Volume 02 Issue 16

Dear Fellow Rotarians,

Whilst there were not so many of us at our luncheon meeting last week, we were very pleased to welcome back visiting Rotarians Rainer Jungjohann from the RC of Norderstedt in Hamburg, Germany and PP Joseph Kwan from the RC of Kowloon Golden Mile.


President Ramesh and visiting Rotarian Rainer Jungjohann

President Ramesh also welcomed back PP Bruce who was unable to be with us last week and PP Chris who has been missing from our ranks for a while. Since he missed his birthday meeting in August, PP Chris was presented with his birthday gift and a song from his fellow Rotarians.

Sgt at Arms Frank reported that donations to the box totalled HK$510, which included fines to Rtn Raju for forgetting his pin and PP Peter for not wearing his name badge. After walking for some distance down Nathan Road after the previous meeting, PP Peter noticed he was getting quite a bit of attention from passers by. However, it was not his good looks that were attracting the attention, but his prominent name badge which he had forgotten to remove!

Till next week …

Yours in Rotary,
Nicole Burt


SPEAKERS THIS MONTH

Last Week’s Speaker (12th October) was Mr Klaus Heyman, described in his introduction by VP Nic, as a doyen of music in Hong Kong. As well as being the founder and Chairman of HNH International Ltd, Mr Heyman is the founding father of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Together with his wife – renowned Japanese violinist Takako Nishizaki – he has built HNH International Ltd into the world’s leading classical record company, with subsidiaries in all major music markets around the globe. HNH today produces no fewer than 300 new recordings for its Naxos and Marco Polo labels every year, ranging from classical music to spoken word, jazz and world music.

His presentation entitled “The Music Industry, New Formats and the Internet” took us from the traditional business model to hybrid business models and finally new formats and new technology.

The traditional business model – choosing the artists and repertoire, recording, manufacturing the physical product (CD, MC and DVD), marketing and promoting through traditional media and finally selling the finished product – is still alive and well.

The “Amazon.com” model, which is mail-order in all but name, seemed a very good idea at the time, but a number of problems soon came to be associated with this model, including promotion, discounting, customer service, delivery costs and ultimately warehousing.

The new business models are streaming (by subscription), downloading (such as tracks supplied by independents like Vivendi, Universal and Napster) and webcasting. The weaknesses associated with these are that music consumers cannot find everything on one website. Broadband and new compression technology may make huge all-music sites the solution, with promotion determining which songs are downloaded or streamed.

PP Bruce thanked Mr Heyman for raising the cultural level of the Club with his presentation.


Presenting our club banner to guest speaker Mr Klaus Heymann

This Week’s Speaker (19th October): Mr Dominic Brittain, whom many of us will remember from his riveting presentation to us on the explosive subject of bomb disposal, returns this week in his capacity as a Director of the Hong Kong Adventureship.

Friday 26th October: Mr Les Whittle of Holt China Children’s Services will be updating us on the baby formula programme we are involved in with RC of Fox Lake, as well as adoption in China.

 


NEWS – NEWS – NEWS

ROTARY NEWS

As promised last week, the next few issues of The Sampan will highlight three Citation Award Programmes which our Club can work towards. It would be wonderful to receive at least one of these awards.

The 2001-02 Presidential Citation Program
Distinguished Club Citation

The are four distinct sections to this program, each of which requires the completion of a certain number of achievements and therefore the cooperation of all members:

Membership Development (complete all four achievements)

1. Average one new member per month with a net club growth of five members;
2. At least three club members must attend the district membership seminar (achieved);
3. Conduct a club assembly/meeting to develop a club membership strategy;
4. Implement the Strategies for Member Education program in the club.

Rotary’s Public Image (complete five out of six achievements)

1. Conduct a club assembly/meeting and implement a plan to promote Rotary within the community (President Ramesh is involved in this at the District level);
2. Implement a program recognising an outstanding vocational achievement by a club member;
3. Implement a program to encourage club members to wear their Rotary pin daily;
4. Appropriately display the Rotary emblem in the community;
5. Receive significant media coverage of Rotary club events on at least six occasions;
6. Place Rotary information “spots” or advertisements in the newspaper, on the radio and/or on TV.

Rotary Education and Training (complete all five achievements)

1. Club president, secretary, treasurer and four club directors (or their designates) must attend the 2001 District Assembly;
2. Club president, secretary and treasurer (or their designates) must attend/register for the District Conference;
3. 15% of club members must attend/register for the District Conference;
4. 50% of new club members must attend/register for the District Conference;
5. Welcome all new members into the club through a formal induction ceremony.

