This Week - Delight Musa Sithole talks to us about Dlala Nje

DlalaNje was established in October 2012 with the aim to challenge perceptions and to create opportunities in Hillbrow.

 Tourism as a vehicle for youth development.

Dlala Nje has achieved this by running inner-city immersions and experiences in some of Joburg’s most misunderstood areas. The walking tours run by Dlala Nje provide one of the most authentic experiences of Hillbrow. The guides are from the area, who immerse visitors into the local community.

These immersions and walks have allowed Dlala Nje to build and run two community centres aimed at providing a safe learning environment for children and youth. Dlala Nje has built a space where kids get the chance to learn, to grow, to be safe, to develop friendships, whilst also being exposed to experiences that develop and challenge their worlds and their own perceptions.

Community Development

Community development is a big part of Dlala Nje therefore participants will be working in their community centres. They currently have an army of volunteers that are compensated for all the work that they previously had been doing without pay. Dlala Nje is on the verge of launching two new centres and this will be a great opportunity for some of their participants to train and work closely with the community development officers and programme managers.

Discover the vibrant heart of Johannesburg with Dlala Nje’s unique inner-city tours and experiences. Explore the city’s most misunderstood areas, and help fund our community initiatives at the base of the iconic Ponte Towers. Our tours directly support two community centres, offering safe spaces for early childhood development and youth engagement in one of the world’s most unequal societies.

Last Week

Robert Fisher gave us a fascinating talk on the fur trade today and how he updates old fashioned fur coats for the present generation.  It was interesting to hear such an indepth presentation about something none of us know anything about.

Next Week

It's the club AGM and our Christmas Lunch on the Saturday.  I think we will have to give up on having it in a private room at a restaurant at this time of year.  I will let you know on Wednesday but in the meantime try and think of alternatives.

International 

The roots of Rotary’s polio eradication efforts

On 29 September 1979, volunteers administered drops of oral polio vaccine to children at a health centre in Guadalupe Viejo, Makati, Philippines. The event in metropolitan Manila was arranged and attended by Rotarians and delegates from the Philippine Ministry of Health.

When James L. Bomar Jr., then RI president, put the first drops of vaccine into a child’s mouth, he ceremonially launched the Philippine poliomyelitis immunisation effort. Rotary’s first Health, Hunger and Humanity (3-H) Grant project was underway. 

Bomar and Enrique M. Garcia, the country’s minister of health, had earlier signed an agreement committing Rotary International and the government of the Philippines to a joint multiyear effort to immunise about 6 million children against polio, at a cost of about $760,000.

In a 1993 interview, Bomar reminisced about the trip. He recalled how the brother of one of the children he had immunise tugged on his trouser leg to get his attention and said, “Thank you, thank you, Rotary.

The project’s success led Rotary to make polio eradication a top priority. Rotary launched PolioPlus in 1985 and was a founding member of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988. Through decades of commitment and work by Rotary and our partners, more than 2.5 billion children have received the oral polio vaccine.