Blog

What is Rotary – Member Contributions

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 21:21:00 GMT

Via Past President Allen Horrell – It is an interesting exercise to try to say what Rotary means, in less than 2 minutes!

“Anyone of good will can make a difference in the World, but Rotary gives you the leverage to change the World!"

"What is Rotary? It is the World's largest volunteer organisation for Business and Professional people. In the words of our President:

“Rotary is the best in the world at linking people of goodwill around the globe and then gaining their cooperation and support to make the world a much better place to live and work.”

What do I believe about Rotary?
– I believe a person's greatest possession is their character and that no calling bestows this more abundantly than service to others
– I believe community service nurtures the friendships that make life rich in ways that money just can't buy
– I believe my children are learning values that will last them a lifetime and can be learned in no other way than by example
– I believe in Rotary because it makes all these things possible.

Post-Conference District Governors Message March 2012

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 20:46:00 GMT

Greetings my fellow Rotarians

After all the build up over the last few months, our 50th Golden Jubilee D9680 conference has now come and gone.

I was extremely happy with the way it all came together, and I gather from the stream of positive comments I have been receiving now for 24 hours that you all enjoyed it too.
Our program was put together to maximise the opportunity for lots of Rotary and lots of Club focus. We have had our inaugural Showcase which proved to be a great success, and I thank all those clubs that took part in it. You all made a great effort and I hope you can do the same and better at future conferences. I hope that all of you enjoyed circulating around the showcase and enjoyed talking to fellow Rotarians about their projects.

Our Keynote speakers were just wonderful:

Detective Insp Charles Allen – our Peace Scholar, telling us of how his training has better fitted him to tackle issues with African immigrants in Dandenong;

Deborah Wallace and her personal story of success in a tough vocation;

Michael Kirkwood-Smith and Kate Crocker, our World Skills Speakers, telling us of their experiences in a program that Rotary needs to get to know a lot more about;

Ramesh Ferris and his dramatic story of surviving Polio;

Felice Jacka from our great Australian Rotary Health project ,telling us of the connection between diet and depression;
and our finale, Fred Watson, with a wonderful address about the transit of Venus;
all wowed us and entertained and stimulated our thinking.

Our Rotary International President, Kalyan Banerjee’s Special Representative, PDG Manjit Sawhney from D3010 in Delhi, gave a very graphic picture of our success to date in conquering the scourge of Polio in India during his wonderful address.

Our Avenues of Service programmes were exciting too. In every case the speakers were well prepared, on time, extremely well represented and informative and motivating. Right across the Avenues of Service, the speakers were by and large young people too, so our emphasis on and encouragement on young people and their endeavours is a huge testament to Rotary, and to our Service chairs who put each of their programs together – Lindsay, Cliff, Rod, Peter and Bob. Thanks, guys.

The musical entertainment we enjoyed was mainly provided by the Wollongong Conservatorium of Music, but on Friday night we were also entertained by President Di Hammond of the Beecroft club. The big band on Saturday night was made up largely of school children who are about to compete in international band events overseas in three weeks’ time. So they were delighted to have a dress rehearsal with us and they did themselves proud. It was just perfect music for the occasion and kept Rotarians on their feet dancing from even before the entrée was eaten! The masks were varied and spectacular – along with the great backdrop to the stage which you will see in the background of a lot of the Ball photos.

I must thank lots of people – firstly the Beecroft club for supporting the whole process of hosting the conference. The members and their partners all worked hard over the weekend, and in the weeks prior to the conference, to prepare the necessary materials. I must thank all who made sure that our speakers felt welcome while among us. In particular thanks to Peter Holst who coordinated the club efforts.

Secondly I must thank the hard working Conference Committee led by David Ellyard, who also provided our meeting place, put the program together and arranged the promotional material. This committee has worked for three years to put together the conference - producing a conference of this standard is not a quick and easy task - a lot of work and planning goes into getting the smallest details correct. In particular, John Melville who sat behind the curtain and worked day and night to ensure the presentation from start to finish was professionally done, Angelo Raveane who looked after the venue arrangements,

Les Walsh who not only set up and managed the registration process –a full-time job over the last few weeks - but then became co-pilot at the operation station with John for the actual duration of the conference. Tim Fenton who looked after our finances very efficiently, and I hope, soon, with a touch of magic will be able to report that we were able to do better than break-even financially in spite of registrations well below average and our original budget. Tom Sweeney had the opportunity to demonstrate his marvellous thespian skills in his job as MC for the weekend. What a wonderful job he did! Others on the committee, who all made a great contribution, are Michael Schwarcz, Anne Rands, Brian Banfield (showcase), Jim De Martin (Expo), Di Hammond, Peter Holst, and Bill Grant.

Thanks are due to PDG Barry Philps who took on the inaugural Speak Your Mind workshop on Sunday afternoon. It was a very interesting – fiery at times – session but I believe was something that can be developed in the years ahead to give all conference attendees the opportunity for some interactive discussion on Rotary matters as well as hearing great speakers.

A particular thanks to PDG Manjit and Rita Sawhney who were wonderful companions over this weekend and made such a great contribution to the conference. Thanks to PDG Barry Philps who took on the role of RIPPR aide and looked after our VIP guests so well during the weekend.

And finally, thank you all as delegates to the conference. It is not possible to have a conference without delegates and I hope that you have enjoyed the weekend and gained a great deal from it. As I mentioned before it is a pity we didn’t have another 200 delegates with us, but those of us there certainly had a great time. I commend next year’s conference in Nowra to you and ask for your wholehearted support for that. I wish DGE John Dodd and Conference Chair Bob Kaye-Smith every success in their next year of planning.

Kind regards

David Rands
Governor 2011-12

District Governor March Message

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 22:19:00 GMT

Greetings my fellow Rotarians

This month is Literacy month in our Rotary calendar. The purpose of declaring a Literacy month is to draw attention to the significant impact literacy (education) has on the success of our humanitarian projects. It has been found that all community service projects will have improved outcomes if it is supported with efforts to improve literacy.

In more recent years Literacy is one of the six areas of focus that Rotary has chosen to focus on in its humanitarian and educational work. Helping the disadvantaged people in the world to become literate is absolutely critical in helping them out of the traps of poverty and hunger. Unless people can read they cannot get jobs, cannot gain equality of opportunity, and cannot easily be taught the fundamentals of nutrition, hygiene and the other basic essentials of healthy lives. Also, the ability to read and write has a miraculous impact on a person’s self image!  Recent publications suggest that 15% of the world’s population lack basic literacy skills. Of the world’s children, 113 million do not go to school and 500 million women are uneducated. Two-thirds of the world’s population cannot read. To make this even worse, in the developed world, 17% of adults are functionally illiterate; that is to say they cannot read well enough to function effectively in our complex post-modern society. Rotary’s Literary Resource Group helped us to develop many tools to share in developing literacy projects.

All of these tools and guidelines are still available and functioning. One of these, CLE (Concentrated Language Encounter solution), developed in Australia 30 years ago, has spread to all of Rotary.  It is difficult to quantify the number of clubs involved in literacy projects within our district. However we do know that a number of clubs support Stay in School programs. Others provide computer or other technical equipment and support and donate dictionaries. We have a proud tradition of building schools and classrooms in schools in developing countries, and more recently several clubs have really focused on the building of toilets in schools. Getting girls along to school will improve their chances of becoming literate and moving their lives and the lives of those around them forward. I am impressed that our district continues to support improved Literacy as an important part of Rotary’s involvement across the world.  Two weeks ago I mentioned Anne’s library project in Timor Leste, Biblioteka Ermera. And we continue to thank the clubs for the great support they have been and continue to be in supporting this important literacy project.

This will be my last chance to encourage you to register for our District Conference where we will be Going for Gold at the Gong. Registrations are still coming in, but we have to close registrations at the end of the week as catering must be finalised.

You will experience lots of information, lots of fun, lots of Rotary and lots of fellowship and networking.
A MUST for newer Rotarians. Less than two weeks away now, so while time is running out there is still provision for last minute registrations for another few days. Please come and join us for a wonderful and inspiring weekend. If you have any difficulty at all in registering, please contact Les Walsh, our Editor and the conference registrar and he will give you immediate assistance

Anne and I look forward to greeting you in Wollongong as we share a wonderful weekend of fellowship and learning.

