Newsletter – APRIL 2011 - Zonta International District 22

Club No. 680, Area 1, District 22 – Charter Date 01.10.1971 – ABN 47 885 713610
GPO Box 1768, Brisbane Q 4001
Newsletter – APRIL 2011
President – Julie Mannion; 1st Vice-President – Jennifer West; 2nd Vice-President – Susan Davies;
Secretary – Susan Scott; Treasurer – Christine Maclean; Directors – Nerida Cooksley, Joan Gottardo, Pal Hall, Adrienne Irvine;
Newsletter Editor – Judith A. Anderson.
DATE CLAIMERS, REMINDERS, & EVENT INFORMATION
•
WED., MAY 4
CLUB AGM AND DINNER MEETING - 6.30 pm fellowship for 7.00 pm
meeting. At this meeting, the new Board will be installed by Area 1 Director,
Bev Bellett, in preparation for taking office on June 1.
•
WED., MAY 4
SERVICE COMMITTEE MEETING - come early for the dinner meeting and
join the discussion. Service is at the heart of what we do, so all members are
invited to be involved and are most welcome.
•
WED., JUNE 1
CLUB MEETING - 6.30 pm fellowship for 7.00 pm meeting. An exciting and
different program is being planned – watch this space!
•
TUES., JULY 12
FACE TO FACE WITH QUEENSLAND BALLET – 7.30 pm, Thomas Dixon
Centre, West End. This Vis-à-vis performance and supper is our annual
fellowship evening with Queensland Ballet. See details below.
•
SEPT. 23 to 25
DISTRICT 22 CONFERENCE – Novotel (Creek Street, Brisbane). New
contacts! Great ideas! Fresh inspiration! And for the first time since 1997, the
Conference will be right here in our home town, so there’s no excuse for us not
to be there in force as one of our District’s largest clubs.
•
TUES., OCT 4
BABETTE STEPHENS AWARD NIGHT – 7.30 pm, Gardens Theatre,
Gardens Point. Our annual presentation of the Babette Stephens Memorial
Award to a second-year female acting student at QUT following a performance
of their major Shakespeare production for the year, As You Like It, directed by
Michael Futcher and Helen Howard. All proceeds go to support the award.
•
WED., OCT 5
40 ANNIVERSARY DINNER – Our big birthday celebration! Mark the date
and start thinking now about prospective Zontians to invite!
th
The United Service Club has a strict deadline for finalising meal orders. As it is assumed you will be
attending all meetings of the Club unless an apology is received, it is critical that you let Chris Maclean know
by noon on Monday, May 2, if you will not be attending the meeting. Chris must also be advised by that
deadline of any guests. Telephone: 3848 9145; 0407 574 404; Email: [email protected]. Any
member from whom an apology is not received in time is automatically invoiced for the meal ordered for her
($39.00)
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Although much of this month has been taken up with Easter, Anzac
Day, and school holidays, two fellowship events attracted many
members during April.
It was wonderful to see many of our Club members present for the
launch of Club member, Kay Saunders’ latest book, Notorious
Women. In her presentation Kay provided snippets of information on
many of the women profiled in her book and was kept busy signing
copies both before and after the official proceedings.
As this newsletter is distributed, the small group of Club members
who participate in the selection of the Babette Stephens Memorial Prize winner will be viewing the
candidates for this year’s prize in their performance of The Three Sisters at the Loft on the Kelvin Grove
campus of QUT.
This month’s meeting includes the Annual General Meeting and is the last dinner meeting of the 2010-2011
Zonta year. The year has been a busy one, with significant contributions from members enabling our Club to
make a difference to the lives of many women in our community. It has been an honour to serve as
President of this wonderful Club and I look forward to working with all Club members once again during the
next Zonta year.
