Welcome to meeting No.6 the eClub of Latitude 38.

 
 
 
Member comments on last week's meeting (No.5)
 
Our member Pete Showell, who is on assignment in Amman, Jordan commented on 10 May as follows:
 

Thanks Brian,

Just wanted to touch base to let you know I am still around. Currently I am in Amman Jordan training staff and will be back in Canberra next Tuesday. I have been getting up to speed by going back through the clubs newsletters and watching as many videos as I can. I like the idea of the microcredit project as a small amount can make a big difference.

 

Thanks again

 

Pete

 

PDG Ian Sayers commented on 10 May as follows:
 

G’day Brian

Another interesting meeting.  It’s a coot of a day here: cold, a bit of rain, and very strong winds – and I was on guiding duty at the National Arboretum this morning.  What a morning!  I didn’t take any of the three groups I had outside.  I did with the first, and nearly got blown off my feet.  So, this afternoon, in the warmth (or partial warmth …) of my study I had an eClub meeting to participate in – perfect …

I guess every Rotarian who has been involved in RYPEN has a “RYPEN moment”.  Mine is several years ago now.  RYPEN was in Cooma and Canberra Sunrise had a couple of nominees, so I volunteered to be their transport.  I was working for myself and was mobile on Fridays.   I went to Cooma with two very wary, shy, girls.  I was so worried about them I stayed for a couple of hours after I’d delivered them. When I collected them on Sunday the difference was amazing.  They were just like the kids in the two videos.  RYPEN made quite a difference to those two.  Although I knew it before, that weekend confirmed everything I knew about RYPEN – it’s a great program.

 

Polio: we’re so close. I was present at an Asia Pacific Presidential Conference in Manila in early 2001 when the Philippines were declared, officially, Polio Free.  It was quite an experience.

I enjoyed the presentation by Markus Zusak.  Certainly a new approach but a very real one – learn by failure.

I looked after the Kit for 10 Kids project at Canberra Sunrise for many years.  I gave up once I’d achieved 200 Kits – it was also becoming a bit much delivering them to the Donations in Kind (DIK) depot at Minchinbury in Sydney.  Between the Kits for 10 Kids, and taking ute loads of books to the Ranfurly Library Service, also in Sydney, I made trips, at least monthly, for many years.  I’m not sure what’s being considered, but the one we adopted was that started by the late PDG Ken (Grumpy) Nichols OAM, the OIC DIK, Sydney.  Each Kit consisted of various writing and craft resource material packed in an 5-ream A4 copy paper box.  It was designed for 10 children.  I’ve just found a sample contents list if anyone is interested.  If there was a “down side”, it was that each donating club, in my case Canberra Sunrise, was asked to put a note inside giving the source of the donated material.  We never did get any acknowledgements, so really never knew whether or not the project had worked.

 

That’s enough from me.

Cheers to all

Yours in Rotary

Ian

 
Thanks for your comments Pete and Ian.
 
This week's meeting material
(Contributions to future meetings are welcome)
 
I thought that as Pete Showell has just been in Jordan we could look at Rotary in that part of the world this week. Jordan has six clubs in District 2450. Most of the clubs in this District are in Egypt but there are a good number in Cyprus (where Pete has also worked) and Lebanon. The website is a little out of date as the 2013 conference held in Limassol, Cyprus is still being advertised but the site is worth a look at http://www.rotaryd2450.org/index.asp
 
This week we have a number of activities for you to participate in.
  • Check out the District 2450 website (see above),
  • A bit more reading this week: the Rotary Downunder Magazine and an eClub Toolkit.
  • Two Rotary videos to watch. One on the upcoming Rotary International Convention and the other on the Rodeo Academy.
  • One inspirational video on freewill.
We hope you will contribute to our meetings as you become more familiar about how the club operates.
 
Brian Norris
Website Manager 
 
Something for Members to read
Two Rotary Videos to watch

Plus our regular weekly inspirational and educational features...

Possible items on our agenda for the futur

  • Partnership with Disaster Aid Australia
  • Development of a Crowdfunding scheme
  • Microcredit project - some interest from Pete Showell with this one.
  • Kits for kids - some caution expressed by PDG Ian Sayers
Anyone interested in taking any of these projects on?
 
This officially ends meeting No.6

If you have an interesting topic, or project to share please contact me at briannorris1@bigpond.com
Thank you for joining us, we appreciate your feedback, hope you will return soon and invite a guest.