Congratulations to Felicity and Howard Smith who are the newest members of our Club!
Felicity was inducted a couple of weeks ago and we were able to finally induct Howard this week.
We are so happy to officially welcome you both, as members of the Rotary Club of Berwick.
We’ve all seen the ads for Mercy Ships on the TV at the moment, so it was great to hear firsthand from Samantha Clarke, their Victorian Ambassador, all about who Mercy Ships are, what they are doing and how they are making such a difference to the lives of the people they meet along their way.
How they can manage to provide two purpose-built, fully functional floating hospitals, complete with six operating theatres, 200 patient beds and space for the 600 crew members, as well as a training centre, is amazing.
They are advised by the United Nations as to where they are needed and spend a great deal of their time around the Sub Sahara and Africa.
Last year alone, they performed 6860+ life changing surgeries, 31863 total dental procedures, and offered over 42500 training hours, to empower the locals to continue their work, once they leave each port. This was all provided by over 1700 volunteers, from over 60 countries, who bring their skills, their time and their hearts
to create a global community with a common purpose. Something which resonates with us all as Rotarians.
The majority of their work centres around operating on facial tumours and cleft conditions, mobility and deformity corrections, general surgery for hernias, goitres and tumours, reconstructive surgery for 
burns and severe scaring, women’s health, such as Fistula and gynaecological surgery, as well as eye surgery for cataracts and vision restoration.
Past President Jen gave the vote of thanks and also presented Samatha with a cheque, as part of Jen’s distributions for the last Rotary year. For those of you who missed Samantha’s presentation, there is a documentary series, called ‘The Surgery Ship’, showing at the moment on 7+ which is well worth a look. They expire in the next few days so make sure you take a look, before they are gone.
Hearing about the work of Mercy Ships reminded me of the great work that Rotary does, on a very different scale, with ROMAC, (Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children).
Back in 2014-15 I had the honour of being District 9820 Chair for ROMAC. During that time, with the support of my ROMAC team and the wonderful Rotarians who hosted families, we had three children come into our District for life saving surgeries.
The doctors and theatre staff gave their time, the hospitals provided a bed for each child during their stay, and lives were also, forever changed.
These children arrived with one family member, who was able to leave their family and come to a foreign country, with nothing more than a backpack, which held everything they needed for the trip here, and the clothes they were wearing. They did not speak English and entrusted their sick child to total strangers. The
operations that each child had was something that here in Australia would have been picked up and corrected at birth, but not one that is available in the country they live in.
Aze, the cutest little 8 year old boy, came from Timor Leste with his father. Due to a faulty heart valve he was the size of a 3 year old Aussie kid and very lethargic. He had surgery to repair the value and a very different boy returned home.
Jesuina, a 14 year old girl who came with her mother from Timor Leste to have a minimally invasive heart procedure used to treat mitral valve stenosis, specifically utilizing a balloon catheter to widen a stiff or narrowed heart valve and improve blood flow.
Our third child, Alina, came from the Solomon Islands with her mother due to a congenital heart defect + rheumatic valvular disease which required open heart surgery. We made a difference to each one of these children’s lives, something which I am very proud to have played a very small part in. Don’t forget that I would love each member to share a little of themselves with their Rotary story, which Gus will put into the bulletin each week.
If you can send your piece, together with a photo yourself to president@rotaryberwick.org we will share each one of these in the bulletin over the year.
At our meeting on 29 th July we are having a Club Service Night, something which we need, so we can plan the next Rotary year, and beyond, look at roles for each member, find our next 3 presidents, hear from our Board chairs, hear about the Conference in the Hunter Valley, launch the digital handbook, find out about the work David Button has been doing on the District Website, and more.
Please make sure you bring your phones and that you book in to attend, so we can continue the work we do, with a shared understanding and purpose.
