What a packed event we had with a full room of members and guests as we held our AGM (always a well held short and sweet affair! - Thanks John B!) as well as a presentation from the Orthoptic students from La Trobe Uni.
Doug led proceedings and gave us his Thought for the Day after the presentation by the students and it was very apt. It was a statement from a news article from one of the earlier missions and so good at describing the results. The whole article is included in the bulletin. This came courtesy of Julia Carreon-Lagoc
"And the wonder of it all happens when the faces of loved ones come out from the shadows, the blurred pages in a book becomes as clear as splendid day, and the golden sunset is for another person to enjoy"
Over to Pres Tony gave a warm welcome to all of our guests.
Our guests
The students - Lauren Sill, Lauren Vernon, Kali Evans and Shawna Sapuppo
Other guests included
Alison Knight, Rachele Stin, Pat Little, Lea Alzola, George De Souza - President of sister club RC Camberwell and his wife Fulvia, Eugene Fitzwilliam and his son Scott, The Pres's wife Tran, and the Pres Elects husband Jonathan
A very warm reception for John McCaskill who joined us on the night after a very lengthy stay in hospital. Good to see you back John!
On to matter in the interest of Rotary
John B reminded us of the Christmas party held with RC Camberwell - details and the link included below
Val reminded us of the packing event next week - details below - after this there is a break until Feb when it ramps up again
Hans advised that he Steve and Tony L will be hosting a mentoring workshop at Swinburne's Croydon campus - covering the recruitment process - thats on November 29th
John P reminded us that the new roster starts on December 10th and the next date after that will be New Years eve. He has out out a call for volunteers to advise their non availability - It should also be noted that the income from the market covers 63% of our income and is therefore very important to our club. Please make yourself available even if its for a half shift once a roster period.
Just a little news on the AGM which was concluded on Monday
There were nominations for each office bearing position and the members endorsed all of them with a show of hands.
The incoming board is as follows
President 2024/25 - Elizabeth Shepherd
President Elect 2024/25 - Tony Laycock
Immediate Past President and VP - Tony Nguyen
Secretary - Rosemary Waghorne
Treasurer - John Braine
Directors -
Club Service - Rob Simpson
Community Service - shared between Steve Wylie and Cathie MacMillan
International Service - Ant Balocca
Youth Services - Anne Josefsberg
Environment - Ted Waghorne
Diversity Equity and Inclusion - Jillian Woinarski
Vocational Services Joe Flinn
Communicaiton - Tony Laycock
Congratulations to all those voted into their new positions - continuing the great work done by your predecessors.
Next week December 4th will see the last official meeting of the year and we are pleased to have our newest member Jillian Woinarksi give us a member behind the badge presentation.
As for the rest of December there is no meeting on Monday 11th due to the joint Christmas party with Camberwell and the next week is too close to Christmas. Break then till the end of January so more to follow on that
REMOVING THE BANDAGE IS WHAT THE MEDICAL MISSION IS ALL ABOUT
Every time I listen to and watch the presentation from the students at LaTrobe University who are selected for the Eye and Ear Mission to the Philippines, I am moved. I am moved because of the expansive nature of this project and more importantly due to the results it achieves.
The four students who spoke - Lauren Vernon, Kali Evans, Shawna Sapuppo and Lauren Sills- described what they experienced in an exemplary manner. The crowds of children, the schools, the community centres, the sports centres, the supporting medical staff- all these factors consistently arise in the way they describe their time in the Philippines.
Doug Hawley, for very good reasons, is always the man of the hour. His dedication to the Medical Mission is awesome. The way the students explained what they did, who was involved and how the processes took place, makes one marvel at the detailed organization required to achieve successful outcomes.
For each of the students, one major element of the Medical Mission which emerges is the gratitude which was displayed by members of the various communities in the Philippines. Given the fact that the poorest members of the communities in the Philippines are the recipients in this project, it is generally gratifying to learn of the glasses made and distributed, the cataracts operated on and other minor eye and ear issues.
Rotary does indeed provide service above self. Rotary acts in practical and administratively methodical ways, to achieve real results, which improves people's lives. The is what we learned tonight.
Anne J
And the stats?
