Roger was appointed as chairman at the last minute - he invited President Jim to the floor
Jim welcomed Bernie’s guest Renee McThee, of Jax Tyres, Ian from CalPac, and he also welcome back Kath
Thanks for the photos Irish
Stuart was an apology
Jim proposed the International Toast to a French (where else) club – the Rotary Club of Randy Years – that’s what my dictation software said anyway - it’s actually the Rotary Club of Rangiers
James presented the Club with a Certificte of Appreciation from the Salvation Army
President's Report from Jim
- Thanks to all who attended the board meeting on Monday at McDonald’s
- Deborah and Mark fixed Jim’s IT issues, but apparently he is still not receiving Rogers emails
- Richard has had another eye operation
- Facebook sale of Kath and Ian’s surplus items have delivered us some money
- Sale of the trailer have also delivered so much needed cash – the sale was to a camel farmer – camels can deliver as much as 7L of milk per day, and it sells at 20– $25 per litre – the buyer helps homeless people
- Let Jim know if you have any surplus items which could be sold for Rotary
Deborah introduced Fr. Valentine - Ejikeme – she acknowledged his good following in the Club and the short notice he had to give his talk
Ejikeme noted that he been in Australia for only 7 1/2 months, and his accent maybe a challenge to some – including Roger who is trying to make sense of his notes as he types
Ejikeme said he was not “privileged“ to be from Nigeria – his early life there was quite challenging
Ejikeme me means “simple life – easy“ - The King died at his time of birth – so it certainly wasn’t easy for him “everybody wants to be a king“
He was born into a family of seven boys and three girls – only two had a formal education
His school had two streams one in the morning from eight till 12, and then another from 12:30 to 5:10. He also helped his mum the market
When he landed in Australia during Covid he had six hours at the airport and then to a hotel with no solid food just soup – the same as in Nigeria
“eat what is put in front of you“ – it takes 3 to 4 days to ferment cassava - cook/pound cook/pound cook/pound
Three years working then back to the Seminary. 11 in the family – one room therefore not “privileged “ He’s still getting used to driving on the left-hand side of the road without one hand on the horn
Why Australia? Well that’s what the Bishop said – she had two days to get his part passport for Australia – his first ever flight and first time outside of Nigeria – he’ll be back sometime
There are 52 countries in Africa and 300 ethnic groups in Nigeria speaking 400 languages – the population is 200 million the poor are getting poorer - it’s “another world“ in Australia
It was a somewhat lonely life in Australia – it took him over a month to see another black man walking on the beach – so Rotary is a great experience – there are are 11 priests from Nigeria and Tuesday is his day off he is a “secular priest“ and he will be moved around by the Bishop during his stay in Australia
Roger and Jim thanked Ejikeme for his talk
Directors
- Deborah – RTDA notice
- James has been in Katoomba at -2° C last week – many thanks for all those your help with Changeover – sorry can’t read my notes at this point
- Mark – double Director as Secretary and Treasurer - fees are due, our project account is a bit sad but $1000 plus money for the trailer is going into it, a general account is okay, and the RYDA account is looking good
Our first encounter with new Sergeant Richard was a bit scary as he had a bag of scalpels to play with
A new knee for Ian, and the other Ian’s driving prowess was discussed in great detail
