District Governor Ann
DGA Cheryl Jennings
Cheryl is a Benoni girl, born and bred. She was born on 23rd August 1956 and has spent virtually her entire life in Benoni.
She has two adult sons – Ross (43) and Grant (41). Ross is married to her amazing daughter-in-law, Rachael, and they live in Rugby in the UK. They have one son – Alex – who is Cheryl's only grandchild, and is her pride and joy. He is 4, turning 5 in December. Grant lives in Sarasota in Florida in the USA and he enjoys his independence too much to settle down and get married. Ross and Grant are both Software Architects. With a brother in Texas and another in New Zealand, Cheryl finds herself travelling the world far more than she would ever have expected, but loving every journey she makes.
When she left school, she enrolled at the Johannesburg General Hospital to study nursing and qualified as a RN in 1976. She then transferred to the Boksburg Benoni Hospital qualifying as a Registered Midwife. Shortly after getting married, Cheryl decided it would be fun to study part-time. She enrolled at Unisa for so many random interesting subjects – including statistics, criminology, Zulu and philosophy - finally graduating with a BA degree, majoring in English and Psychology.
Cheryl decided to put her degree to good use and completed a Higher Education Diploma followed by a Further Diploma in Education, and graduated with a BEd Hons in 2004. She started teaching English to high school students in 1987 and retired at the end of 2021. Cheryl can honestly say she loved her teaching career. It is so inspiring, and challenging, working with teenagers. One cannot help but be buoyed by their enthusiasm and optimism.
Cheryl joined the Rotary Club of Benoni van Ryn in July 2003 and served as their first female president in 2007 / 2008. During her years with Benoni van Ryn she served on all the committees at different stages. She was the secretary of the club from 2005 to 2007 and again from 2016 to 2018. Cheryl was honoured to be recognised as a Paul Harris Fellow in 2013. The Benoni van Ryn Club works very closely with the Anns Club and there has always been an excellent mutually beneficial relationship between the Anns and the Rotarians. It seemed the natural step therefore for her to join the Anns once I retired in 2021.
As DG Ann her goal for this Rotary year is to enhance the relationship between Rotarians and the Anns, and increase awareness of and recognition for the amazing work being achieved by the Anns. Cheryl is very aware of the diminishing numbers of Anns as a result of increasing age and health issues and the closing of some Rotary Clubs. She strongly believes, though, that the Anns still have a very important role to play in the Rotary family. It is her opinion that the Anns have always fulfilled a different function to that of Rotarians, while still being supportive of all Rotary projects. Cheryl believe's that the Anns play a more gentle, nurturing part in caring for the community, while the Rotarians tend to meet the more practical needs.
That is why it is so important for the Anns to continue. We need to recognise women in our communities who want to help others and invite them to attend Anns’ meetings. We need to encourage the Rotary clubs which do not have Anns to identify someone in their area who might be interested in starting an Anns club. Building strong Anns clubs will provide more support for Rotarians, and together we can do so much more to uplift our communities and spread the goodwill which is the essence of Rotary.
