Dear fellow Rotarians, Anns, Members of Inner Wheel, Rotaractors, Interactors and the Family of Rotary

We have just celebrated World Understanding month and I was very glad to see that many Clubs in the District took

advantage of communicating with Clubs in other Districts around the world as well as celebrating in various ways

108 years of Rotary International and the founder of Rotary, Paul Harris on 23 February 2013.

March is World Literacy Month

District 9400 is proud to continue to support literacy as one of the Focus Areas of Rotary International through books

obtained from the Second Wind Foundation of PDG Charlie and Barbs Clemmons. In addition, the Usbourne

Illustrated Dictionary project through PDG Mike Johnston of D9350, as well as Books at Home projects of the

Rotary Club of White River, among many others are also included. I encourage you to continue your good work in

this endeavour during March and don’t forget we have loads of books for collection from the Humanitarian Centre in

Bedfordview.

The past month has been very busy for Christina

and me, having attended the Executive Meeting

at Loskop Dam on Friday 8 February followed

by the District Finance and PDG’s Council

meeting held at the Middelburg Cycad Club

House’s Rotary Care Centre. Very fruitful and

productive meetings were held, particularly with

briefings by DGE Anneas and DGAE Valery

Balt on their return from the International

Assembly in San Diego, USA. Where has the

time gone?? It seems only yesterday that

Christina and I were doing the same thing!!

DON’T FORGET: R.I. President Tanaka has asked each District Governor to share their District’s best club peace

activity with R.I. staff. I therefore encourage each Club to post its description of its peace initiatives to Rotary

Showcase, Rotary’s online social networking tool where clubs can publicise their activities. Then send an email to

the R.I. staff at rotary.service@rotary.org with a link to our District’s best peace project and the subject line “Best

Rotary Club Peace Activity in District 9400.” Selected examples will be highlighted on www.rotary.org and one

outstanding peace project will be chosen from all of the descriptions received by 15 April to be recognised on stage at

the 2013 R.I. Convention in Lisbon, Portugal.

I have only received a few applications for the Presidential Citation Awards. Time is running out friends, so please

get your Club boards to take action.

Only four nominations have been received to date for the Rotarian Spouse/Partner Service awards. I am sure there are

lots of deserving partners in our District! Don’t forget I have the unenviable task of choosing only one from those

received to be submitted to Rotary International.

DG Martin Forsyth-Thompson DGA Christina

District Governor’s Newsletter

March 2013

The following week-end, on Friday 15 February, interviews were held at the Rotary Centre for the DGNN, when AG

Mgezi Mazibuko was chosen as the DGNN for 2015/16.

Congratulations DGNN Mgezi: you will be an excellent DG and you and Lorraine have all our support.

Commiserations to the unsuccessful candidate but you should not give up! Seen right.

Saturday 16 February saw us at R.C. of Krugersdorp’s club house where DGPRs /Area Coordinators and incoming

AGs attended workshops on the forthcoming Rotary Family Health Days and the roles and functions of DGPRs and

AGs. DGE Anneas introduced the new Rotary International theme :

ENGAGE ROTARY : CHANGE LIVES and DGAE Val briefed the

DGAPRs - DGE Anneas Balt seen left.

My February DG’s

visit to North East

Botswana in Region 1

was my last official

visit, and was once

again fulfilling, fun

and wonderfully

enlightening. We

travelled 700kms on

Sunday 17 to Francistown, where we visited Francistown Rotary

Club from 17-18 February. Unfortunately, due to family

commitments DGPR Mark Doyle and DGAPR Lyn were unable to

join us.

On Monday 18th we were taken by President John Curtin, PP Ron Fish and Rotarian Saadia Rossenkhan to visit the

Shashe Daye Care project which has been an ongoing project but needs completion. We were met by the local District

Council official, the Village Chief and some of his councillors, who warmly greeted us.

I explained that in order to possibly get RI or District assistance, the two key phrases are Community involvement and

Sustainability. The Chief and the District official

promised to put in writing the security of tenure for

the land and buildings as a prerequisite for funding.

AG Sandra and fellow

Rotarians at dinner, Selebi Phikwe

19/2/13

They were also eager to provide local labour for the completion of the project and on my side I promised help with the

formulation of their project proposal. The draft has already been sent to me: well done Saadia and John!

Our next project was the distribution of Toms shoes to various NGOs such as SOS Children’s Village, Catholic Relief

Services and the Islamic Refugee Assistance Project.

Over lunch I met with the Francistown Board and the meeting went well, with the Club taking seriously the need to do

things differently and to encourage new members into our wonderful organisation. Later in the evening at Barbara’s

Bistro it was wonderful to meet

informally with President John and the

rest of the Francistown Rotarians for a

dinner where lots of laughter ensured as

well as the exchange of banners.

