Great talk, fantastic person

During our last lunch we had the great pleasure to have Getrude Matshe as a speaker. What a fantastic person, so inspiring. She told us about her life in Zimbabwe, around the world and in New Zealand. 

Like she says: "when I speak I can see that people can’t believe that people in Zimbabwe live on US0.30c a month; that the life expectancy of a Zimbabwean female is 34 years"... No help is too small, but she decided to do lots via Africa Alive Education Foundation, an organization that supports HIV orphans in Zimbabwe. On this website you can buy Getrude's book or become a subscriber for as little as $5 per month and help to pay school fees for a child in Zimbabwe.

She did not have the time to talk about John Fawcett during the talk, but I was lucky enough to discuss with Getrude after lunch. John helps, via his Foundation, people to get cataract eye surgery. His foundation helped restore sight to 34,000 people over the last 21 years. You can donate online via www.balieye.org. $100 allow to pay eye surgery for one person. You will be giving one person the gift of sight, so be generous!

His biography will soon be available on Amazon. In the meantime you can learn more about him thanks to the video Getrude made about him:

1. Welcome to The John Fawcett Foundation
2. What is cataract blindness
3. A Screening Day
4. Protocol for Field Visits
5. Preparation for a Field Visit [<- recommended if you watch only one]
6. Observing Cataract Eye Surgery
7. Post Operation Video
8. Sponsors

Another great Rotary experience!

Sunny day, Big Dig!

It should be a fantastic day tomorrow! Get you sunscreen and come join us on Oriental Parade for our famous BigDig!

Wellington's mayor, Celia Wade-Brown, will give a speech before we all start digging! I've seen the prizes and this year again our sponsors and donors have been very generous!

This year again we raise money for the Child Cancer Foundation.

 Saturday February 16th 2013

11am to 12.30pm

We'll also have the Fire Brigade with their truck, ice creams, sausages. All is lined up for a fantastic day!

Get Ready for the Big Dig!

We've started the preparation of our famous BigDig! Many prizes this year yet again! It will be will be held at Oriental Bay on

Saturday February 16th 2013

Come to see us in the new year for more news about it!

Until then have a Merry Christmas and an excellent New Year!

A bit of help to our American fellows

This holiday season, MileagePlus is donating 10 million miles to charities. We can help our American fellows by voting every day for Rotary International on the 10millioncharitymiles.com website. They are giving all participating charities at least 25 thousand miles, but the more votes the favorite gets throughout the giveaway, the more miles it will receive!

Simply follow http://10millioncharitymiles.com/charity/39 and client on the yellow "Vote for this charity" button.

You can vote every day!

World's Biggest Commercial - Coming October 24!

Rotary International is inviting supporters to participate in the World's Biggest Commercial, promoting the global effort to eradicate polio. Join Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bill Gates, Jackie Chan, Amanda Peet and other world figures and celebrities participating in Rotary's "This Close" campaign in raising awareness and support for polio eradication.

Upload a photo of yourself to Rotary's polio eradication website, endpolionow.org, to be added into the constantly expanding commercial.

Patricia Holborow

All members of The Rotary Club of Courtenay Place are deeply saddened to learn of the sudden passing of one of our stalwart members, Patricia Holborow. Patricia passed away on Saturday 13th in her home. We wish to express our condolences to husband Les and the wider family who will be feeling this loss deeply. 

Patricia’s funeral was held last on Friday at Old St Paul’s in Wellington.

The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International scores high

Charity Navigator helps donors to find out which charities are being effective and efficient with their money, and which ones are not. The Rotary Foundation scores extremely high with a score of 68.57 out of 70. Our foundation gets a four-star ranking, the highest possible on the website.

Check all the details on Charity Navigator.

To which (international) association do you donate to? How well do they score? www.charitynavigator.org