This Week - Justice Edwin Cameron talks on "South Africa - Peril or Promise"

Here's Edwin Cameron in an academic role.  He became Vice Chancellor of the University of Stellenbosch

Cameron was born in Pretoria. His father was imprisoned for car theft and his mother did not have the means to support him. He therefore spent much of his childhood in an orphanage in Queenstown. His elder sister was killed when Cameron was seven.

Cameron won a scholarship to attend Pretoria Boys High School and reinvented himself, he says, "in the guise of a clever schoolboy".^[ Thereafter he went to Stellenbosch University, studying Latin and classics. After this he attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.  There he switched to law and earned a BA in Jurisprudence and the Bachelor of Civil Law, winning the Vinerian Scholarship. When he returned to South Africa he completed an LLB at the University of South Africa.

Cameron practised at the Johannesburg Bar from 1983 to 1994. From 1986 he was a human rights lawyer at Wits's Centre for Applied Legal Studies, where in 1989 he was awarded a personal professorship in law.  Cameron's practice included labour and employment law; defence of African National Congress fighters charged with treason; conscientious and religious objection; land tenure and forced removals; and gay and lesbian equality.

In October 1994, President Nelson Mandela appointed Cameron as an acting judge of the High Court to chair a commission of inquiry into illegal arms sales by Armscor, operating as the sales arm of the SANDF, to Yemen. Cameron's report was described as a "hard-hitting" critique of Armscor's conduct, but was quickly eclipsed by myriad other allegations about the South African government's illegal arms trades.

Cameron was instead appointed to the Supreme Court of Appeal (at the same time as Mahomed Navsa and Robert Nugent), where he served for eight years.

On 31 December 2008 President Kgalema Motlanthe appointed Cameron to the Constitutional Court, taking effect from 1 January 2009. He was considered a crucial member of the Court's progressive wing.

Cameron has been openly gay since the early 1980s.  He addressed the crowd in the first pride parade in South Africa held in Johannesburg on 13 October 1990. Thereafter he oversaw the gay and lesbian movement's submissions to the drafters of the South African Constitution and was instrumental in securing the inclusion of an express prohibition on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

From 1988 Cameron advised the National Union of Mineworkers on HIV/AIDS, and helped draft and negotiate the industry's first comprehensive AIDS agreement with the Chamber of Mines. While at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies, he co-drafted the Charter of Rights on AIDS and HIV, co-founded the AIDS Consortium (a national affiliation of non-governmental organisations working in AIDS), which he chaired for its first three years, and founded and was the first director of the AIDS Law Project.

Cameron had himself contracted HIV in the 1980s and became extremely ill with AIDS when working as a High Court judge. His salary allowed him to afford anti-retroviral treatment, which saved his life. Cameron's realisation that he owed his life to his relative wealth caused him to become a prominent HIV/AIDS activist in post-apartheid South Africa, urging its government to provide treatment to all. He has strongly criticised President Thabo Mbeki's AIDS-denialist policies. Cameron was the first, and remains the only, senior South African official to state publicly that he is living with HIV/AIDS.

Last Week

District Governor George Senosha's official visit to the club began with visits to three of our projects;  Bethany Home for Abused Women and Children, Gerald Fitzpatrick Home and Rest-A-While.  These projects are close enough to show him the three.  What we have achieved at the first two in terms of solar power and water when both electricity and water supply are erratic.  Rest-A-While is a new project and what we hope to be able to achieve there.  He was accompanied by his aide, Grace van Zyl.

He met with the Board and was particularly interested in our approach to succession planning with Presidents in place for two years ahead of this year and our approach to membership and Foundation.

Subsequently he met with the club over dinner and it was a pleasure to have him.  Instead of our usual International section I will add photographs of his visit.

Next Week - Quo Vadis Knights Pendragon?

This a special meeting for committees and a general assembly to discuss how to alleviate the weaknesses in the SWOT Analysis presented by President Andrew two weeks ago.

DG George Senosha.s Visit

  

 George Matsobane Senosha & last year's RI President Gordon McKinally

This Wednesday we welcome our District Governor, George Senosha to a social dinner at Belgravia Bowls Club in Bedfordview at 18:30.  This is not a closed event so if you wish to come and bring your partner you are very welcome.  Just drop an email to ilesh@teaandcoffee.co.za 

George Senosha has a plan for Rotary's future in South Africa which he passionately calls “Shifting the Paradigm.” His vision is to create awareness and extend Rotary’s reach into the hard-to-reach corners of communities where immense needs exist.

At the heart of Senosha’s strategy is the formation of 103 rotary community corps, a number symbolising Rotary’s long-standing presence in South Africa and Africa. The corps will serve as dynamic agents of change, strategically aligned with the first Rotary Club ever established on the African continent – the Rotary Club of Johannesburg. They will actively address local communities’ unique challenges, providing sustainable solutions that uplift and empower those in need.

