Bally Barker Blog

Winning by Twinning   Our guest speaker on Tuesday 14 th November 2023 was Dr Rob Baume who gave an inspiring talk titled “ Winning by Twinning: Helping yourself by helping others ”.   Dr Rob Baume Dr Rob was introduced by Heather Sare who first met him in the Whitsundays some 18 months ago. Rob is a Rheumatologist with many years of clinical experience but also is also the founder of the Twice The Doctor Foundation which has raised close to $1 million for training of medical workforce in Africa. Rob explained that his charity - mainly aimed at practicing doctors in Australia is a new concept in effective volunteering. He explained that a doctor can work for 1 day in his/her own practice and pay over 1-month’s wages of medical workers in much of Africa.   Rob compared this funding to a medical professional volunteering in Africa where frequently one doesn’t speak the language , often doesn’t have the required skill set, and cannot take 9 months

Just to catch up with a few happenings: On Friday October 27, the National Final of the Science and Engineering Challenge was held at Sydney Olympic Park. What is the Science and Engineering Challenge? The Science and Engineering Challenge (SEC) is a nationwide STEM outreach program presented by the University of Newcastle in partnership with communities, Rotary clubs, universities, and sponsors. Through the SEC, students experience aspects of science and engineering which they would not usually see in their school environment. It is a national program, running Challenge Days (for high school students) and Discovery Days (for primary school students) across every state and territory in Australia. Teams of students from different schools compete against each other in a series of eight challenges, including: ·     Bridge: students construct a model bridge out of balsa wood and masking tape, which then must support a rail car carrying increasingly heavy wei