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Our guest speaker on Tuesday was Norah Khalaf , born in Iraq , Yazidi community.

Norah Currently working as a community development worker for STARTTS in Wagga and she was introduced by a work colleague and Wollundry Rotary member Ali Reid.

Nora’s family were farmers and had a business making stock feed. Her father encouraged her to pursue education and she was the first member of her family to complete primary and secondary school despite the adversity and trauma experienced by her community.

She came to Wagga Wagga as a refugee in 2023 after ISIS committed a genocide against the Yazidi people in 2014.

She studied Petroleum and Mining Engineering (University of Mosul Iraq) whilst a refugee in the northern part of Iraq (Kurdistan) against great adversity – with no permanent housing, ongoing attacks by ISIS, limited resources to study and live.

Her graduation project was on heavy oil treatment using EOR technique. She has experience in fieldwork at North Oil Refineries Company Kirkuk Refinery and Qayara Oil Field. She also worked on Civil Engineering Projects in Iraq.

The family attempted to leave Iraq but were stopped at the Turkish border. They remained living in a refugee camp until receiving refugee visa’s to resettle in Australia in 2023.

Nora worked for a number of Not For Profit Organisations supporting refugees in Iraq including Yazda International, World Health Organization, Norwegian Refugee Council and Mercy Hands for Humanitarian Aid.

Nora taught English to fellow students as a volunteer in Iraq.

Guest Speaker John Ferguson Gives an Update on the DRC

Member John Ferguson was our guest speaker on Tuesday with a PowerPoint presentation updating the club on the tragic state of war currently occuring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The main points of John's presentation were that:

Third decade of wars in the DRC
Wars have displaced 7.5 million people
Currently 2 million people are at risk of starvation
7 thousand people killed in the DRC
M23 army backed by Rwanda

John's sister, Dr Barbara Ferguson has a long history of providing aid and years of supportto the Pygmies in the DRC. Wollundry has donated funds to the Pygmie effort through Barbara and have had Barbara as a guest speaker on several occasions. Barbara is the author of several books and her most recent is "Don't Look Away" about the problems with the Pygmies in DRC. She attended a Wollundry meeting in January of 2020 where she discussed her book and made copies avaliable for members to purchase.

For further information contact:

Dr Barbara Ferguson OAM

bfergu5on@bigpond.com

Publications:

Rain in My Heart – Stories from the war in South Vietnam

Don’t Look Away – Helping the pygmies in the DRC

Wollundry Presents $10,000 Cheque to Coolamon Rotary

David Byfield came to the podium and spoke about attending a special event on Monday evening December 9th at the Property of Adrian Lindner.

As President of Coolamon Rotary, Adrian accepted a cheque for $10,000, on behalf of his Rotary Club and all their members for all their involvement in supporting the Gears and Beers.

Adrian and his property have a much more direct involvement in the Gears and Beers. It is through his land of wheat and canola crops that the riders cycle each year. The banner for Wollundry's internet home page is of a rider cycling through Adrian's canola crop.

Adrian's family have farmed their land for 6 generations. The homestead is over 100 years old. The property name is " Lindoris", which is a combination of Lindner and Doris. The first living child born on the property was named "Doris". The road at the front of the property is Lindne's Lane. For the cyclists, the homestead and out buildings are part of the charm of experiencing close up a beautiful and truly historic Australian property.

It was a clear beautiful country evening and someone pointed out the rare occurance of Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn and Earth all alligned in a straight line. The International Space Station was also observed for 7 minutes crossing the sky.

Wollundry Rotarians Bill Parker and Pat Ingram also attended the presentation.

Australian Geographic calls Gears and Beers the "Best of Both Worlds"

Australian travel writer Dan Slater has published an article in the Australian Geographic online that can only be described as a extremely complimentary description of his positive experiences in last years Gears and Beers and encouraging cyclists to come to Wagga and participate in this years October 5th and 6th event. He not only recognises the adventure of the ride, but the fun of the festival, the quality of the local craft beer and the great benefit to the community through the efforts of Wollundry Rotary and all their supporting community organizations.

He has titled it Best of both worlds: Riding Wagga’s Gears + Beers cycling festival. The story subtitle goes: The 2024 Beers and Gears is on October 6 and is a must-ride. Just ask Dan Slater, who recounts last year’s running of this unique event that combines bicycles and craft breweries in the best possible way. Click here to read the article.

David Post

Welcome to Wollundry Rotary
We meet at lunchtime on Tuesdays at 12:30 at The Lawson Riverside Suites
117-121 Tarcutta Street, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650

Postal Address: PO Box 229 Wagga Wagga 2650

Email address: secretary@wollundryrotary.org.au

Wollundry Rotary is home to the Saturday Markets (held from 9 to 1pm in the Civic Gardens next to the Civic Theatre),
the Gears and Beers Festival, the Wollundry Photo Competition and
the Wagga Food and Wine Festival (temporarily in recess)