It was rewarding to again experience

the warmth, love and fellowship shown

to Christina and me by the Francistown

Rotarians.

You may be our furthest Club in the

District but you are very close to our

hearts. Keep up the good work and

thank you!

Presentation of Toms shoes to representatives of the SOS

Children's Village

Our second visit was to Selebi Phikwe. We arrived on Tuesday morning 19 February and met AG Sandra Hughes,

AGE Virender Marya and President Ajay Sood at Serule 50kms outside Selebi Phikwe and visited the unfinished

Oralato Day Care centre.

There we had a meeting with Village Councillors and the local Project leader Nancy, who wanted to build a little

empire at the Care Centre but under very stringent new Government conditions. So after much discussion, it was back

to plan “A “ where it was agreed to modify the original

plans to conform with the new regulations.

Sustainability, community involvement and security of

tenure were emphasised for the project to stand a chance

of Foundation or District Grants.

Our next visit was to Tshipidi School in a remote area

outside Selebi Phikwe which the Club has successfully

completed for OVC’s in the area, but which has been

closed by the authorities as the regulations now require a

kitchen and store to be built as well as teachers’

restrooms and showers: first world standards in a

desperate rural third world community! So the children

are not at school!! CRAZY!!

Left: DG, Jocelyn and Saadia @ Day Care Centre

DGA Christina with Interact President and

Interactor Secretary, JMHS, Francistown

DGA Christina sweeping out Camel thorns brought in on our sandals to protect the feet of the little ones.

In the background, Jocelyn..the volunteer teacher from Durban, Pres. John hiding a bag of Toms shoes!!

We had further discussions about this problem and

decided that Selebi Phikwe Rotary Club enquires from

the authorities on what grounds they had condemned a

nearby brick building built by the Catholic church to see

if it could not be converted into the new amenities

required.

We then visited the Boccaip Day care centre where the

monthly food requirements donated by Selebi Phikwe

Club were presented to some very happy, loving

children. This was followed by the presentation of

wheel chairs to three disabled people in the nearby

neighbourhood. Well done Selebi Phikwe, you really

are providing great services to your community.

The dinner that evening was well organised and fun

with the tables beautifully decorated with napkins

folded into as Peace Cranes (much to Christina’s

delight). As usual, the hospitality and friendship

extended to us was superb and touching. Thank you for

the lovely gift of the Big 5 carving which we really

appreciate and for our new-found Rotary friends!

The next day we drove to Rustenburg where we were

kindly hosted by AG Cheryl and Richard Phillips and

attended a wonderful celebration of Rustenburg Kloof’s

25th Anniversary at the Royal Marang Hotel. A Paul

Harris fellow was recognised/awarded and a new Rotarian

inducted (see photos). A very successful and happy end to

my official Regional visits. We returned home to

Swaziland on Thursday 21 February, having notched up

2400kms on these visits!

Enjoy Rotary in March and remember this is Literacy

Month: give a book or read a book to someone in need!

Take care and God bless.

Mar tin and Christina

Page 5 District Governor’s Newsletter

During the Induction

function of Letaba Rotary club on 21 February 2013

RUAN VILJOEN [front left] was inducted as the President of the Warrior Rotaractors plus 15 New members Alex Higgins, Andre Atkins, Benito Beltrami, Charme Brink, Ernst Brandmuller, Jeff de Paepe, Jaco Coetzee, Jaunice Engels, Jordan Cass, Katherina von Ketelhodt, Leonidas Hanos, Rhuan Botha, Ryan Moore, Schalk Retief, Sebastian van der Kun, Travis Lang, Warren Marsh, Wesley de Bruin sharing the happy moment with Past President Rowena Viljoen and Past President Tumi Matlou.

Dear Rotary International President Elect Ron I am indeed honoured to serve you and the RI Board as the Regional Chair of ROTA for 2013-14. My previous experiences I have with ROTA under the Chairmanship of PRID Tom Branum have been wonderful and very special indeed. I look forward to the challenge ahead as we look at ways of increasing our membership in Africa in general and in the Zone 20 (a ) South in particular by being innovative in our approach, reaching out to the youth and doing things differently as Rotarians in Southern Africa. I look forward to receiving the job profile from the General secretary, John Hewko in due course. From 21st to 23rd March,13, I’ll be seeing most of the PDGs and current DGs, DGEs, DGNs at the Council of Southern Africa Governors( COSA) meeting in Durban where Membership and the transformation of Rotary in our Region is a major item on the Agenda. Thank you for the confidence expressed in me. It will be an honour for me to work on your ROTA Committee as the Regional Chair. I concur with PDG Anton Meerkotter when he says: ROTA really embraces your theme: • “In Africa many Lives can be Changed positively by Engaging Rotary” • “Let’s Reach out to Africa” & “Engage Rotary to Change lives” May you have an enjoyable and successful year as RI President. I look forward to serving you and the Region. Yours in Rotary Service Martin

CONGRATULATIONS TO DG MARTIN ON HIS REACH OUT TO AFRICA APPOINTMENT…. After having received RIPE’s invi-

tation, to accept the offer DG Martin responded as follows:

Margaret Grant with DGPR Ernie Hendriks and AG David Grant on the banks of the Vaal River and

on the cruiser the Spirit of Jen.