Senosha’s vision is a symbolic gesture and a tangible commitment to Rotary’s “Service Above Self” mission. By establishing these corps, he aims to create a profound and lasting impact on the long-underserved lives of individuals and communities.

Jim Rankin has been busy sorting out the courses of vitamins for many of our benefactors.  We received this thanks from Cresset House.

Jim has managed to acquire R500 000's worth of vitamins for R25 000. 

Last Week

Godfrey Giles gave us a very thought provoking talk on the situation with military veterans in this country and the difficulties in applying for the pensions to which they are entitled to by law.  

The club really appreciated what he had to say, especially as a number of members are military veterans.  It was suggested that board look at anything that we  might be able to do to assist in the future.

Next Week

Former Constitutional Court Judge Edwin Cameron will be talking on "South Africa - Peril or Promise?"

He has held so many positions within the judiciary, been Chancellor of Stellenbosch University and has received so many honours form here and overseas that I am not going to list them here.

International - Colombia

In January, the Rotary Club of Cúcuta-Ciudad de Arboles purchased about $600 of school supplies and delivered 100 sets of notebooks, pencils, pens, erasers, sharpeners, and more to students in the city. It’s about 350 miles northeast of Bogotá. Club members also visited with students in the neighborhood of Las Delicias, says Dora Patricia Lobo, a past president of the club. “The hustle and bustle and joy of these students when they receive their school package warms our souls and encourages us to continue,” Lobo says. More than 1,400 students have benefited since the project began.

This Week: Godfrey Giles will talk to us about Military Veterans and the problems they face both locally and internationally and solutions to these problems.

 Godfrey Giles has for many years organised the Remembrance Day Service at the Cenotaph in Central Johannesburg but his involvement with military veterans goes back much further than just that as he is Past President for Life of the SA Legion and Honorary Vice President of the World Veterans Federation.

We have enough old boys of Jeppe in the club so it's a great pleasure having someone who went to KES to talk to us.

It promises to be an interesting talk.

Last Week

It was a Business Meeting with a difference because much time was taken up discussing the SWOT Analysis circulated by President Andrew and what could be done about a weaknesses as well as the long-term survival of the club.  We have Presidents in place for the two years after this Rotary Year but there is much to do for the future with new ideas for fund raising and how we can continue dropping the average age of members.  In order to discuss this and to give members the opportunity to think about it before hand we have changed our normal monthly programme for September to have a special meeting to decide what can be done to address the issues raised.  The Business Meeting will be moved to the second Wednesday of the month and the first Wednesday meeting will be given over to this discussion.

Next Week

It's the Visit of District Governor George Senosha.

DG. Senosha holds a Doctoral Degree in Business Development and Administration, a Doctoral Degree in Community Building, and a qualification in Hotel and Hospitality Management. He also has a background in Human Resource and Industrial Relations from UNISA.

He began his career in the hospitality industry, where he managed hotels. He then transitioned to the tourism industry, serving on boards of tourism associations and industry groups. In 1997, he joined Pick n Pay Bela-Bela as a floor manager, rising through the ranks to become the first black South African to own a Pick n Pay Franchise and to introduce it to the Township.

Our meeting will be held at Belgravia Bowls Club, 18:15 for 18:30 and will be preceded by a Board Meeting.  The cost will be R220 per head excluding coffee and drinks will be for your own account.  Partners and guests are welcome and it promises to be a good social evening.....and the food will also be good and there is a vegetarian option, vegetable lasagne.  Please let Ilesh know that you will be there plus others.  He will put a poll on our general WhatsApp group.

International:  Sierra Leone

Health workers trained through a Rotary project resuscitate infants struggling for air

Trainees in the Helping Babies Breathe programme hold newborn simulator dolls called NeoNatalies at the Lungi Government Hospital in Sierra Leone.

As a midwife who works at health facilities all over the Western Rural District of Sierra Leone, Banneh Daramy sometimes has to assert herself. Her confidence and skill can make the difference between life and death.

“I went to one facility and the people on duty did not even recognise that I was a midwife,” she recalls. “They’d just done a delivery, and the baby was not crying. So they concentrated on the mother, and the baby was left alone. Immediately, I entered. I knew how to resuscitate the baby.”

As the mother screamed in panic, Daramy grabbed a self-inflating resuscitator and fitted it over the baby’s face.

“I used it to ventilate the baby. And within one minute, the baby started crying,” she says. “The mother had been crying and shouting, ‘Oh God, please save my baby! Please save my baby!’ And then she was so happy. That’s why, whenever I see a delivery, I stay until the end to see that the baby is safe.”

