive impression of our club as demonstrated by the commitment to weekly meetings, doing good deeds in a wide range of worthwhile programs, continual fundraising with the Thrift Shop and BBQs, and a very friendly dynamic. He is delighted to have joined us....as we are to have him as a member.
Guest Speaker: Chuks Ajaero - African Australian Heart Health
Ross Smith introduced Chuks who he met over three years ago while working in Victor Harbor. Chuks immigrated to SA in 2007 with his wife and 6 children from Nigeria. He had qualified as a cardiologist in Nigeria. After arriving here he did further cardio training.
Chuks had prepared a digital presentation but the laptop didn't play ball. Nigeria is a country about the size of South Oz with a population of more than 220 million (over 100 times more that SA) and most struggling to survive. He came from a very poor family but somehow managed to be selected to study medicine......and with further studies, cardiology. On coming to SA he worked hard to achieve accreditation here and also pursued a PhD. He began practicing in 2013.
He is now launching the African Australian Heart Health Initiative. The basic reason is that Africans, wherever they are living, suffer high levels of heart disease and die early. There is a distinct lack of awareness. There are 400,000 Africans living in Australia and unfortunately their communities are beset by images of anti-social behaviour. On 19 August the AAHH initiative will be launched at the Crown Plaza with a number of dignitaries (SA and Federal Ministers) attending plus Rotary DG. He would like to see as many Rotarians as possible at the luncheon. ..easy to locate on the web.
What can be achieved:
- Africans becoming more proactive about their health
- Community based treatment and research
- Education of health care workers,, feeding back into the African community.
- Enabling greater export of medical equipment which has reached its used-by-date but can still function effectively....Briony Casburn alerted Chuck to the dynamic role of DIK in this arena.
The bottom line is that people in Africa attend hospital to die.
Chuks was applauded for his presentation.
SPOTS
Vivienne Wood is hot on the trail of any donations which will help reach the $2m target to bring 3 elephants to Monarto Zoo.
Jerry Casburn announced that our club subs were going up by $10 per annum....or at least we think that is what he intended to say....and that explains the delay in sending out the bills....or allowing him enough to get out of town quickly.
Brendan Kenny informed that the wine offer list will be provided this week......plenty of value in the selection......minimum order of any wine is 6.
Finale
Winner of the filthy lucre was Greg (AGAIN) and Leonie scored the chocolates. Next week the Prez will be inducting Rachel Randel.
As the Prez had promised, the meeting was to run overtime....and it did.
At Folsom State Prison in California, small groups of inmates have shifted gears through a project of the nearby Rotary Club of Cameron Park. Since 2007 the club in the Sacramento area has collected used bicycles and delivered them to Folsom, where inmates repair them. Rotarians deliver as many as 500 of the refashioned rides each year to school children from low-income households and to organizations serving homeless people, veterans, refugees, and families displaced by wildfires. “The bike refurbishing program not only provides valuable skills and opportunities for our inmates, but it also allows them to give back to our community in a meaningful way,” notes Tracy Johnson, Folsom’s acting warden. “Although it’s a step toward rehabilitation, it’s a big leap toward creating positive change.” The club spends about $1,200 a year on the project. “I look at this as a win-win program,” says Don Fuller, the club’s immediate past president. “We’re picking up bikes that people don’t want. The inmates get a sense of satisfaction.”
The Rotary Club of Fray Bentos scooped up 320 servings of paella during a cook-off that has raised thousands of dollars for activities since 2016. Under the guidance of chef Eduardo Casales of La Tomasa restaurant, 23 of the club’s members peeled and cut vegetables to fill giant pans with the rice dish in April during this year’s event, which raised about $2,800. The secret ingredient? “The high quality of the inputs used added to the flavor that maintains this traditional paella,” along with the charitable deeds enabled by the proceeds, says Alfredo Batista Fernández, a past club president. The club, which maintains a bank of wheelchairs, crutches, walkers, and canes loaned at no charge to people in need, has devoted the proceeds from the food sales to related causes, including the construction of 16 wheelchair-accessible ramps throughout the city of Fray Bentos, as well as at schools.
Members of the Rotary Club of Milano International-Net organized an amateur ski race in March to support a local charity’s initiative to donate defibrillators to try to prevent cardiac arrest deaths. The ski event attracted about 20 Rotarians, family members, and friends to Aprica, a resort nestled along a pass between Lake Como and the Dolomites. “There were also many nonskiers who enjoyed a beautiful day of sunshine, friendship, and conviviality,” says Chiara Giudici, the club’s immediate past president. The entry fee and sponsorships brought in more than $1,750 to purchase a defibrillator for a city park, says Giudici. In October, the club again supported the initiative, which raises money through sports events, by sponsoring a 50-participant tournament of padel, a racquet sport compared to pickleball. That competition provided a defibrillator to the police department.
The Rotary Club of Jakarta Metropolitan has offered free health checkups since 2015 for older people, mothers and their children, and others. For its eighth medical fair in February, the club expanded its screenings to include homeless people. X-rays detected signs of tuberculosis, bronchitis, or pneumonia in 97 of the 223 people screened. The club followed up to help them overcome barriers to treatment. “Our solution is to involve the civil registry service office to help with the homeless peoples’ identification so that they can apply for government insurance and later go to a hospital,” says club member Inne Ongkodjojo. “From this incident, we see the need to provide for public health screening, especially for TB, which has a fast and widespread transmission,” says Arry Basuseno, the club’s immediate past president.
Six members of the Lagos-based Rotaract Club of Gbagada spent three weeks and 810 hours on an extensive renovation of the washroom at the Apostolic Primary School in Ketu. Using about $1,000 from individual donors, the Rotaractors replaced part of the roof and two worn doors, polished the floor, painted, undertook masonry repairs, and hired a plumber to connect the dilapidated six-toilet block to the existing borehole well. “The toilet was in a dirty and deplorable state,” heightening absenteeism at the 500-pupil school because of illnesses such as diarrhea and cholera, says Michael Ekerin, immediate past president of the club. The project, completed in March, was among the club’s 20 service projects during the 2022-23 Rotary year.