Julie Mannion
BONIEM JOY – A SUCCESS STORY WE CAN BE PROUD OF
Thanks to Julie Mannion, the Zonta Club of Brisbane has been able to
make a significant contribution to the lives of young women in PNG by
supporting the extraordinary vision and dedication of Monica Otto, a QUT
graduate who has returned to PNG to implement sustainable development
programs through the NGO she established called FOWIAD (Foundation
of Women in Agricultural Development).
Many young women in PNG are denied the opportunity to complete even
primary education. In Vagiput, a village in East Sepik Province, although
there was a primary school a 1½ hour walk away, most students could not
read or write simple English after six years of schooling. In 2005, with
Monica’s encouragement, the villagers used bush materials to build their
own six-room school, and Ester Kangu, a registered primary school
teacher, sacrificed two years’ salary to set up and run the school with the
assistance of young men who had completed year 10 as “student”
teachers. The school was named the Vagiput Unity Primary School –
“Unity” to signify acting together as one for the sake of the children.
In 2011, after six years of operation, the Provincial Education Department
has recognised the school’s success and is now in the process of
registering it as a government primary school. At the same time the
government is closing other schools because they have failed in their
obligation to their students.
One of the students who has benefited from this development is Boniem
Joy (pictured) who was given the opportunity to complete year six with
direct tuition from Ester Kangu. She excelled and was then sponsored by
FOWIAD to complete years 7 and 8 at Mairowi Primary School, an AOG
registered school, near Maprik. While at Mairowi school, Boniem boarded with Ester who had by then
returned to the formal system. At Ester’s suggestion, Boniem continued to year 8, sitting for the national
exam and winning a place in Maprik High School in 2010.
When the Zonta Club of Brisbane offered Monica $1,000 to sponsor a student, Boniem was the obvious
choice. Boniem is now in year 10 and by all reports is a model student. She has her own garden at the
FOWIAD compound where she boards, complementing her meals with her own vegetables as well as
supplying other students.
As Maprik High School now offers year 11 and will have year 12 in 2012, Boniem will not need to move to
one of the National High Schools to complete her full secondary education.
Once Unity School is registered, it will offer a full 8 years primary education in the village. Those students
with high achievements and the necessary motivation will be given the opportunity to attend high school,
following in the footsteps of Boniem and of Miriam, another “graduate” of Unity school who is now in Year 9.
FOWIAD also sponsors 12 students in years 7 and 8 at Bainyik following their high achievements at Unity
School.
Monica has a vision of FOWIAD as a platform to help
Papua New Guineans to become valued individuals and to
contribute to and benefit from the development of their
country. She sees the Zonta Club of Brisbane as an active
partner with FOWIAD in building the capacity of Papua
New Guineans as the true owners of their own
development. She sees the Club’s support as more than
just monetary, too: “Zontians can spread a message to the
wider Australian and international population that long
term partnerships based on trust, combined with real and
sustainable development of marginalised communities,
enables aid money to be used to achieve success stories
such as Boniem’s”.
“Working
in a remote area with
poor indigenous marginalised
women and their families, I get
additional strength knowing that
there are other women through
organisations such as Zonta
who have heard the cry of my
people and have responded so
generously” (Monica Otto)
UNDIES FOR WINDANA
The women and children in Windana may not need pantaloons, but they do need supplies of
new underwear in a range of sizes.
We had a spectacular response to the call for sleep-wear last month, so this month, just
drop a couple of items of underwear in your shopping trolley and bring them along to the
May meeting.
MEET YOUR BOARD
Our newest member, Pamela Deakin, has set herself the task of
extracting short biographies from each of our Board members. The
ever-efficient Susan Davies gets the koala stamp as the first to
respond to Pamela’s request.