Raiding other clubs!

Page 6 District Governor’s Newsletter

DGPR and honorary member of our club, Ernie Hendriks (back - home club Roodepoort Central) addressed the gathering on founder Paul Harris and Rotary's 108th birthday just the day before, 23rd February 2013. Their home club is RC Kyalami. David asked about whether there would be induction of new members on this day, but was assured that this important task did not wait for this day and had already been done by both sister clubs in Vanderbijlpark. RC Riverside's new member, Johan Du Toit (relocated from RC Carltonville), was one of a with their club's Presidgroup of ten who attended the event - Angela Andrasyan-Van Pletzen. Three of the five new members of RC Vanderbijlpark were already working at this event: Hardy Maré and his wife Desiree were part of the official welcoming committee at the entrance and new honorary members DGPR Ernie and DGPR Shirley Hendriks each had their own tasks. Ernie gave the Rotary address and Shirley minded the famous carrot cake! Host Club, RC Vanderbijlpark President, Hannes Malan, had his hands full with his 78 guests from 7 different Rotary Clubs (including 14 international guests). RC Edenvale came in a group of 13 led by AF Laura Mansour-Stuart. The seventh club was RC Three Rivers, represented by their President Elect and brand new Paul Harris Fellow Shabe Mofokeng, who is our AG.

President Ajay inducting a new member, Isabel

DG as bell boy at end of function , Royal Marang Hotel,

Rustenburg! Members of RC of Rustenburg Kloof with DG Martin,

AG Cheryl Phillips and Pres. Sibusiso Kenana.

The phantom sweet taster...amazing what Rotarians do to fellowship!!

DG presenting 2012/13 Peace banner to President Alice Mayer of

Brits- Hartebeespoort RC.

RC of Rustenburg Kloof’s 25th Anniversary

Below

DG presenting banner to

President Elsa of Rustenburg

Below: Presentation of a PHF to Kim

Katura the Project manager of the

Dayspring Day care centre and

school.

A very happy Rotarian Brenda being inducted by

the DG!

Nime and Rtn. Virender Mrya with Vandani Sood

Cranes at the Selebi Phikwe dinner

Photos Gallery — Many happy moments!

Wheelchair presentations by RC of Silibe Phikwe.

DG visits the Olarato Day Care Centre near Serule, Botswana:

From L to R: Village Councillors, with AG

Sandra Hughes, DG, President Anja and AG Elect Virender.

Above: Interact President, Secretary with

Pres. John Curtin, Vanessa. Teacher

responsible for the Interactors and DG

Left: Inside the Shashe day care Centre,

Shashe, near Francistown, Botswana

Dinner with RC of Francistown.

Below: Banner presentation by DG Martin to Pres. John Curtin with

DGA Christina.

Left: Presentation of boxes of Toms shoes to former Mayor of Francistown,

Mr. Ibrahim, the local Imam for Islamic charities to refugees.

Distribution of Toms shoes to various beneficiary organizations.

From L to R: PP Ron Fish, Sheila Shinje from the Catholic Care Centre, DG

Jocelyn’s day care centre , Shashe, Francistown visit

Little one’s T-shirt caption should read ‘I’m in charge’ not the DG!

DG Martin Addressing the club

CONGRATULATIONS! DGNN 2015/2016

District 9400 congratulate Mgezi and Fikile on their appointment to

lead D9400 in 2015/2016. DGNN Mgezi’s CV can be seen on

Clubrunner.

Mgezi is know to all of you as our Clubrunner champions well as

being a senior trainer in the District. He does much more and has an

impressive CV!

DGNNA Fikile and DGNN Mgezi

Mazibuko (Three Rivers)

DG's visit to Shashe Day Care Centre (seen in

background)

From L to R : Village Headman, Pres. John Curtin,

Rtn. Saadia Rossenkhan , DG, PP Ron Fish, Village

Chief, Peter from District Council, Village Councillor.

DG presenting the Peace Through Service Banner to DGE Anneas for the RC of Krugersdorp.

Above: DGE & PDG Beth at the AGs training

session on 16 February 2013 in Krugersdorp. It

was a very successful session —

congratulations to PDG Beth and her team for

a very successful programme.

Left: DGE Anneas at his AGs training session .

ROTARY FOUNDATION: The rate for March remains

at R 8,70 / US$.

If your club has paid—well done!

For the clubs yet to pay, please do so soon.