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PRESIDENTS
MESSAGE
We are having meetings at lunchtime
on December 12th and December 19th, so hope the members can
make these two meetings. We then have a break for two weeks and
meet again on January 9th 2004.
We celebrated a Greek Xmas with
dancing in the aisles, singing and Zorba at the end of the evening.
We did see some of our male members dancing with the belly dancer
It looked like it was very good exercise, I know it was and I even
lost my shoe somewhere in the chain of zorba! A good night was had
by all.
We cooked up many sausages,
with a lot of help from Beth! on Saturday morning at Bunnings warehouse.
It is a very busy place on a Saturday morning. A big thank you to
Sandy for organizing the BBQ and to all the workers who cooked,
served and took the money for the club.
Ted Elliot has taken two teenage
children into his house to look after, and anyone who has teenage
children knows this is a big task, just to feed them. If anyone
in the club can assist Ted in anyway it would be really appreciated
as he really does have his hands full. The club will assist where
we can.
President Robyn
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Rotary 4-Way Test
1.
Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
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Drive's Politically
Correct Christmas Message
courtesy of Kevin Naughton, ABC Adelaide, 5/12/03
(and Jeff Crofts)
And now for the traditional Christmas greeting - 2003
style! "Please accept, with no obligation, implied or implicit,
our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible,
low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the summer
solstice holiday, practised within the most enjoyable traditions
of the religious persuasions of your choice or secular practice
of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions
and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practise secular
or religious traditions at all.
And a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling,
medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally
accepted calendar year 2004, but not without due respect for the
calendars of choice of other cultures, whose contributions to society
have helped make Australia great (not to imply that Australia is
necessarily greater than any other country) and without regard to
the race, creeds, colour, age, physical ability, religious faiths
or the sexual preference of the Wishee.
And by accepting this greeting, you are accepting
these terms:
This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal.
It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting.
It implies no promise by the Wisher to actually implement any of
the wishes for her or himself or others and is void where prohibited
by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the Wisher. This
wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application
of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of
a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and this warranty
is limited to the replacement of this wish, or issuance of a new
wish, at the sole discretion of the Wisher."
U.S. Rotarians support homeless
teen mothers in Africa
World Community Service
Young women come to the Ghanaian capital of Accra
for many reasons. Some seek refuge from poverty or abuse; others
chase dreams of education or marriage. But once they arrive, the
harsh reality of life in this teeming city of two million quickly
takes over.
Forced to fend for themselves, many soon end up
living on the streets. Far from home and usually unemployed, young
women who become pregnant on the street often have nowhere to turn.
One of their only options is Street Girls Aid (Street
Aid), a nongovernmental agency supported by a collection of international
donors that includes U.S. Rotarians. Street Aid's two residential
facilities accommodate 35 young women ages 13 to 17. Girls arrive
one month before giving birth and remain there with their infants
for three months. During their stay, they learn skills such as catering,
hairdressing, and sewing so that they can support themselves after
they leave.
The agency also offers literacy classes, vocational
training, and basic health and family planning services for nonresidents.
Girls who aren't able to enroll in courses at the center can attend
street corner literacy classes, and those who work in the local
market can leave their children at one of the organization's seven
nurseries.
Members of the Rotary Club of Ojai, Calif., located
about 80 miles north of Los Angeles, learned about Street Aid during
a series of National Immunization Days (NIDs) in October 2001. After
one long day of immunizing children against polio, Ojai Rotarian
Kay Bliss sat down to talk with a friend, Emma Amakye, a member
of Street Aid's board of directors.
Amakye's husband, John, is a member of the Rotary
Club of Accra, and the two women met at the 1999 RI Convention in
Singapore. Bliss, a licensed social worker, wanted to learn more
about the options available to the young mothers they'd encountered
during the NID. Amakye took her and three other Ojai Rotarians to
the center the next day.
Touring the facility with Executive Director Vida
Asomaning-Amoako, Bliss was impressed with the staff's efforts to
reunite residents with their estranged families. "Because I have
a social work background, I could see that what they were doing
made absolute sense," she says.
"They were very sensitive to the fact that the best
thing for the girls would be to be rejoined with the communities
they'd come from originally. They would provide services for the
girls, but they also looked at whether they could be mediators."