Well to start with there were 22 volunteers from Australia including 4 La Trobe Orthoptic students and 18 Rotarians and Friends of Rotary
2035 screened for eyes and ears
202 cataract operations
34 pterygium operations
432 reading glasses dispensed
231 prescription glasses dispensed for adults
48 prescription glasses dispensed for children
281 sunglasses provided
135 ear wax extractions
42 with otitis media
8 with otitis externia
5 foreign body removals
5 hearing aids supplied
25 ear infections diagnosed and treated
Since inception RC Canterbury has sponsored 56 La Trobe Orthoptic students to participate in the missions
Whilst the following article is lengthy it is worth including in the bulleting following the latest mission
By Julia Carreon-Lagoc
Through a glass clearly
“Through a glass darkly,” St. Paul tells us, “we do not now see, but at the end of time, we will do so clearly.” Of course, the Apostle Paul was speaking metaphorically. There are, however, kind souls who translate this figure of speech from the high perch of biblical quotes into its literal level. One such group comes from the Rotary Club of Canterbury so that people may see, in a manner of speaking, through a glass clearly. From far away Melbourne, Australia, eight volunteer-members of the Rotary Club of Canterbury shared the basic three—time, money, and effort—so the blind and sight-impaired among us would be able to see. They came Oct. 2-11, they saw the need, acted with dispatch within the limited itinerary, and conquered the hearts of their beneficiaries many of whom are indigents.
It was most serendipitous that the Canterbury Rotarians were billeted at Chito’s Hotel where my husband Rudy and I are staying. Coffee hour was spent in a friendly conversation, first with President Eusebio “Jack” Po of the Cataract Foundation Philippines, Inc. Asked how the interest in eyesight treatment/enhancement came about, Jack Po said the idea originated some years past with the Sight-Savers of the Rotary Club of Bacolod North. It expanded and grew with the involvement of his fellow Rotarians one of whom is Dr. Fortunato Eusebio, an ophthalmologist and current vice president of the Bacolod-based Cataract Foundation Philippines. The foundation is now well entrenched, its activities well defined, targets laid out with the help of Mavis Campos, the Program Manager.
The Cataract Foundation operates with the assistance of the Christian Blind Mission International, considered the world leader in “preventing and curing blindness and offering enabling care to the blind and other disabled in the developing world.” It is also the umbrella organization of some 30 other humanitarian foundations.
It took the Rotary Club of Canterbury President Doug Hawley to make us see statistics we Filipinos ourselves are blind to. “There are currently 500,000 blind people in the Philippines of which 68% is due to cataracts. Majority of these blind people have preventable blindness.” It is here where the Canterbury Rotarians enter the picture. The visiting Australians are experts trained at vision screening—identifying the people with cataracts and bringing them into the system of healthcare in the Philippines. The surgeons of the Cataract Foundation undertake the surgery and the Christian Blind Mission provides the lenses and the medicines.
What is the extent of the accomplishments? In 2004 alone, 30,000 cataract surgeries were undertaken, Jack Po said. Doug Hawley himself has been in the eye-screening project for seven years now, bringing the patients to attention and the subsequent medical action by partner organizations. In the three days that they were in Iloilo, a number of Ilonggos availed themselves of the eye screening: in Tigbauan 120, San Joaquin 316, Dingle 107, and Guimaras 224. That morning of Oct. 5 in Dingle alone, they found 32 operable cataract cases that show how much more need to be done. The local Rotary Clubs of Bacolod North, Metro Iloilo, and Guimaras provided smooth operations to their brother and sister Rotarians by facilitating transportation and venues, explaining the mission’s objectives, gathering the people, and interpreting to the hometown folks whenever needed.
Making a difference is what the Canterbury visitors are doing. Project veteran Doug Hawley says it best, and I quote: “The transition in lifestyle for beneficiaries of this project is dramatic. From being a person almost totally dependent on their extended family for daily living, the person can, with their cataracts removed, become independent again and can return to being a productive member of their family and local community. I can tell you from personal experience that it is a wonderful experience to assist in a small way to help recover the eyesight of these people.” And the wonder of it all happens when faces of loved ones come out from the shadows, the blurred page in the book becomes clear as splendid day, and the golden sunset is for another person to enjoy.
On their last night, Dr. Mete Madakbas did not join the group in dining out. Instead, he sat down with us while Rudy and I were having dinner, and there began interesting tete-a-tete, Rudy having been to Melbourne in 1982 as a fellow of the UN Development Programme to observe labor arbitration cases in both Melbourne and Singapore. Eye-screening was left out in the conversation as Dr. Madakbas, a physicist, talked about bioptics or image guided biopsy systems (because you cannot get a speck from the brain and have it biopsied on the petri dish), photonics technology, and shapes of things to come.
In the absence of a plaque of appreciation for the eight visiting Australians, I would like to mention them here: Team Leader Richard Pope, Doug Hawley, Helen Stevens, Averil Hawley, Brenda Birthistle, Mete Madakbas, Ian Cox, and Paul Rogers. Rotarians all, and if I may say so, ambassadors of goodwill to whom doing good is not lip service. By your deeds, in cooperation with the Cataract Foundation Philippines and the Christian Blind Mission, a grateful segment of humanity would be able to see, so to speak, through a glass clearly. (Comments to lagoc@hargray.com)
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