This Week

 In a week's time it is International Retina Day when the World Health Organisation emphasises the world-wide problem of retinitis pigmentosa.  It is a genetic disease that people are born with.  The retina cells slowly break down causing a slow loss of eyesight.

Our club has a long history of involvement with the Retina SA Cycle Day where we have acted as marshals and donated the money earned, back to the organisation.

This week Mike de Beer is organising a programme to show how we can increase our assistance to Retina SA over and above the annual Cycle Ride.

Sunday's Braai/Brunch at Fish Eagle Dam, Modderfontein Reserve

Organised by Bill Brunjes the Spring Brunch/Braai is always an enjoyable event.  Rather than show pictures of meat on the braai or snoozing Rotarians and guests, rather watch what has become an annual event, a Boule Tournament.  

Our unofficial Official Photographer, Lauwrence Vosloo, arrived early and caught the early birds honing their skills to take on the rest of the club.

Last Week

We were virtually visited by DG Riana Pretorius.  She had her own agenda for the Board Meeting but slotted in with our usual monthly Business Meeting that followed.  She was most complimentary about our club, it's activities, forward planning and the projects we are involved with.  She would like to visit Bethany House and Gerald Fitzpatrick Home in the future.  Out Treasurer, Richard Eley and Executive Secretary Jim Rankin were praised for their expertise in the administration of the Club and having everything ready for the DG well in advance.

At the Business Meeting she mentioned two possible projects that were dear to her heart, the elimination of pit toilets in schools and plastic recycling.  The government has been somewhat tardy in it's plan to eliminate pit toilets but there are still thousands still in existence.  Children's safety and health should be of paramount importance.

International

By Dave King

In a graveyard in Lviv, a mother tends the grave of her son. He was just 22 when he was killed last September.

In this patch of ground next to the main cemetery, there are rows upon rows of gravestones as far as the eye can see, with two freshly dug graves awaiting today’s funerals.

Each gravestone carries a picture of the fallen soldier, some shockingly young, their dates of birth marked by this century.

The earth is decorated with ornaments, plus the familiar yellow and blue flag of Ukraine, and the red and black flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army – red Ukrainian blood spilled on the black Ukrainian soil.

Nearby, at one of the Orthodox churches, a photographic exhibition features the innocent faces of children whose lives have been scarred by the war with the death of their fathers.

One seven-year-old wrote: “I hate the war. I want my daddy back. I want to feel his warm embrace again.”

This is Ukraine, June 2023. It is heartbreaking, with the dark clouds of war never far away. I spent a week in Ukraine, a visit which coincided with a counter-offensive on the country’s eastern front, and the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam in Kherson.

Lviv is the main city in western Ukraine, 330 miles from the capital Kyiv, and around 500 miles from the Russian front line.

It is also a focal point for Rotary.

Air raid sirens sound nightly, as Russian rockets arc across Ukraine reaching as far as Lviv where civilians have been killed.

But by day, this historic city with its cobbled streets, stylish Austrian- Hungarian architecture and a rich culture of art, music and theatre, is buzzing with activity. At times, it is hard to believe there is a war going on.

The focal point for my visit was Ukraine’s District Conference at 15th century Dubno Castle, a two-and-half hour drive from Lviv. There, I met Rotarians from across the country.

Svitlana Trushina is from Dnipro on the front line where there is shelling every day. She said: “At home, everything is bad for me. My husband has been at war for 14 months. I live alone, I am constantly scared, and I cry every day.”

However, there was an atmosphere of amazing positivity and purpose among the Ukrainians; so determined, so selfless, so brave. District Governor Vitalii Lesko opened the conference by saying: “We are Rotarians, we are united, this is a power. Rotary is the power to change the world.

Many Rotarians sought me out to tell their stories.

I visited an autism school in Rivne run by a Rotarian and chatted to a soldier who had both his legs blown off in a mortar attack. He’s going to be a father in August. I spent time with incoming District Governor, Myron Uhryn, a leading dentist in Lviv, who has organised mobile dentist surgeries on the front line.  He is a truly inspiring man who has also built a multi-faith church near Dave King (right) and Rotary International Secretary     Donetsk as a sort of waiting room.

John Hewko (left) visiting a hospital in Ukraine.

The gruesome pictures of men, women and children, their bloodied, twisted faces ripped by shrapnel and requiring maxillofacial surgery by Myron and his team will never leave me.

During the week, I learned a lot about this amazing country; what it is like to live under the shadow of war, the unbelievable work of Rotarians who are relentlessly and selflessly providing humanitarian aid, and came to admire the fortitude and resilience of the Ukrainian people.

I spoke at the climax to the District conference in Dubno, and finished with the words of Captain Sir Tom Moore: “You must always consider that the future is going to be better. That is today if not a good day, then tomorrow is going to be better.

“Never ever worry yourself about how terrible things are because soon, and it will happen, things will get better. They always will.”