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JUdy Raymond presenting  ProfessorElizabeth Minchin with a Certificate of Appreciation for her talk on Ancient Greece and their Gods.
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Monday 6th March 2023
 
WELCOME ROTARIANS and FRIENDS
to the WEEKLY NEWS NOTES
 
 
FROM the DESK of the PRESIDENT
 
 
 
Cheers Andrea
 
I am back from Adelaide so I will see you at the meeting on Thursday.
 
Andrea
 
 
 
 
OTHER ROTARY at WORK and COMMUNITY NOTES
 
Duty Roster 
 
The next meeting will be on the 2nd March at the Commonwealth Club at 12.15 for 12.30.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Date
2nd March
9th March
16th March
23rd March
Door
Ross
Ross
Ross
Ross
Welcome and Opening of the Meeting
Astrida Upitis
Keith Gray
John Little
Judy R
Toast to Rotary at Work
Sally Goodspeed
Bill Andrews
Linda Wilkinson
George
Thanks to the Speaker
Judy Raymond
Eric Carmody
Monica G
Bill
 
NOTES ON THE LAST SPEAKER AT OUR THURSDAY MEETING
 
This week we will have Dr Elizabeth Minchin will draw on her research on the Homeric epics as oral poetry. She will consider the relevance of writers and poets from the ancient Greek world. Her studies have encouraged classical scholars to recognise the continued relevance of linguistic studies from the Homeric epic
 
 
 
 
 
 
NOTES ON FUTURE SPEAKERS
 
 
 
 
 
 
This week we will hear from Mr Shu Hirata of the Peace Wing Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Family Witness program detailing stories of families who endured the Nagasaki Atomic bomb.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ROTARY AT WORK AND COMMUNITY NOTES
 
 
URGENT URGENT URGENT
 
We recently assisted the Woden Rotary Club with parking at the Royal Canberra Show.
We received $1,100 from the event, so it is an excellent way to help out another club and make funds to help our own Club continue with our community work.
The Woden Club have asked if we can help out again with parking at the Black Opal Stakes which takes place on Sunday 12th March and Monday 13th March 2023 (Canberra Long weekend).
There will be two shifts each day : From 9.00am till 12.30pm and then 12.30pm till 4.00pm
 
Please volunteer to help out with this great cause, it is not difficult work and we are well rewarded.
 
Please email me  59rtbrown@gmail.com with your preferred day and time slot and I will get you placed on the Roster.
Treasurer Ross
Ross Brown
M 0401 051 660
 
 
THE CONNECTION BETWEEN ABORIGINAL MESSAGE STICKS AND OUR PEACE POLES MISSION
 
 
Aboriginal Message Sticks
Among the Australian Aboriginal people, the boundaries between traditional tribal areas were fixed and jealously guarded. This is evidenced by physical markers, tribal ownership of food producing resources, different spoken language forms and totems. There was no written language. Venturing from one tribal area to an adjacent tribal area was fraught with danger.
Message Sticks were both a means for conveying information and for proving the bona fides of a person seeking admission to an adjacent tribal area.
Message Sticks were created and approved by the bearer’s tribal elders. Of varied sizes, they were inscribed with pictures of flora and fauna, local topological features and other unique aspects of the bearer’s home area. Sometimes small dots were painted on the sticks to obscure secret business.
Possession of a Message Stick was necessary for the bearer if authorised, to have access across tribal borders. The Message Stick acted as a visa. If accepted by the receiving tribe, the Message Stick established the identity and status of the bearer and guaranteed free access, support, safety, acceptance and respect. The bearer’s purpose and presence were acknowledged and valued.
Rotary Peace Poles serve as Message Sticks
Rotarians approve the purchase, placement and inscription of Rotary Peace Poles for two purposes. First to convey unique aspects of the home area in which they are placed. They say that in this home area, people will value harmony, respect, reject violence and conflict, reconcile differences and value an inclusive community.
Secondly to affirm that Peace is the essence of who Rotarians are and what they do.
All the activities of Rotarians are Peacebuilding. They are directed towards improving the world, through local, regional and international actions. Rotarians test their Peace actions in four ways: are they truthful, fair, support friendship and are they beneficial?
The Peace Credo’s five commitments to respect, reject, resolve, reconcile and rejoice, provide us with a framework of beliefs that enables us to judge our performance in the four tests of Peacebuilding actions.
These five commitments to Peace embody and convey the purpose, historical significance and utility embodied in the Aboriginal Message Stick.  Rotary Peace Poles serve as Message Sticks. They acknowledge Peace in the home area and at the same time, they proclaim the essence of who Rotarians are. They promote understanding, build respect for diversity, and ultimately build Peace.
PDG Dr Raymond J. King  OAM
March 2023
 
 
 
Subject: CONGO PEACE POLE AND OTHER TRIP REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

Dear Michael Rabey – we’re baaaaack from Congo, and wanted to share some pics of the fabulous Rotary Peace Pole ceremony that took place on January 19 2023.  See overall trip report below + pics attached. Thank you both very much for the action steps required and plaque production. The Rotary Peace Pole in Mbandaka, capital of Equateur Province, is located at the city’s busiest intersection and is no doubt a catalyst for many meaningful conversations with the population. The city Mayor launched the peace pole, and said, “Now we will call Mbandaka the City of Peace”. It was wonderful to have Taree president Dr Grace Maano with me in person!
 