Club Development and Improvement (complete six out of eight achievements)

1. Produce a regular club communication (achieved);
2. Maintain a current club directory (achieved);
3. Conduct quality weekly meeting programming (achieved so far);
4. Conduct six meetings concerning Rotary programs or projects;
5. Implement a procedure to discourage members from leaving club meetings early;
6. Sponsor/participate in at least one new community service project (achieved);
7. Sponsor/participate in at least one new World Community Service or PolioPlus Partners project (must complete);
8. Host/sponsor at least one Rotary Volunteer, Youth Exchange student, Rotary Foundation Scholar or Group Study Exchange team member (achieved).


CLUB NEWS

Rotary Club of Kowloon North and Rotary Club of Macau Joint Meeting

The Rotary Club of Macau has invited us to join them in a Joint Meeting and Fellowship as follows:

Date: 23rd November 2001, Friday
Venue: Macau Military Club, No. 975 Avenida Praia Grande
(It takes less than 5 mins. by taxi from the jetfoil pier to the venue)
Time: 8:00 p.m. Fellowship
8:30 p.m. Meeting / Dinner
Food: Macanese Style
Charge: MOP/HK$160.00 per person
Program: A 15-minute video on our Guangxi Schools Project will be shown.

A Friday evening has been chosen so that we might all enjoy the fellowship till the small hours followed by a relaxing weekend in Macau for those of us who are interested. PP Stella is encouraging all Rotarians and their spouses, friends and families to join in and has very kindly offered to assist in arranging hotel accommodation for those who require it.

We need to know let PP Stella know the number of attendees by no later than 19th November so please advise VP Nic or President Ramesh as soon as you are able to, whether or not you will be attending and how many guests (spouse, friend, family member) you will be bringing.


FELLOWSHIP NEWS

The Fellowship Evening on Friday was another thoroughly enjoyable evening at Cococabana Restaurant on Lamma Island, ably entertained by a wonderful band of local musicians playing the sort of Latin American music that had a number of us up on our feet dancing. Thanks to PP Michael for teaching me the “Cha Cha”! Although PP Gilbert’s natural effusiveness and singing ability was missed, we did our best to emulate his example and the trip back was a vocal one. We barely even noticed the boat tossing about in the waves as we reentered Victoria Harbour. Our thanks to IPP Bill for organising a wonderful evening for the members and their guests. I certainly look forward to our next event.

A gallery of photos from the evening is being compiled by IPP Bill and will shortly be available on the website. In the meantime, here is one from our trip back – I’m not sure if it was the boat that was tilting or the photographer!


Was that the boat or the drink that has us all tilting


MEMBER’S NEWS

Honorable Moments by President Ramesh

Last Thursday (11th) a delegation made up of IPP Bill, PP Robert, PP Chris Wong and myself, visited PP Uncle George Chu at his home to personally invite him to accept our invitation to be our Club’s Honorary Member for Rotary year 2001-2002 & 2002-2003 respectively. We presented him with plaques on The Object of Rotary and The Four-Way Test, together with our official letter inviting him to be our Honorary Member. As soon as he opened the letter his eyes were filled with tears. These tears demonstrated how much he appreciated our being there and giving him the respect and honor he most deserved.


Presentation to PP Uncle George, by PP Robert, President Ramesh, PP Chris and IPP Bill.


ROTARY FACTS

1989 – Council on Legislation opens Rotary to women.
2000/01 – Rotary clubs add a net 7,942 members, the first increase since 1997, representing a growth of 0.67%.
2001 – RI grants provisional status to clubs in Beijing and Shanghai, where Rotarians have been meeting for 4 and 2 years respectively. Unfortunately, neither club can be officially chartered until the Chinese government enacts a law governing non-governmental organisations.
2001 – Rotary operates in 163 countries, through 30,149 clubs and 1,188,492 members.
THE YANTU PROJECT UPDATE (courtesy of Veronique Faure for The Yantu crew)

The most important thing there is to know is that they made it to the starting line! Although it may sound obvious to you, it is a major achievement. 36 boats departed, all after months and months of hard work to build and equip their boats, find partners, train, raise money, and overcome logistical and administrative problems. The atmosphere on the pier in the little Harbour of San Juan was great during the last week, with most teams helping each other out with their various problems.

Christian and Sun Haibin were well prepared and their boat passed the technical and safety check without problems. I was impressed by how well-organised they were and how seriously prepared in all matters concerning safety. They even had a little time to spare on the afternoon before the race start, which we used to relax before the big event!

