The adventures continue...

Hi everyone,

Sorry I have been quiet for a long time, I have been in the USA for the past 3 months as part of the Rank Memorial Award, researching and working with a non-profit organisation, Mercy Ministries, that works with young women with life-controlling disorders.

My passion in life is for working with teenage girls and young women, particularly those who have low self-esteem and are at risk for making ‘risky life choices’ or developing ‘life controlling disorders’. Just before leaving to go on the GSE trip (in fact the day before we flew) I had my interview for the Rank Award and was offered a grant to gain experience and research this field of work. Through the GSE I further developed my passion for this area, as I got to experience various youth projects, some that specialised in working with young women, and was able to share this passion during our presentations. The experience I gained during the GSE showed me the global nature of the issues faced by young women and inspired me even more to want to do something to help make a difference.

On 8th September, I flew out to Nashville, Tennessee in the USA to begin the Rank Award. For 3 months I volunteered with Mercy Ministries. Mercy Ministries is a free-of-charge, voluntary, faith-based residential programme, which serves young women from all socio-economic backgrounds, ages 13-28, who face a combination of life-controlling issues, such as eating disorders, self-harm, drug and alcohol addictions, depression and unplanned pregnancy. Mercy also serves young women who have been physically and sexually abused, including victims of sex trafficking. I was able to meet some of the young women in the programme, as well as hear first-hand stories from many graduates of the programme - it was amazing to see how their lives had been transformed and how they were now healthy, confident young women making a valuable contribution to their world and often giving back to other young women who also need help. I am so excited to see how I will use what I learned during my time there, during the GSE experience and during the second part of the Rank Award (I fly to South Africa for 3 months on 18th January to work with another project out there) in the future to improve the lives of young women.

Whilst in Nashville I had the opportunity to visit the Rotary Club of Nashville with one of my colleagues. It was great to get to see another club on another continent and how Rotary works there. I met some amazing people and shared with them what I am doing. I also introduced one of my colleagues at the ministry to Rotary and she now is planning to join Rotary as well!!

I feel like I am on the adventure of my life right now and I am just so incredibly blessed. Thank you so much to Mendip and Woodspring Rotary Clubs for your continued support, I am so honoured to be linked with you. Thank you to my wonderful GSE team for all of your support and for holding up my part in the presentations as well as your own whilst I've been away, and thank you to Rotary International for the amazing opportunity that you gave us (it has impacted me in so many ways!!).

I pray that you all have a wonderful Christmas and that 2013 is an awesome year of adventure for you too!! I will keep in touch about the next part of my adventure.

God Bless
Adele x
 

Season's greetings!

Adele, Seb, Bob, Kate and Alice would like to wish everyone a very merry christmas and a happy new year! A big thank you to all the Rotarians who made 2012 such a wonderful and memorable year for the GSE team. (and thank you to Alice for this amazing illustration!!)

Rotary Club of Langport and Somerton

We met on a cold winters night and we were greeted by a warm friendly Rotary club with President Rupert Cox leading proceedings. We enjoyed discussing the trip with the rotarians and it was particularly good to see Stan Jones who was very influential in our GSE trip in the beginning stages and he was very helpful with advice on presentations. We were privileged to watch the induction of a new member to the club, both interesting and entertaining!
We enjoyed a lovely dinner at The Olde Forge Inn, Curry Rivel and we even got to pull crackers and wear Christmas hats and tell some awful jokes!
Captain Bob, Kate and Seb provided the presentation using a last minute high quality white cloth as the screen and unperturbed we enjoyed and presented to the eager crowd!

Thank you to President Rupert Cox and the Rotarians of Langport & Somerton for hosting us.

Pictured: Stan Jones, Seb Cope, President Rupert Cox, Kate Turner and Captain Bob Nation

Visit to Minehead Rotary Club

On Monday evening, 12th November the GSE team meandered their way along the A39 to Minehead Rotary club. Alice, Kate and Seb enjoyed a warm welcome with lots of good natured banter (mainly directed at team leader Bob by PDG David Yates).

Once again, we were treated to an excellent meal and excellent company. The presentation that followed seemed to catch the interest of our audience who asked us some very searching and interesting questions.  We were asked about everything from what the food was like and visiting church, to the differences between the clubs and rotarians in the host countries. This is a great experience for the team and its useful to consider our trip from new perspectives, learning what captures our audience's imaginations!

