PP Neil Pinto gave us a very interesting talk on a club very different from ours.

The Rotary Club of Dubai Deira is one of four clubs in Dubai. It is part of District 2452 which comprises  Lebanon, Cyprus, Jordan, Sudan, Bahrain, UAE, Georgia, Armenia and Palestine

It is named after one of the oldest neighborhoods in Dubai and the main commercial district along Dubai Creek. Deira is a place where tradition and necessity meet. And it is always busy.

It has a membership of 22, mixed gender and varied nationalities.

While the current President is an Egyptian,

the Incoming President is a Jordanian.

 It meets on a Monday evening on the 33^rd floor of on of the  the world trade centre buidings.

Meeting fees are 50 Durham.

Membership fees are 3000dr joining fee, and 1500dr per year.

Fund raising in Dubai is under strict control and funds for the club are derived from the joining, membership and meeting fees.

Put it into perspective, a coffee at Starbucks costs 4.50dr and a litre of fuel about 1.4dr

Club meetings are conducted like our board meetings and run for about an hour. A light meal is eaten and members then disperse into the bar in small groups to chat and have a quick drink before departing.

 

During the meeting, they discussed the club presentation at the upcoming District Conference in Jordan. The whole club take this task very seriously as they consider that they are representing their country.  Lots of work goes into creating these preparations and they have to be better than those of the other UAE clubs.

 

 

Projects fall in 6 areas

 

The club also supports Interact (12 – 18) and Rotaract. It is heavily involved with Toastmasters and uses this connection to help develop the Interact and Rotaract members.

 

One very interesting project involves providing education to overseas workers. In 2013 the population of Emirates was  9.2 million of which 1.4 million Emirati citizens and 7.8 million expats.The bulk of these are Indian, Pakistani and Bangla. Lots are labourers, unskilled men who come over on their own leaving family behind.They live in labor camps often provided by the companies. This can be beneficial to both parties as often the workers cannot speak English.

 

 

 

 

President Geoff is back from the snow, and was in fine form. It was a very crowded meeting, so after welcoming our guests who included DG Gary Roberts, our own Kat along with Courtney Smith who had just returned from Belgium,  Phil and Deidre Tome, and Doug and Greg Conkey's cousin Sue and her husband Alex from Nambour, he was into the swing.

There were of course his fellow travelers to welcome home, and Pat Ingram has been to NZ, where he walked the Abel Tasman , dodging questions on Trevor Chapel and firing a numbers count on his own behalf!

Of the snowmen, Tim Barter was singled out as most improved, while Darren Wallace was rated best on field.

 

The Sergeant's Session was presented by John Flynn who managed to scrape together some obscure fines related to Greek or Latin origins , or something. Anyway it was a good effort that brought a lot of laughter to the day, especially when he related a story about funeral ashes and wives.

 

Incoming President Geoff Breust  had his first training day at the weekend and outlined a few ideas he had to continue the great efforts of President Geoff, and make our club even stronger. Among the points he made are

• As in the current year, we will develop a Strategic Plan for our Club in line with the strategic plan of the District and aims of  RI
  There are a number of goals proposed for 2016-17 including membership and giving – more on that later.
• DG Milston is keen to achieve “….turning members in to Rotarians…. ". His date for visiting Wollundry is 9 August – if this date acceptable in our calendar – Geoff and Laurie
  Important date for the incoming Board is Sunday 10 April – the District Assembly being held in Grenfell – it is the actual training for all Board members. – Will email all incoming Board member re this.
• District Grants are available – easy to achieve additional funds for local and other projects. However, applications close Monday 4 April (for 2016/17) – have a couple of projects in mind. But if anyone has a project they would like to seek a District Grant for, please let me know asap.

 

Kat and Courtney spoke briefly, and Courtney wanted to express her sincere thanks for the support she received from the club during her year in Belgium. We look forward to hearing more from her in the near future.

PP Ken Cook presented us with the first ever bulletin of Wollundry Rotary

I have added parts of it here for all to see, and it makes really interesting reading.

We still hear of the struggle that the charter members seem to have with fees etc, but reading this you don't wonder why!!

This year we have a wonderful line up of Guest Speakers, and two are both Past World Presidents.

Firstly we have PRID Bill Boyd who is a relaxed easy to listen to speaker with a great message. He is famous for his relaxed approach. 

As well we have PRID Kaylan Banerjee from India who has a unique approach to Peace and what it can mean to individuals and countries.

Just these two will be worth the entry fee.

