Rotary out West

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First female RI director in Zone 8

Dr Jessie Harman, a member of the Rotary Club of Wendouree Breakfast, Vic,

has been chosen as a Rotary International director for 2021-23.
The announcement was made by RI general secretary John Hewko on October 9

, following a meeting of the Zone 8 Nominating Committee in Christchurch, NZ.

The election is subject to challenge, and John advised that RI president Mark Maloney

will declare Jessie as director-nominee for the Zone on December 1, 2019

– unless another qualified Rotarian has been duly proposed

as a challenging candidate before that date.

Jessie will succeed Rafael Garcia from the Philippines

as Zone representative on the RI Board of Directors.

“Raffy” followed Australia’s last director, Noel Trevaskis

, at the beginning of the 2018-19 Rotary year.
Jessie has already achieved a distinguished service record in Rotary,

and her election is a significant landmark for Rotary in this zone.

New Members

We have all seen the disastrous fires that have erupted, taking lives

as well as destroying hundreds of homes and properties across Australia.

Rotary Australia is once again taking the lead and

looking to provide support for families in need.

To this end several Rotary Districts and Clubs have established projects

which are ready and able to accept donations from you.

The projects are:

Queensland Bushfire Relief Appeal https://donations.rawcs.com.au/19-2019-20

NSW Bushfire Farmers in Need Appeal https://donations.rawcs.com.au/22-2019-20

Taree & Mid Coast NSW Bushfire Appeal https://donations.rawcs.com.au/41-2019-20

(L to R) WIRF’s Social Work volunteers Deb Salamone and Liz Chidlow.

The most common mental illnesses are depressive, anxiety

and substance use disorders.

Support research into common mental illnesses today:

https://buff.ly/2lmucdD

#Liftthelidonmentalillness

Interplast has supported the people of Samoa since 1983
and we recently returned to undertake a further surgical
and training visit in both Savaii and Apia.
Generously supported by funding from the Rotary Club of Mornington,
the experienced Interplast team were able to conduct
134 patient consultations and 60 surgeries.
For Ropati, his surgery was life-changing
and gave the gift of sight.

Ropati has Neurofibromatosis Type 1.
This congenital condition results in the growth of multiple tumours
along the nerves of his body.
For the past few years, a neurofibroma
has been growing above his right eye
– completing blocking the vision on that side.

Unfortunately, this means Ropati has been living quite
an isolated and lonely life.
He works on a remote farm, and basically kept away
from other people
. Thankfully, a generous relative had ‘adopted’ Ropati
and together they visited the Interplast team
to see if anything could be done.

A local surgeon treated Ropati over a year ago,
but with limited success so he needed prompt
surgical intervention again.

Interplast volunteer surgeon,
Associate Professor Damian Marucci
assessed Ropati and felt confident that he could be
assisted during the Interplast visit.
Working with local surgeon Dr Posani
the surgical team undertook the challenging tasks
of reducing the size of the neurofibroma
on the upper right eyelid.

Together, the surgical team removed as much
of the tumour as they could,
and the surgery was successful.
Thankfully, Ropati’s vision from his right eye was still functional,
and so once the swelling decreases Ropati is expected
to see out of the eye again for the first time in many years.

The Interplast surgical program in Samoa
was supported by the Rotary Club of Mornington
and the Pacific Islands Program through
the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons

'RAH, 'RAH for RHIANNA and ROTEX!
**Breaking News**
One of our Rebound students, Rhianna

who went on exchange to Germany 🇩🇪 in 2017/18

sponsored by the Rotary Club of Geraldton-Greenough,

would love to start a District 9455 ROTEX group

. She invites fellow Rebounds as follows:
Hi RYE Rebounds,
Past RYE students are invited to reconnect with other Rebounds

and become involved in the establishment of a D9455 ROTEX group.

The meet up will take place on Saturday 23/11/19 at 3pm at Matilda Bay.

