Carol and Theo Bohlmann
Carol and Theo who have been visiting our club for many months now talked about their home Rotary club and their home town.
The Rotary club of Knysna. Knysna is a town up the coast from Capetown. The Rotary club has 60 members and is a very active club. Some have been members for 40 years and they have several, what they call, Swallow members. They have a high participation rate and if you are a member you are expected to do your part. They have a youth services project called e Pap that feeds school children.
They now serve 4,000 children at local schools.
Their fund raisers are a local Cycle tour and a golf tournament.
Carol sent us this message---
The Knysna Rotary Club’s website is www.knysnarotary.co.za. If you scroll through the different links you’ll find newsletters, from the most recently posted one (June 2014) to previous ones; also a list of projects (as far as e’Pap is concerned the number is no longer 3 000 but 4 500 – see www.epapfeeding.co.za).
We are in no way suggesting that your club would necessarily want to be involved in our projects, but in case anyone expresses interest in considering this, here are a few possibilities.
The current exchange rate is CA$1 = R10.60, so $100 is the equivalent of R1 060. What would an amount like this be able to do? It would fund half the cost of a Splash Dragon Boat crew, one tenth of a study bursary, a nutritious daily meal for four children for each school day of the year …
We mentioned the Splash event, taking place in December this year, for the third time. All Vancouverites know about Dragon Boats. The Knysna Splash Dragon Boat event involves boats competing three (last year it was two) at a time in heats over the course of a day. We’re hoping for a minimum of twenty teams this year – Splash is intended as a fund-raising event, and teams each pay R2 000 for the team of 10 to enter, i.e. R200 per team member.
Over the last two years one of the teams has been the Knysna Sea Cadets. These youngsters are all from the disadvantaged community. Their achievements have been way in excess of their resources, largely due to the amazing commitment of a retired naval officer, who trains them in boat craft, sailing skills, radio communication, among others. An indication of how much they learn and grow through the Sea Cadet programme: the number of Knysna sea cadets who are accepted into the South African Navy is completely disproportionate to the number of candidates accepted from elsewhere in the country. The Knysna Rotary Club is happy to have been able to assist the Sea Cadets in different ways, over the years.
The Sea Cadets are very keen to take part in the Dragon Boat event – they are strong paddlers, and are eager to show the community what they can do. However, they can’t participate unless they find sponsorship. If 10 members of the Arbutus Rotary club were able to contribute CA$20 each, this would cover the costs of the Sea Cadet team’s participation in Splash. Alternatively this could be a club sponsorship of CA$200. This sponsorship would mean that the Sea Cadets would have an opportunity to have a fun-filled and confidence boosting day; it would also mean that at least one of the hoped-for twenty teams is secure.
We also mentioned e’Pap. To sponsor a daily nutritious meal for one of the 4 500 children for the school is in the region of R250 (about CA$25). Any contribution to e’Pap would be very welcome – if you have a look at the e’Pap website you will have a better idea of the far-reaching impact that this project has.
Our bursary project makes available part or full bursaries to deserving school children who otherwise would not be able to study further after leaving school. Once applicants are shortlisted, interviewed and then accepted for a bursary, we continue funding them annually until they complete their studies (provided they pass each year). Each year we take on new students according to availability of funds. We provide bursaries to the value of about R10 000 ($1 000) per applicant per year. This is only a very small part of the full study costs for the more expensive programs, such as medicine, but applicants for these programs are usually able to access some other funding opportunities (some universities have their own bursary programs, based on academic merit). It is however sufficient for the courses in early learning, basic nursing, care for the elderly, and similar programs. Any assistance towards such bursaries enables us to fund additional applicants – there are always more applicants than there are funds available.
We have enjoyed meeting with members of the Arbutus Rotary Club, and look forward to reconnecting once we return in 2014. May you all have good health, much happiness, and may your club grow in strength and in numbers.