Kind regards

David Rands
Governor 2011-12

Rotary Acronym Buster

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 06:38:00 GMT

Rotary has an amazing number of sub-organizations, programs and initiatives. They usually end up being named something that almost always turns into an acronym. So, for those who get a little overwhelmed with the sheer number of Rotary acronyms, thanks to Past President Allen Horrell, we hereby present his collated list of Rotary acronyms... also available here:

Acronym	Description
3H	Health, Hunger and Humanity
3-H GRANTS	Health, hunger and humanity - Grants of US$100k to $500K for multi- year international projects and social development
ACRE	Australian Campaign for Rabbit Eradication
ADG	Assistant District Governor (incorrect – see AG)
AG	Assistant Governor - One of a number of senior Rotarians appointed by District Governor (DG) to assist with administration of a group of clubs in that year
AIDAB	Australian International Development Assistance Bureau – Now called AusAid.
Alumni	District and Club Groups - Association of former members of Group Study Exchange teams (GSE), Scholars and other Foundation programmes
Ambassadorial Scholars	An international programme of Rotary Foundation - Enables men and women to spend an academic year abroad in university level or vocational studies
ANZO	The abbreviation of our Rotary Region - Australia, New Zealand, Oceania.
ANZSE	Australia New Zealand Study Exchange
ARH	Australian Rotary Health - A multi-District project approved by RI to seek public donations in support of health research within Australia. Previously ARHRF.
ARHRF	Australian Rotary Health Research Fund - A multi-District project approved by RI to seek public donations in support of health research within Australia.
AVAC	Australian Vocational Advisory Committee
Board of a Rotary Club	The governing body of a Rotary club expected to meet monthly - Consists of President, Vice President(s), President Elect, Immediate Past President, Secretary, Treasurer, Directors and others as the By-Laws shall provide
CAP	Community Assistance Program
Carl P Miller Discovery Grant	RI Foundation grant up to US$3000 for travel, research of an international service project - To be used by a Rotarian or group thereof who have a written invitation from club in host country who will offer home-hosting
Catalogue	List of all major publications, supplies etc available from RI - Supplementary updates issued annually in July Contains order forms to send to NSW Branch Office of RI (Gratis)
Centurion	A Rotarian who commits to a $AU100 donation pa to TRF.
Charter Member	The original members of a newly chartered club - Identified with a special lapel badge
Classification	A principal concept to assure each Rotary club represents cross section of business/professions - Describes the distinct and recognised business or professional service which the Rotarian renders to society (Not position held)
Club and District Changeovers	A mainly formal event held annually just prior to a new Rotary year and includes partners - Formal changeover to new President and team of incoming Officers/Directors and provides a review of past year achievements and activities
Club Banner	A small flag expressive of the community, country or region of a club - Commonly used to present to visitors or exchange with clubs visited throughout the world
Club Charter	A document issued when a new club is admitted to Membership in RI - Signed by RI Pres, General Secretary and DG Date thereon represents date of official membership Framed and preserved
Club Committees	The "action" groups within a club - Comprise standing committees under the 5 Avenues of Service plus others approved by the Board Each headed by a Director, with Deputy and committee members
Club Forum	Formal meeting of an entire club - Called to inform members about service activities and progress of projects Also an opportunity for members to air views
Club Secretary’s Manual	Issued by RI to each incoming Club Secretary - Contains procedures and guides to dates and secretarial functions etc
Club Task Allocation	List of essential tasks allocated to members - Enables spread of administrative and essential tasks to ensure effective outcomes List available from Secretary
CLP	Club Leadership Plan
CMS	Citation for Meritorious Service
COG	Council of Governors - A District committee of Past DG’s who convene to give advice to the current DG on programmes, policies and procedures
COM	Council of Management
COL	Council On Legislation - The legislative body of Rotary International - Composed of one delegate from each Rotary District that meet each 3 years to consider proposed changes to the Rotary Constitution and Bylaws
DAA	Disaster Aid Australia
DDF	District Designated Funds
DG	District Governor - Directly responsible to the Board of Rotary International (RI) for the supervision of clubs within a designated district
DGD	District Governor-Designate (DG next+2 Rotary Year)
DGE	District Governor-Elect (DG next Rotary Year)
DGN	District Governor-Nominee (DG next+1 Rotary Year)
DGND	District Governor Nominee Designate – What is this???
DIK	Donations-in-kind - Supplies of donated educational and medical equipment available to serve a need in the developing world
DIN	Donations-in-Kind Information Network (Not DIKIN)
District Conference	Annual event for members and partners - Held annually in each District to further the programmes of Rotary through fellowship, inspiring speakers and recognition of club activities etc
DLT	District Leadership Team - Approved by RI to begin 1/1/1997 An enhanced organisational structure in a District to enable cost-effective growth and faster, more responsive support to clubs by appointment of Assistant Governors
DLP	District Leadership Plan
DRFC	District Rotary Foundation Committee
DRR	District Rotaract Representative
DSA	Distinguished Service Award
DSG	District Simplified Grants
DT	District Trainer
FARG	Foundation Alumni Resource Group.
Fellowship	A major club function - Promotes acquaintance among members through participation in clubs recreational and social activities
Five Avenues of Service	Club Service; Vocational Service; Community Service; International Service and New Generations (Youth!).
Founder of Rotary	Refers to Paul P Harris - Organised the first Rotary Club in Chicago in 1905 Born 19 April 1868 died 27 January 1947
Four Avenues of Service(Now FIVE)	Now Five Avenues of Service with the addition of New Generations. The major elements of the "Object of Rotary" - Term used to refer to Club Service; Vocational Service; Community Service and International Service. New Generations was and is unofficially known as "Youth Service".
Friendship Club	A less formal agreement that may lead to Sister Club status after a trial period - As above but less demanding of mutual co-operation until proper communication lines and philosophy is established
Functional Literacy Programme	An RI programme since 1992 - To meet the needs of adults deemed to be functionally illiterate and to promote support for reading, writing skills through community Literacy centres
GETS	Governor-Elect Training Seminar
GNG	Global Networking Groups
GSE	Group Study Exchange
GSE Team	Group Study Exchange Team Programme of Rotary Foundation of RI - A cultural and Educational exchange of young non-Rotarian professionals which promotes international understanding through travel and personal contact Usually once annually for duration of 4 to 5 weeks under Rotary leadership
Helping Grants	Up to US$15K based on 2:1 match of club or district contributions - For projects in a country other than that of the sponsor where Rotary participation is not possible
Honorary Member	Recognition of a past member or non-Rotarian - Persons who have distinguished themselves by meritorious service in the furtherance of Rotary ideals. Not a member for RI purposes.
ICUFR	International Computer Users Fellowship of Rotarians, a Rotary International Fellowship. http://www.icufr.org/
IFYR	International Fellowship of Yachting Rotarians
Inner Wheel	An international organisation of women - A Rotary sponsored service group open to wives, widows of present and past Rotarians.
Interact	Interaction between youth and service - World-wide Rotary sponsored group of young people dedicated to service and International understanding and is open to students in their last 4 years of secondary education
International Assembly	An annual assembly of District Governor Nominees held in Anaheim, US in Feb/Mar - To educate, instruct and inspire DGNs and adoption of RI theme and new programmes of RI
International Convention	World-wide gathering of all Rotarians and partners - Held usually in May in a different country chaired by RI President
INTERPLAST	International Plastic Surgery Programme - Established by District 9800 in 1980 and sends teams of volunteer surgeons and nurses to developing countries to operate on deformities, burns etc.
IPAC	International Projects Advisory Committee - A national committee to update registry of international projects identified as suitable for support by clubs
IPDG	Immediate Past District Governor
IPEC	International Polio Eradication Committee
IPP	Immediate Past President
IPPC	International PolioPlus Committee
LOA	Leave of Absence. Upon written request to the Club Board - May be granted to excuse member from meetings for a specified length of time but does not operate to give credit for attendance (See Make-Ups)
LYTE	Long Term Youth Exchange
Make-Ups	Making up of attendance at meetings or another Rotary Club or District meeting - A card is obtained from the visited club in order that credit for attendance is gained Make-ups can be within 14 days prior to or following the normal meeting
Matching Grants	Up to US$50K that match club contributions - For projects involving Clubs in 2 or more countries for humanitarian service
Membership Identification Card	Used by member to verify current membership (CD3-420-EN) - Issued by Club Secretary upon payment of annual dues Shows expiry date of year end
MOP	Manual of Procedure - A reference manual for Rotary Leaders updated each 3 years Contains policies & procedures for club and RI administration
MUNA	Model United Nations Assembly - An international youth project that simulates the workings of the United Nations Usually held annually for 2 days in March
