Reminder to those who are coming along to this evening. Includes dinner and trivia for $30.

 

 

 

The District 9780 Rypen website is now live with the address http://www.rypend9780.org/ and for Rotary Members who wish to register their participants online the link is http://www.rypend9780.org/club-form. The website will generate an e-mail to the applicants with a link inviting them to register online. After registering on line the Rypen secretary will receive an e-mail notifying the registration. If you need to register more than three applicants just revisit the link and fill in the details.

After registering your participants please arrange for a cheque payable Rypen District 9780 to be sent to Rotary Club of Mount Gambier Lakes, Attention John Plunkett, PO Box 147, Mount Gambier, SA 5290. Please note 40 is the maximum number for each camp. Clubs will be notified when applicants have completed their application forms and payment is required before attending the camp.

I am sure we will find some errors and omissions as the site is used and if so please e-mail or ring and I (Barry Clark) will get them fixed. My e-mail address is blcark@ep.com.au and my mobile is 0418 576 114

 

Full-time students 14 to 17 years of age for the Noorla Yo Long Camp and 15 to 17 years of age for the Adekate Camp. It targets students who may not be in leadership positions but who exhibit the qualities of compassion, concern and commitment to community well-being. These are often quiet achievers who never stand in the limelight, but are steadfast, reliable young students who are loyal and supportive of friends and peers.

We are not looking for either high achievers or teenagers with behavioural problems.

RYPEN runs from a Friday evening to the following Sunday afternoon.

District 9780 will run two camps in 2015

The Rotary Club of Maryborough will hold one at Adekate Lodge, Creswick 10th – 12th April 2015

The Rotary Club of Mount Gambier Lakes will hold one at Noorla Yo Long, Rendelsham 17th – 19th April 2015

Cost: $225 per student.

 

Thea Allan

The Rotary Club of Maryborough

POBox 50 Maryborough Vic 3465

H. 03 5460 5400

M. 0428 590 405

E. thea.allan@bigpond.com

F.035460 5411

 

Kenn Rucioch

The Rotary Club of Mount Gambier Lakes

PO Box 147 Mount Gambier SA 5290

M. 0407 799 342

E-mail: bclark@ep.com.au

Isobel Siebel drew the 2 of diamonds and was later fined so took home nothing. Better luck next time Isobel.

Duncan Stalker introduced the guest speaker Richard Rozen OAM C.V. saying he is a personal friend with a truly amazing life story to tell.  Richard’s story was indeed moving and those of us who heard him speak felt privileged to be in the presence of man who processed such grace and humility despite having endured horrific hardships and loss in his early life. Richard explained his talk is in two parts – he delivered the first part and it is hoped he will be invited to return to tell us the second half of his life story.

Richard is Jewish. He was born in Poland on 15 April 1935. War broke out and when Richard was six years old he and his mother and father hid in a cupboard for 13 months. When their money ran out they were forced out of their hiding place and asked to leave. From here they moved to the Lublin getto. On the way to Treblinka Extermination Camp the Rozencwajg family was smuggled out by the Partisans. Richard's father was a doctor and although he was Jewish the Partisans in the forest needed doctors. Richard and his mother Rose went to live in a Polish village where in order to protect him Richard was disguised as a little girl. Later Richard joined his father and the Partisans in the forest where he remained for 18 months until liberation. Richard’s father was taken by the Germans in 1944 and never seen again. Richard was eight and a half years old the last time he saw his father. Richard told us how on his tenth birthday he was given a loaf of bread, made mostly of sawdust but he kept it in his shirt and when hungry he would scratch a piece off and eat it – it lasted for many weeks.

After liberation between 1954 and 1951 Richard re-joined his mother and spent 3 months in a sanatorium in Otwock, then 3 months in Lodz, then one year in a displaced persons camp in Stuttgart Germany. He then went to stay with an uncle and aunt in Paris and instead of being welcomed and cared for the family sent him to a French orphanage for four and half years. Richard believes they did this because he ate with his hands and ate too much – during the telling of his life story this was the only time Richard hinted at any feelings of bitterness about all that happened to him.   

