Posted by Brian Simpson
  • We had 17 participants at our last Zoom meeting, including our lovely exchange student, Ciedele, all the way from Germany.
  • Franziska mentioned the upcoming RI meeting with the RI President which is on at 8.30 pm on Wednesday 20 May.  Currently, our club has 5 participants and there may be further places available. Please contact Brian so he can liaise directly with Di Collins.
  • Dee talked about the My Home project which has involved setting up small homes for homeless people on land supplied by local authorities. We will hear more about this project at our meeting on the 12th of May, Dee will be our guest speaker on the night.
  • Dee also mentioned that we had an indigenous scholar sponsored by our club.
  • Laith told us that his daughter Linda, who is Australia’s Minister for Defence, is in the National Cabinet, and very pleased that she is able to participate in meetings from home.
  • Quiz question – the winner for the second week running was Tania.  Beethoven composed the theme music adopted by Rotary as its anthem.
  • Paul liked the signage on the Marquee which will be used at the markets.  It will enable us to have a new presence at the markets.  Maybe we look at flyers and also a video of just what our club does.
 
Speakers
Ciedele shared some of her experiences in what is a very different exchange this year.  She is living on the outskirts of a small city.  The nearest big place is Dusseldorf.  The first month was quite normal and she found her German was steadily improving.  However, after the first month Corona took over and she has been in quarantine.  She can get out for a walk, but is basically staying home.  She has used the time to develop her needlework and cooking skills.  Sadly for her, many of the Exchange’s activities now won’t take place, including the Europe Rail journey.  She has, however, enjoyed her time there.  She was due to change host families this weekend just gone.
 
Tania
Tania gave us a very interesting “Who Am I?”
Tania was born on the North Island of New Zealand.  Her family came to Australia in 1971.  While here Tania attended 10 different Primary Schools and 1 High School.  She trained as a fine dining chef and had the opportunity to travel to New Zealand, Fiji, USA (backpacking,) and Canada before returning to Australia.  Looking for a career change, Tania gained Nanny qualifications and worked in the UK and Germany, enjoying working with kids. She retrained again and worked with software for 8 years at 2 different energy companies.  Tania has also worked at the Fiona Stanley and Perth Children’s hospitals.  She is now an instructional designer with Serco.
Tania met Franziska around 12 years ago and subsequently became involved with the Rotary Club of Midland including having a term as President.  She had the opportunity to do a Group Study Exchange in Georgia in the USA.  Eventually, Tania joined the Kalamunda club. 
Tania has been involved at District level – she was on the Foundation Committee for a year and is still on RAWCS.  Currently, Tania is strongly involved with the Darling Range Seniors Hub.