Volume 02 Issue 30

Dear Fellow Rotarians,

Despite five regular attenders being in China, on a visit to the orphanage in Nanchang, attendance was good, at 17 Rotarians, 4 Visiting Rotarians and 1 Guest.


A rare glimpse of Rotarians Robert and Sham

Visiting Rotarians were Raphael Aharoni from Wan Chai, Robert Ching from Golden Mile, Veronica DeKrey from Hong Kong Harbour and Karl Schwegel from Ulricehavn, Sweden.


Visiting Rotarian Raphael Aharoni from Wan Chai


Karl Schwegel from Ulricehaven, Sweden

President Ramesh’s guest was Terry Hart.

Information included the announcement that the Club Ball will take place on May 18th. PDG Joseph announced that as a Diamond Sponsor for the Millenium Entrepreneur the club has 25 tickets for the Gala Premier of “Monsters Inc” on February 8 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

President Ramesh and Rtn Brian Wong went to visit the St.James Settlement work in Wan Chai, proposing that Club support for that initiative be continued, especially now that secondary school students are becoming involved in helping the elderly.


Brian reports on St James’ Settlement

A table for 28 has been booked at the Hong Kong Football Club for a champagne brunch on March 10.

Birthday girl was May Chan – her first Rotarian birthday!


Birthday Girl May Chan

The speaker was Albert Chan, Fund-raising Director for OXFAM in Hong Kong. He focussed on Trailwalker, announcing that a total of $HK17.2m had been raised to date, with a significant number of teams having not yet made their payments. Of that total, more than $HK1.3m had been raised by the Club’s “Rotary Wheelers” in the largest sponsorship amount for more than 20 years. (President Ramesh and “Wheeler” Howard attended the award ceremony later on the same day).


Speaker Albert Chan

Trailwalker is a 100km walk over Hong Kong’s major mountain peaks. It began 21 years ago with the Gurkha Regiment and this year attracted 900 teams, each of 4 walkers. To date more than $HK120m has been raised for OXFAM’s work in Hong Kong and South Asia.

This year 85% of the walkers completed the trail and 595 teams finished as teams. The support effort for such a major undertaking is now enormous, as more than 10,000 individuals are involved in total, with a range of sponsoring organizations, led by State Street bank and including UNISYS, CLP, the Volunteers and many Government Departments, including the Police force.

PDG Joseph Lee thanked Mr Chan and noted that, while the spirit of community service in Hong Kong is strong, it could still be improved. In particular Joseph suggested that those in receipt of significant welfare payments, like retired government servants, should regard an element of community service as their obligation.


PDG Joseph Thanks the Speaker

Rtn Howard Davies.


SPEAKERS

This Week (Friday 8th February) Dennice Allen from Invest IT Limited in London will be visiting Rtn Nicole and has agreed to attend our luncheon and give a talk on “IT in the Finance industry: HK vs the UK and the approach used by each region”.

Friday 22nd February: Rtn Nicole Burt, RC of Kowloon North – Adopt-A-Minefield Project


WELCOMING COMMITTEES

Please arrive early if you are on the Welcoming Committee. Most guests or visitors arrive at 12.30 prompt and there is usually no-one available to greet them.

Friday 8th February: May Chan & Joseph Lee
Friday 22nd February: Michael Harilela & Brian Wong


NEWS – NEWS – NEWS

This month is World Understanding and Peace month.

RI ANNUAL CONVENTION NEWS

The 93rd RI Annual Convention will be held in Barcelona, Spain from 23rd – 26th June 2002.

Transport News

British Airways is the official airline for travel to the Barcelona Rotary International Convention. Rotarians traveling from any Oneworld Network to Oneworld gateways in Spain between 1 June 2002 and 10 July 2002 are eligible for the following discounts:

– 18 percent discount off applicable economy and economy plus class airfares
– 15 percent discount off business and first class airfares

To make a reservation using these discounts, please contact British Airways directly and mention code CIC*82/27

Package prices are also available through the District. Click here for details or visit the District website http://www.rotary3450.org/news/convention/.