This is a great chance to catch up with others who share a similar experience,

having been on exchange, and learn more about how

you can be part of a social group which interacts with current exchange students,

fund-raises and volunteers, and is made up of like-minded and interesting people.
For more information about the exact meet up location

and my contact details, message this RYE Facebook page,

and stay tuned for a D9455 ROTEX Facebook group.
Come down to Matilda Bay next Saturday

to find out more about ROTEX

and how you can be involved.

Rhianna

Can you help us reach our target?

Since our first partnership with Street Doctor back in 2016

donating 100 care packs and going on to donate 350 and 500

in the following years,

we have a goal of donating 1000 care packs

for those in need this Christmas.

We have setup a fundraising page to help cover the cost

of the 1000 pairs of flip-flops needed for each pack.

Please help us spread the word or make a donation below.

All donations, big or small, are greatly appreciated! 😊

360 Health + Community

Mount Lawley Senior High School student Suu Kyi Kwang

won the state final of Rotary’s Four-Way Test Speech Contest on Sunday afternoon.

It was held in the Mandurah Baptist College’s theatre.

She discussed the impact of racial discrimination

— particularly racial stereotyping — on her life.

Her presentation was both impassioned and witty.

RUNNER UP STATE FINALIST
Elise Hilder has been awarded runner up

in the State Final of the Rotary 4-Way Test Speech Contest,

held on Sunday 10 November at Mandurah Baptist College's Lakes Theatre.

Elise's five-minute speech on voluntary euthanasia

was well performed and well received by the judges and the audience.

Today Poseidon PS had a Water Fun Day

and Rotary Joondalup participated by providing a couple of volunteers

to help out with the operation of the events.

The kids seemed to really have a great time in the heat

. We were also visited by Emily Hamilton,

State member for Joondalup who is also a member of our Rotary Club

Rotary Joondalup was happy to help out the Currambine PS

Fathering Project Schools’ Group, LADDs,

at the camp out last night

.Students were treated to a dinner served by Club members

Sue, Myrtle and Ralph.

The aim of the project is to provide opportunities for fathers

and father figures to organise great activities for dads

and their kids but also dads only events where fathers

and father figures can socialise, network support,

learn and share experiences with each other.

The School's organising committee is led by Rob Williams and Rob Wilson

who, along with other enthusiastic dads,

have organised various successful events;

Remembrance Day.

Cambridge Rotarians Cate, Jim, Jeanette and Jeremy

lay a bouquet at the Cambridge War Memorial today.

Tonight's meeting was a huge night celebrating the success

of the Dirt and Dust Run this year.

A big thank you to all the participants and sponsors who made it all possible.

We are still doing the sums but the tally is over $60k raised so far!!

Peter Murdoch shared personal insights, touching on the culture

and vision of Minderoo Foundation

before diving into some of the finer details of Minderoo's programs

and social initiatives.

It was a unique opportunity to hear how the aspirational goals

of Andrew Forrest, one of WA's most prominent philanthropists

are being executed in our local community and around the nation.

Proceeds of the event reached $700
and will be donated to Dismantle.

What a great evening full of learning and really amazing people!

Peter Aspinall AM, State President RSLWA

and John McCourt JP CEO RSLWA.

Bill Munro, Chairman The Prostate Cancer Foundation,

Robert Couch, Attorney and Past President of RC Birmingham AL -

the biggest Rotary Club in the world with more than 630 members!

Jan Roberts, founder of Beyond The Timor Sea

and Rotarian from RC Scarborough....

Last night we held a fundraiser at The Haven in Victoria Park.

Thank you to all those who supported the evening.

Sausage Sizzle at the Fusion Festival

It was our annual Sausage and Meatball night

raising money for research into prostate cancer.

A big thank-you to Allie who held the event at her place

and to Dot and her international committee who added

some spice to the evening by making it an Italian theme.

It was a successful night enjoyed by

the Rotary members and their families.

The Rotary Club of Karrinyup was again proud to sponsor

the Local Artist Award at the City of Stirling Art Award Exhibition 2019.

Past President Peter Polain is seen here with winner

Julie Sylvester, whose beautiful beach scene was a standout

Thank you Sean!
MLA Sean L'Estrange gave a fluent run-down of his life,
his military career, political developments and the economic prospects for WA.
All club members were enthused by the presentation.