NCC	National Coordinating Committees (of RAWCS)
NESS	National Engineering Summer School
NID	National Immunization Days
NPF	National Project Funding
NYSF	National Youth Science Forum - A programme sponsored by Rio Tinto to enable select secondary science students to attend a science forum annually
Object of Rotary	A statement from the Rotary Constitution - The object is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise
OD	Official Directory: A RI publication - Issued by RI annually containing list of all clubs, names and addresses of all Presidents, Secretaries, time and place of meetings etc Available from Club Sec
OL	Operation Livewire: A vocational programme in Australia - Sponsored by Shell Australia to encourage young people aged 18-25 to establish their own business Rotarians act as mentors
ORK	Orphan Rescue Kit
PACE	Pacific-Australia Cultural Exchange
PAG	Past Assistant Governor
PAL	Promote Adult Literacy
PDG	Past District Governor
PE	President-Elect
PEDS	Presidents Elect Designates Seminar
Peer Support Foundation	Non-profit group founded 1971 with Rotary support - Operates in most state primary and secondary schools to offer leadership training for senior students who in turn assist integration of new students
PEPS	Presidents Elect Preparatory Seminar
Per Capita Dues	Dues each club pays to RI for each active, senior active and past service member - Payable semi-annually on 1 July and 1 January at current rate of exchange notified by RI
PETS	Presidents Elect Training Seminar - Held annually for incoming Presidents and partners to be trained in the administration of their club and to develop challenging projects and programmes
PHF	Paul Harris Fellow - A form of recognition for financial or meritorious service to the Foundation or to the community generally
PHF with Sapphire	Supplementary recognition to above PHF - A special recognition gold pin with blue stone to represent additional financial contribution or meritorious service
PHS	Paul Harris Society
PHSM	Paul Harris Sustaining Member - Recognises financial contributions to the Foundation in increments - Recognises individuals who have made contributions in instalments up to US$1000
Polio Plus	An international programme of Rotary Foundation - To protect all of the world’s children from poliomyelitis through national immunisation days, laboratory networks and reporting of suspected cases
Project Volunteers	Teams of from 2 to 6 volunteers visit for 2 to 4 weeks to developing countries to provide skills training and assistance. This is one of the programs that comes under the RAWCS umbrella.
PP	Past President
PPE	Preserve Planet Earth
PPRI	Past President Rotary International
PRI	President Rotary International
PRID	Past Rotary International Director
PRIE	President Rotary International Elect
PRIP	Past Rotary International President
PROBUS	Professional and Business - A Rotary sponsored group for retirees and semi-retired professional and business people Meet monthly
Provisional Club	A group organising the formation of a new club - Meets weekly until admitted to membership of Rotary International with a minimum of 25 charter members
RA's	Rotary Acronyms 
RAB	Rotary Acronym Buster – you're reading it!
RAGs	Rotary Action Groups
RAM	Rotarians Against Malaria - Project to support anti-malaria projects in selected countries in Asia Pacific region
RAOAF	Rotary Australia Overseas Aid Fund
RAWCS	Rotary Australia World Community Services Ltd - A public company formed 1987 to co-ordinate and authorise the various international activities within Districts. Programs that come under RAWCS include Project Volunteers, RAM, SWSL and DIK.
RC	Rotary Club
RCC	Rotary Community Corps
RCD	Rotary Club Director
RCP	Rotary Code of Policies
RDU	Rotary Down Under
RFE	Rotary Friendship Exchange
RFFA	Rotarians For Fighting AIDS
RI	Rotary International
RIBI	Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland
RID	Rotary International Director
RIDE	Rotary International Director Elect
RIF	Relief Institution Fund - A District disaster relief fund to which clubs can contribute to alleviate distress from natural disasters occurring within Australia
RIF	Rotary International Foundation
RIMC	Rotary International Membership Coordinator
RINO	Rotarian in name only (also known as Knife and Forker)
RIP	Rotary International President
RIPA	Rotary International President's Ambassador
RIPE	Rotary International President Elect
RIPR	Rotary International President Representative
RITS	Rotary International Travel Service
RLI	Rotary Leadership Institute - The Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) is a series of fast-paced, interactive, one-day courses offered to refine a Rotarian's leadership skills and increase their base of knowledge in Rotary.
RNN	Rotary News Network
ROAR	Rotary Organization of Amateur Radio
ROBIN	Rotary Native Bird Nest-box Project
ROMAC	Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children - Established by District 9800 in 1984 and is expanding Statewide and interstate Finances medical aid and operations in Australian hospitals for children up to age 15 brought from South East Asia and Pacific Region
ROMEO	Rotary Old Men, Eating Only
ROTA	Rotary Overseas Travel Award
ROTI	Rotarians On The Internet - A Rotary International Fellowship - http://www.roti.org/
ROTARACT	A Rotary sponsored service group - For young people aged 18 to 30 who meet each two weeks to foster service to the local and international community
ROTARTANK	Rotary Water Tanks - Established by District 9800 to supply and install portable fresh water tanks by Rotary Project Volunteers in neighbouring countries.
Rotary	Founded 1905 by Paul Harris in Chicago US - An organisation of business and professional persons united world-wide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill and peace in the world
Rotary Club Flag	The official flag of Rotary with emblem and club name - For display at club and district assemblies
Rotary Down Under (RDU)	The official Rotary magazine for the South West Pacific region - Distributed monthly to clubs or by post to Rotarians address Subscription is compulsory
Rotary Emblem	An emblem representing "civilisation and movement" - A gear wheel with 6 spokes, 24 cogs, in colours of royal blue and gold A key was added in 1923 to signify the wheel was a "worker" not an "idler"
Rotary Foundation	A philanthropic Trust - A not-for-profit corporation whose activities extend world-wide to achieve world understanding and peace. Also known as TRF.
Rotary Themes or Mottos	Official slogans adopted annually by RI President - A theme which changes yearly to reflect the philosophy and programmes for the year. The Principal motto that remains constant is "Service Above Self" since 1989
Rotary Village Corps	Not common in Australia but wide spread in US - Self-help groups of non-Rotarians sponsored by Rotary Clubs to improve community living conditions
Rotary Volunteers	A local and overseas volunteer programme - Teams of from 2 to 6 volunteers visit for 2 to 4 weeks to developing countries to provide skills training and assistance. Also known as Project Volunteers.
Rotary Volunteers Programme	Voluntary overseas service - Facilitates placement of volunteers and may cover some expenses of those serving abroad for 28 days or more
ROTEX	Organisation of Ex-Rotary Exchange Students
ROTOPLAST	Rotoplast International is a non-profit, humanitarian organization founded in 1992 as a world community service project of the Rotary Club of San Francisco, that provides free plastic surgery for children in the third world.
ROVE	Rotary Overseas Vocational Exchange - A programme to encourage vocational exchanges of up to 12 weeks
RRFC	Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator
RRVF	Rotary Recreational and Vocational Fellowships
Rtn.	Rotarian
RYDA	Roadsafe Youth Driver Awareness
RYLA	Rotary Youth Leadership Award - An interactive, experientially-based leadership conference offered in the last week of November each year.
RYEP	Rotary Youth Exchange Program
RYPEN	Rotary Youth Programme of Enrichment - A programme of weekend seminars for young people aged 14 to 17 years Two seminars are held in October and March.
RYWELL	Rotary Youth Wellbeing
SHARE	Share (RF distribution of funds)
SRT	ShelterBox Response Team
Sister Club	Relationship agreement between clubs in other Countries/districts - To foster better understanding and fellowship exchange and mutual support and co-operation on humanitarian projects
SSE	Summer Science Experience
Southwest Pacific Service Centre	Office of RI based in Parramatta, NSW - Serves Rotary clubs and Districts in Australia, NZ and Pacific Islands
SRCC	Standard Rotary Club Constitution
Standard Club Constitution	Originally adopted in 1922 - Provides the framework for all clubs in the world and is a condition to receiving a charter
STYE	Short Term Youth Exchange
SWSL	Safe Water Save Lives - Project teams of up to 3 weeks to funding and assisting install fresh clean water tanks and dams in overseas communities
TARFT	The Australian Rotary Foundation Trust - A trust funds that offers Rotarians and corporations etc a tax free deduction on donations to the Rotary Foundation
The 4-Way Test	A measure for Rotarians of conduct and thinking – Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
The Rotarian	"The Rotarian". A monthly magazine put out by Rotary International with articles, news and views in a number of languages.
The Rotary World	An RI publication - Three copies sent bi-monthly to all club presidents direct from RI (I don't recall ever having seen one)
Theme Months	Focus in various months on major activities - Gives specific attention to Membership (August) Youth (Sept) Vocational (Oct) Foundation (Nov) Awareness (Jan) World Understanding (Feb) Magazine (April) Rotaract Week (Mar)
TLA	Three Letter Acronym
TR	The Rotarian (RI magazine, which you can receive instead of RDU if you so choose)
TRF	The Rotary Foundation
WCS	World Community Service
WFA	World Fellowship Activities
World Fellowship Committee	An international programme - For the many groups of Rotarians sharing common sporting & vocational interest and encourages reciprocal visits to other countries where home-hosted

