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A note from the Co-Presidents
Changeover season is almost over, with Camberwell Rotary Club’s changeover being the last in our district on 9 July. Each changeover has been a very different affair, some quite sedate and others, like ours, being an evening of glitz and glamour! Elizabeth (P1) summarized the event beautifully in the last episode of the BUZZ. The District changeover in Altona on 5 July was a 4 hour megafest of music, singing and award presentations to welcome in the new District Governor Peter Shepheard. Life will now become much quieter until next year!
At the 7 July meeting, we had a presentation by our medical mission attendee, Justine Paragreen, and Camberwell Rotary’s next president Vijay Susarla. They are actively involved with the Timor Consortium, a multigroup organization that travels to Timor Leste frequently to aid in the construction of toilets and hand washing facilities, and insertion of water tanks. This process involves raising significant funds as each tank costs $3000, and a toilet block will cost $7500., manual labour, with the villagers providing much of this as proof of ownership of the project, and assessing suitability of villages and sites.
Hygiene facilities in many villages, especially in the mountains, are nonexistent, with washing and drinking water merging with sewerage. Malnutrition and disease are rife. Water often needs to be carried long distances, and the responsibility often falls on young children, especially girls, and this leads to low school attendance. Therefore the building of toilets and handwashing facilities in the villages, close to the schools, overcomes many of the health and educational problems being experienced.
Next week we will have a discussion about “weatherproofing your home” and on the 21 July we will head off to the Harp Hotel in East Kew for a Trivia night, which should be great fun.
Please remember to let Alan know if you will not be attending a member, as at present the payment is coming out of our club’s precious funds.
Club member Steve Clarke spoke to members seeking feedback about a possible project to provide food for needy members of the community. A similar model is up and running at the Surrey Hills Neighbourhood Centre where usually non-perishable food is provided to pensioners, single mums and those doing it tuff.
Some of the food is sourced from local supermarkets and food outlets.
Steve asked members to provide any comments back to him about the suggested project.
Regards
Jillian Woinarski