Visit the official website http://www.ri.convention.bcn2002.org/ for further information or to register online at:
http://www.ri.convention.bcn2002.org/convention/call.html.


ROTARY NEWS

2002-03 RI Theme

President-Elect Bhichai Rattakul has announced that the theme for his year of Presidency will be “Sow the Seeds of Love”.

Enter the Rotary Centennial History Book Contest

The RI Centennial History Book is due to be published by July 2004. One of several major efforts leading up to the celebration of Rotary’s 100th birthday in 2005, it is aimed at providing a complete history of Rotary’s first 100 years. To make the selection of the book’s title a truly collaborative effort, the members of the Centennial History Book Committee and the editors of The Rotarian magazine invite Rotarians everywhere to submit creative names for consideration. All entries become the property of Rotary International, and winners will be selected by the Centennial History Book Committee, aided by the editorial staff of The Rotarian. The top five entrants will receive free leather-bound copies of the centennial book, autographed by past RI presidents.

To participate in this historic naming contest, submit your entry by 31 July 2002 to the Editor-in-Chief, The Rotarian, by mail: 1560 Sherman Avenue, Evanston, IL 60201, USA. Submissions can also be made online at www.rotary.org/title/index.html.


DISTRICT NEWS

Invitation to Shanghai

Dear friends in Hong Kong & Macau,

President Rick King will be paying RC Shanghai a visit for our meeting on Thursday 28 March — and two days later on Saturday 30th March we will be hosting our first major fundraiser for the Gift of Life China program (www.giftoflifeshanghai.com)! This is an exciting time for us and we would like to share this excitement with you and encourage each of the clubs in D3450 to send up a delegation to see for yourself what we are creating in the Dragon’s Head. Please mark this in your calendars and come up to see us for a great weekend escape.

YIR Randal Eastman
IPP & International Service Chair
RC Shanghai (Provisional)

District Bridge Team

Encouraged by the Hong Kong Contract Bridge Association (HKCBA) and with the support of the District Sports and Recreation Committee, Rotary District 3450 has now decided to participate in the next Hong Kong Inter-Club Bridge League Tournament. This comprises a series of bridge tournaments beginning shortly after the Chinese New Year and going through to December 2002. The 2002 games will comprise 12 corporate teams and Rotary District 3450 is Team No. 10.

PDG John Wan has been appointed the District Bridge Convenor and PP Joop Litmaath (RC of Hong Kong) has volunteered to be a co-convenor. Their immediate aim is to gather Rotarians who are bridge players and who are willing to play in the District Team. If you are interested in participating, please send either or both of them your particulars, or call them as soon as possible.

They can be contacted as follows –
John Wan: telephone 91738833 or e-mail ipdg@rotary3450.org
Joop Litmaath: telephone 25643866 or e-mail jbml@scarfell.com.hk


CLUB NEWS

Cancellation Of Meeting

Don’t forget, the luncheon meeting will be cancelled on Friday 15th February, as it is the 4th day of the Chinese New Year and a lot of members are likely to be out of town.

Change Of Date – Annual Ball

Please note that the Annual Ball will be held on Saturday 18 May 2002 at the Hong Kong Football Club. The change of date has been necessitated by an unforseen commitment some of our members have on the previously nominated date.

The theme will be “Hollywood” and there will be exciting prizes for those judged “best dressed” – or perhaps “best undressed” – depending on which particular Hollywood character you choose to be on the night. This evening will be a ton of fun – in typical Kowloon North style – and I hope you can give the Ball your full support.

Tickets will be priced at $700 and each member will be expected to take four. All proceeds will be used to fund the Camp Quality Summer Camp – the major event of the year for our prime Community Service initiative.

Rtn Nic and and Rtn Brian will be handling ticket sales so please give them an early indication of how many tables you will be bringing!!

