Unfortunately, a family emergency prevented Thomas Robinson from doing his presentation last week but we did hear of the great work that Rock O’Keefe has done with refugees. See separate article below.
Board members – please make sure you reply to the VOM (Vote outside Meeting) that Trent sent out yesterday. It’s to seek approval for on the Club to pay $2500 towards freight for a container of wheelchairs to go to Fiji. A decision is required before 5.00 PM Tuesday 16/01/2024.
Another Bunnings sausage sizzle yesterday - successful no doubt. There is also one on Australian Day 26th January.
Social meeting this week and social drinks at Benowa Tavern on Thursday.
Thought for the Day: Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing themselves.
In a club with members of the calibre of Surfers Sunrise, it is never a problem to find a stand-in speaker; there is always someone who has something interesting to share. So it was last Wednesday, when our scheduled speaker, our new member Thomas Robinson, was unable to attend, due to a family emergency. Thomas will now do his presentation on 24th January.
Rock O’Keefe might be new to our club, but he certainly is a highly experienced Rotarian. He jumped into the breach, and recounted a most amazing experience: his mentoring of refugee families. His story included a family who had arrived from Afghanistan. The mother had been sold into marriage at age 10. She arrived with her children (her husband had left her), thus no male protector - a strict condition in her country. The female children had no education, or at best primary school, and of course no English knowledge.
So, what would the majority of our TV-watching population think happened? Come on! Just say it! Permanent Centrelink clients? Well, how wrong would you be. The children not only learned English, they went on to become architects, nurses, engineers… One particular child was studying four degrees at once (Aerospace Engineering, Business, Architecture and Interior Design). She passed all except Business, but now has added Nursing, whilst she is caring for her baby.
Rock’s story is astounding, and in my humble opinion, worthy not just of publication in our club’s newsletter but should be shouted from the rooftops, and pumped into all the major media and social media. Rock, take a bow. Check out his story in the Download files on the right.
On Sunday, Fundraising Director Ross Augustine organised another Sausage Sizzle at Bunnings on Olsen Avenue. At the time of publication, results aren't available yet, but in view of the perfect weather, no doubt it would have been very worthwhile.
A big Thank You go to all the helpers: (in addition to Ross): Rock O'Keefe, Andy Bell, Ashleigh Symes, Geoff Croad, Adrian Crowe, Gerald East, Paul Seymour, Ralph Pownall, Angus Miller, Evan Mita, Charles Thomasson and Neil Thurlow. (Photo by Ashleigh Symes - first shift, just finished setting up, first lot of sausages starting to sizzle, the smell of fried onions wafting over the car park...)
Over the past several years, we had a great cooperative relationship with Del Cole, the CEO of the 'Someone Who Cares' charity. She and her organisation are particularly active in Papua New Guinea, where a lot of our wheelchairs have been deployed to the people who really need them. Last week, Del forwarded a 'Thank You' email to Bryan Tuesley. It comes from from the Western Highlands Provincial Health Authority, based in Mt Hagen, right in the centre of PNG. The organisation is not only running a hospital but is also responsible for providing health services to the province's population.
The photo above was provided by Rinda Tai, the Nursing Standard Officer of WHPHA. Isn't it great to receive feedback and see that our volunteer's efforts indeed bear fruit?
Del Cole has been featured in multiple articles in our bulletin. Click herefor one of the most recent ones.
In addition to the great talk by Rock O'Keefe (see above), we certainly had many other interesting things happening last week:
Meeting Chairman Peter Morgan opened the meeting, and took the opportunity to outline the reasons for his recent prolonged absence: he and Helen were living in Brisbane to assist their daughter who recently underwent a liver transplant surgery, made necessary due to her suffering an Auto Immune disease. Peter happily reported good news - all is progressing well. Our best wishes to your daughter, Peter and Helen!
President Doug Lipp welcomed all members, wishing all a happy new year. Doug reminded us that the 36th anniversary of our club's charter will be on Tuesday 16th January (see image of Charter on right)
Paul Seymour announced that he had been accepted to participate in the Rotary Friendship Exchange to Pennsylvania. We'll be hosting their incoming team soon - watch this space for details.
Mario Fairlie brought us up to date on what happens at Pentecost Island, Vanuatu: The Blood Analyser machine wasn't working (yet), but this has now been addressed. An X-Ray specialist, based at Vanuatu's capital Port Vila, will travel to Pentecost in February to supervise the implementation of the X-Ray machine and train staff. A formal hand-over is planned for May; Mario indicated that he intends to travel there again to represent our club.
And, in case you wondered: our building survived the recent Category 5 Cyclone 'Lola', which passed right through Pentecost Island, with nary a scratch. Well, not that its designer, Des La Rance, would have expected anything different. But still good to know!
Duty Roster - note: subject to change - please check every week. Note: Fellowship duty also is expected to be at the Project Shed on the Saturday following the meeting
“Every aggressor is a lover of peace: he wants his aggression to go unopposed; but to prevent aggression, we must fight.”Carl von Clausewitz, Prussian General and Military Theorist, 1780 - 1831
Here's a pearl of wisdom provided by Gerald East:
Fruit Farmers eat what they can, and can what they can't.
[He also mentioned that he is taking steps to overcome his hiking addiction. But he is not out of the woods yet...]
On Sunday, Fundraising Director Ross Augustine organised another Sausage Sizzle at Bunnings on Olsen Avenue. At the time of publication, results aren't available yet, but in view of the perfect weather, no doubt it would have been very worthwhile. 
Over the past several years, we had a great cooperative relationship with Del Cole, the CEO of the 'Someone Who Cares' charity. She and her organisation are particularly active in Papua New Guinea, where a lot of our wheelchairs have been deployed to the people who really need them. Last week, Del forwarded a 'Thank You' email to Bryan Tuesley. It comes from from the Western Highlands Provincial Health Authority, based in Mt Hagen, right in the centre of PNG. The organisation 
is not only running a hospital but is also responsible for providing health services to the province's population. 
