Narooma Rotary Beacon 29 August 2019

Charmaine’s Chat

Last week Rod Walker toasted the Rotary Club of Winnipeg in Canada, which I learned was the Club that first made Rotary ‘international’ in 1910. It was the first Club formed outside of the United States. Another great story about Rotary in Narooma News last week. Thanks Laurelle. 
Guests last week were locum Doctor Toni from Berry and of course our Iris, as well as our inspirational guest speaker Shirley Hayes-Cornish and husband John from Moruya Rotary. Shirley was Moruya’s International Director.

Bob Aston thanked our guest speaker Shirley Hayes-Cornish.

Shirley and John addressed a need for sexual health education in many developing nations around the world. See Laurelle’s story below. Shirley even took the programme to the Hamburg RI convention this year. Wow, this really is ‘Rotary in Action’. 
I was extremely impressed by her story and the passion she still has for spreading the word and empowering young men and women by educating them about their sexual health. 

Ange spoke about the success of our Narooma students at MUNA and we look forward to hearing directly from them next week.

It looks like we will have 15 people heading to Cobargo this Thursday to meet with Bega Rotarians. Carpooling has been organised. Should be a good night. 

THIS WEEK

We meet with Bega Rotarians at Cobargo Hotel on Thursday 6 for 6.30. Cost is $15 for main, dessert extra. This combined meeting was sparked by our Club’s interest in Noel Trevaskis’ talk last year when he spoke about the Bega Rotary Business Breakfast which brings members of Bega’s business community and other organisations together with Bega Rotarians.

It has proved to be a valuable source of membership for Bega Rotary while simultaneously addressing needs of the group and community organisations. Attending Rotarians ‘debrief’ after each breakfast and have identified this activity as a most appropriate and cost effective way forward for Bega Rotary. This initiative has also apparently slightly changed Bega Rotary Club as a result; be interesting to find out how apart from having new members.

The Week that Was

Ange Ulrichsen with Shirley and John Hayes-Cornish.

Our guest speakers Shirley and John Hayes-Cornish from Moruya Rotary seemed to thoroughly enjoy their evening with us and the many questions and discussion that followed Shirley’s talk.  

Shirley spoke about teaching sex education by pictures in an effort to help reduce teenage and unwanted pregnancies particularly among school students in the Philippines, Kenya, Timor Leste and PNG. Her work is a RAWCS project. Actual photos of what some sexually transmitted diseases looked like were also really valuable; previously some of the young people she was working with had only see drawings which didn’t mean a lot. They spoke about the apparent lack of knowledge of how pregnancies come about, even among many of the elders in these communities, and how pregnancies can be prevented. What is also wonderful is Shirley and John leave behind their resources for others to continue the work.

They had a booth at the recent Rotary International Convention in Hamburg and shared their experiences with other Rotarians from around the world.

Out and About

More on MUNA

Batemans Bay Rotary Club sponsored both the St Peters College (Broulee) representing Switzerland and the Batemans Bay High team representing India. Moruya Rotary sponsored Carroll College (Broulee) which came third in the MUNA competition.

NEXT WEEK

We will hear from our three Narooma High students who went to MUNA recently – Crystal Elmasri, Aisha Thomas and Luka Potts – and their teacher Monique Wicks. They will be accompanied by Narooma High Principal Fiona Jackson and some of their parents. Again, should be a good night.

On a lighter note…

“Doc, I can’t stop singing ‘The Green, Green Grass of Home’.” “That sounds like Tom Jones syndrome,” said the Doctor. “Is it common?” “It’s not unusual.”

And one for President Charmaine…

Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused a local anaesthetic during root canal treatment? His goal: transcend dental medication.