See you there
PP Bruce Stinson


FELLOWSHIP NEWS

As reported last week, Rtn Dan has organised a Fellowship Champagne Brunch for Sunday 10th March at the Football Club in Happy Valley. Brunch runs from 11.30 am to 3.00 pm and as well as a mouth-watering spread, includes free champagne! At HK$135 per person (or HK$94 per child) this must surely be the best value in town. If you haven’t already done so, please confirm with President Ramesh as soon as possible to ensure you are not disappointed.


THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Put brain in gear before starting mouth.


BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK

Monday 4th February
The first birthday of the year is that of Rtn May who shares her birthday with Joshua Norton of San Francisco (1819), self-proclaimed Emperor Norton I of the USA; aviator Charles Lindbergh (1902) who was the first person to fly solo over the Atlantic; comedian and ukelele player Norman Wisdom (1918); and Australian songstress and one-time soap actress, Natalie Imbruglia (1975)

This day in history …
1194 – Richard I (the Lion Heart) pays an enormous ransom for his release, to Leopold V of Austria.
1586 – Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, becomes governor of the Netherlands.
1784 – Electors unanimously choose George Washington to be first president of the United States.
1920 – 1st flight from London to South Africa takes-off (it took 45 days).
1926 – John Gila of New York City danced the Charleston for 22½ hours; at that time, it was the favorite dance craze of “flappers” everywhere. (Hope nobody does the same thing for the Macarena.)
1948 – Ceylon gained independence within the British Commonwealth. The country later became known as Sri Lanka.
1974 – Patty Hearst (aged 19) was kidnapped in Berkeley, CA, by the Symbionese Liberation Army.


DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Saturday 23rd February: Rotary World Understanding and Peace Day.

Sunday 3rd March: The District Badminton Tournament 2001-2002 is being organised by the RC of Peninsula South, at Western Park Indoor Games Hall. The tournament will start at 9.00 am and is expected to finish by 4.00 pm. The fees are HK$250 per person per event, with water and a sandwich lunch included. The events will be Men’s Doubles, Men’s Singles, Ladies’ Doubles, Ladies’ Singles and Mixed Doubles. For enquiries contact P.F. Tsui at Tel : 93054112, Email : pftsui@hotmail.com.

Saturday 16th & Sunday 17th March: The District Conference will be held at the Kowloon Shangri-la Hotel with the official Conference opening beginning at 2.00 pm on Saturday 16th. Registration forms and other information can be obtained from the District website. The conference will be preceded, as usual, by a golf tournament on 8 March and there will also be a pre-conference cruise on 10 March. Click here for information about the cruise.

Thursday 28th March: RI Presidential visit to (Provisional) Rotary Club of Shanghai

Saturday 30th March: (Provisional) RC of Shanghai fundraiser for the “Gift of Life” China program.

10th March -10th April: Group Study Exchange (“GSE”) 2001-2002. The Incoming GSE Team from District 7750 (South Carolina, USA), will visit District 3450 from March 10 to April 10, 2002. Our Outgoing GSE Team, led by PP Simon Wong of RC of Peninsula Sunrise, will depart Hong Kong on April 10 and return on May 10.

Friday 22nd – Sunday 24th March: Rotary International Asian Presidential Conference will be held at The Grand Hotel in Taipei.

Sunday 21st April: District Tree Planting Day

Saturday 18th May: Annual Fund Raising Ball to be held at The Football Club in Happy Valley.

Sunday 23rd – Wednesday 26th June: The 93rd RI Annual Convention will be held in Barcelona, Spain.

1st – 4th June 2003: The 94th RI Annual Convention will be held in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia


ROTARY WORLD

The 31 member Apia Rotary Club of Samoa (RD 9920), is the first and (still) only Rotary Club in the islands of Samoa. They are now getting ready for a new Club in the beautiful big island of Savaii (from which the name Hawaii comes), and thereafter for a second Rotary Club in Apia, which will signify a 200% increase in Rotarians and in Clubs!

The Apia Rotary Club is particularly busy in contributing to improve the quality of health-care and of education in Samoa. They have a Rotaract Club, have recently hosted two GSE teams from Canada and Australia, and sent one to Australia, and are hoping to start Youth Exchange shortly.

