21 April 2015

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The Rotary Club of Mosman Bulletin
Vol. 54, No. 35 for meeting on April 21, 2015
April Is Magazine Month
District Assembly 12 April 2015 - Mosman Rotary was well represented, with
incoming Directors Barry Starr, Mark Wallis, John Leslie, Di McKenzie, Peter Young,
Charlie Barnett and Dominique Rabu attending. Also Parisa and Ben Hart, and Jamie
Burke represented Directors unable to attend, and Rob Hamilton made a
presentation on RYPEN to the Youth Services group.
Those who attended are preparing some notes of highlights and we will circulate
these to members over the next couple of weeks. Some points to note:
 There is continuing emphasis and concern that all relevant members secure
Working with Children accreditation. We have made good progress within our
club, but there are still a number of people who need to complete the process.
 District Governor Gina Growden will be visiting us on 18 August and we would
like to have a good level of attendance on that day to meet with Gina. Given
there are 77 clubs in our District she is making a commendable effort to
personally attend a meeting with each club.
 A consistent message we are receiving from RI is the need to ensure we have a
strategy or at least some sort of future direction and supporting plan in place.
We have a Club Assembly on the evening of May 4, and we will be addressing
the question of what sort of Club we wish to be and what we need to do to be
that Club. Part of the meeting will also be the identification of the projects we
should consider for 2015-2016. It is important for all members to attend so
the new board can have a clear idea of what the members expect from them.
In addition to their commitment at the Club Assembly last Sunday Mark Wallis and
John Leslie attended the first day of their 3 day Rotary Leadership course. A full
weekend of Rotary for both!!
Parisa Hart has volunteered to be Assistant Treasurer and Jamie Burke as Assistant
Secretary. Apart from the workload support this provides for the club, they could not
have better role models and teachers than Joan and Dominique.
Ward Pollard on behalf of President Mark Alderson
Our GUEST SPEAKER today is Noel Phelan from Northbridge Rotary talking about the
fierce battle between HMAS SYDNEY and the German raider KORMORAN.
New Inductee last week: Jamie Burke with Ward Pollard and Di McKenzie
Rachata Kraikangwarn (3rd from right) and his family
Rachata Kraikangwarn, who was our Exchange student from Thailand in 2004-5, is
visiting Australia and brought his family to our meeting. He owns Soapvillages which
specialises in soaps for skin care and beauty in his home town of Ubon Ratchathani.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: April 25th – Val West; April 28th – Margaret Kenny
MEMBER NEWS: Tracey and Rob Sturrock are on safari for 3 months, driving to
Perth, then up the coast to Broome, flying from Broome to Darwin, cruising from
Darwin back to Broome down the coast, then back in the car to return to Darwin. A
friend is flying to Darwin to drive the car back to Sydney, while T & R fly home.
Sharon Kerr, our GUEST SPEAKER last week, shared with us snippets of her life story.
She is married to fellow Rotarian David Kerr and they have three adult children.
Sharon, now CEO of Global Access Project, began with the time she was working as a
welfare worker with the homeless. In the early 80's this was a difficult time because
of the threat of AIDS. With three young children and balancing the welfare needs of
her own family, Sharon undertook further studies to equip her for a career change as
a teacher. Majoring in Japanese and education, Sharon began an 11 year career as a
Japanese language teacher. Due to the outstanding results of her students, she was
invited by Macquarie University to lecture in education. Working at the university
soon led Sharon down the path of publishing "Japanese Tutor" through Ashton
Scholastic with her husband and good friends Tony and Susan Bruck. In 1992 it was
one of the first multimedia teaching packages in the world.
Sharon then went into management at the university with
a number of roles relating to online and technologyenhanced learning. In 2004 Sharon was responsible for
building and managing the team that delivered the first
online degree from Macquarie University through Open
Universities Australia (OUA). This had a profound impact
on the strategic direction of Distance Learning at
Macquarie University. Pedagogy and design principles
adopted in this online degree were subsequently adopted
across Australia by other OUA providers.
Sharon became concerned about the accessibility issues for students with sensory or
learning disabilities such as dyslexia and was responsible for the development of a
national support service for students with a disability for universities across Australia.
This service was to provide advocacy, professional development for staff,
conversions of learning materials so that they could be accessed by assistive
technologies and research.
Sharon spoke about one of her projects that she conducted in conjunction with the
Indonesian government and Ausaid. In 2005 following the devastating tsunami,
Sharon was approached via Canberra, by a delegation from Indonesia for assistance
in helping their young people with disabilities access higher education. At the time
there were at least 20 million people in Indonesia with a disability, 17% of these
having incurred disability following a natural disaster. This in a country, where even
if you were colourblind you were not permitted to access higher education. This
meeting with the delegation from Indonesia started a 7-year intensive project
working with Government officials, University leaders from across Indonesia,
community members and young people with disabilities, culminating in the signing of
the Malang protocol in 2012 where universities across the country undertook to
open their doors and welcome students with a disability.
Sharon shared the story of Yohanna, one of the first students to access the program
through the University of Brawijaya in Malang. Yohanna had lost her sight through
glaucoma 4 years previously; however, through embarking on a degree in English,
gained confidence, skills and a support network and appeared (and made it to the
finals) singing on X FACTOR. Her story demonstrates the impact that equity of access
to education can have for students with a disability. Her audition can be viewed here.
Sharon is also working towards a PhD with Sydney University, looking at the barriers
and facilitators for Indigenous students with a disability to engage with education.
More about Sharon can be viewed here on her website, or Linkedin.
COMING EVENTS: Tuesday, 28th April: Fellowship meeting in the Annex by the Bistro
Wednesday, 29th April: TALDUMANDE FUN(d)RAISING GALA DINNER 6:30 for 7 pm
Monday, 4th May: Dinner at Mosman Club followed by 2 workshops. 6:30 for 7 pm
Tuesday, 5th May: No regular meeting
Please Advise Secretary Ward Pollard if you are an apology for the next meeting.
Attendance Desk Roster – 2015
April –Sharon Kerr and David Kerr
May – John Dean and Ward Pollard
June – Charlie Barnett and John Leslie
***Should you not be able to be on the desk on any of the nominated dates,
could you please arrange for another member to take your place.***
The Rotary Club of Mosman
Meets each Tuesday for Lunch at the Mosman Club, Military Road Mosman
12:30pm for 12:50pm
President – Mark Alderson
Secretary - Ward Pollard
P.O. Box 88 Mosman Australia 2088 Telephone: 0400 125 595/9439 4248
Email: [email protected]
Bulletin Editor – Clare Stockdale/Photos - Dominique Rabu
Visit our Website: www.mosmanrotary.org.au