We always learn something ourselves from giving these presentations as each one contributes something of interest that we can include on the next, adding impact to the story.

Many thanks to President Barrie and all members and partners. Now we look forward to our last presentation of this calendar year at Langport & Somerton Rotary club on Thursday 29th November.

 

Thanks again

Bob Nation

GSE Team Leader

Dorchester Casterbridge Presentation

Last night, three members of the GSE team were greeted by members of the Dorchester Casterbridge Rotary club and enjoyed a fantastic evening. Captain Bob and Kate travelled down from Chippenham and Seb from Crewkerne to meet at the Kings Arms Hotel on the high street in Dorchester. We were welcomed by President Lorraine Wong, had a lovely meal and then the presentation began.
The presentation went well and we had some challenging questions at the end, most of which we were able to answer!

Thank you to the Rotary Club of Dorchester Casterbridge for hosting us

Crewkerne club visit

Last Wednesday eve, the team all ventured down to the Henhayes Community Centre in Crewkerne to meet and present to the Crewkerne club. It was a horrid rainy night, however we were met with a friendly welcome from the club and club President Derek Phoenix. We had a very tasty meal and then listened to a presentation about Mercy Ships and also a presentation from two local girls about their trip to South Africa, which the club had part sponsored them to do. Last but by no means least it was our presentation.. I think we did very well considering we were last that evening and hopefully it would have gained some interest from members to support us in our forthcoming projects with D9210. There were about 50 people present, mostly club members, visiting members and a few guests (including us). Thanks to Brit Valley members who came along, great to have your support. Our next presentation is next Tuesday, to the Dorchester club. Unfortunately I will not be able to make it, however I am sure the others will do a grand job, good luck! Adele, I hope all is going well with you and the project in America :).

Brit Valley Visit

 

Last week the GSE team visited Brit Valley Rotary club. The famous five will be the fab four whilst Adele is in USA on her research project, we miss you Adele and hope it’s all going well!!

Bob and I travelled through rain and storm to get to Bridport, but it was well worth the journey to meet such a friendly club and share our wonderful experience with them. We were treated to a delicious dinner and then we gave our presentation. We had updated our presentation to reflect where we went, what we learnt, our highlights and  future plans. There were lots of interesting questions at the end which really got us thinking and brought all the amazing memories flooding back!

It was clear to see that Brit Valley Club is very proud of Alice, and of course it was great to meet up with the team again. Bring on the next presentation!!

The Mudi River Project, Malawi

We were very busy during our trip and didn’t always have an opportunity to blog about all the  fantastic projects we saw. Here's a blog I wrote about an ambitious project in Malawi.

River Mudi before it flows through Blantyre

The River Mudi flows through the city of Blantyre, in Malawi. Levels of pollution in the river are many times higher than the internationally accepted standard for water quality. Sewage and industrial waste pours into the river due to a combination of heavy industry, inadequate management,  local people dumping their waste, broken pipes and the sewage system failing. This is a serious problem because the Mudi River is a major source of water for domestic and other uses for communities that live downstream. Not only that, the Mudi has become a health hazard for the population of Blantyre who must live and work alongside the polluted stink of the river.

The Rotary Club of Blantyre have decided to clean up the river, putting together a taskforce to tackle the problem. It's an undeniably ambitious undertaking, but something they feel is essential for the future of their city. This involves mobilising the Blantyre Water Board, Department of the Environment and the City Council, as well as businesses and local people too. Encouraging collaboration, they have been meeting weekly, led by the current president of the Rotary Club, Sundu Jere. 

River Mudi near central market place

Sundu took us on a tour of the river which vividly demonstrated the problem. We followed the course of the river from where its stored in a reservoir at one end of town, right to the other side of town where the water is heavily polluted. Yet is still used by some of the local population for washing and drinking because they do not have another water source available. Blantyre City is a watershed to many rivers; this means pollution in the city affects not only people in Blantyre but also those who use the rivers that originate from the city.

President Sundu Jere explains the sewage treatment plans

Sundu explained, ‘when I was a kid we could play by the river, but not anymore. In the summer the smell from the river affects everyone. There is a clear dividing line between where the water in the river flows clean and then where it becomes undrinkable, a health hazard.’

The challenges are clearly huge, but Sundu is determined that Rotary must play a big part, as nothing is being done at present. The president has even acquired a new nickname around Blantyre, ‘Mr Mudi.’

