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Collapse Issue 495:<br />01 Jun 2020<br />_____________Issue 495:
01 Jun 2020
_____________
Collapse  PLANNING PLANNING
Woy Woy could see up to 6000 new dwellings
Woy Woy to be 'high density' residential and office area
Population projected to grow less than national average
Collapse  PLANNING FORUM PLANNING FORUM
Statement is tragic reflection of planning system
Only interested in inappropriate development?
Travesty to take park from so many who enjoy it
Council is destroying a wonderful place to live
Strategic plan is as much use as a hole in the head
Residents are completely ignored
Collapse  NEWS NEWS
Parking meters and carpark with shuttle bus proposed
Coastal walking track to undergo $1.4 million upgrade
Conservatorium artistic director airlifted to Sydney
Jayne Mote named volunteering 'living legend'
Helicopter patrols power lines for bushfire prevention
Council to act on lagoon plan, seven years later
Feedback opportunity for Mt Ettalong Reserve
Keep natural look and feel at Mt Ettalong, survey finds
Tesch wants ideas for shared public spaces
Council approves work on Umina CWA hall
Rotary club makes donations to regional charities
Boat ramp closed
Rotary club hosts international speaker online
CWA work continues despite restrictions
Volunteer recognised for 15 years of pet therapy
Council rebrands bushcare program
Council chief keeps power to decide all tenders
Tesch calls for bee industry recovery plan
Restrictions on passenger numbers 'unworkable'
Local business vital in unprecedented times, says MP
Club hears about Rotary project in Nepal
Police seek whereabouts of missing woman
Aged care resident pays surprise visit for 94th birthday
Lottery win
Project wants reports of whale sightings
Collapse  FORUM FORUM
Fuel prices: Talking, writing and urging is not working
Plastic debris on beaches almost unbelievable
Try local police station for lost keys
Make dog signs bigger
Collapse  ARTS ARTS
Pearl Beach music scholarship concert is postponed
Collapse  EDUCATION EDUCATION
Woy Woy loses demountable classroom
Social distancing not required on buses, says operator
Year Five opportunity class placements delayed
Kindergarten information sessions rescheduled
Collapse  SPORT SPORT
Surfing coach wins award
Collapse  HISTORY HISTORY
Wrecked at Bouddi Point
Paddle steamer wreck gives Maitland Bay its name

Rotary club hosts international speaker online

The Rotary Club of Woy Woy has taken advantage of operating online during the coronavirus pandemic to host an international speaker at its recent meeting.

The club joined the Rotary Club of Terrigal to hear a speaker from the club's sister club in South Africa, the Helderberg Sunrise Rotary Club in Somerset West, located about a 40-minute drive out of Cape Town.

The South African club's community services chair Mr Chris van der Leij spoke about the challenging conditions being faced in South Africa during the coronavirus pandemic.

He said the lack of social security and government funded health care, as well as the overcrowded living conditions, had led to issues of health and hunger for those living in African townships.

Woy Woy club president Mr Don Tee summarised the main points of the presentation.

"He told us that, of the 60 million people in South Africa, the majority work in the informal sector - housekeepers, gardeners, domestics, selling goods at traffic lights and the great majority have no money saved.

"Of these, three million people receive a grant of about $A30 a month with which they have to feed a family.

"Unemployment is running at about 40 to 50 per cent.

"Many of these families are living in sheds of four metres by four metres which, in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, is making social distancing impossible.

"Sheds are adjacent to other sheds and people share a water tap out in the street.

"A queue forms for the tap.

"The Helderberg Sunrise Rotary club has also been providing food parcels to enable these people to survive but they are only able to feed a tiny percentage of the people who need their support.

"Each of their basic parcels costs the club about $A20 and is enough food to keep a family of four alive for the week.

"Unfortunately, there is a need to provide more nutritious food that would inevitably be more expensive.

"Crops in garden plots tend to be stolen before the owner can get to them.

"The Rotary club distributes food via other non-government organisations as this enables the club to concentrate on raising funds and providing the food rather than on the distribution.

"The club also supports schooling in the African townships and provides books that are specially written for primary school children as well as providing food.

"Chris commented that often they find that the little food they provide is shared by the recipients with their friends and neighbours.

"The community spirit is very strong.

"Chris presented a very disturbing picture of the situation in the African townships.

"He was very emotional when in summary he said that he felt it important to have done something with his life that would embody the Rotary motto of Service above Self."



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