This Week - Business Meeting

There's not much to say about a Business Meeting because you will all receive the agenda anyway.  Probably the most important thing is to see if our President  Elect, Alton Werrett has managed to fill all the positions on the board for the coming Rotary Year as there are only two board meetings to go.

In the meantime here is something we should aim to be involved with though some research is necessary as host families in 2025 would need to know dietary requirements.

Saturday 6th April is set aside as a social meeting but there are no details available.

Last Week

Dr Anton Wolfaardt updated us on the Mouse-free Marion Project.  What struck me most was the care that is taken into ensuring that the extermination of mice really does happen and that nothing else is damaged as a result. What was particularly interesting was the failure of mouse extermination programmes on two other islands and that the Marion Island project has been postponed until research has established why those programmes failed. 

This is why the Marion Island Project must not fail. 

Next Week

Dave Standing, former Brewing Consultant to SA Breweries, will be talking to us about beer.  This is not a home brew talk, it's a talk about beer and his experience is an international one.

International -  India

Monsoon rains regularly pummel Maharashtra state. With the support of a $50,000 global grant, the Rotary Club of Mumbai Down Town Sea Land oversaw construction of five check dams that will help farming families manage flooding in the Palghar district. “The majority of the rainwater runs off the surface, as the land is mostly rocky and consists of hard soil,” says member Chandraprabha Khona, who directed the project in cooperation with the Rotary Club of Colombo, Sri Lanka. A nearly $30,000 contribution from Shabbir Rangwala, a past president of the Mumbai club, was instrumental. The new concrete dams will allow farmers to expand irrigation and cultivate additional crops, as well as store water for sanitation and top up borehole wells. Khona adds that the project will lead to “an exponential jump” in farmers’ income.