The first phase of the project is to re-instigate the sewage treatment plant. Built in the 1970s, the facilities at the plant haven’t worked properly for 10 years. The city has a population of 1.2 million during the day and 735,000 at night, and currently 80% of the sewage is untreated and goes straight into the river. When we visited the treatment plant we saw the dilapidated state it had fallen into. The great news is that The Rotary club have secured funding to get the plant working again and the land has recently been cleared in preparation for this to happen.

Garden business in Blantyre

Another problem the project faces is that the river flows through an industrial area and waste from here also finds its way into the water. Although many of the industries do have waste management activities in place, the waste pipes that they use have been damaged or even completely removed by vandals and people selling the pipes for scrap. So in these areas the waste simply goes into the river. The Rotary Club has thought of a solution for this too, they plan to replace them with concrete pipes.
Compounding the problem is the lack of any up to date environmental regulations, the penalty for polluting the river has not changed since the 70s and even if a company does get fined the fee is nominal and unlikely to prevent them from doing it again. The legislation has not been updated so there is no mechanism to discourage polluting. Again, the Rotary are tackling this problem by working with the industries and local authorities.

As well as working on these kinds of ‘top down’ approaches they have introduced some innovative ‘bottom up’ activities too. A fantastic example of this was an initiative at the smaller tributaries along the river, which involves allocating plots to vendors who grow shrubs and flowers. This prevents localised rubbish dumping as the growers take ownership of their area along the river.

These green and meticulously ordered oasis run alongside the streams and have transformed the areas from wasteland where people felt free to dump whatever they liked, to beautiful gardens and small businesses. 

Garden business along the river

The Rotary Club has also been busy building local support for the project and using the media to put pressure on the right people in order to get the project moving. This raises the profile of the River Mudi project so that people start to ask questions when progress is not made. The project even has its own Facebook page.

When we asked Sundu why he thought the Rotary Club needed to become involved in such an ambitious project his answer was simple, ‘You can’t expect someone else to clean up after you, we have to do it ourselves. There are people ready to do the work, to clean up the river, but there is no funding to allow them to begin. This is a project that will make life better for everyone in Blantyre.’  

There is no doubt that its going to take time, hard work and a lot of determination. But with the Rotary Club spearheading the project there is at least hope that cleaning up the river Mudi can and will happen. A clean river is a vision that Rotary are making into a reality, and if they succeed it will be an incredible legacy for the people of Blantyre.

Team Yellow back together again!

Team Yellow and Rotarians of Mendip Rotary Club

Our first presentation back in England was last Thursday eve to the Mendip Rotary club at Wedmore Golf club. Adele's sponsoring club from D1200.

It was great for 'Team Yellow' to met up again for the first time since we have all returned.  We had a good welcome from the club, followed by an enormous dinner and then our presentation...

We all seemed alot more relaxed about the presentation and it generally went very well, sharing our photos, memories, GSE achievements and stories. We also had quite a few questions from club members at the end.

Well done team! And thank you very much to the Mendip club for having us.

Presentation at Benoni Van Ryn club

Since returning to the UK the team have been very busy getting back into our normal routines and catching up on work... but have not forgotten what a wonderful and life changing trip we have just been on! We are all so very thankful to Rotary for what they have given us with some great memories for life.

After departing from the team on the 24/6/2012 at Tambo International airport in Johannesburg I had just over a weeks stay with my aunty and uncle who live outside Johannesburg. I grew up with my family near where they live until I was 9 years old. It was a great opportunity to see some old familiar places, such as my school, town and also meeting up with old school friends who I had not seen for 15 years!

I also had got in contact with Benoni Van Ryn Rotary club (through David Conroy from Brit Valley club) before leaving the UK and organised to do a presentation whilst I was there.
The club meet every Thursday evening at the Benoni County Club and that is where I meet them on the 28/6/2012.

Secretary Colin Hornton

President Patsy Gatonby

The evening happened to be celebrating the clubs 40th year, so I felt honoured to be part of it. I met President Patsy Gatonby, and Secretary Colin Hornton and some of the other members such as Wade, Neil, Norman, Jean and Robyn. It seemed a very nice club and it was interesting to share the link with the club about me previously living in Benoni and how I have returned through the GSE trip. It felt strange to do the presentation on my own as I had done the last 14 with the GSE team (I missed you guys!). I hope to keep in contact with the club and thanks again for the lovely dinner and for letting me join your meeting.

Presented with the Benoni Van Ryn banner

Wonderful pudding! Sorry team this is what you missed out on!!