The Regions of Rotary International

Acronym	Description
ANZO	Australia, New Zealand and other places not included in any other region
ASIA	Asia
CEEMA	Continental European, Eastern Mediterranean and African zone
GBI	Great Britain and Ireland
SACAMA	South America (except Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana), Central America, Mexico, and the Spanish-speaking island nations of the Caribbean (except Puerto Rico)
USCB	United States of America, Canada, Bermuda and Puerto Rico

PR Director's Report 2010–11 by Stefan Sojka

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 12:02:00 GMT

What an exciting year it has been for the Rotary Club of Ryde! From a PR perspective, I couldn’t have asked for a better year.

The biggest news was of course our involvement in building the school in Borjegai, Afghanistan. Such a good news story enabled us to get front-page billing in the Northern District Times, with a huge photograph and a headline “Ryde’s New School – 11,700km away”. Just recently, we landed on page 4 of the Sydney Morning Herald. We also got press in Rotary Down Under, thanks to PDG Alex Sawyer’s support and perseverance.

John Booth and his Weekly Times team has been an incredibly generous supporter of our Club this year, giving us numerous cover stories and column space galore, for The Tree of Joy and Red Shield Appeal, School Public Speaking Competition and our big Graffiti (Paint Vandalism) program, headed up by the dynamic PP Charles Kilby.

I have to say, much of this publicity had me running on autopilot this year, such is the momentum and influence the Club seems to have in the area these days. I have had so much support by each Club member driving each event that they run, my job was a breeze!

While the press juggernaut forged onward – whether I was manning the helm or not – I was able to put a great deal of my efforts into the new Club Website, which launched on 12 August 2010.

Since launching, our Website: www.ryderotary.org.au – has had 5,000 visitors and has attracted all kinds of interest. Old friends have made contact, people have applied to give presentations to our Club, applied for scholarships, asked for support, offered to help out and asked about joining. With continued attention, updating and maintenance, the Website can only become a more and more valuable asset to the Club. I am very proud to have been in a position, both as PR director and as part of my chosen vocation, to have been able to facilitate this for the Club, of which I am equally proud to be a member.

I have to say a huge thank you to Adrian Hallet, my right-hand man, who is now stepping up into the PR directorship for 2011–12 – and rightly so. He is a one-man PR machine. With his trailers and signage, tools and gadgets. Adrian is always there to help. He makes 110% look like a cop-out. He is always out there – on the ground at events and programs, flying the Club banners and stamping our name clearly around the city.

I thank the Club for having faith in me this last year and look forward to seeing what Adrian is going to deliver, as I focus exclusively on the Website and online marketing for the Club in the year ahead.

Another letter from the School of St Jude

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 02:04:00 GMT

Dear President Allen,

Thanks you so much for your response. My husband Ben and I have fond and precious memories of the kind hospitality of Les and Shirley in their home when we had represented PRIP Royce and Jean Abbey in 2 other Districts besides your District . At that time then PRIP Huge Archer was trying to save funds for Rotary so RI Representatives like us were given assignments in multiple districts. We were given 3 in a row in Australia and although it was a bit hectic, we didn't mind at all as we met so many Australians who became our friends.

I am attaching an article I wrote on Polio Plus and in Angeles City, where it all started, this is synonymous with PDG Les & Shirley Whitcroft as they stipulated that the US$250,000 be earmarked for the Polio Plus Campaign in the Philippines. They traveled all the way from Australia to witness this historic launching of the first official Polio Plus NID (National Immunization Day) which was the scheme eventually followed all over the developing countries in the world in the years to come.

We, in Angeles and the Philippines will forever be grateful for their generosity in selecting the Philippines as the first recipient from the $US250,000 they donated for the Polio Plus Campaign. It would be great if you could convey to PDG Les our belated condolences on the demise of Shirley. She was such a sweet and lovely lady. Please tell him that we were also in Tanzania last year and visited the School of St. Jude and saw some of the classrooms that a number of Australian Rotarians donated and we're glad to know that he was one of the donors of those many classrooms. I have attached some photos of our visit to the school and below is the website I did on Rotary in Tanzania.

Please extend our best regards to PDG Les.

Cheers!

Josie

http://web.me.com/jdhenson/Site_23/Rotary_in_Tanzania.html

A letter from The School of St Jude

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 02:04:00 GMT

Dear All at The Rotary Club of Ryde Inc.,

Thank you so much for your continued support of The School of St Jude through your sponsorship of Ms Christina Gabriel!

As Ms Christina’s generous sponsor/s, we hope that you’ve enjoyed hearing directly from our students just how much your contribution is appreciated. Your sponsorship of Ms Christina, who is teacher of Standard 1 Science classes at our Moshono Lower Primary campus, supports both her and her fellow St Jude’s teachers as they work hard to educate Tanzania’s future leaders.

Life at The School of St Jude is continuing to thrive; we now educate nearly 1,500 students spread across three amazing schools, two boarding campuses and employ over 340 local Tanzanian staff. All this would not be possible without the enormous contribution and generosity of supporters like you!

We hope you will enjoy the attached 2011 Update about Ms Christina, with news including her latest interests and opinions on life. Also attached is a Teacher Sponsorship FAQs document, for all the details of supporting a teacher at The School of St Jude.

Thank you again for your incredible ongoing support of Ms Christina, and ultimately for standing with us in our Fight against Poverty!

Kind regards

Julie

Julie Luxton Sponsor Relations Coordinator
The School of St Jude Fighting Poverty through Education
Email: sponsorrelations1@schoolofstjude.co.tz 
Website: www.schoolofstjude.co.tz
PO Box 11875, Arusha, Tanzania, East Africa
+255 686 049 142 or +255 755 106 058

School of St Jude February 2011 Newsletter

Sat, 14 May 2011 21:43:00 GMT

Greetings from Tanzania!

We hope you enjoy reading our latest newsletter.

If you visited St Jude’s between the years 2002 and 2005, we need your help! The school is celebrating its 10 year anniversary next year and we are collecting visitors’ photos to help create a very special Anniversary Book. Please submit your photos to schoolofstjude@habari.co.tz.

Are you looking to add a new piece of fashion to your wardrobe? Check out the St Jude’s School Kanga and Kanga Bags now available for purchase through our Online Store! Show off a great accessory while supporting St Jude’s at the same time (they also make great gifts)!

Please help spread the word about The Hopeful Chef Cookbook by posting this video to your Facebook page or emailing it to friends. Remember, all proceeds for these great cookbooks go to St Jude’s!

Are you ready for an unforgettable adventure? Consider booking a spot on one of our exciting St Judes Tour Groups in July or September!

The FebFree campaign is now over and we’re proud to report the total amount raised came to $33,000…what a tremendous achievement. Big thanks to everyone who generously donated and gave up a vice to support St Jude’s!

Last but not least, don't forget to check out our eCard Gifts to find that perfect Easter, anniversary or birthday gift for a special someone in your life.

With hugs from All of us at St Jude’s!

Last Week as recalled by Stefan Sojka – Feb 2011

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 08:49:00 GMT

After a ripper of an Aussie Day celebration (literally), our esteemed President Allen was not only unable to preside over the meeting, but couldn’t write his report either, as he wasn’t there.