They are a main contributor to the schools for the disabled in Samoa.

Anyone interested in more information (or who may be planning a visit to Samoa!) can contact: Marco Kappenberger <kappenberger@samoa.ws>


FROM THE BREADBASKET

ARTIFICIAL LIMB CAMP
(RC of Chennai Kilpauk)

BENEFICIARIES = 437 disabled people
AIDED BY A MATCHING GRANT OF $ 10,000

It was sometime in the later half of 1998, that our PP Hari Ratan, received a query from a Rotary Club in the USA, Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary Club, California, as to whether we would be interested in taking up an Artificial Limb camp project. Rancho Bernardo raised $5,000 which was matched by Rotary International under its matching grant programmes for humanitarian service projects making a total of $10,000. Rotary Club of Chennai Kilpauk, was the Coordinating Co-Sponsor for the project.

The First camp was inaugurated on the 26th of June 1999, by our IPP Rtn. Hari Rattan. A total of 71 beneficiaries were physically examined and measured for Artificial Limbs. The limbs were then made by Mukti. All 71 beneficiaries were fitted with the limbs. The Valedictory function was held on the 3rd July and the camp was a huge success with active participation of all members of our club including Anns and Annettes. The happiness written on the faces of the beneficiaries was reward enough of the effort put in to get the project going.

The Second Artificial Limb Camp was conducted 3rd Oct to 10th Oct 1999 at Vridhachalam, a small town south of the city of Chennai. This was held jointly with Lions Club, Vridhachalam. The Camp was inaugurated by the Vice DG of the Lions Club on 3rd Oct 1999 in the presence of the local Member of the Legislative assembly. A total of 160 handicapped persons turned out for the camp. Of these 75 were found suitable for fitting of limbs and measurements were taken by M/S Mukti technicians. On 10th Oct, the Valedictory function was held and the limbs fitted. One positive outcome of this camp, besides giving the beneficiaries a new lease of life, was the awareness it created. Seeing the kind of need and what Rotary could do to change peoples lives, two of the local people came forward to sponsor one more camp. The camp created an awareness among the people of the town that with a little bit of help from the more fortunate, we could give a new lease of life not only to people who are handicapped but to whole families who see their bread winners become helpless victims of cruel fate.

The Third Artificial Limb Camp was conducted 7th Feb to 11th Feb 2000 at MUKTI, Chennai. A total of 75 handicapped persons turned out for the camp and were found suitable for fitting of limbs. Measurements were taken by M/S Mukti technicians and the beneficiaries were presented the limbs on the 11th Feb. The highlight of this camp was that the technicians of Mukti were able to fit an Artificial limb for a small boy who is a polio victim. We had a few moving moments, like the housewife who had lost both legs, who had come for a replacement after five years. One of the beneficiaries spoke of the need to also have counselling sessions for the beneficiaries to make them aware of the kind of benefits and assistance they can get from various NGO’s and from the local Government. MUKTI also announced that they can provide assistance to the beneficiaries in getting jobs and admission for the young children in schools.

The Fourth Camp was held between 20th and 25th March 2000. The Chief Guest for the occasion was Mr. Somayyajee, a Senior Advocate for the Madras High Court, who was so moved by what he saw that he spontaneously donated Rs.25,000 to Mukti to help other beneficiaries. This further highlights the ripple effect of Rotary activities that we have seen happen during the course of these camps. In this camp we were able to fit 8 beneficiaries with upper limbs and 62 with lower limbs.

Our Fifth camp was be held between 3rd and 7th April. There were 80 beneficiaries ,of whom 70 were fitted with lower limbs and 10 with upper limbs. An additional 50 beneficiaries were fitted with lower limbs in the subsequent week.

A total of 437 beneficiaries have been given a new lease of life in turn benefiting 37 families, a fitting example of the Rotary theme for year 2000-2001 Create Awareness, Take Action.


AND FINALLY ….

Famous last words.

W.C. Fields, who had been flipping through the Bible on his deathbed, 1946: “I’m looking for a loophole.”