A blog from Bob

So, I had just sorted my packing case and hand luggage fine, when the District Governor presented me with a conch shell weighing over 5 kilos, whoops!!

Anyway, a lovely gesture and our final DISCON 9210 dinner last night was excellent, good food and wine, entertainment of power cuts and faulty microphones, which kept the speeches short. Had problems prising the team away from their friends, hosts and the American GSE team but in the end we got away by midnight, not without a few tears, back to our hosts and packing. It will take all of us a few weeks to assimilate what we have seen and done! We have scheduled a meeting to review what we have learned and some potential rotary community projects that the district may want to take up.

My last blog (maybe) but final words; it has been a privilege to lead such a great team of young professionals through 3 African countries.

Signing off

Dad!

The end of an epic adventure

By Adele

So, today is our last day together on the GSE trip and what a trip it has been. As a team we have travelled through 3 different countries, covered around 25,000km, visited at least 25 Rotary clubs, and delivered 14 presentations. Culturally, we have really been spoiled; we’ve seen one of the seven wonders of the world (the Victoria Falls), flown in a 30-seater airplane, swam in Lake Nyasa, learned traditional African dancing, been on several safaris, sampled the local nightlife and gone 270m underground in a copper mine. All of the team have been fairly adventurous when it comes to trying the local delicacies; our meals have included antelope, crocodile, caterpillars, cow’s hooves, gigantic mutant prawns, chicken’s feet and of course nshima!!

It has been incredible fun, but we have also learned a lot. Vocationally, we have all had the opportunity to see how our jobs work in another culture. I have been amazed by the resourcefulness and sheer passion on the African people. Despite limited resources and funding they have managed to set up some amazing projects and do some incredible work in the local community. It was been great to see the role of Rotary in supporting the community also; the work that they do is so varied, ranging from solar water pumps to cleaning rivers to supporting the disabled and many more wonderful projects. I have been inspired to do more to help my local community and to see what we can do with all the resources that we have to support the amazing work over here.

We are all packed up now and heading off to have breakfast on the beach before we embark on our various journeys back to the UK. Bob, Kate and Seb will fly back to the UK today; Alice is off to visit family in Johannesburg and is Adele is heading to Worcester near Cape Town to visit friends. Although we are heading separate ways I know this is not goodbye for this team, we have formed amazing friendships between us and they have become like family to me. I am so thankful for this once in a lifetime opportunity; I have made some great contacts and even better friends and I know I will never forget this experience. So, a huge thank you to everyone that has been a part of this big adventure…we will keep you posted!!!!

Evening! Just a very quick one....... we said our byes at the final evening of the conference this evening (we had gigantic tiger prawns!) it felt very sad to be leaving, it was great to meet the other GSE team from D5240 in Calafornia that were in Zimbabwe, Frank (team leader), Sarah, John Big and John Small!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for everyone who has helped us along the way, and Rotary as a whole. Definitely recommend GSE!!!

We fly out of Beira at 1.30pm, Kate, Bob and Seb head back to the UK and I will be in S.A for about 2 weeks visiting where I use to live, and also meeting the Benoni Van Ryn Rotary club! Adele is off to Cape Town for about 10 days, going back to where she worked with YWAM (Youth With A Mission).

It has been a fantastic, incredible journey, more blogs and pics to come...

Beira

Our last evening in Beira, what an incredible journey! Thank you to all who made it possible

Vida Louca at District Conference

The District Conference kicked off yesterday with an opening ceremony complete with flags and national anthems - we felt very proud when the English flag was brought in and 'God Save the Queen' played! Then we were treated to some fantastic dancing and music, as well as presentations from the District Governor and his special guest, Rotary International President's representative, PDG June Webber.

Today we presented at the District Conference. It was fantastic to see so many of the friends we have made sitting in the audience, and great to be able to express our thanks to the Rotarians of District 9210 for everything they have done for us.

The presentation went really well, and it was interesting to see how emotional the team were about our experience. For me personally I got a real buzz from presenting to such a large audience, something that I don’t think I could have done before the GSE trip!

Beira

Quick update from Beira

We were kindly hosted and enjoyed the privilege of staying with the District Governor João Bettencourt and his wife Nela at their home in Chimoio. It was a very busy household with people coming and going in preparation for the District Conference in Beira.

