From small beginnings three years ago playing at their club changeover night plus occasional gigs to raise funds for their Rotary club - the Rotary Club of Rotorua Sunrise - they are now about to depart for Australia to play at the large international conference that is Brisbane Institute. At the Institute they will play to an audience of around 700 about ten times over the three days, adding a special New Zealand element to this combined New Zealand - Australian event.
The Sunrise Rockers members are: Piripi Curtis (lead gitar), Roger Cunningham (bass), Monty Morrison (rythm guitar), Noel Lambertin (drums) and Andrew Marton (guitar and lead vocals). Their invitation to perform came after they were "discovered" by the Rotary Down Under Board in 2010 as the Board travelled to the Rotary Institute in Tauranga.
Saturday, 19 November 2011
Don't forget Christchurch - they have a long way to go
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| Rotary was active at the recent Show Week |
Monday, 14 November 2011
Getting Back on Track
Type 2 diabetes is occurring in growing numbers in New Zealand. 280,000 New
Zealanders have diabetes and 500,000 New Zealanders are at risk of developing
diabetes.
Poorly controlled Type 2 diabetes can lead to potentially devastating
complications that are expensive to treat.
In its early stages, Type 2 diabetes may cause little in the way of symptoms, and this often leads to it not being taken seriously to begin with, even though self-management education programmes are available in most areas for the newly-diagnosed.
Type 2 Diabetes is also known to be a progressive condition, meaning that management is intensified over time with the addition of more medication and often supplementary insulin.
However,
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
Rotary Foundation partners with global charity Mercy Ships
Wellingtonian nurse Alison Brieseman is grateful to the Rotary Clubs of Plimmerton, Lower Hutt, Silverstream and Heretaunga whose joint sponsorship has been a key component of her volunteer work with Mercy Ships.
For seven years ports of call in Benin, Sierra Leone, and Liberia have been a way of life for Ms Brieseman. As Director of Nursing on the Africa Mercy she was responsible for the function of the six operating theatres, three wards and the intensive care unit onboard. While surgeries are being performed onboard, optical and dental clinics, agricultural and sanitation projects are delivered ashore. The ship has all the medical facilities required to be self-sufficient in its world-class services, provided at no cost. “Treatment is of the highest standard even if the working conditions are a little different.”
Ms Brieseman she is honoured to treat those without access to health care who are struggling to survive. “Using my skills to bring such massive change to the poorest and most desperate; to help those who have no hope is an amazing privilege. I couldn’t do it without the partnership of people such as Rotarians.”
One patient Ms Brieseman particularly remembers is Alfred who had suffered from a rare facial tumour for four years. “He was the smallest person with the largest tumour I’d seen, yet he had the sweetest nature”.
The two-kilo benign tumour enveloping Alfred’s lower jaw and teeth and causing him to slowly starve was removed by the surgical team onboard. A titanium plate was inserted along and a bone grafted to fashion a new jaw.
14 year-old Alfred said “Before the surgery, people used to run away from me. I didn’t go to school for four years. When I went back to school, all my friends were like ‘Wow!’ My family would say, ‘Yes, it’s a miracle.’ ”
Ms Brieseman had the rare privilege of seeing this young man again five years after his life-saving surgery. Alfred’s life was turned around, and his future full of hope.
She sums up her work simply saying, “It is the most useful thing I’ve ever done.”
To date, Mercy Ships have performed more than 2,884 surgical procedures in Sierra Leone this year.
http://www.rotary.org/en/MediaAndNews/News/Pages/111005_news_mercyships.aspx
Pacific Humanitarian Team Workshop in Fiji for
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| Left to right, ShelterBox Response Team member Lyndon Tamblyn, Rotary Club of Suva Peninsula Sunset PP Barbara Malimali, Chair of Rotary Fiji Disaster Committee PE Suluo Daunivalu, and Rotary Club of Suva Peninsula Sunset IPP Joshila Lal |
ShelterBox New Zealand Response Team member Lyndon Tamblyn recently returned from Fiji where he participated in the 4th Annual Pacific Humanitarian Team Workshop for Disaster Preparedness and Disaster Response. He represented both ShelterBox International and ShelterBox New Zealand.
The workshop was sponsored by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and attended by some 100 delegates, including many Pacific Island Government Disaster Officials, Non-Government Organisations (NGOs), National Societies, AusAid, NZ Aid Programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, United Nations officials and many others.
