Charmaine’s Chat
It sounds like I missed a great meeting last week. Please see the summary below. This is a very brief CC this week. I would however like to draw your attention to the article on the Food Plant Solutions Rotarian Action Group in our ‘Out and About’ section. It’s a really worthwhile project.
Unfortunately I have to miss this week’s meeting as well, but Laurelle will again chair it. See you next week.
THIS WEEK IS ONE FOR GARDENERS
We welcome Keith Mundy of Tilba Nursery who will talk about Australian native plants for the Spring garden. This should be another great night at our Club. Bring your partners and friends but please don’t forget to let Charmaine know by Tuesday afternoon if you are bringing guests.
The Week that Was
What a great meeting last week with 42 people all of whom thoroughly enjoyed a fascinating tour of the musical traditions of Morocco. That was thanks to Australian Cat Wilson and her Moroccan husband musician Faouzi Saouli; they now live in Narooma. Paul Stokes and his team at the Golf Club also got into the spirit of the evening with about seven Moroccan dishes. In keeping with our theme, our international toast was to the Rotary Club of Casablanca, where Cat and Faouzi lived. It was the first Rotary Club in Morocco, chartered in 1932, and is now one of several Rotary Clubs in Casablanca.
We welcomed back a very relaxed John Rungen from three months in Mauritius. Great to see David and Rachel McInnes again, David’s mother Dianne, and their guest Hannah Taylor of Norfolk Island who had been a Rotary Exchange student to Belgium.
Among our other guests were our regular visiting Dubbo Rotarian Gordon Bentley and his wife Di, and Darryl Breust from the Rotary Club of Coolamon in the Riverina, Cat’s sister Sarah and her family, Bernie Perrot President of the Men’s Shed and a crew from U3A including Bernie’s wife Ruth.
Cat and Faouzi described the various musical traditions from the different geographical areas of Morocco, what has influenced those traditions, and the fusing of many of those different traditions by younger musicians. All were accompanied by short film clips demonstrating the different music. They had everyone captivated. Faouzi is not only a musician; he is also an oud (lute) maker. He treated us to a tune on his oud which he made from Australian timbers. In Morocco he would pay people to cut the wood for him; thanks to Narooma Men’s Shed, he learnt how to cut the wood himself. He made the bowl of his oud from thin strips of banksia and jarrah, the face/soundboard from cedar, the neck from merbau, and the fret board and pegs from gidgee (a desert acacia). He used a traditional plectrum made of horn and a peacock feather.
Mike Young thanked Cat and Faouzi on behalf of us all. Our presentation wine glasses created some interest among those from groups always looking for such things to give to speakers.
We are also trialling a draft handout about our Club to give to interested visitors particularly prospective members.
Out and About
Rotary addresses malnutrition
District has forwarded a request for funds from the Food Plant Solutions Rotarian Action Group (FPSRAG). It’s a Tasmanian-based project that focuses on addressing malnutrition, hunger and food security around the world using readily available and local food plants. It is now a RAWCS project. Apparently about five children under five die every minute from malnutrition.
The project draws on the work of agriculturist Bruce French who has spent his life collating information on the world’s edible plants. He says the global trend in agriculture is back to biodiversity using local well adapted food plants and agro-ecology; “We don’t need major scientific breakthroughs but rather better dissemination of already known sound ecological and nutritional information about edible plants”.
Food Plant Solutions does not send people in-country, but forms partnerships with existing aid providers who use FPS publications to educate communities, and particularly women and children, on the nutrient value of plants growing in their areas. It helps them identity local food plants suited to their environment, high in nutrients and that grow with minimal inputs. With program partners, FPS encourages the establishment of demonstration food gardens in schools and communities,
Chair of FPSRAG PDG Una Hobday OAM says many of their enquiries are from NGOs who want their educational materials. This costs time and money to produce, translate and sometimes print, which most of these people do not have. She is asking Clubs to consider possibly putting aside $500 each year to help them answer those requests. She said some of their programmes have reduced malnutrition by as much as 95%; she says ‘it’s proven, cost-effective and sustainable”. More information www.foodplantsolutions.org
Moruya welcomes the Men’s Health Van
Moruya Rotarians are looking after the Men’s Health Education Rural Van (mherv) team on 11th and 12th November during their Moruya stay. It’s a Rotary project – a specialised van with a Rotarian Registered Nurse who will check men’s blood pressure, pulse rate, blood sugar levels, cholesterol and body mass index. A working party of six Moruya Rotarians have organised a site for the van and are now looking to find accommodation and meals for the driver/nurse plus organise publicity.
More from the Hayes
Shirley Cornish-Hayes and husband John from Moruya Rotary report have been asked by the Rotary Family Planning and Aids Prevention project to work with them to produce games for their new youth reproductive health program. This approach follows the Hayes’ booth at the Hamburg Rotary International Convention promoting their Sexual Health Education programme in developing nations. This project conducts three day Family Health clinics in Africa and Asia. It may do a ‘Breakout Session’ at next year’s Hawaii RI Convention and it has been suggested the Hayes might like to join them.
NEXT WEEK:
Dinner meeting to just enjoy each other’s company.
SPECIAL EVENTS COMING UP:
10 October: Hats Night with guest speaker
Bring your partners and friends
24 October: Film Night at Kinema
