District Digest 9350
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District Digest 9350 Monthly newsletter of DG Cecil Rose. Issue 1, July TIME TO MOVE ON Induction season amongst Rotary and Rotaract Clubs is now over and new presidents and leadership teams are focusing on the year ahead. During this period Lesley & I were honoured to be invited to no less than 33 Rotary and 3 Rotaract Club inductions. What a pleasure it would have been to share all these important events with so many Rotarians but due to conflicting dates and sometimes difficult logistics we were only able to attend 17 Rotary and 1 Rotaract inductions. We were thrilled to be able to share and witness the inductions of the new presidents at the Rotary Clubs of Bellville, Blouberg, Cape of Good Hope, Cape Town, Durbanville, Goodwood, Gordon’s Bay, Helderberg, Helderberg Sunrise, DG Cecil and his wife, Lesley Rose Kromboom, Newlands, Noon Gun, Roggebaai, Sea Point, Somerset West, Swellendam and Wynberg as well as the Rotaract Club of Bellville. What a wonderful experience that was. Each EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT function was different with its own style and highlights and reflects the diversity of character A PRIORITY FOR OUR DISTRICT and practices of our Rotary Clubs. We are just so sorry that we were not able to accept all the kind invitations we received. We also thank all Those of us who were fortunate enough to hear Dr David those clubs who hosted us at such wonderful events and wish all the new presidents a very Harrison of the DG Murray Trust speak at the 2013 District successful and rewarding year. Conference at Ratanga Junction on the lost potential of nearly half the children born in metropolitan Cape Town could not have helped being struck by the urgent need for proper Mini-Conference in Swellendam development opportunities for these children. Rtn Alan Jackson also touched on this matter at the 2014 District The mini-conference for 2014 is scheduled to take Conference at Knysna when he quoted extracts from place on Saturday 18 October in Swellendam. This year it will be a little different. It will feature a couple Harrison's original presentation. What is very clear from these of parallel break-away sessions and there will be a two presentations is that many in our communities are being short after-lunch session not just a morning session. seriously disadvantaged by the circumstances of their birth AG Marc Stuyck and the Swellendam organising team under President Stephen Young will be adding a and will remain disadvantaged for their entire lives. whole lot of cultural, sporting and craft activities to make attendance at the mini-conference an exciting Continued on next page experience. There is a provisional list of 15 activities to choose from. President Stephen has also negotiated a 20% discount on accommodation for Rotarians from the B&B industry in the town. 0 THE YOUNGER THE BETTER Continued from previous page The acronym FLoSS was used by Harrison to describe the four key factors necessary for the human brain to develop naturally; Food, Love, Security and Stimulation. He highlighted that the critical stage for this development to occur is the first 1000 days of life. Starting some 90 days before birth this period covers roughly the period to the age of 3 years. Harrison showed that development that does not occur during this period limits the further development of the individual throughout their life. For all the people of our country to rise to their full potential it is imperative that all children are given the right developmental opportunities from birth. Certainly there are many governmental and non- governmental organisations working in this field. I also know that many Rotary clubs have got projects in support of ECD facilities and are making a real difference but it is clear that there is need for even more. To try to help this shortfall to be addressed I have decided to make ECD the focus of my year. I am in the process of establishing a District committee on ECD who will have four primary tasks. These are: 1 Raise the profile of ECD needs and emphasise its importance 2 Encourage more clubs to set up ECD projects 3 Be a vehicle for the sharing of experience, guidance and knowledge on ECD 4 Seek out and facilitate partnerships between Rotary and other organisations in this field. To get this under-way I have asked PP Henry Septoe of Claremont to chair the committee and I am calling for knowledgeable and passionate volunteers to join the committee. One who has done so is Rtn Alan Jackson of Wynberg who presented the start-up of a new ECD project that his club is developing at the District Conference at Knysna. In fact Alan helped me start the process of