In his place was acting President PP Geoff Brennan – and what a convincing act it was. We almost believed he was in control of the evening. In fact the four-way test speakers were in total control, as you will read about later in this report. Our acting Hub editor toasted the Queen as splendidly as she edited this report, but Rotary Grace had a little trouble settling on the right pitch, for some unknown reason… an increased proportion of altos and sopranos in the room, perhaps. David Johnston gave us a 4-minute run down of life at the 10, uh… I mean, 1, 10 & 11 Network, including the revelation that the board is swarming with billionaires. Who would have thought The Biggest Loser would have had such broad appeal? Ironic.

Acting Pres. announced a huge crowd of guests who managed to fit in the room thanks to an almost equal number of apologies. However, it was great to see the triumphant return of Hameed Fazal and Terry Kerim, after their recent scarcity.

John Mazlin announced Red Shield appeal’s 2011 return (28 & 29 May) and Bill Payne explained just how valuable Bowelscan is, as it also returns for ’11, with 144 cancer and polyp detections and 164 positive results last year, saving untold lives in the city. Peter Cooper gave Friday’s pasta-fest at Il Bolognese one last plug, before exchange student Anna Gossweiler detailed her hectic week, including a hair-dye malfunction and sailing on a rough and windy day in the open ocean. Then it was Sgt. Longfield’s turn to take the stand – and all our loose change – with a barrage of loose cannon accusations.

After all the regular formalities, it was time for the absolute treat of the evening, The Four-Way Test speaking competition. Bob Kaye-Smith announced the event and introduced four amazing young competitors.

ERINA YIP, from Cheltenham Girls raised the bar rather high with a superb dream sequence, linking the subconscious mind to The Four-Way Test, the meaning of life, Nelson Mandela and the collective goal of improving the world.

NIKKI RAFTOPULOS, from Pymble Ladies College (PLC) astounded us all with a theatrical press conference from Julian Assange, complete with journalists’ questions and a very clever twist at the end, explaining why Julian is disguised as a schoolgirl. Her presentation was very well researched and weaved powerful social justice issues in perfectly with the theme.

SKYE DONALDSON from The Pittwater House Schools took a very personal approach, talking about her memories of her Rotarian grandfather and her concern for homeless people.

ANEESH KANCHARLA from Shore School discussed racism and prejudice as a challenge to uphold The Four-Way Test and how Australia has sometimes demonstrated unacceptable levels of discrimination in years gone by. Aneesh proposed that education and admitting that there could be a problem, was the way to a more peaceful and friendly society.

In the end, Judges DGN John Dodd and PP Doug Thompson had a very difficult time, being forced to separate the contestants in order of merit. NIKKI took out the top prize with her highly polished performance, followed very closely by Aneesh, with Erina and Skye both awarded certificates. All four demonstrated the highest standards and ideals, which is precisely what The Four-Way Test is all about.

James Dodd – Letter from Brasil – 4th February 2011

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 07:24:00 GMT

Welcome to the last edition of my newsletter. I am now safe back at home and have been for the last two weeks. But before I get to writing about life back at home I still have to finish the January issue.
My last two weeks in Brasil were generally a sad occasion. Other than seeing people for the last time and packing, I didn’t do much else. Saying farewells to other exchange students and especially all of the friends that I had made in Brasil was a lot harder than I ever thought it would be.

My host parents had a New Year’s resolution to lose 5kg each over the month of January, so going walking every evening after work became a ritual that I was included in. It was great to get outside even though it was really hot and humid (probably equal to the “heat-wave” that is currently in Sydney). I started giving away my clothing with Australia written all over it to my host families and close friends since that I wouldn’t need them in Australia. I only kept the ones that I either liked or were worth something to me.

I went out a few times with the other exchange students for the farewells of the guy from New Zealand as well as my own farewell for me and the other girl from Australia. The timing was a bit tight because most of the other exchange students from my district were leaving to go on the Northeast Trip (there are 4 trips, 3 in January and 1 in November).

Luckily my Rotary Club had one more meeting before I left so that I could do my presentation on my time in Brasil. I actually had to fight back tears while I was going through all of the major memories from my time in Brasil. At the end of my presentation I received a standing ovation from all of the Rotarians and hugs from all of them. I even managed to get most of them to sign my banner that I received from the Rotary Club when I arrived in Maringa. I have now solidified many relationships with the Rotarians in my club as now I have multitudes of offers for places to stay for when I return to Brasil (including places on the beach).

Well my last day in Brasil was a fairly short one for me in my city. I woke up at 4am to go to the airport where I went through security at 5am. I was surprised at the number of people in the airport at that time considering it was a Sunday. It was a very emotional experience for me but neither the other girl from Australia or I cried so we were both proud of ourselves for that. However, I can’t speak for my host parents who both cried during our last hugs. My Rotary Club President also came out to the airport to say goodbye to me. After finally making it through security with my blazer full of pins and several bags of hand luggage, we made it onto our 6am flight. (Photo: Me and my 3rd host parents)

We flew from Maringa to Curitiba in 50 minutes and then had a 2 hour stopover before continuing to Sao Paulo. The flight to Sao Paulo was only an hour long. So we arrived in Sao Paulo at 10am and we had the joy of waiting around until 9pm for our flight. We passed the time in the international terminal by watching movies or sleeping on the banks of chairs. Finally we found more Australian exchangers waiting for the same flight and the 30 (or so) of us were all back together at about 7pm. While sitting around and sharing stories we lost track of time and only 1 hour before our flight we went through customs/security. The queue was huge but thanks to being a foreigner we get the shorter line. Even so, most of us had to run for the plane as the flight was already on “Final Call”. Luckily no one got left behind.

The next 3 hours were spent flying from Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires where I was sitting in the emergency exit row in the window seat. Along the way we had to divert a little bit due to a gigantic electric storm that was going on in northern Argentina. However I could see the huge bolts of lightning cracking down from the clouds to the ground. I tried taking photos but it was too far away to pick up anything. (Photo: Leaving Brasil)

The following two hours were spent in the airport of Buenos Aires waiting for our connecting flight to Auckland, but fortunately the single café in the whole terminal was open so we could at least buy something. This was a great opportunity to use up our Brasilian Reias (currency) especially when it’s about $7 for a can of soft drink. Anyway we made it onto the flight which would be our home for the next 14 hours. Interestingly I only experienced 4 hours of the 17th of January thanks to the International Date Line. The flight only took 14 hours but we travelled 30 hours in the process.

We arrived in Auckland at 8am and we had a two hour stopover. It was a little scary to see all the signs in the airport written only in English and also to hear all the airport staff speaking English. So considering I was so close to home I thought it would be fitting to have a beer and a pie for breakfast. I don’t know how I managed to survive the whole year with eating a pie.

Once back in Sydney I stopped off in Duty Free as you might as well use your 2.25L alcohol limit especially on drinks without taxes. It did take a while for me to get through customs. I got checked out by two separate people as they rummaged through my bags to find anything that I might have been bringing in without declaring it. Luckily nothing was taken off me, including my Amazonian blow gun, so I continued on down to the ramps to freedom.

When I saw my family standing there with a sign saying “Bemvindo a Casa” (or Welcome Home) I nearly started crying. I had to just concentrate and look straight ahead just to make sure. It was fantastic to finally give both my parents and my sister a giant hug even though I had been talking to them weekly or fortnightly. Driving back from the airport was a strange experience seeing the huge difference between Brasil and Australia. Now being home I can see the difference and how much better life is here in general.

Well I have now been home for a bit over 2 weeks. In that time period I’ve caught up with my best mates and their families and sharing my year with them. Considering that I probably only spoke to each of them maybe a couple of times throughout the year, there was much to catch up on. In the first week I got my green P plates and my PWC boat license. Getting back up to the house up at Wyee Point was a big highlight as I was finally able to go jetskiing and go donoughting.

I have now also enrolled in university. I will be doing Engineering and Business at UTS for the next 5 years so that will be fun. I’ll be majoring in ICT Engineering (Software) and Accounting.

There is nothing that compares to home and I don’t think that anything will ever be better than being at home with family and friends. After coming home from a year away I now know the true meaning of “Home Sweet Home”. Thank you for reading my blog over this last year. I have certainly enjoyed writing them and I’ve already received praise from people that I didn’t even know were on the email list.

I will be making my presentation to Ryde Rotary on 15 March and look forward to seeing many of you then.