Christian and Sun Haibin get on well, they joke a lot (even Christian’s Danish humour translated in Chinese seems to make Sun Haibin laugh…) and they have the same attitude: their goal is not to make the best possible time to try and win the race, but rather to make it all the way across by pacing themselves and making safe choices. They are very aware that their physical health and their morale are crucial and that it is really important to take care of each other during the trip. This is reflected by their double motto, which Sun Haibin wrote in Chinese characters over the entrance of the cabin (a place that they are looking at when they are rowing): “Take it easy” and “Work as a team and you will achieve more”. I am very confident that they will have a successful trip.

Sadly, a lot of the stress came from a very chaotic and disappointing organisation from The Challenge Business, the race organisers, although they have been preparing this race for 4 years and have cashed in relatively high entrance fees from all teams. This created unnecessary stress and worry for virtually all teams, but at least now they are all away from this kind of hassle!

Nevertheless, the race start was an exciting event. All teams looked their best – Christian was wearing a Viking hat (fake metallic helmet with horns on the side) and Sun Haibin a typical Chinese “Rice Hat” (the ones worn to work in the fileds). Friends and families followed the start from a boat, and had a hard time finding a balance between their pride and excitement, but also their emotion and their worry to see their teams go. Within a few hours, the boats dispersed over the incredibly beautiful and very deep and very blue waters off Tenerife. Every boat went its own way… Christian and Sun Haibin decided to head South before going West. Some teams have chosen this strategy while others have been are heading more South-West from the beginning. Christian and Sun Haibin’s choice is longer in actual distance but should give them better weather and more wind and current to push them faster to Barbados!

Just now I received a first and very short satellite phone call from Christian: they had rough weather and were very seasick for the first 3 days, but are starting to get over it. This is inevitable considering how small the boats are, and all teams must be suffering from seasickness.

Finally, don’t forget that RTHK3 will be interviewing Christian live on the boat every Saturday at 12:10 Hong Kong time.


DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Sunday 28th October: District Ten Pin Bowling Tournament hosted by The Rotary Club of Kwai Chung at Mei Foo Super Fun Bowl. President Ramesh is still trying to put together a team for this event to represent our club. If you are available for a fun afternoon, please let him know. Bowling experience is not necessary – just the ability to enjoy yourself!

Tuesday 30th October: The District Vocational Service Seminar, hosted by Rotary Club of Peninsula, will be held at their regular luncheon meeting at the Hong Kong Hotel from 12.00 pm – 2.00 pm.

Thursday 1st November: This is the deadline for Rotarians to nominate a non-Rotarian or organisation for the 2002 Rotary Award for World Understanding and Peace. Forms are available from District Governors and the RI website.

Sunday 4th November: The 6th annual “Stride for a Cure” of the Hong Kong Cancer Fund. If you have registered and wish to support the event further, you can contact Rtn Brian Wong to obtain sponsorship forms. The form with the donation may be passed to him during the lunch meetings or on the event day. They will be collectively sent to the Cancer Fund on your behalf.

5th – 11th November: This week is designated World Interact Week by Rotary International, during which we are asked to plan some special activities with our Interactors.

Friday 16th November: OK Party Poopers! DG Johnson Chu will be joining our Friday luncheon meeting (rather than replacing the luncheon with an evening meeting/fellowship). This will also be the induction of Miss May Chan, so let’s all make an effort to attend this meeting and welcome May as a fellow Rotarian.

Friday 23rd November: Rotary Club of Kowloon North and Rotary Club of Macau Joint Meeting to be held at Macau Military Club, No. 975 Avenida Praia Grande (less than 5 mins. by taxi from the jetfoil pier). All members are encouraged to bring their spouses and families or friends with them so that we can enjoy an evening of fellowship with our Rotary friends in Macau, followed by a relaxing weekend in Macau.


ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY ….

Sunday 14th October:
1066 – The Battle of Hastings occurred in England. The Norman forces of William the Conqueror defeated King Harold II of England.
1926 – The book “Winnie-the-Pooh,” by A.A. Milne, made its debut.
1947 – Pilot Chuck Yeager flew the Bell X One rocket plane and became the first person to break the sound barrier.

Monday 15th October:
1860 – Grace Bedell, 11 years old, wrote a letter to presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln. The letter stated that Lincoln would look better if he would grow a beard.
1917 – Mata Hari was executed by a French firing squad. Hari was a Dutch dancer who had spied for the Germans.
1993 – South Africa’s President F.W. de Klerk and African National Congress President Nelson Mandela were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to end the apartheid system in South Africa.

Tuesday 16th October:
1793 – During the French Revolution, Queen Marie Antoinette was beheaded.
1964 – China detonated its first atomic bomb becoming the world’s fifth nuclear power.
1987 – Rescuers finally freed Jessica McClure from the abandoned well that she had fallen into in Midland, Texas. She was trapped for 58 hours.