seeking partnerships by setting up meetings for me with officials of the National Development Agency (NDA) and the Western Cape Department of Social Development (DSD). The response at those meetings was very positive and I am confident that this will lead to good cooperation between Rotary and these two critical departments of South African national and provincial government. Partnerships could well develop. Plans are also being made to make similar approaches to the Namibian government during my official visit to the clubs there. My appeal is to those Rotarians who have knowledge and experience of ECD projects and are passionate about Rotary Lighting up the Lives of the next generation to volunteer to serve on the ECD committee. Please forward your name and contact details to either me ( [email protected] ), Henry Septoe ( [email protected] ) or the District Service Centre ( [email protected] ). Your involvement and contribution will help Rotary make a difference. ‘All SA government schools will be changing over to the use of ‘Please try to buy only iPads for schools. They are more iPads as soon as 2015, and as the money becomes available. expensive to begin with but they give few technical problems Babies as young as four months should already be introduced to and most education packages are developed for use on iPads,’ iPads.’ Dr Rene Nathanson, speaking to Helderberg Sunrise Rotary says Dr Rene Nathanson, of Stellenbosch University, ‘But before Club on July 22, 2014. giving them to children, the teachers have to be trained first.’ New Member Details PDG Mike Ochse and IPDG Vyv Deacon sent welcoming letters to new Rotarians that had joined clubs during the year. IPDG Vyv sent out 106 letters during his term. I will be continuing this as I believe that it will be encouraging for new members to see that they are recognised and welcomed into the Rotary family beyond their own club. Club Secretaries please ensure that the name and email address of all new members of your club are forwarded to the DSC as soon as possible so that I can send out that letter and recognise your new members. 1 The Rotary Foundation Contributions In IPDG Vyv's last DG News he mentioned three contributions that have been made to Foundation via the Fiscal Agent, PDG Metcalf Fick but for which it is not possible to identify the Rotary club or Rotarian who made the contribution. This makes it impossible to recognise these valuable contributions. A further unidentifiable contribution was made in late June. If your club or a Rotarian in your club was responsible for any of these contributions then please advise PDG Metcalf at [email protected] so that the appropriate recognition can be assigned. R2 000.00 8 November 2013 Polio Plus Ref: 'Polio campaign' R8 000.00 4 December 2013 APF Ref: 'Annual Giving/Paul Harris' R17 000.00 30 May 2014 Ref: 'Found. Cont. Club 17' R5 275.00 25 June 2014 Ref: 'Rotary' Getting To know You… Sharing a first day “in office” at Rotary Club of Cape of Good Hope induction: President Bev Frieslich, Assistant Governor Michelle Anders, District Governor Cecil Rose and Lesley Rose. Improve your Club’s Public Image The Public Image Committee want to remind all new club presidents who haven’t already done so to send a picture of their induction to their local newspaper with a caption to announce that they are now in office, what their vocation is, what their plans for the year include and where people who are interested in giving back to society can contact their club. If you are reluctant to being in the spotlight, you could have a picture taken with your board as long as it is a picture of five, six or maximum seven people because otherwise the caption will be bigger than the picture! And having sent it to the local press, after it is published you need to upload it to Facebook, your club’s web page, etc. Make yourself known and Light Up Rotary. There have been some great ones published recently but there must be many presidents that haven’t done so yet. THE CLUB LEADERSHIP PLAN This is to strengthen the Rotary club by providing the administrative framework of an effective club. Current, incoming, and past club leaders should develop a long-range plan that addresses elements of an effective club and set annual goals using the Planning Guide for Effective Rotary Clubs. 2 Club Board members’ responsibilities A matter that was raised at some of the POETS sessions and as feedback from clubs at the District Leadership Team meeting in May, was the need to improve communications between District committees and club board members. To help facilitate this it is important to know which club board member has responsibility for Membership, Rotary Foundation, Youth Services, Public Image and so on.