Tchau,
James Dodd

James Dodd Letter From Brasil 3rd January 2011

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 07:24:00 GMT

Welcome to the first ever 2011 edition of my newsletter. These last two weeks have been very family orientated which made me miss home a little bit, but in two weeks today I’ll be leaving. Time certainly does fly when you’re having fun.
Christmas was a little bit different for me this year, mostly not celebrating it with my own family. Other than that Christmas was a relaxing, family orientated weekend. My host family and I spent the Christmas weekend in Santa Cruz de Monte Castello which is a small city where my host mother was born and raised. We have been there a few times before to relax for the weekend. Just before we arrived there it started to absolutely bucket down. Your line of sight was literally only 5 metres at most which was a bit frightening sitting in the back seat of the car. Nevertheless we arrived safely.

The Friday night was a more peaceful and a close family occasion. We had a barbeque of various meats and continuing in the holiday spirit much beer was consumed. It turned out that we actually missed the church service because we were all talking and enjoying ourselves ,not watching the time. However once it struck midnight presents were given to everyone and we all indulged ourselves into those gifts. My host family got me a pair of Santos soccer shorts (for those of who you don’t know, Santos is the best soccer team in Brasil) so I was greatly delighted. I gave my host parents a bottle of wine and one of my bigger cross-stitches that I had been doing over the last few months. I also thought that I needed to give my host grandma something so I made her a kookaburra cross-stitch. Some of you may remember that it was the first one that I finished here, however the one I gave her I had just finished that afternoon.

The Saturday (or Christmas Day) followed in the same manner as the day before it. Most of the day was spent sitting around talking and sharing memories of the year that had nearly finished. During the day, once again following in the holiday spirit, much beer was consumed. Between 4 of them on Friday about 16L of beer was consumed compared to the 26L that was had on the Saturday between 6 people. After everyone recovering on the Sunday, we returned late on Sunday evening to Maringa.
During the week I was taken by my host father to his two soccer games. Towards the end of the first game one team was left without a player. My host father then decided that he would put me in goal so then he could fill the spot in the field. I have never played goalkeeper in a game before so as you would expect I was a little bit nervous and still surprised that my host father had that much confidence in me. However over the next 10 minutes, the ball never passed me. Yes there were only two attempts at goal from the other team but neither of those attempts got passed me. I also totally embarrassed one of the attackers from the other team as I passed the ball through his legs to get passed him.

The next game on the Thursday was in a slightly different light. There had been massive confusion from the other team if there was going to be a game so only about half of them turned up. After some conversing they eventually decided to just play with mixed up teams. While everyone was changing, I was mucking around with one of the kids in the goal. My host father then said to me “Go down to the other end of the field for us in the goal”. At first I thought it was just to practice so they could take shots at me, but then came “Also put this shirt on” at which point I realised that I would be actually playing. Well to be short I did play the whole game as goalkeeper. Everyone was surprised, including me, at how decent I was but soon the other team found the hole in my defence. As most of you know I have fairly good hand-eye coordination, so any ball in the air was not much of a challenge for me. The chink in my armour was ground balls as it takes me forever for me to get my hands to the ground. However, even with the gigantic hole in my defence my team won. I had saved enough attempts at goal that we had managed to stay in front for the whole game.

On the Wednesday night my host parents took me to the centre of the city to see the decorations and lights that had been placed on the cathedral. The sight of the cathedral all lit up was amazing. I took several photos of all the decorations and lights.

For the New Year’s Eve weekend, my host parents and I travelled back to Monte Castello. This weekend was a lot more relaxed than the Christmas weekend, but still many good times were had. Late on the Friday night we all went to Porto Rico, which I went to about a month before with the men from my host mum’s family, to watch the fireworks. There were about 20,000 people there partying and according to my host family that was the most amount of people that they had ever seen in Porto Rico. The fireworks were fairly amazing. They had placed boats on the river full of fireworks so it was quite a spectacular sight. I managed to take some very cool photos of the fireworks just as they were about to explode.

The next Saturday and Sunday were spent relaxing and enjoying the first moments of 2011. For me it still seems a bit strange to consider that we are now into 2011. I don’t know why, but seeing the date “3/1/11” just looks weird to me.

Well as you’ve read these last two weeks have been very relaxing and very family orientated. I have less than two weeks in Brasil until I start heading home. It will take me 53 hours to get home (thanks to the International Date Line) but I’ll eventually get there on the 18th of January. I will try to get a newsletter down when I get home to finish off the year.
I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Years and I look forward to catching up with a lot of you when I get back.
Abraço, James Dodd

Blast from the past - Kristel Murray, Exchange student from 2001/02

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 22:32:00 GMT

Here is a short note from Kristel Murray, a French Canadian student who came to our club as an exchange student in 2001/02. It is always great to hear from exchange students to see how their life has progressed since their stay with us...

Well, my life hasn't change so much, I'm still very busy. In September, I started University to specialize myself in nursing. So, I don't have lot of time for myself and my family. I work a full time job, I take care of my family, I have university and I have 2 nights/week for workout and cardio to keep myself in good shape... lol

My son is now 2 years and a half. He changes so much. He speaks very well and understands more what we saying. He is so quiet, he is not a disturbing child.
It's not in our plan to have an other baby yet. We want to but with university... We will wait until next year.

All my family are in good health, I hope yours too. So give me some news to keep in touch. Even if I didn't write to you for ages.... You still have a room in my heart and I hope one day we'll see each other again!

Take Care!!!!
Kristel
xxxxxxxxxxxxx

James Dodd's Letter From Brazil - December 21st 2010

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 06:39:00 GMT

Welcome to a special edition of my newsletter, my Northeast Trip. The trip itself was absolutely amazing and will always remain fantastic memory of Brasil for me. On the trip there were 49 exchange students on the trip including 20 Australians. This newsletter won’t be like previous trip notes as I won’t go day by day, otherwise this would end up being a good 20 pages.

Start of the trip
The trip officially started in Sao Paulo so I needed to catch a bus there from my city. Luckily there were about 10 people coming from my Rotary District so we all got the overnight bus on the Saturday night in time to get to Sao Paulo for the early Sunday morning start. Since I bought my ticket slightly later than everyone else I wasn’t sitting with them, but that left me an opportunity to get to know the people that I was sitting next to. I went through a 9 hour bus ride sleeping only for 1 hour and talking for most of the rest of it. I was able to get to know the woman who was sitting next to me in great detail.
After the 9 hours we finally arrived in Sao Paulo where we were met by one of the chaperones that would look after us for the month. We all got into a taxi and headed to the hotel where the bus was waiting with the rest of the exchange students. It was great to see a lot of the Australians again, especially considering I hadn’t seen a lot of them since the plane flight over.
The day that followed became a common occurrence over this trip, a whole day spent on the bus (to be exact it happened 12 times). At the start of the trip I found it really difficult to sleep but by the end I was sleeping at nearly every opportunity. Anyway, after this whole day on the bus we finally arrived in Brasilia, our first stop on our month long trip. As you all may know, this day was my 19th birthday. It wasn’t exactly the best birthday but it was a good time to celebrate it with 48 other exchange students.

Brasilia

The next day we went on a tour around Brasilia. Like Canberra, the city is planned. The city is divided into 4 sectors: north, east, south and west quadrants. Each quadrant has a specific purpose like commercial, residential and of course the government sector. We visited many of the main landmarks around the city including government buildings, special churches, the President’s house and the Temple of Peace. The buildings themselves were fairly amazing. The government buildings were all exquisitely designed and unique, which was quite a surprise.

We visited two churches: the main cathedral in Brasilia and the “Temple of Peace”. The cathedral is not a normal old church, it is a modern one. The design is really interesting and looks really amazing. The other church that we visited was the “Temple of Peace”, the 7-sided pyramid.

It is a very spiritual location where people go to walk around the “Spiral of Enlightenment”.
The President’s house is quite a large estate and is guarded very heavily. There are teams of Special Forces that patrol the grounds with pump-action shotguns. It was quite an intimidating site seeing them patrol with no emotions shown on their faces whatsoever.
That night we had dinner at an “all you can eat” pizza place and after eating way too much everyone started singing happy birthday and a cake appeared. I was not hungry at all and was feeling completely full already, but it was still a great birthday party.

Lençois

For the two days that we were in Lençois we explored the surrounding environment including sandcaves constructed of multi-coloured sand, climbing through caves and lots of swimming in little rivers and waterfalls. On the first day in Lençois we went to a natural waterslide which was effectively just a very mossy rock slope. It was a lot of fun but nearly everyone had nasty bruises and marks left on bums and hips from bouncing down the hard rock surface. This was the first day that I got ridiculously burnt across my shoulders and my face.
Luckily some of the girls had after sun lotion and Aloe Vera so I was well looked after.