Bliss returned to southern California determined
to find a way to support Street Aid but not sure how to begin. Then
she saw the photos of homeless mothers and their children that Linda
Enderby, a member of the Rotary Club of Montecito, Calif., had snapped
during the NIDs. The pictures were so captivating that Bliss brought
one to artist Kate Hoffmann, then a member of the Rotary Club of
Ojai, and asked her to render an oil painting.
Hoffmann eventually decided to base a series of
paintings on Enderby's photographs, which Ojai Rotarians then used
to create colorful greeting cards. The club marketed the cards for
Mother's Day, selling them for $5 each with an insert noting that
a portion of the proceeds from each sale goes to Street Aid. Rotarians
from a dozen clubs in District 5240 (California) purchased the cards,
but the project was particularly popular with members of the local
Interact club.
"The Interactors really, really respond to the
idea that these are kids their age who are trying to raise a baby
on the street," explains Bliss. In 2003, the Interact Club of Nordhoff,
Calif., enlisted 14 other Interact clubs around the United States
to sell cards. Their efforts brought in about $1,600.
To date, the Ojai Rotary club has raised $7,425
from card sales, and club members have donated an additional $5,000
to the project. "The thing that has been most amazing to me is that
it's just taken on a life of its own," says Bliss.
The effort gained more momentum when organizers
of a Group Study Exchange (GSE) team from District 5960 (Minnesota,
USA) noticed the project's Web site while preparing for an April
2003 trip to West Africa (District 9100). They exchanged e-mails
with Ojai Rotarians, and when the GSE team visited Accra, they toured
Street Aid, met the residents, and personally delivered 350 pounds
of medical supplies and other necessities.
Their four-hour visit inspired them to continue
supporting the project after returning home. "It was really a highlight
of our day," says GSE team leader Kathy Stutzman, a member of the
Rotary Club of Austin, Minn. "The thing that really struck me were
the faces of the girls we met, compared with the faces of the girls
we'd seen in the street. At Street Aid, they smiled. They were vibrant.
They were hopeful." - M. KATHLEEN PRATT
To learn more about the Street Girls project, visit
www.rotary4streetgirls.org.
Loans keep low-income
students in school
Community
During the early 1990s, the rising cost of education
in India forced the national and state governments to cut back on
subsidies for higher education. Vocational and professional education
funding sources were hit especially hard, leaving many qualified
students unable to continue their studies.
Members of the Rotary Club of Bombay West in Mumbai
responded by initiating a vocational loan scholarships project,
which provides interest-free loans to low-income students enrolled
in vocational training courses. The club awarded seven scholarships,
worth a total of US$1,000, during 1994-95, the project's inaugural
year. By the end of the 2002-03 Rotary year, 231 students had received
more than $50,000 in assistance.
All donations have come directly from Rotarians.
Shubhashis Bhattacharyya, a past president of the Bombay West club
and originator of the project, describes his time spent interviewing
loan candidates as among the most touching moments of his life.
"Here were bright young people battling against formidable obstacles
so early in life and succeeding," he says.
Bhattacharyya tells the story of Prabhakar Naidu,
who was studying engineering at a prestigious college. To help pay
for his own college fees as well as those of his two sisters, Naidu
spent many hours helping his father, an embroidery artisan. But
with one year of study remaining, Naidu learned that the college's
fees had tripled to a figure that his family could never afford.
Naidu applied for a vocational loan scholarship.
Although he had always been an excellent student,
his grades were about 2 percent below first class, the highest level.
Bhattacharyya says that during the application process, it became
clear to club members that the young man's grades had suffered because
of his time spent laboring for his father. The loan was approved.
"I made him promise to come and see us next year
about the same time with his mark sheet with a 'first class' stamped
on it," Bhattacharyya says.
Bombay West Rotarians have gone to great lengths
to ensure that the project is not just about money. Students who
apply undergo a rigorous selection process, including interviews
with club members to determine financial need, academic qualifications,
and prospects for finding a job after completing their studies.
Recipients repay their loans after their careers begin, generally
during the first three years of employment.
"The repaying of their loan gives them a tremendous
sense of achievement and self-confidence, which further boosts their
careers," says Rajendra Ruia, past president of the club. About
95 percent of the borrowers successfully repay their loans in full.
Each student is assigned a Rotarian mentor who maintains regular
contact with the student and offers academic, professional, and
personal guidance.
The club has also developed a series of training
workshops on topics such as job hunting, interviewing, and character
development. "The end result is highly motivated youth who are indebted
to the Rotary movement for life," says Ruia. -
ANTHONY G. CRAINE
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