This Week - a Business Meeting

 There's not much to say about that especially as I have been away for two weeks.

Many thanks to everyone for your kind comments following Jean's accident on the cliff path at Hermanus.  She broke a small bone in her wrist but you only realise these things a day or two later when there seems to be no improvement.  She spent time in hospital and had an operation which was successful, though her arm will be in a cast for 3 weeks. She has an incompetent carer/chauffeur in the mean time and you can be sure that sadly wages are out of the question. 

A Social Meeting is Scheduled for this coming Saturday but I have no details as yet.

Last Week

We had a scheduled New Members' Meeting.......and I also missed the social braai at Modderfontein 10 days before.

Jim Rankin sent this email, I gather, to all of us:

Zen and I have been full members of the Korsman Conservancy in Benoni for some years.   In brief, “Korsman Conservancy is a non-profit organisation of residents and 'Citizen Conservationists' caring for Korsman Bird Sanctuary on The Drive, Westdene, Benoni.   Korsman is a natural pan surrounded by a residential area where visitors can escape the city and enjoy the peace of nature.   Korsman Conservancy works with Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality to protect the biodiversity and preserve this jewel of nature.”   The attached article sketches some of the background to the Korsman Conservancy.

Jane Trembath is Chairman of the Conservancy Committee and has devoted herself to the Conservancy.   At their AGM in May I asked Jane if there was a way that Rotary could help.   She came back to me last week with a rather urgent request for a temperature data logger to monitor water temperature as there is a correlation between water temperature and avian botulism.   Avian botulism leads to bird deaths and subsequent deterioration of the environment for bird, plant, mammalian and fish life.   You will see from the attached article the scope of the work which Jane Trembath is undertaking and that Benoni Aurora Rotary Club has helped in the past.  It seems as though Benoni Aurora’s involvement has fallen away more recently.   We would need to liaise with them in this regard.   Because of the urgency of needing the temperature logger, AGFACTS has sponsored this and it will be installed this coming week.

At Discon earlier this year I sat on a panel to discuss environmental matters and how Rotary Clubs could serve the community on environmental matters.

Our request to the Board and to the Club is whether we could or should get involved in co-operation with the Korsman Sanctuary.   I feel sure that Jane Trembath would be more than willing to speak to us and outline where we could help them.   I don’t foresee our donating much in the way of money, but rather, with our contacts, helping them with some of their projects.   One of the people who served on the Discon panel with me is an environmentalist who is knowledgeable about water quality.   Jane Trembath has asked whether we know anyone knowledgeable in this aspect of the environment.   I could contact him and ask him to get involved.   He has also been involved in cleaning up the Jukskei, more particularly in Alexandra.

Before getting involved with Korsman sanctuary, we would like to have the blessing of the Board and the Club to go ahead.

Here's more about it:

Next Week

Carlo Gomes and Martin de Bruiyn are partners in Duality Fitness, a company that has a holistic approach to health and fitness.  It's not quite what you expect and even includes ready cooked meals.

I will leave them to explain it.

International - Ethiopia

With the wind at their backs, members of the Rotary Fellowship of Kites and its founder, Henock Alemayehu, gathered for a day of kite making and flying with 250 children, many of them displaced by conflict among the more than 80 ethnic groups in Ethiopia. The children and volunteers converged on the grounds of an elementary school in Quiha, in the northern Tigray region, for the Ashengoda Kite
Festival on 9 June. “The simplicity of this activity carried profound significance, offering a rare moment of peace and joy for these children,” says Alemayehu, a member of the Rotary Club of Addis Ababa Central-Mella. The kite fellowship, which has more than 100 members from 12 countries, is “creating lasting change through the simple yet powerful act of kite flying,” says Alemayehu.