Feel free to share the photos as you see fit. If you would like additional info, please get in touch.
 
With appreciation for the important role you play in raising awareness about Rotary and peacebuilding. – Lucy Hobgood-Brown
 
🙏 Thank you for making it all possible!
 
 
 
 

The first Rotary Peace Pole in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

 
Because the DRC has suffered through decades of conflict, the team also collaborated with Australian and Congolese Rotarians to install the first Rotary Peace Pole in the DRC. It has been placed in Mbandaka, capital of Equateur Province.

A Peace Pole is an internationally recognized symbol of the hopes and dreams of the entire human family, bearing the message May Peace Prevail on Earth in different languages on each of its four sides. There are more than 250,000 Rotary Peace Poles in countries around the world, but very few in Africa.
 
 
 
 
 
Issue No. 1 January 2023
 
CREATING NETWORKS | IDENTIFYING NEED | TAKING ACTION
Message from the Chair
Happy New Year from Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children, a project of Districts in Rotary's Zone 8.
Our ROMAC team is fresh and invigorated from our work in 2022 to restart medical aid for children. We have many new patients in our referral process and the year is shaping up to be busy.
 
Most importantly, we are looking for Rotarians or Rotaractors with skills to join our committees in areas like fundraising, marketing, communications, producing newsletters and maintaining databases, liaising with Government and Hospitals, paediatrics, finance, recruiting, and hosting. ROMAC is a wonderfully rewarding project to be involved with and appeals to all ages so give it some consideration and let us know how you would like to help by emailing me at chair@romac.org.au.
Ian D'Arcy Walsh
 
 
 
Patient Update
Text Box: Patient Update
 
 
Gabriella makes a great recovery
Three-month-old Gabriella from Fiji was treated in New Zealand for a heart condition in February 2020. Now a healthy three-year-old, Gabriella is a wonderful example of the life saving work ROMAC does.
Pictured left to right: Gabriella on arrival in New Zealand at 3 months, Gabriella at 3 years in 2022.
 
ROMAC Communications
 
Have a say about what goes into our E-Newsletter to update you on our work facilitating medical aid for children.
Please complete this 2-minute survey to tell us what you think about our E-News and how it affects you. Thank you very much.
 

 
If you would no longer like to receive our E-News or want to update your mailing preferences, please select your option now:
 
 
How you can help ROMAC
Every day Rotarians and Friends are raising funds to cover travel, accommodation and treatment for children and their carers.
If every Rotarian in Australia and New Zealand donated $20 and every club matched with $20 for everyone of their members, we could cover the costs of all the children referred to us annually.
If every Friend donated $20 we could help even more children. Australia - Donate now
 
 
Copyright © 2023 Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children (ROMAC), All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children (ROMAC)
PO Box 7044, Norwest, New South Wales 2153, Australia Add us to your address book
 
 
 
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
JOKES……..PONDERISMS  
JOKES #1………Golf Humour, at its best 
A husband and wife are on the 9th green when suddenly she Collapses from a  heart attack! 
"Help me dear," she groans to her husband. 
The husband calls 911 on his cell phone, talks for a few minutes, picks up his  putter, and lines up his putt. 
His wife raises her head off the green and stares at him. 
"I'm dying here and you're putting?" 
"Don't worry dear," says the husband calmly, "they found a doctor on the  second hole and he's coming to help you. 
"Well, how long will it take for him to get here?" she asks feebly. "No time at all," says her husband. "Everybody's already agreed to let him play  through."
JOKE #2…… A gushy reporter told Phil Mickelson, 
"You are spectacular, your name is synonymous with the game of golf. You really know your way around the course. 
What's your secret?" 
Mickelson replied, "The holes are numbered." 
JOKE #3…A young man and a priest are playing together. At a short par-3 the priest asks, "What are you going to use on this hole, my  son?" 
The young man says, "An 8-iron, father. How about you?" 
The priest says, "I'm going to hit a soft seven and pray." 
The young man hits his 8-iron and puts the ball on the green. The priest tops his 7-iron and dribbles the ball out a few yards. 
The young man says, "I don't know about you, father, but in my church, when we pray, we keep our head down." 
 
Eric.
 
 
 
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