The five day workshop included a two day realistic disaster exercise, a number of cluster meetings to prepare and respond for “the next one", and a variety of topical presentations.
The importance of camaraderie and networking were some of the key successes of the workshop.
Both Rotary and ShelterBox were showcased very favourably during several of the sessions. Many of the NGOs commented on ShelterBox’s success in working closely with Rotary clubs in times of need.
Whilst in Suva, Lyndon also visited and made presentations to the Rotary Clubs of Suva, Suva North and Suva Peninsula Sunset. Lyndon explained that he received awesome hospitality from the local clubs while building contacts and explaining the work of ShelterBox. The ShelterBox demonstration kit was taken to Fiji to show to the delegates attending the workshop, has since be given to the Rotary clubs in Fiji, and it was handed over to Assistant Governor Shaheen Asgar, of the Suva North Rotary Club for safe keeping and use in promoting the work of ShelterBox amongst the Fijian Rotary clubs
In September this year, Lyndon was selected to participate in the first ever ShelterBox Advanced SRT leadership course which was held in Cornwall, UK. He passed the course, but during it, he managed to drink plenty of sea water as he tried to master off-shore kayaking south of the Lizard in Cornwall!
Lyndon is a Past President of his previous Rotary Club of Bulls, and is currently a member of the Rotary Club of Martin, NZ. He has been a volunteer with Shelterbox for three years, and been on seven overseas deployments, including two to the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Indonesia, Fiji and earlier this year Japan, as well as to Christchurch, NZ.
by Michael Cahill, Director of ShelterBox New Zealand, and member of Rotary Club of Fairfield, Hamilton, NZ
Town Meets Country: A Tale of Two Clubs
About 100 children from Wainoni Primary School enjoyed a day on a farm thanks to the Rotary Club of Ashburton in Canterbury, New Zealand.
The day trip to Rotarian Errol Stewart’s family farm near Rakaia came about as part of the growing relationship between the Rotary Clubs of Ashburton and Christchurch North. The latter was badly affected by the earthquakes in Canterbury, and Wainoni School is in Rotary Club of Christchurch North’s area.
On November 2, two coach loads of children aged five to 12 years, accompanied by teachers, parents and Rotary Club of Christchurch North President Karen Clark, made the hour long drive to the Stewart family farm where the Ashburton Rotarians had gathered to greet the children and host them for a day on the farm.
After a morning snack, the children were introduced to a variety of animals including pigs, hens, goats, sheep, cows and alpacas. They were encouraged to pet the animals, collect eggs, lead the alpacas, and enjoy some interaction with the Rotarians, the Stewart family and the farm’s animals.
The children visited the milking shed, where 1,600 cows regularly give their daily quota, and also watched sheep being shorn. They were able to have a look over the tractors, implements and harvesters used on the farm.
The Stewart family had made an effort to link the activities of the day to the production of food, so the children gained an understanding of how the bread their parents buy in the supermarket starts with wheat in the Stewart’s paddock, and how the milk, cheese, ice cream and yoghurt they enjoy eating comes from the cows they watched being milked.
Rotary Club of Ashburton treated the children to a rural-style lunch, and the children responded with some singing. The Rotarians discovered that some of the children had never been on a farm before, some having never previously left the city.
The farm visit was one of a wish-list of projects the Rotary Club of Christchurch North suggested to Rotary Club of Ashburton when it took the club under its wing earlier this year. Christchurch North wanted a school affected by the earthquakes to enjoy a day away with an educational benefit.
Ashburton members have been offering support to their neighbouring northern club through regular club night visits and assistance with club projects Christchurch North have either had difficulty manning or funding since the earthquakes.
Rotary Club of Ashburton President John Driscoll points out that the growing relationship between the two clubs has had two-way benefits, with Ashburton members enjoying extending their hospitality and talents to aid a club with some difficulties, while Christchurch North’s meetings have benefitted through some new faces and non-earthquake conversation.
The connection between the clubs began when John and Karen met as Presidents Elect during training prior to this 2011-2012 Rotary year. John and Karen envisage the relationship between the clubs lasting well into the future.
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Shearer Grant Smith and Rotarians Ian Smith, Leicester Wilson and John Driscoll explain the process of sheep shearing to Wainoni School pupils. |
Article by Alison Driscoll, Publicity Officer, Rotary Club of Ashburton
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