On the second day we went exploring into a cave system where it was completely dark and we needed headlamps. Some of the most amazing stalactites and stalagmites had formed and they were simply stunning. Sitting down in a completely dark cave was a bit freaky for some but it was quite entertaining for me. After, we scaled 1300m up a very big hill. The views were unbelievable but the weather was horrible (over 35pC). The guides told us stories about how all of the surrounding hills were named and some of the stories were quite interesting. We then went swimming in a little waterfall/river system which was so relaxing after a day of walking in the hot sun.

That night we were given a presentation of “capoeira” which is a special type of Brasilian martial arts. It is practically breakdancing but performed very slowly and the amount of control needed is amazing. Most of the girls in the group couldn’t control themselves watching the ridiculously “ripped” boys doing flips and one-handed handstands.

 Maceió

Today was first beach day of the trip and it was all as promised. The only bad thing was that I got burnt once again. Some people took banana boat rides and it was quite entertaining watching people falling off. At night we went to the markets which again became a common occurrence. This day became a normal day on this trip and was very relaxing.

Natal

The hotel in Natal was absolutely amazing. The hotel itself was gigantic and was elaborately laid out with the hotel then pool then straight onto a private beach. To sit by the pool and look out over the ocean was an amazing feeling to say the least.
On the first day in Natal we went on a tour of the city. We visited the fort which was built in the 1500’s to protect from invasion and was recently used in World War II as an anti-air base. Other than that it was effectively a free day where we hung around the hotel relaxing.

The second day was another beach day. We travelled for about an hour to a secluded little town where we stayed for the day. It was really relaxing and fun to play around on the beach. However to spend a whole day at the beach wasn’t as amazing as the hotel, so we returned earlier than normal to chill at the hotel. At night we had the option to go and see the recently released Harry Potter and even though I’d already seen it I wanted to see it again. I found it a little weird considering the movie doesn’t really have an ending, it kind of just stops and credits roll.

Fortaleza
Luckily it didn’t take us a whole day to get to Fortaleza so we had time to chill in the hotel before going out at night. At the markets that night I found some cool key rings to go on my blazer and these awesome beer cups. They are made out of beer cans but are then filled with gel so when you put it in a freezer it will keep your beer cold. It was quite a snazzy thing and I thought that my host Dad would enjoy it.

The next day we went to yet another beach. However at this beach we had planned activities like horse riding and dune buggying. The horse riding was fun especially as it was walking down the beach enjoying the sights. The main event of the day was going dune buggying. We were put into buggies of 4 people and it was so much fun. Going upwards of 80km/h down and around sand dunes with only your courage to hang on to, it was a blast. I recall that someone said “This would never be allowed to happen in Australia” and I totally agree with them. I did have a lot of fun especially going down ridiculously steep dunes and drifting on the sand. The best part was that there was no set trail so the drivers improvised and took shortcuts all the time. In the middle of the dune buggy ride we stopped off at a sand boarding slope. It was really fun to go down a step dune sitting on only a piece of waxed wood. However when you fell off it really did hurt and sand got everywhere!

Once I got back after the buggy ride I was knackered so I thought that a massage would do my nicely. I was so relaxed after the massage that I could hardly walk but it was really worth it.
The next day we spent at the beach next to a water park. The water park was supposedly one of the best of the world but it was $70AUD to get in and for Brasilian standards that is ridiculously expensive. Even in Australia I wouldn’t spend that much to get into a theme park. Since the price of admission was so high everyone decided to stay at the beach and just chill.

In the afternoon we went on a cultural tour of Fortaleza visiting some of the iconic places like the pier (which more seemed like a place for couples) and the various amphitheatres. After dinner we went to the markets again and I found some cool little things that will be presents for people back home.

Recife
After another whole day on the bus we arrived in Recife. We spent the first day at “Porto de Galinhas” which is a beach about 1 hour from Recife in a secluded town. It seems that they chose secluded beaches so they could always keep an eye on us, but it was great because the beaches were always really good.

The second day in Recife we spent on a city tour. We saw many of the sites around Recife including the preserved old part of the city. Even though it was really hot we continued to explore the city and the many hidden passageways that seemed to seamlessly link all the streets together. In the afternoon we went to the cultural markets which is a whole jail converted into little shops. The size of it was astonishing yet I didn’t buy anything.

Later that afternoon we walked up to the oldest part of the city which is on top of the largest hill around. We visited one of the oldest churches (only 400 years old) which overlooked the whole city and the surrounding beaches. Also on the way back down I spotted a brand new Porsche Cayman S which in Brasil is a good 1 million Reias (or $700K AUD) and it was in excellent condition. The interior was red leather and ohhh…. It was amazing.

Salavador

On the way down to Salvador we stopped at a Turtle Preservation community. Here they are trying to preserve the different species of turtle that live on the coast of Brasil. They open up the preservation centre once a week for tourists to come in and have a look at some of the rarest species of turtle that are still around.
In Salvador we were given a city tour. We started at the fort (which now is just a tourist attraction) that has views over the entire city and looks out around the various bays. Afterwards we continued our walk through one of the biggest markets in the world up to the old city. Salvador is split into two: the commercial part of the city which is down the bottom and the residential/old part of the city which is up the top. Here in Salvador we started to see a larger number of tourists and a lot of Americans.
One of the places that we visited was the church of St Francis of Assisi. The interior of the church is simply stunning with over 800kg old gold inlaid into the wood. It was built in the 16 century. Supposedly his descendants built it in his honour but no one is really sure. It’s one of those things that is shrouded in mystery. However the church interior itself is still insane.

While walking through the rest of the old city we saw Joe Jackson (Michael Jackson’s Dad). No one was quite sure what he was doing in Salvador but he had camera crews and a lot of security walking around with him. I also met two guys (one from the Ukraine; the other Romania) who were working on a cruise ship. It became a thing of the trip to try and pick where other foreigners were from by their language or accent. Unfortunately I got those two horribly wrong, but do you really expect to meet people from the Ukraine or Romania in Brasil? We also met a young couple from Sydney who were travelling in their holidays.
That night we went to a traditional Brasilian performance of Salvador. To be honest I started to fall asleep through some parts but by the end I was wide awake. The last act was about 10 guys doing “capoeira” and generally showing off. One performer did cartwheels on the same spot of stage. Usually gymnasts need a run up and maybe a maximum of 3 or 4 flips can be achieved before running out of space. But this guy was scary: he was doing cartwheels and flips for about 2 minutes on the same spot. It was unbelievable.

The next day we travelled by boat out to an island where we spent the day and we were the only people there. We hit up a game of soccer and some of the Europeans showed some serious skill. However a lot of people cut their feet on the various shells that were on the beach and in the water.

Porto Seguro
After another whole day of travel we arrived in a small city just outside of Porto Seguro. That night we went clubbing in Porto Seguro for the first time as a group. We ended up going clubbing twice and on the last night we went to a beach party. For those of you who don’t know, Porto Seguro is the location for Brasilian schoolies. It’s like the Gold Coast, but better.
Out of the four days that we spent here two of them were free days. Seeing that Rio de Janeiro was effectively in civil war, we spent more time relaxing and enjoying ourselves than going into Rio. The second and fourth days here were free days to explore the little city where we were staying and to catch up on sleep that everyone had missed out on.

The next day we went on a tour around the old city of Porto Seguro. We visited one of the first churches on the South American continent as it was built in the year 1500. The old city itself was really beautiful and it had amazing views over the ocean and beaches. That afternoon we went to one of the oldest beaches in Brasil which was where the ships landed to colonise the old city of Porto Seguro.

Rio de Janeiro

After 2 days of bus travel we arrived at our final destination: Rio de Janeiro. On the first night we went to the markets where I found very cool presents for people back at home. I was told by friends that I needed to find something that I would only be able to get in Brasil and I think I found something that was fairly exclusive.

On the first day we went on a tour of the city of Rio. We visited all the main attractions like the original cathedral and the first bank in Brasil. After walking through some of the old streets we arrived at the original parliament and one of the oldest libraries in the world. Outside of Europe it is the largest and oldest library in the world.
After finding sanctuary back in the air conditioned bus we drove for a little bit to the Carnaval street/stadium. They were just starting to rebuild it for February but it was an amazing site. The main street just keep going and going until you lost sight of it in the distance.

