| Posted by Darcy Duzan on Mar 08, 2012
This fundraiser for a vocational scholarship in South Africa was held Thursday, March 8, 2012 at the Charleston Country Club. Guests enjoyed appetizers of chicken sosaties and frikadellers while enjoying a performance by Eastern Illinois University's Afro-Cuban Ensemble. The themed dinner consisted of salad, Cape Malay chicken, bobotie (an Indonesian beef casserole), and vegetables. For dessert pampoenkoekies with cinnamon sugar were served.
Following dinner, Dr. Roger Beck, Ph.D. in African History and author of The History of South Africa, provided a brief overview of the country. Then Alex Gano, District 6490 Ambassadorial Scholar, provided a captivating account of his year in South Africa. One of his special accomplishments was a Thanksgiving fundraising dinner hosted by his host club, The Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn. They raised more than enough funds to send a worthy South African to culinary school for a year. The club president and the scholarship recipient were seen in a video link. In the next few weeks Alex will report on the success of our dinner, which hopefully raised enough funds to provide another vocational scholarship in Johannesburg.
He expressed special thanks to Andy Methven, Mary Droste, Danelle Larson, Deborah Muller, Judi Konrad, Rick Hunt, the Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn, the Rotary Foundation, his parents, and the people of South Africa. We were also honored to have District Governor Ron Schettler and his wife and Tom Hodson, District Outbound Ambassadorial Scholar Committee leader, and his wife in attendance. Thank you to everyone who supported this enjoyable evening and worthy project.
Alex will also be the featured speaker on Friday night, April 27, 2012 at the Annual District 6490 Conference in Effingham. |