Susan Davies, 61, is a former communications professional, now retired,
who re-joined Zonta in 2009, having previously been a member 21 years
ago. She is also a former journalist with The Sunday Mail. Her Zonta
enthusiasms lie with fund-raising and service and enjoying the company
of like-minded women. She ran her own communications consultancy
which she sold to international firm Saatchi & Saatchi in 1988. An
interesting phase of her life was her role as a Commissioner with EARC
1992 - 93, one of the two reform commissions set up after the Fitzgerald
Enquiry in Queensland. And after her husband Terry died in 2001, she
began fund-raising for Karuna Hospice Services, a Buddhist-inspired
organisation that provides free care in their own homes for the terminallyill, and assisted her in nursing her husband for three months - an
experience that, ironically, was one of the most profound of her life.
Susan is pictured (right) with Ailsa Gillies at a political forum organised by the Club in 1995.
AREA DIRECTOR TO INSTALL NEW BOARD AT AGM
The new Board, elected at the April meeting, comprises: President - Julie Mannion; 1st Vice-President Jennifer West; 2nd Vice-President - Amber Buckland; Treasurer - Christine Maclean; Board Secretary Adrienne Irvine; and Directors - Nerida Cooksley, Susan Davies, Merryl Ducat, and Patrice Grealy-Ridley.
They will be installed at the AGM on 4 May by Bev Bellett, the Area Director for Area 1 of District 22. Bev
is a neonatal nurse who has been a passionate Zontian since 1984. She first joined in Alice Springs, and
later transferred to the Darwin club until a further transfer took her to Victoria where she became a visiting
Zontian to both Ballarat and Bendigo Clubs. When she moved to Queensland in 1994, she joined the
Caloundra City Club, but in 2002, with a transfer to north Queensland, she joined the Zonta Club of
Townsville. In 2007, she returned to the Sunshine Coast and rejoined the Caloundra City club. She has been
elected to leadership positions in three different clubs and this, combined with her experience of so many
different clubs in two different districts, has positioned her well to advise and guide the clubs in Area 1. Bev
was elected as Area 1 Director at the District Conference in Townsville in 2009 and began her two-year term
of office after the International Convention last year.
CLUB NIGHT AT THE BALLET
With costs rising, it’s good to know there’s still a chance to see top-class
performances at affordable prices.
The Club since 2003 has organized an annual fellowship evening at
Queensland Ballet’s home in the Thomas Dixon Centre in West End where
the company’s Vis-à-vis performances offer a unique experience of dance –
the audience is very close to the performers, there are explanations and
demonstrations presented by the company’s Artistic Director François Klaus,
and the program is always highly varied.
As a bonus, our evening provides the opportunity for Club members and their
guests to meet the dancers and François at a post-performance supper.
The Club has secured 30 tickets for the performance on Tuesday, July
12. Tickets are available at the May and June meetings for $45 each.
Because of disruption to the Queensland Performing Arts Centre during the
summer floods, QB has had to reschedule its full 2011 season. New
brochures have now been printed and the information is available from the
Company’s website: www.queenslandballet.com.au
CLUB NEWS
•
Prof. Kay Saunders has been granted leave of absence to the end of 2011 to enable her to care for her
partner, Donald. Our thoughts are with you both, Kay, and we look forward to having you back with us in
2012.
•
The indefatigable Monica Otto will be visiting us from Papua New Guinea in July and will provide us with
an update on her NGO, FOWIAD. (See the story about
Boniem Joy earlier in this newsletter).
•
NCWQ collected an astonishing 20,000 children’s books
through their appeal after the summer floods and they are
now being distributed to schools and individuals. Many
thanks to club members who contributed.
•
Club members were delighted to see Liz Heber back with
us at the April meeting - bursting with energy, enthusiasm
and ideas, and fully recovered from her protracted period
of illness. Welcome back, Liz! (The photograph at right
shows the ever-colourful Liz with her fabulous silk
paintings at our Gift Zonta Fair in 2006).
•
The Board has regretfully received the resignation of Dr Bronwyn Williams, a member since July,
2005.