In 1951 Richard and his mother Rose arrived in Australia and went to live with an Uncle in Caulfield. Richard said he could not believe the food that was on the table when he sat to eat his first breakfast on 14 March 1951. After his experience of being sent to the orphanage when he ate too much food at relatives in Paris, this time Richard sat on his hands and did not eat. His uncle and aunt persuaded him to have milk and toast with honey on it. Richard knew he had truly come to the land of milk and honey!

Richard attended Melbourne High School and went on to study Electrical Engineering at RMIT. He established the RMIT chess club, and later the St Kilda Chess club. In 1956 Richard married for the first time and established a knitting factory. In 1956 Richard became a naturalised Australian citizen.  In 1959 he established a wholesale confectionary business which operated until 1982.

In 1970 Richard married for the second time and he now has two married sons, and two grandchildren.

In 1982 Richard represented Australia in the World Bridge Championships in France.

In 1997 Richard was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for services to chess, bridge and the community through work with the Jewish Holocaust Museum and Research Centre.

Richard has worked hard and made a good life for his family since coming to Australia but he has never forgotten the 1.5 million children who died in the war.  His war experiences were recorded in Jane Mark’s New York novel “The Hidden Children” and Dr Paul Valent’s ”Child Survivors”  - both books were launched in 1994.  Richard has continued to speak out about the atrocities committed against children and the Jewish people during WW2. He has been interviewed on radio, TV and by the print media both in Australia and the USA and despite being 80 years old he is regularly a guest speaker.  In 2001 Richard’s testimony was included in the “Book of Life” published by the New York Museum of Jewish Heritage.  In 2005 a play based on Richard’s war experiences called “The Feather Body” was staged by students of St Martin’s Theatre in Melbourne.

In addition to his speaking and media engagements, Richard continues to be actively involved in community life and serves on numerous committees including being president of the Brighton Residents for Urban Protection and a committee member of  Bayside Older Adults Advisory Group.

I haven’t written a report to Rotary for a while, so here is a little update. I have said thank you, and I will happily say it again. Thank you for the amazing Christmas present, I did really not expect that. Thank you again to John and Anne Hunt for giving me the chance to go to Melbourne and use a bit of my Myer gift-card. John and Anne Hunt also took me with them to Anglesea where we stated with some of their friends for some days, because John was swimming in the Anglesea swim. I have now seen the Anglesea, Warrnambool and Torquay swims.

In January I moved in with Michael and Sharon who have a lovely new house. This was during the time that there was quite a bit of cricket and tennis on TV and I now know a lot more about these sports, which I find quite interesting. .

I recently helped the Club with their work at the Quilt Show which was very interesting and I saw some lovely quilts and enjoyed helping with the set up and meeting all the people involved.

Sharon and Michael also took me to the Lighthouse Theatre, where we saw West Side Story played by the Holiday Actors. We also went to the movies and saw “The Theory of Everything”.

Then there was the Mini safari.  

From the 16^th to the 23th January I was on a mini safari, from Mt Gambier to Warrnambool. In Mt Gambier we went four-wheel driving, canoeing, on a picnic and saw the Blue Lake and Hells Hole. Monday the 19^th we went to Portland where we got shown around in the city, and we went to the Rotary meeting. Tuesday the 20^th we left Portland heading toward Port Fairy where we had lunch and some free time to check out the city and go to the beach. Later we went to Tower Hill for a bit before we drove home to Warrnambool. Wednesday Rotary Club of Warrnambool Central invited us to their lunch meeting before we went back to Port Fairy to have a play in the water and go waterskiing. That night we had a social night at the Keogh’s. Thursday the 22th we went pistol shooting and had a pool party that night. Friday we drove up the Great Ocean Road, and had a relaxed tennis night as a goodbye before everyone went home to their own club again.

The school holidays are now over and I am now back at school in Year 12.

Lot of love Astrid