You are cordially invited to ‘A Taste of Africa’, a lively evening of African food, music and cultural immersion! This is an International Services fund-raiser for the South Sudan Health Matters (SSHM) Project: South Sudan Girls Sanitation and Education Project! RCM is supporting this project initiated by Mawien Ariik, RCM member and SSHM founder. Ariik will present on the project at our meeting on 7 June at the RACV Club.
Date: Saturday 11 June 2022
Place: Cecily Neil’s home - Unit 1801, 1 Freshwater Place, Southbank
Time: From 6 pm
Cost: $50 per person
Inclusions: A variety of African food (South Sudanese and other; meat and vegetarian) provided by Kuei and Mawien Ariik; drinks (wine, beer soft drinks); auction items; African items for sale
Bookings (via TryBooking: https://www.trybooking.com/BZTJO) close on 10 June 2022. There will be a limit of 50 attendees so get in early!
You can also find out more about The Lighthouse project. In South Sudan’s remote Lou Ariik Village, it is a common experience for girls to miss school during menstruation and, because of poor sanitation and hygiene, infection rates are higher than they should be. Most schools are also ‘under the trees’ schools.
This project will distribute 800 re-usable menstrual hygiene kits with a carefully designed education program. The principal intended outcome is to improve girls’ school retention and educational performance. In broader terms, the project is designed to empower girls, address traditional cultural mores sensitively, and reduce infection rates. Your contribution is going to a great cause!
After a two-year COVID imposed break we are resuming where we left off with the New Generations Service Exchange program. You might remember Lotta Rink, the talented young Bassoonist who had to go home early thanks to the pandemic.
Nevertheless, in July this year two young Australian opera singers, Louise Keast and Michael Dimovski, will be heading off to Bavaria where they will be hosted by German Rotary families for around 6 weeks. They will be participating in the Bayreuth Young Artist’s Festival, attending master classes, and in Michael’s case, performing at the D1950 District Conf.
Australian Rotary Health – the greatest Australian Rotary project
Since Greg joined Rotary in Berwick 46 years ago, aged 28, it has been a large part of his life. A Rotarian with North Balwyn since 1986, Greg served as District 9800 Governor in 1991-92. He has worked as a literacy volunteer in Thailand, helped build an eye clinic in Vanuatu and led a GSE team to California. He has been MC at Rotary Conventions in Taipei and Melbourne, at the International Assembly and many district conferences, and has been RI President’s Special Rep many times in Australia and NZ.
Greg served on the Board of Australian Rotary Health for seven years, including as Chairman for three. In 2016, he created Lift the Lid on Mental Illness, a national campaign to reduce mental illness through prevention research.
Best known to older Australian audiences as Tony Benjamin, one of the cops in the long running television series Cop Shop, Greg has been a professional actor and singer since graduating from NIDA in 1967. Over the past 15 years, he has also conducted over 1,200 services as a funeral celebrant. He has just completed his first novel, a crime thriller, and intends writing much more in the coming decade.