Bronwyn says: It is with regret that I feel I must resign from Zonta. When I first joined I had hoped to
have the time to be active in the fabric of the club but unfortunately work / family commitments kept
getting in the way. In recent months my family circumstances have made even getting to the monthly
dinner difficult for me. I would like to say how much I have enjoyed listening to the diverse speakers
over the years and the fellowship. I wish the club all the very best in all its future endeavours.
Kind regards
Bronwyn Williams
•
In Service Committee news, Pat Hall is liaising with the West Moreton Zonta Club about sharing the cost
of reprinting the Ipswich Safety Cards and is in the process of obtaining quotes, selecting a local printer,
and updating the content. It’s great to see this interest from a sister club, as the original vision for the
project was that it could eventually be handed over to other clubs. The Service Committee is also hoping
to meet representatives of Spiritus in June for further discussion about how the Club might assist.
PRINCE WILLIAM PACKS HIS SWAG
Shirley McCorkindale has passed on a clipping of Anthony Gough’s story in The Courier-Mail on 24
March about the latest success of Jean Madden, founder of ‘Street Swag’ and winner of one of our
Woman of Achievement Encouragement Awards in 2007.
“Prince William is the latest royal to throw his support
behind a Queensland charity that provides awardwinning portable shelters to the homeless.
Street Swag founder Jean Madden, who met the
Prince at the Premier’s Disaster Relief fundraiser,
said the royal was so impressed with her design for
the lightweight, discreet shelter that he was taking
one back to England.
“What is most exciting is he is the patron for
Centrepoint, the largest homeless organisation in the
UK, and he would really love to get it started over
there,” Ms Madden said.
The swag, which won the people’s choice award at the INDEX:Award 2009 design competition in Denmark,
is a mattress and fly that can be rolled up and used as a bag, providing shelter and privacy to people who
can’t find accommodation elsewhere.
Ms Madden, who was Queensland’s Young Australian of the Year in 2010, said thousands of Street Swags
have been distributed in Australia, providing accommodation to some of the 100,000 turned away from
homeless shelters every night.
“We’ve now bedded 15,000 people across Australia with our very basic form of bed and shelter,” Ms Madden
said. “We just wanted to keep the maximum number of people alive long enough for their communities to get
them the support they need.”
Prince William isn’t the first Royal to be interested in the Street Swag. Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik and
his Australian-born wife Princess Mary are also fans. Ms Madden said this high-calibre support was
important, since the organisation relies on donations from the public, and demand had grown due to recent
Queensland disasters. “We don’t have any government funding, so we really rely on public support.”
The editorial in the same edition was prompted by Jean’s story. For more information or to make a donation,
visit www.streetswags.org.
TRAVELLERS’ TALES
Our intrepid Zonta explorers, representing four
different clubs, met up at the station in Longreach
before heading off by QR Road Coach to Winton
for the first phase of their recent Outback tour,
organized by Ann Shevill. (L to R – Marcia
Seymour-Dane, Leneen Forde, Merryl Ducat,
Dianne Leggo, Hon.Zon. Ella Stringer, Caron
Forde and Ann Shevill)
The group was invited to the dinner meeting of
the Longreach Zonta club the night before they
left Longreach. Ann reports that the President,
Robin Rayner, and the members made them all
very welcome and that it was a rewarding
experience for everyone – “especially for their
new member, Karol Rayner, who was inducted by
Leneen - not many Zontians can say that they
were inducted by a former ZI President!”.
Of her ‘tour group’, Ann says: “I hope that they all enjoyed the visit to the two Outback towns as much as I
did (again !). Particularly in Winton where I am well known, many people were kind, thoughtful and went out
of their way to enable us to see and experience so much of interest. We were fortunate to have perfect
weather and missed the storms, washouts and floods which were about the West that weekend. Of course
there was much laughter along the way and the odd glass of wine - Zonta Fellowship at its best! I could not
have had the company of a nicer, more enthusiastic and easy-going group, and I thank them all for
supporting the tourist influx which is so important to those Outback centres.”