Wednesday 17th October:
1931 – Al Capone was convicted on income tax evasion and was sentenced to 11 years in prison. He was released in 1939.
1973 – Eleven Arab nations began an oil-embargo against several countries including the US and Great Britain. The incident stemmed from Western support of Israel when Egypt and Syria attacked the nation on 6th October 1973. The embargo lasted until March of 1974.

Thursday 18th October:
1469 – Ferdinand of Aragon married Isabella of Castile. The marriage united all the dominions of Spain.
1860 – British troops burned the Yuanmingyuan at the end of the Second Opium War.
1961 – Henri Matiss’ “Le Bateau” went on display at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. It was discovered 46 days later that the painting had been hanging upside down.

Friday 19th October:
1960 – The United States imposed an embargo on exports to Cuba covering all commodities except medical supplies and certain food products.
1987 – The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 508 points. It was the worst one-day percentage decline, 22.6%, in history.
1993 – Benazir Bhutto was returned to the premiership of Pakistan.

Saturday 20th October:
1935 – Mao Zedong arrived in Hanoi after his Long March, which took just over a year. He then set up the Chinese Communist Headquarters.
1952 – The Mau Mau uprising against white settlers began in Kenya.
1968 – Jackie Lee Bouvier Kennedy married Aristotle Onassis.

Special Mention
It has been brought to my attention that there was a glaring omission in last week’s This Day in History – one of prime importance to much of Europe and certainly to Germany. So – especially for you Frank …
3rd October 1990 – The Berlin Wall was dismantled, eleven months after the borders between East and West Germany were opened. The peaceful unification ended 45 years of division.


FROM THE BREADBASKET

“A Perpetual Supply”
(by Frank Deaver)

In the rural south of the Caribbean island of Trinidad, near the little town of La Brea, is a lake-of sorts-that is proudly described by locals as one of the wonders of the world. Pitch Lake is a black mass of imperceptibly churning natural asphalt, slowly bubbling upward from a sandstone fault line 250 feet below the surface. People walk on the air-hardened black surface, but heavy objects will slowly sink from sight. Sometimes they reappear months, even years, later-as the black semi-solid slowly swirls.

Rotarian Verne Britto described the phenomenon. “No matter how much you take out,” he said, “come back next day and you can’t miss it. There’s apparently a perpetual supply.” Testimony to his words can be seen in back-hoes and draglines that daily scrape away surface layers of the pitch and load it on trucks-to be used throughout the island country as asphalt paving material for roads and mastic compound for roofing. Daily they continue extracting the substance, but each following day there appears to be none missing.

Verne and I, along with other Rotarians and friends sharing brunch at his home, talked that day of many things-business and economy, society and culture, and the goodwill and understanding of Rotary. Friendship, we noted, not unlike the pitch in Pitch Lake, is similarly an endless commodity. Enlarging one’s circle of friendship does not diminish the potential supply.

Verne and Margaret Britto demonstrated that reality as they entertained. Among their guests were Rotarians and non-Rotarians, local “Trinnies” and international guests, retired seniors and ambitious students, people of various ethnicities and religions. During the day, we shared many thoughts and ideas, learned much from and about each other, and gave and received the blessing of friendship. None became the poorer for the giving. All became the richer for the receiving.

Like Pitch Lake, I thought, friendship is a constantly replenished commodity. Through Rotary we have boundless opportunities to both give and receive friendship. And the inventory of friendship will never be diminished.

That one day, while enjoying Verne’s Caribbean hospitality, I expanded my own circle of Rotary friendship. And I learned a valuable lesson from Pitch Lake.


AND FINALLY ….

They are not paid £20,000 a week for their brains. UK soccer player quotes (that is soccer as played across the world, except the U.S.!)

‘If you don’t believe you can win, there is no point in getting out of bed at the end of the day.’ – Neville Southall

‘We lost because we didn’t win.’ – Ronaldo

‘I’d like to play for an Italian club, like Barcelona.’ – Mark Draper

‘I couldn’t settle in Italy – it was like living in a foreign country.’ – Ian Rush

Interviewer: ‘Would it be fair to describe you as a volatile player?’
David Beckham: ‘Well, I can play in the centre, on the right and occasionally on the left side.’

‘Alex Ferguson is the best manager I’ve ever had at this level. Well, he’s the only manager I’ve actually had at this level. But he’s the best manager I’ve ever had.’ – David Beckham

‘I was surprised, but I always say nothing surprises me in football.’ – Les Ferdinand