Entertainment books now available for 2017/2018 - $70.00 each - please see Russell for copies.
Phil is looking for someone to fill the position of Program Chair for next Rotary year. Please let him know if you are interested
The Olive picking weekend is on 3rd and 4th of June - please let Harvey know if you want to attend
Make sure that you read the email from Sue and Russell if you are attending the conference
RC of Croydon is running an event on 20 May 2017 called "Melinda does Doris" - it is in celebration of Doris Days 93rd Birthday. Tickets are $40.00.
Sue and Russell ran into Ann Drayton recently. Ann sends her best to everyone: here is a photo
Tonight's speakers were Robyn and Tony Stokes from the Rotary Club of Box Hill Central. They spoke to us about Rotarian Action Group Against Slavery (RAGAS)
Slavery is illegal under International Law
Around 45,000,000 people are affected by slavery and 1/3 of these are children
Slavery is ownership through control
150 billion dollars of profit is generated through illegal means.
The types of slavery include domestic servitude, sex trafficking, forced labour, bonded labour, child labour, forced marriage
Extreme poverty and vulnerability are drivers of slavery and corruption
RAGAS was formed in 2009 and its headquarters and principle officer is in the United Kingdom. They have membership in 65 countries.
Lesley A is the newsletter editor.
There is a project being run in Northern Karen, Myanmar about child slavery
Child labour is common and leads to low school attendance. The project is looking to educate children and parents about slavery and its ill effects.
You can find more information about RAGAS at www.ragas.online
On Friday 31 March, 19 Rotarians and partners converged on Geelong for the annual district 9810 conference. It was held in the convention centre at Cunningham pier on Corio Bay.
In the afternoon, the conference was opened by Mike Brady (of Up there Cazaly fame) and he still has a great voice!!. We heard from lawyer Julian Burnside about the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru. Next was Euan Ferguson who was the retired head of the CFA. He spoke about the supportive role of service/community organisations in the aftermath of major fire events.
In the evening, we enjoyed a lovely meal at an Italian restaurant across the road from the beach.
On Saturday, we heard from Dr Laura Hart who is working on 2 projects funded by Australian Rotary Health. The project Laura spoke about was the Teen Mental Health First Aid Program which is based at the University of Melbourne. It is being run in partnership with Mental Health First Aid and is a new evidence based training program for students in Years 10 to 12. The program trains them to learn how to assist peers who are developing a mental health problem or who are experiencing a mental health crisis. Mikaela Stafrace is the CEO of Kidney Health Australia and she spoke about the Big Red Kidney Bus - sponsored by the RC of Croydon - it is a mobile dialysis unit.
We then heard from Dr Deidre Anderson who spoke about risky drinking in young people. Rotarian Leon Moore introduced us to LAARFS - a group of singers recovering from illness such as strokes etc. PDG Noel Trevaskis spoke about engaging with the community. Emma Dorn, a medical student from Deakin University, spoke to us about the Global Health Group. They raise money for areas where there is health inequity. We heard from Hugh Van Cuylenburg about resilience and mental health.
The Gala dinner was held on Saturday evening and the theme was somewhere in the world. We went as Wallies - of course Wally was everywhere and managed to do some photobombing much to our delight!!. There were many creative outfits as you will see from the photos below. The winners were RC of Croydon who were dressed up as Jellyfish!
On Sunday we had a range of speakers talking about Interact, Rotaract, Earlyact, Youth Exchange and the Four Way speaking comp. Marcus Akuhata-Brown from New Zealand spoke to us about his work with young at risk people.We heard from Mike Rolls who is a survivor of a life threatening infection that led to the amputation of his legs. He recently represented Australia in the world disabled golf championships. He is a champion of Interplast.
Next years conference will be held on 2 to 4 March 2017 and will be in Bendigo.
One of the largest synchronised vaccination campaigns in Africa took place on 25-28 March, aiming to reach 116 million children with polio vaccines. Close to 200,000 health workers worked tirelessly over the four days to vaccinate children in 13 countries across Central and West Africa. The campaign is part of an urgent effort to stop polio on the continent following the outbreak in Nigeria in 2016.
The synchronised vaccination campaign, one of the largest of its kind ever implemented in Africa, is part of urgent measures to permanently stop polio on the continent. All children under five years of age in the 13 countries – Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Sierra Leone – were simultaneously immunised in a coordinated effort to raise childhood immunity to polio across the continent. In August 2016, four children were paralysed by the disease in security-compromised areas in Borno state, north-eastern Nigeria, widely considered to be the only place on the continent where the virus maintains its grip.
“Twenty years ago, Nelson Mandela launched the pan-African ‘Kick Polio Out of Africa’ campaign,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “At that time, every single country on the continent was endemic to polio, and every year, more than 75,000 children were paralysed for life by this terrible disease. Thanks to the dedication of governments, communities, parents and health workers, this disease is now beaten back to this final reservoir.”
Dr Moeti cautioned, however, that progress was fragile, given the epidemic-prone nature of the virus. Although confined to a comparatively small region of the continent, experts warned that the virus could easily spread to under-protected areas of neighbouring countries. That is why regional public health ministers from five Lake Chad Basin countries – Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Niger and Nigeria – declared the outbreak a regional public health emergency and have committed to multiple synchronised immunisation campaigns.
UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Ms Marie-Pierre Poirier, stated that with the strong commitment of Africa’s leaders, there was confidence that this last remaining polio reservoir could be wiped out, hereby protecting all future generations of African children from the crippling effects of this disease once and for all. “Polio eradication will be an unparalleled victory, which will not only save all future generations of children from the grip of a disease that is entirely preventable – but will show the world what Africa can do when it unites behind a common goal.”
To stop the potentially dangerous spread of the disease as soon as possible, volunteers delivered bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV) to every house across all cities, towns and villages of the 13 countries. This army of volunteers and health workers worked up to 12 hours per day, travelling on foot or bicycle, in often stifling humidity and temperatures in excess of 40°C. Each vaccination team carried the vaccine in special carrier bags, filled with ice packs to ensure the vaccine remains below the required 8°C.
“This extraordinary coordinated response is precisely what is needed to stop this polio outbreak,” said Michael K McGovern, Chair of Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee . “Every aspect of civil society in these African countries is coming together, every community, every parent and every community leader, to achieve one common goal: to protect their children from life-long paralysis caused by this deadly disease.”
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The synchronised vaccination campaign, one of the largest of its kind ever implemented in Africa, is part of urgent measures to permanently stop polio on the continent. All children under five years of age in the 13 countries – Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Sierra Leone – were simultaneously immunised in a coordinated effort to raise childhood immunity to polio across the continent. In August 2016, four children were paralysed by the disease in security-compromised areas in Borno state, north-eastern Nigeria, widely considered to be the only place on the continent where the virus maintains its grip.
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