travel abroad, we wear a small insignia badge, and other Inner Wheel club members recognize us instantly and come up to us to say hello! You really do have friends all around the world!”
belonging to the Inner Wheel Club is that you’re not alone – you’re part of an international body with close to 4000 clubs worldwide! Whenever we
“One of the great things about
are expensive. Most orphans have to settle for second-hand wheel chairs. Tese are just little things that people take for granted, being able to sit at the dinner table or walk from A to B; but disabled children who need wheelchairs don’t have this luxury, especially if they come from less fortunate circumstances.” Another project that the Inner Wheel Club funded this past year was to restore vision and sight to more than 100 orphans. “Getting eyes checked by an optician and buying prescription lenses is something we do for our children without thinking twice, but orphans don’t have this kind of life.” So the Inner Wheel Club stepped in to organise professional check-ups and raised funds to buy prescriptive glasses for those who needed them. “Even their shoes - while visiting this orphanage I noticed that some of them had to wear oversized shoes donated by other people, with holes and tears on them. Tese are simple things that they can’t afford to change.” So Inner Wheel raised funds to buy shoes, uniforms, bags, stationery and even haircuts for these orphans. One of the larger commitments
that the Inner Wheel Club of Malaysia has pledged is to help provide tertiary education to children from low-income families. “We work with SEGi University to provide tuition scholarships to families whose household income is less than RM3000 a month. Inner Wheel also raises funds to help cover their ancillary expenses. Otherwise the students cannot fully benefit from the scholarship because living costs money.” An international project Juanita participated in, nicknamed the “Granny
20 FENGSHUIWORLD | JULY / AUGUST 2013
Project” in Chiang Mei took their reach international. These were Grandmothers of orphaned children whose parents had been affected by the HIV virus. Inner Wheel raised funds to equip these grandmothers with sewing machines and materials to make clothes, blankets, sheets and curtains for their wards. We gifted the children with bicycles so they can bike to school daily.” The District 330 Inner Wheel
Club of Malaysia headed by Juanita is 65 Years old, and it is affiliated to a network of international Clubs across 103 countries. Inner Wheel is today the largest women’s service voluntary organisation in the world, established back in January 1924 by the wives and daughters of Rotarians (who were not allowed to join the exclusive gentlemen-only Rotary Club). Mrs Margarette Golding (a nurse, business woman and wife of a Manchester Rotarian) and her group of lady friends met in a Cooling Room at Herriot’s Turkish Baths (Deansgate, UK) to initiate the idea of a club! You have to credit the founders for their foresight in laying down the core values and purpose that underpin this great club - to “promote true friendship, encourage ideals in personal service to others, and foster international understanding”. Juanita has served as District
Chairman for a year now, and it is time to make way for someone else to take on the leadership role. “All District Chairpersons are allowed to serve for one year only. Tis is one of the best things of the Club - everyone is given a chance to be a leader. Te Inner Wheel Club is a place where
leaders are shaped through service - you begin as an ordinary member. Soon you get invited to serve in a committee maybe for about two years before joining the Executive Committee (like Treasurer, Secretary, etc). It is up to you whether you want to do it or not, but you will definitely get asked! Like me, I became Vice President and then President of the KL Club and then I was invited to serve in the District-level Committee!”
WOMAN OF MANY TALENTS Juanita is skilled in other things; for instance, she is the ultimate Domestic Goddess and is incredibly talented in the kitchen! Our dharma group of friends have been enjoying this side of Juanita for some time now. Recently at our 10-day Tara retreat, this amazing lady together with her Inner Wheel friends – Datin Pek Ling, Vinet and Foong volunteered to be in charge of providing the twice daily vegetarian meals for 18 people throughout the retreat! Honestly, many of us wondered how
we were going to survive more than two days of going completely vegetarian, but over the ten days, these dakinis (a Tibetan term for cosmic angels) served up dish after dish after dish of mouth- wateringly delicious vegetarian food! Explains Juanita, “This is also a
result of having served at Inner Wheel, because we have so many gatherings together we end up being very creative in our recipes and sharing our goodies with others!” Here’s a fantastic vegetarian Turnip
Salad recipe with roasted pine - nuts – lovingly put together by Juanita and shared with all of you readers!
www.fswmag.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96