Later that afternoon we went to Pão de Açucar which is one of the largest mountains in the city of Rio and one of the largest tourist attractions. To reach the top you have to take two cable cars and it was really fun freaking out those people who were scared of heights by saying things like “Mmm I wonder how long it would take us to hit the ground if the cable snapped” and other taunting things like that.

The next day we woke up early to go to the Christ Redeemer. After taking a little red train up to the top of the mountain we arrived at the Christ statue. It wasn’t quite what I thought it would be: it was so much better. It was a little disappointing with the cloud cover as we couldn’t see the view over the city, but the Christ itself was astonishing. Somehow I became a photographer taking photos of everyone, even people not in our group. If I had counted each of the photos that I had taken, there would easily be over 50 photos of other people.

For lunch we went to the beach where the waves were amazing. They were really strong and quite large. The waves were that bad that the life guards were recommending that people not go swimming at all in case that they got sucked out by the rip or were take sideways by the current. Being indestructible exchange students we decided to give it a go anyway. It was a little bit scary but was really fun. A few exchange students did have to get saved by life guards, but that was because they went out too far without knowing how to come back against the rip. Three other guys and I were taken about 500m sideways by the current in about half an hour. It took us a while to make it back to where all of our stuff was and we got lost a few times on the way back.
In the afternoon we were given samba and funk classes. Trying to fit 50 people into a small room and especially with relatively uncoordinated people was quite funny and it got hot really fast. I always thought that funk and samba were really hard but it’s just small things fast and with lots of repetition.

For dinner we went to the Hard Rock Café which was AMAZING! I’ve never been to a Hard Rock Café before so I was a little bit surprised that it was more of a club than a rock café. On a Saturday night they had a DJ instead of a band. It didn’t really make sense to me but considering it was the last night it was a good way to end the trip.

Later that night (while everyone was passing out from tiredness) we were taken to a samba school performance where you can join in. We arrived at 11:30pm and were given 2 hours. Only about 10 people actually stayed inside while the rest of us stayed outside talking and others sleeping on the ground.

That night not many people slept as it was the last night and then we had to say some goodbyes to those people who live in Rio de Janeiro or in the state of Rio. After that we hopped onto the bus to travel to Sao Paulo. Everyone slept on the bus to Sao Paulo and we arrived ahead of schedule which was a nice change of pace. After saying more goodbyes to everyone the group was split up depending on where you were travelling to. I spent 6 hours waiting around in the bus terminal with other exchange students of my district. We finally got the bus back to Maringa where we slept the whole way.

Overall the trip was unbelievably amazing and it was certainly a good way to end my exchange. I now have less than a month until I leave and then I get to spend 53 hours in transit to get home. I’m really looking forward to coming home to see all of you and share stories.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Abraço, 
James Dodd

James Dodd in Brasil - 20 November 2010

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 23:03:00 GMT

Welcome to another edition of my fortnightly newsletter. These last two weeks have been a little difficult as I’m starting to finish up in some of my activities.

This last Thursday I had my last day of university and it was a little hard that I will never see some people in my class again. Now that I have now finished university, I’ve looked back across all of my marks. Considering that I didn’t do the exams for some subjects, I still would have passed onto 2nd year with the average across all my subjects (mostly thanks to Maths and Informatics).

Two weeks ago all Automation Engineering courses (including Mechatronic) presented their group projects at the “Mecaexpo” that was held at Cesumar. Over the Thursday and Friday night my group presented our project, the chicken farm, and it was a great time to explain everything that we had been working on for the past 10 months. As well as learning more about my group’s project, I got to see a lot of other innovative products. One project that I thought was hilarious and really inappropriate for the real world: a residential security system that fires iron bolts at objects. It charges through 6 huge capacitors with a capacity of 1500J of energy, they slide the bolt inside a huge coil of wire and then they discharge the current into the coil of wire which then generates a huge electromagnetic force firing the bolt at enormous speeds. They were testing it mostly with panes of glass but occasionally they tried it with a can of soft drink. I volunteered my can for the destruction and that is certainly something that I will hold onto. Looking at some of the other projects I could see that most of them could be taken to a whole new level and did give me some ideas that I might be able to use for my university project.

On that Friday night I went out with some friends from my class for the first time in a while. I ended up getting back home at a bit after 5am. My host mum then woke me up at 9:30 to get me out of bed to pack my bag for the weekend. We went travelling to her parents’ house about two hours drive from Maringa. I was practically cactus so sitting in a car for two hours wasn’t exactly something I was looking forward too, but I ended up sleeping most of the way. On the Saturday night, I was taken to my first “Baile de Avaí” which is a huge community social party. It is generally for couples and for those people who are looking for partners, but I was taken along for the experience anyway. Considering that I was still cactus from the night before I wasn’t exactly feeling my best, but it was definitely a memorable experience.

On the following Sunday, I went with my host dad and my host mum’s brothers to Porto Rico, which was about 20 minutes drive from where we were. Porto Rico is a tourist destination because it has a beach and amazing fish. The river that it is based on is about the same size as Lake Macquarie. The 6 of us mostly just sat in the bar at the beach because none of us were intending to swim and the beach was full of tourists thanks to the long weekend. The following Monday was a very relaxing day where everyone caught up on missed sleep from the weekend.
Last Wednesday I volunteered to do my presentation on Australia at my Rotary Club’s meeting. I wasn’t quite sure about any of the things that I should put in it, but from the reactions from the Rotarians, it was fantastically received. Everyone loved it and they all got a pin out of it as well. My President gave me 10-15 minutes to do my presentation. As some of you know, my presentation skills aren’t the best so I wasn’t even sure that I was going to make 10 minutes. Once I had finished I realised that I had been speaking for 25 minutes and everyone was still paying attention. At the end of my presentation I found out that this meeting might have been my last Rotary meeting at this club because when I return from travelling to the Northeast they will be on holidays and they might not return before I get back. Hopefully they will because I want to share my experiences from this amazing year with them.

On Friday night, my host parents took me to an 80’s themed party for people who work with my host mum. It was good to see some of the people from the wedding a month ago and it certainly was fun seeing all of the costumes that people had brought. I ended up going with jeans, a leather jacket and gelled back hair which really did suit the mood of the party.

This newsletter was literally a last minute effort before I go away on my Northeast trip. I will be back in a month, so I hope that everyone has a wonderful time while I’m away and won’t miss me too much. By the time I come back from my trip I will have a little less than a month here so time really is starting to get away from me!

Tchau, James Dodd

PS. Tomorrow is my birthday (and I get to spend the whole day on a bus)!

Lorraine & Malcolm Cox honoured with 2 Paul Harris Fellow Awards

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 11:44:00 GMT

At the recent Ryde Chamber of Commerce event, hosted by John Booth at The Weekly Times, Ryde Rotary President surprised Lorraine and Malcolm Cox with a Paul Harris Fellow award each. Paul Harris Fellows are awarded to Rotarians and Non-Rotarians alike, who show outstanding commitment to community service. Lorraine and Malcolm are ideal recipients, with all the charity and community work they do.

Lorraine and Malcolm's business, Ryde Furniture Freighters, has become very well known for helping those in need. They cart furniture for charities and they donate large amounts of furniture left over from their clients' downsizing moves – all at their own expense.

Ryde Rotary has been at the receiving end of Lorraine and Malcolm's generosity, when they offered to cart a shipment of furniture bound for one of our international aid program destinations.

Tony Abboud from Ryde Rotary introduced President Allen Horrell to the Ryde Chamber crowd (a crowd which, for some reason, seemed to be padded out somewhat with a few Rotarians!). President Allen commenced his presentation with an explanation of the Paul Harris Fellow award and its significance, not only as a recognition of great respect and honour, but that one aspect of the award is that Rotary donates $1000 to the Rotary Foundation on behalf of the recipient. This evening, $2000 was donated and two very surprised recipients were asked to come up and receive their awards. Malcolm and Lorraine are two of the nicest, humblest people you could meet and they certainly weren't ready for all the accolades and the attention. There were more than one or two tears from the recipients and from the crowd as the emotion of such a public recognition of great community service unfolded.

Congratulations Lorraine and Malcolm, on all your amazing support and good work.

Photo (L-R): Malcolm Cox, The Weekly Times Editor John Booth (OAM), Lorraine Cox, Ryde Chamber President Tony Abboud, Ryde Rotary President Allen Horrell