Hub Report for 7th March 2023
Philip and Cristy Newall
Club Sergeant Justice Rhule opened the meeting at 7:15pm held at the Viking Sports Club. President Trudy Stevenson welcomed our three guests and 18 Club members who were in attendance. Apologies were received from Mike Morgan, Jules Adan, Aaron Kamarajan and Dexter Tabeta.
Guest Speaker
The Sergeant gave us five minutes to socialize before Ellen Harvison introduced our guest speaker, Martha Jabour, OAM. Martha was recognised for her role in being the Director of Homicide Victims Support Group.
Martha’s story started by saying she had a good life and home, but her second son died at seven weeks old in 1986. Two women from the Sudden Infant Death Association of NSW helped her through this difficult time.
Martha is the eldest of seven. Her mother is a quiet and religious person and she ruled the home, but her father thinks he is in charge.
When her son Michael died, she was introduced to the support group, which made Martha stronger. She attended conferences to articulate her grief and loss, hoping that someone in the audience would think if she/he can do it and survive, then they can too. It was not long before she met John Barber, a member of the Northern Suburbs Parent Support Group and formed a great friendship. Both were involved in committees. They organized the Red Nose Day, which they thought to be a great thing. At that time, the national office of Sudden Infant Death Association were undecided about this initiative (thinking that it was making fun of something serious), but Martha and John Barber (along with other four or five people) looked at it very differently, and felt that it could be fun. People want to know why their babies died, and Red Nose Day was the means to that end.
With Red Nose Day, they raised a great deal of money and over the years - over $2million for sudden infant death research. There is a research project in New Zealand that look at what parents could do that could minimize the risk of their babies dying. She and Michael Corboy, the retired NSW Assistant Police Commissioner, whose son Aaron died in 1986 thought of how many babies they helped save. Martha is proud to say that they have played a part in saving the lives of tens of thousands of babies worldwide
Martha trained as a grief counsellor and she attended as many courses as she possibly could. The most rewarding aspect was parent contact. A major part of her role was going to the mortuary to look after babies at post-mortem. Some parents would ask for a photo, locks of hair or fingernails clipping of their baby.
A phone call in June 1993 from the Head of the Social Work Department of the Police led her to be introduced to the parents of Anita Cobby, as they want to set up a support group for families of homicide victims. Martha felt that she was heavily committed, but agreed to work for 18 months on a voluntary basis. She knew from the very first phone call she made to a mother whose two daughters, unborn grandson and husband had been killed in a terrible accident that she would not go back to Sudden Infant Death Association. That woman’s phone call made Martha realize that families of homicide got nothing. There was no-one to speak up for them and no-one to advocate for them.
Martha’s journey with homicide and support group has lasted for 30 years. She is passionate about the group. What she loved about the Rotary Club of Carlingford is how it embraced her life, which has been great.
As it is International Women’ Day (and she feels that there should be an International Men’s Day, too), Martha gave a history of how it all started in 1908. She also asked the Club members present to give names of women of powerful women in e.g., politics, tennis, gymnastics, authors, CEOs, culinary arts, top models, astronauts, social work, entrepreneurs, and Rotary. It was clear from the responses that there was less appreciation of the role of women in these areas. She felt fortunate to have been surrounded by some very able female colleagues, in her work.
PP Gary Hayman gave the vote of thanks and mentioned that it was good to learn so much more about Martha,
Market Report: Rod Jolly was the Market Treasurer and he reported 34 stalls on Sunday, $1800 was collected from stallholders, $466 from the gate and $25 for tables. Russ Riddell was the Market Manager with Justice Rhule, Philip and Cristy Newall on the first shift and Bass Bhaskaran, Trudy and James Stevenson on the second shift.
Clean Up Australia Day: Sandra Payne reported that she, Rod Jolly, Ed Strom, Trudy Stevenson and Claire Chance collected lots of rubbish last Saturday, 4th of March. She said that in 2015, the NSW government set a litter reduction target of 40% by 2020. There was less litter than expected and there were less cigarette ends.
Club’s Mobile Phone: Gary Hayman reported that he will take calls now, so that we can cancel the Club’s mobile phone (which costs $47/month).
Club Presidents Training: PE Bass Bhaskaran attended the meeting for incoming Club Presidents. There were several areas mentioned by Rotary International that need to be addressed – these are: relevance, regionalisation, budget, theme and what do we do. Bass enjoyed the meeting with other Rotarians.
International Service: PP Philip Newall reported that he and Cristy are preparing for their upcoming volunteer hearing services in Samoa. It has been three years since their last trip.
Heads and Tails, Happy Fines and other Fines: After the second round, Cristy Newall won a virtual bottle of wine. Her husband promised to assist in its virtual consumption. Gary paid a happy fine for the North Rocks Market entry on Facebook, which he felt had been improved by photographs posted by Cristy Newall and Tony Colaco. Philip Newall said he and Cristy received the $10K worth of hearing aids and may other items, which they will fit to Samoan children next week. Trudy Stevenson was happy to see Cristy’s newly acquired Cinderella shoes from the Philippines (Cristy should have bought more examples for the other lady Rotarians in the Club). Rod Jolly paid a conscience money for not bringing a bottle of wine for tonight’s Heads and Tails. Justice was fined for not appearing last week (he was at Vikings Sports Club and not at Dundas).
Prior to closing the meeting, President Trudy asked James Addo to introduce his friend Paul Keteku who helps a lot with Ghana communities. He would like to join our Club.
President Trudy thanked our guest speaker, Martha Jabour and she reminded everyone that it is a partner’s night next week with a special presentation by Monica Saville. She also invited everyone to watch “Funny Money” at the Pavilion Theatre, Castle Hill, which is a fundraising activity of the Rotary Club of North Rocks.
The meeting closed with the national anthem.
Greetings Rotarians and friends ! 
