Barberton’s Rotary Anns brings light and joy to the community

Rotary International was established in 1905 and has been around for over 100 years. This club, which takes on tough challenges and helps a wide range of service organisations, was initially an all-men’s club. This was not for very long though, as the first women to actively participate in Rotary can be traced back as far as 1911. This was the year that the first all-women Rotary club came into being in Duluth, Minnesota.

This one existed alongside the men’s club, but held its meetings on different days. The history about how women came to hold their own in Rotary is a long and interesting one. Generally known as Rotary Anns, this name was derived from the wives of two Rotarians who were part of this club during the early 1900s. Rotarians Henry Brunier of San Francisco and Guy Gundaker of Philadelphia boarded a special train to a convention in 1914. Their wives were the only females on the train and both their names were Ann. By the time they had reached their destination, they were known as Rotary Anns. 

Today many women are part of Rotary and this network of femnales is still known as Rotary Anns.
Barberton’s Rotary Anns has through the years thrown its weight with the men and today it forms a valuable part of this organisation.

Recently the Anns visited some of the more remote communities outside of town. The group comprised Nic and Elsie Eksteen, George and Veronica Pearse, Heleen Mets, Roland Jones and Sakkie Dednam. They went past the Shiaylongubo Dam before arriving at their first stop, the community hall of Sinqobile. 
At the hall, they met up with ANC Ward 1 councillor, Sindisiwe Irene Gama. Gama was responsible for drawing up the list of underprivileged households which was to be used by the Rotary Anns. 
“Councillor Gama assisted us superbly during the course of the day,” said Elsie, wife of Barberton’s Rotary president, Nic.

They distributed blankets, maize meal and socks, and purses were distributed among the elderly. The Anns also handed out solar lights to grade 11 learners as well as notepads, pens and purses. Among these were 24 material bags filled with stationery. These bags were made by Rotary Ann, Annette van Rensburg. Paper bags with stationery were also handed out to the grades one to three learners of Sinqobile Primary, and to their delight; all the kids, including the preschoolers, received sweets before the group left for Louieville. The blankets were sponsored by the Rotary men.

At Louieville Combined School, they found learners hard at work preparing for the exams. Here, Consol solar lights as well as stationery bags were handed out before the group departed.
“The principal, Vusimuzi Thwala, gave us a warm welcome,” said Elsie.
“What we noticed was how neat these pupils were in their school uniforms and how grateful they were for the donations. Hopefully, we as Rotary Anns managed to bring a little light and warmth, literally and figuratively, to a small number of of people. I am very thankful to each and every one who assisted us to make this project a success.”