Rotary Intercity Conference
Fun, Friends and Fellowship
By Catherine Swanbrow
The day dawned
clear and hot. The road to Mbauda was a nightmare with a traffic
accident and the start of road works, but we arrived on time.
The conference
started with a lecture on ‘Are you a Rotarian, or a just a member of a
Rotary Club?’ by Past District Governor Hatim Karimjee. Well what a good
start, we all listened attentively. The lectures continued with other
interesting subjects, culminating with a great talk by Past District
Governor Amir Somji on how he had enjoyed being a member of Rotary for
39 years and some of the amazing experiences he has had when helping
others.
We also heard from
Sharmila Bhatt on the importance of planting trees, from Harish Bhatt
about Team Building, Faye Cran on ‘Membership’ and Jayesh Asher on the
‘Future Vision’ of Rotary.
 I
have to say with all the concentration we were ready for lunch, and a
beautiful spread was supplied by Mama Grace of Olasiti Gardens, curries,
salads, rice, chips and fruit. 
And then the
afternoon of Fun and Fellowship started. Can you imagine what we got up
to! We were racing snails, chickens and hospital beds. Surinder Bhandari
was the auctioneer, and he did a great job indeed. Have you ever heard
of a snail selling for Tsh70,000! Well it was very pretty and Karin
Gleisner was entranced. Each snail was decorated with paint to show its
name, this one was called ‘Flower Power’.
When the eight
snails had been sold, it was time to auction the twelve chickens, and
with names like ‘Flying Feathers’ and ‘Randy Andy, they soon acquired
owners.
Then it was time
for the race. The snails were in position and they were off, they were
off, they were, well lets just say it was not a speedy race. They were
inside a circle and had to reach the outer ring to win, the ring was
lined with cucumber slices for temptation. The winner by a tentacle was
‘Racing Stripes’ with a close second of ‘This is Spiral Tap!’
Poor Pierre
Raillard tempted his ‘Spotty Dotty’ with cucumber, as she was stuck in
the water hazard, but she rejected his kindness and turned back inside
the circle. I spoke to Pierre this morning and was still traumatized by
his snails’ misfortune.
And then to the
kuku’s, well they were fantastic. Mama Kuku aka Faye Cran raced her snow
white chickens with their numbers tied to their backs! During their
training, ‘Finger Licking’ was clearly the fastest, with ‘Wish Bone’ a
winner of the trials.
Have you ever
watched a chicken run? The back view is hilarious, they wiggle their
bottoms from side to side and their heads bob like balloons on strings.
Well the crowd went wild as the kuku’s raced. Charlie banged the feeder
and they ran. The winner was ‘Flirty Freddy’ his little red legs
speeding towards the chakula as fast as he could. Finally Pierre was a
very happy man.
The winnings were
distributed and thank-you to all who put their winnings back in the pot,
we raised Tsh763,000/= and $48. This includes money raised on Friday
evening a group of tourists with Gippsland Travel and good friends who
came for sundowners and a trial racing at Duluti.
This money is
designated to mend beds for Mount Meru Hospital. The beds were then
raced. Three teams, Dar es Salaam, Babati and Usa River, with four
people pushing the beds and the ‘patient’ clinging on for dear life!
Pole sana to Dar es Salam who had me on their team, our very broken bed
got ‘stuck’ on a stone and refused to push to the end, we had to turn
round, go back, and pretend we had won. Well done to Babati, they won
fair and square by a headboard! Sponsors for the beds were found and
Niki Wood Works gave a very generous Tsh50,000/=, Killimanjaro Golf and
Game Lodge kindly donated a whopping Tsh285,000/=. The grand total came
to approximately Tsh/= 1,751,000/=
The Fun and
Fellowship finished for the afternoon and people went home to recover
and prepare for the evenings activities.
I think a special
thank-you must be said to certain members of the Usa River Rotary Club
who organised the afternoon activities. President Ingela Skarp worked
hard to gain sponsors for the hospital beds and to achieve such a great
afternoon. Without the help of Wendy Kelly and Rebecca Jackson however
with their sterling work on the betting system, money could not have
been raised. Well done to you.
The Dinner Dance
was held at Kibo Palace and with 70 people there it was quite a do.
There was live music from the in house band and the ladies all looked
very beautiful. The raffle had wonderful prizes including alcoholic
spirits, a coffee set and a copper clock. Juzer Mohammed reported that
the fellowship and interaction was fantastic, the Babati club members
were new to all and just like during the day, they were great fun to get
to know. The fundraiser for Foundation, Polio Awareness Campaign and
local charities, raised Tsh250,000/=
So well done to
all involved. It just shows that Rotarians work hard and play hard to
raise money for their communities. Please call Walter Meada on 0754
287639 for more information on how to become a Rotarian.
*** Please note that some of the information on the winners and owners
may not be correct as Faye Cran, Mama Kuku had this data in her handbag.
Faye was brutally beaten as she arrived home from this fundraiser on
Saturday night. The thieves lay in wait for her and stole her handbag
amongst other things. The thieves may have believed that Faye had the
money, she of course did not.
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