But that is not the full line up by any means. We have Fran Raymond,of the Australian Reinsurance Pool, Steve Killelea, from the Institute for Economics and Peace, Gary Brown, marketer for confectionary, food and beverages, and Sarah Yahya who was 2105 Young Citizen of the Year.

 

As President Geoff said, this will be the easiest for Wollundry to attend, and it is a great experience. Put it in your Diary. April 22 to 24.Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre.

Category-5 Tropical Cyclone Winston, the strongest storm ever recorded to make landfall on the Southern Hemisphere, hit Fiji on Saturday, Feb. 20, killing at least 42 people and leaving thousands homeless. Fiji is a popular tourist destination, has a population of about 900,000 people and includes more than 320 islands, volcanic outcrops and coral atolls. Many are inhabited, but inaccessible and very vulnerable to high tides.



UNOCHA has provided the following statistics:

•    The Fiji Government estimates almost 350,000 people living in the cyclone’s path            could have been affected – 180,000 men and 170 000 women. 

•    41 people have been confirmed dead. 

•    131 people are injured.

•    Aid has begun arriving in cyclone affected communities, especially the hard hit outer        islands and Rakiraki in the West. 

•    Almost 50,000 people are currently sheltering in nearly 800 evacuation centres.

•    Damage to agriculture is estimated to be US$61 million with 100 per cent of crops destroyed in the worst affected areas.

•    At least 117 schools have been damaged

•    A 30 day State of Natural Disaster has been declared. 



A ShelterBox Response Team has already deployed aid for a medical centre on the island of Makogai and has called in pre-postioned stock from Aukland and Melbourne. The team is coordinating with the Fijian Government, who are leading the emergency response. Shelterbox is also working with Rotary and Sea Mercy, a charity that provides volunteer fleets of vessels and yachts that are already stationed in the South Pacific. Sea Mercy is ready to facilitate needs assessments and deliver much-needed emergency aid to the affected islands.

The specific aid that ShelterBox supplies is likely to be some of the most needed items in this type of emergency. Winds of the magnitude (300 km/hour) experienced in Cyclone Winston will tear apart homes, strip edible coconuts and fruit from trees, uproot any crops, and contaminate drinking supply with ocean water. What the wind did not destroy, the storm surge of waves being pushed inland will carry everything back out to sea once the storm has passed. This leaves those living on the remote islands without shelter, food, safe drinking water and even the tools and materials to rebuild their shattered lives.  The ShelterBox Response team has already requested luminAID solar lights and additional water purification units because the ground water is contaminated and water collection devices have been destroyed.

 

Our AustralianDistricts have combined to evaluate ongoing aide that we might give, and DG Gary will be in touch shortly with requests. In the meantime, donations to ShelterBox will go a long way to help.

Visitors Today:  DG Gary Roberts, Deidre Tome, Phil Tome, Kate Janzon, Courtney Smith. Sue and Alex Blake (Doug Conkey)

Make Ups: Doug Conkey, Paul Murray.

Apologies Col Duff, Michael Eldridge, Gerry Gerlach, Tim Macgillycuddy, Jonty Schuter, Rob Pearson, Nick Leywood, Travis Downie, Ken Taylor, Dan Byrne.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Polio Plus Movie. John Egan

The annual movie premier night is being held on Thursday March 3rd 

7pm, The Forum Cinema. $20 per head.

It is "The Lady in The Van" starring Maggie Smith, and from the shorts its should be a great show.

Please phone me  by Thursday if you are coming, as we have to finalise numbers to ensure we get the theatres.

You will be supporting Polio Plus.

LATE NEWS EXTRA  Tickets will be available at the door!

 The Trailer is here.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlN1b0ok4D0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be sure you have read the manual, and if you don't yet have your number, please get it to Jim Gibson as soon as possible

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Northcott began life as the Crippled Children's Society with the Rotary Club of Sydney,and does great work here in Wagga offering respite and accomodation for young people.

 

 

There are still some tickets available , monster auction , great music and Wendy Harmer as compare . Contact Geoff Breust or Tim Barter if you would like to attend.

 

Next Weeks Meeting : Vocational Visit to Kurrajong Waratah Recycle Center , Chaston Street Wagga . 12.30 Pm Tour of plant under the guidence of Tim Macgillycuddy followed by a gourmet lunch prepared by the elite catering service team of Michael Knight , Wal Paton, Mal Robertson and Craig Bromley . Not to be missed . Plenty of parking at rear of factory .