It didn’t take expensive equipment to save that baby’s life. A self-inflating resuscitator sells for about US$11. Daramy’s knowledge of neonatal resuscitation — and her quick thinking — made all the difference. She learned many of her skills through Helping Babies Breathe, a training programme created by the American Academy of Paediatrics that she took part in through a Rotary global grant project.

Birth asphyxia, or the failure to breathe at birth, kills an estimated 900,000 infants globally each year. Although it accounts for less than 0.1% of newborn deaths in industrialised countries, it’s the leading cause of neonatal mortality in low- and middle-income countries, like Sierra Leone. Many newborns who aren’t breathing can be saved if health care workers begin resuscitation immediately, so it’s crucial for providers to learn how to respond as quickly as Daramy did.

Since 2022, Rotary members in Sierra Leone and North America have collaborated to offer the Helping Babies Breathe protocol to more than 650 nurses, midwives, and other health workers from all over Sierra Leone. The programme was funded through a global grant co-sponsored by the Rotary Club of Freetown, Sierra Leone. Sybil Bailor, the club’s 2023-24 president, was committed to the program in part because of her own experience. She once had a difficult delivery, during which her baby struggled to get oxygen.

“When my second child was being born, it was quite a long process, and she got distressed in my birth canal,” Bailor says. “Her oxygen level was below 90%, so they gave me a medication to make the contractions come quicker. This is one of the reasons why this particular project is very special to me.”

This Week: A Business Meeting

 This week there will be quite a lot to discuss following Committee Meetings last week, the issue of fund raising and the Swot Analysis issued by President Andrew.

We are a strong club in comparison with most clubs in the District and we are much better than most when it comes to succession planning particularly when it comes to presidents as we have them in place for two years following this Rotary year.  We have to ensure that we have members in other positions as well and we must continue to recruit members to lower our average age and be prepared to take over positions in the long term.  Where that is concerned we need to see what the club will look like in 10 years time and prepare for that.

President Andrew and myself have set goals for the club for this Rotary year and have kept them modest.  It's better to exceed them rather than fall short.  On the other hand we have not even considered Long or Short Term Youth Exchange and maybe we should. 

Last Week 

It was a 5th Wednesday where traditionally we have had a social dinner in the evening for members and partners.  Instead it was requested that there be online committee meetings as an experiment as we would be having a social breakfast on Saturday morning.

Past President Neil Gardyne attended the breakfast and presented President Andrew with the blazer from the club's first Rotary Exchange Student, Anne Brierley 

There was a suggestion as what to do for the next social meeting in September and it will come up at the Business Meeting. 

Next Week

Our Speaker will be Godfrey Giles:

As a Honorary Vice President of the World Veterans Federation and as a Past President for Life of the South African Legion I truly believe in "Not for ourselves, but for others!"
Through out my working career I have striven to help others - lets make it happen together!

International:  Australia, New Zealand & The South Pacific

Innovation is a guiding force in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific, where energetic Rotary members are starting dozens of new clubs and reviving struggling ones. The leaders of four new membership teams have started 27 new clubs since July 2020. Their goal is to start 15 more, and rejuvenate 100, every year. To find out how they’re doing this, keep reading.

Start new clubs to attract new members

Andy Rajapakse
Rotary Club of Burleigh Heads, Queensland, Australia
Membership director for Zone 8’s Regional Council

“Forming a new club is easier than reinventing an existing club. New members find the new clubs to be flexible, accommodating, and rich with leadership opportunities. In an existing club, a new member will find it hard to become the president or secretary. But in a new club, you can get a leadership opportunity right away. In the new clubs we’ve started, 58% of the people who joined were female and 28% were under the age of 40.

To find good places to start clubs, I look for suburbs where a big store just opened. We have a big hardware store chain in Australia called Bunnings. They do socioeconomic surveys to see where new developments are being built and new families are coming in. When they open a big warehouse, that’s an opportunity for us. If there is no Rotary club in that area, we know we can start one.”

Mark Huddleston
Rotary Club of Seaford, South Australia, Australia
Captain of Zone 8’s Club and Cultural Transformation Team

“If you’ve got a young family or you’re in business for yourself, you’re not going to have a lot of spare time. People are interested in getting out in their communities, rolling up their sleeves, and getting their hands dirty. They’re not interested in spending their time in meetings every week. Clubs are allowed to meet every two weeks if they choose to. A lot of clubs have taken that up. Most of the new clubs that have started in our zone have the minimum number of meetings: Two times per month.

There was a time when we used meeting attendance to measure the value of a Rotarian. We’re slowly recognizing that member engagement is a more important measure of success. Instead of having meetings at the centre of the Rotary universe, we should have service at the centre of the Rotary universe. Everything, including meetings, should revolve around that.

“My own club has two meetings a month. One is on a Thursday night. The other, on a Sunday afternoon, is often combined with a service project. We do the project, and then we tack on a very informal meeting at the end of it. So, there are very different ways of doing the whole meeting thing.”