Rotary International is a small world. While working at a conference in Addis Ababa Grays Rotarian Alan Peaford spotted the iconic rondel badge on one of the delegates.
Within minutes Alan and Yonathan Menkir had discovered a mutual love of aviation and in particular flying Cessna 172 aircraft.
One hour later Alan was attending a joint Rotary meeting of some seven clubs in the Addis Ababa district when the Rotarians were hearing about cervical cancer in the East African country where there is just one treatment centre for 100 million people.
Rotary District 9212 is investigating what it can do to introduce more screening and early intervention.
“I was also delighted to hear that Yonathan is in the process of developing an aviation-focused club to run alongside Addis Ababa Bole club which is located by the country’s main airport hub. He hadn’t heard of IFFR (International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians) of which Grays Thurrock club has the largest chapter in the world. I am pleased to say he has now joined and I think the Addis Aviation Rotary Club will give us a run for membership numbers,” he said.
Caption: Yonathan (left) and Alan (right) with Ethiopian TV presenter at the joint meeting in Addis Ababa