We were lucky enough to visit a scheme that was set up by the Rotary club of Chimoio where disabled people have a factory to make flip-flops and sandals from old tyres, rubber and leather. It was incredible to see the skill of these people, the quality of the products and a very successful Rotary project.

Pictured District Governor João Bettencourt, GSE team leader Bob and a lady with a baby and her maize hat!

We stopped in quickly to the District Governor’s workshop area and got to see how he personally gets involved and helps the local community by providing a maize mill, local people can come and use this and any money made from it is used for more community schemes.

 Also, got to see a lovely dozer and grader loaded on some classic units on their way to the mining areas apparently!! I can’t help it, sorry! It is vocational, honest.

 We are now in Beira for the District Conference and waiting for the sea mist to disappear so that we may be able to enjoy an afternoon in the sea before we depart!

Day 1 of the conference has been fantastic hearing more about the incredible work that the Rotary clubs in Africa are involved with as well as catching up with some our the rotarians that we have met on the rigorous and adventurous trip.

We have our final presentation tomorrow and it will be to our largest crowd, probably around 200-250 people!! Fingers crossed!

The Bicycle

The Bicycle

A bicycle, often called a bike and sometimes referred to as a "pushbike", "pedal bike", "pedal cycle" or "cycle", is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.

Cycling is a big part of my life but not a way of life as we have seen in Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. In these three countries that we have visited, it is obvious to see how useful the bicycle can be as an aid and tool in everyday life other than a form of exercise as it is so often used in the western world. I have been attempting to capture images of these fantastic contraptions, each individually modified to the user’s needs for whatever is being carried. The best number of people on a bicycle so far I think has been four, very rarely with just one person! Pigs, chickens, goats, water containers, oil drums x 3, charcoal, cotton, maize, fish, just a few of the things we have seen carried. 

In Blantyre, Malawi I noticed more second hand Royal Mail Pashley bicycles than any other town or country. A fantastic site to see someone cycling along with a dozen live chickens in the handlebar basket is far more productive than a bag full of mail!

Travelling through Salima, a rural town close to Lake Malawi seemed to be the highest density of bicycles and bicycle taxi’s lined the streets as we went through. We dropped off someone in the centre of town and the surge of taxi riders with a potential client was incredible, people jumping and clambering over each other with bicycles to get the business!

There have been schemes set up by various charities in the UK to help send second hand bicycles out to Africa for adults and children. A Rotary International charity, Bikes4Africa.

bikes4Africa refurbishes donated second-hand bikes and delivers them from the UK
to African schools, where they enable children to...

•    get to school, and arrive on time, instead of late
•    begin the school day alert, instead of exhausted
•    stay for extra lessons at the end of the school day
•    remain safe by travelling home from school in daylight
•    reach higher academic achievement

http://www.jolerider.org/index.php/programmes/bikes4africa

Re~Cycle is a UK charity committed to providing cheap, sustainable transport in Africa. We believe that bicycles offer poor people the best means to improve their lives, giving them opportunities to travel to work and school. They can also be adapted to carry goods and passengers giving small scale farmers and traders the opportunity to reach customers further afield. They are also an invaluable resource for traveling health workers coping with the AIDS epidemic.

I am very keen to work with one or both of these charities on my return to the UK and aim to send a container of bicycles out to the countries that we have visited.

Made it to Mozambique!

We arrived in Mozambique on Saturday, following two interesting hours spent at the border whilst we got our visas in order.  We were hosted by the Rotary Club of Tete, who certainly provided us with a fantastic introduction to Mozambique!

On Sunday we drove to visit the Cahora Bassa Dam. The dam is part of a large hydroelectric plant which generates electricity for all of Tete, and some of the power is even exported to South Africa. It was great for me to see some green energy generation in action! The lake behind the dam also made for some very picturesque photos. 

The scenery here in Mozambique really is stunning and the drive from Tete to Chimoio was very beautiful. Seeing people’s everyday life is part of our adventure here; people carrying massive piles on wood on their heads, and women with babies strapped to their backs with their colourful capulanas (wraps). Its also interesting to see the ingenuity and resourcefulness of those selling all manner of things along the side of the road. The colours, characters and sheer contrast to our own lives in the UK is fascinating, and I'm enjoying every minute!

We are staying at the District Governor's house in Chimoio, it's a hive of activity as they make the final preparations for the District Conference. This afternoon the team are also preparing as we run through what we need for our last presentation of the trip. Departing here early tomorrow - next stop the District Conference on the beach in Beira!