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PRESIDENTS
MESSAGE
I hope everyone enjoyed their Xmas
break, holiday and the New Year Celebrations. We have a meeting
this Friday January 9th as usual at the Hilton.
The Paul Harris dinner this
year will be at Brother Leagues Club on Monday 23rd of February
2004. If any members have anyone they would like to nominate for
a Paul Harris award, please let me know as soon as possible.
Cairns West will be celebrating
50 years of being a chartered club on the 12th of June. It is
going to be at the Cairns Colonial Club and will be a black tie
evening.
Two events our exchange students
will need to attend. The first will be a reception for the students
outbound and the inbound at the Council Chambers in Spence Street
at 2pm hosted by Cairns City Council on Wednesday 14th of January.
The other will be the January long
weekend Australia day at Mungalli Falls hosted by Sunrise Club January
24 - 26th 2004.
Paul Beesley has taken over as
President of Cairns Club due to the ill health of Don Levick.
Relay for Life this year will be June 5-6. Paul Beesley can be contacted
on 40570400 at work if you require information or would like to
enter a team.
President Robyn
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Rotary 4-Way Test
1.
Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
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Mental
health forums' success grows
The success of mental health forums
conducted by the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund (ARHRF)
continues unabated.
More than 170 forums have been organised
by Rotary clubs in centers as diverse as West Tamar in Tasmania,
Revesby in New South Wales, and Jindalee in Queensland. It is estimated
that 22,000 people have attended the forums, which are designed
to raise awareness about depression, mental illness, and related
issues.
Audiences typically include people
with mental illness, their families and friends, local school students,
doctors and other health professionals, and Rotarians and their
families, as well as religious groups, parliamentarians, and local
business owners.
Anyone who has attended a forum will
know how much communities appreciate the opportunity to discuss
mental health issues openly. The ARHRF continues to receive anecdotal
evidence that the forums are changing people's lives.
Noel Trevaskis, from the Rotary Club
of Goulburn-Argyle (District 9710), has organised and spoken at
many of them. "A mother rang me after a recent forum," he said.
"She and her husband had heard about
a forum in their community on the local radio station and took their
reluctant 32-year-old son to it. Three or four days after attending,
their son made an appointment to see his doctor. He realised that
he identified with many of the speakers at the forum. He was clinically
depressed. His parents had suspected this for years but had been
unable to convince their son to seek help."
Knighthood
for Britain's Rotarian 'Schindler'
This year's New Year Honours List contained
a name well known within England's District 1090: Nicholas Winton,
a member of the Rotary Club of Maidenhead, who was awarded a knighthood
for saving 669 Czechoslovakian children destined for Nazi concentration
camps, in 1938-1939.
Described by Past District Governor
Philip Reynolds as "an inspiration to us all and a living example
of Service Above Self," Winton had been awarded an MBE (Member of
the British Empire) in 1983 for his charitable work with the elderly.
The heroic efforts of Winton, now 93
and known as "Britain's Schindler," emerged 50 years later, when
his wife Greta came across an old leather briefcase in an attic
and found lists of the children and letters from their parents.
Up until then, he had never told her of his role during the war.
Winton was a 30-year-old stockbroker's
clerk in 1938 when a friend at the British Embassy invited him to
Prague. On arrival he was asked to assist in the refugee camps,
where he focused on getting doomed Jewish Czech children to Britain.
Winton set up the Czech Kinder-transport
in Prague in 1939, then returned to London to handle arrangements
from there. He organised transports to get the children out of the
country, in cooperation with the British Committee for Refugees
from Czechoslovakia and the Czechoslovak travel agency Cedok.
Winton also persuaded the Home Office
to let the children in. For each child, he had to find a British
foster parent and a £50 guarantee, a small fortune in those days.
Winton also raised money to help pay for the transports when contributions
by the children's parents could not cover the costs.
Winton arranged for 669 children to
leave on eight trains, but his biggest regret was that a ninth train,
carrying 250 children, was unable to leave the station on 3 September
1939. None of those children were seen again. [Nearly 15,000 Czech
children perished in the war.]
Typically, Winton describes his actions
in a self-effacing manner: "I just saw what was going on and did
what I could to help." Despite his advancing years, Winton has just
raised £1 million to build another Abbeyfield home, the housing
charity for elderly people that he founded in Maidenhead.
It is only relatively recently that
Winton has received public acknowledgment. At a ceremony last September,
Peter Hain, the minister for Europe, presented a letter of tribute
to him from Tony Blair. Hain said, "The legacy of his act extends
across the globe."
Japan
Project delivers 30,000 hatchlings
Each year since 1995, the Rotary Club
of Mutsu Chuo (District 2830) has released approximately 10,000
trout hatchlings into the Usori River.
Compared to larger cities, Mutsu City
still retains much of its natural environment, but as a result of
logging, illegal garbage dumping, an increase in fishing, and various
other factors, recent years have seen a decline in char, trout,
and other stream fish that prefer pristine water.
The Usori River, however, goes relatively
unnoticed, so with an eye to promoting more awareness of Rotary
activities, the release site was moved last year to the Tanabu River,
which flows through the city center.
Since the Tanabu is a river into which
residential effluents empty, it was decided to release carp hatchlings
instead. A sign reading "Let's take better care of our river!" was
erected at the site, and with the cooperation of the Fisheries Association,
30,000 hatchlings were released.
Last year's release took place on
24 July, with approximately 100 participants, including kindergartners
and people from the Fisheries Association. The event received news
coverage on the local television network and in the newspapers.
Project follow-up will include the observation and study of hatchling
growth, as well as conditions of the Tanabu River
Chile
Equipment bank for the disabled
The Rotary Club of Monte Aguila (District
4360), with a Matching Grant from The Rotary Foundation and the
participation of the Rotary Club of Grenoble-Belledonne (District
1780) in France, obtained financing to implement a free wheelchair
and orthopedic-cane bank for low-income, disabled residents of Monte
Aguila.
The project funding of US$4,000 was
used to purchase 26 universal wheelchairs, five neurological wheelchairs,
and 18 orthopedic canes. Equipment is returned when it is no longer
needed and is redistributed.
The presentation ceremony for these
orthopedic devices was held in the Monte Aguila municipal gymnasium.
In attendance were numerous community and Rotarian officials, including
the mayor of the municipality of Cabrero, District Governor Gast-n
Guerrero, and Roberto Hazleby Caprile, president of the Monte Aguila
club.
"We Rotarians in Monte Aguila had
a dream of solidarity, love, and peace," said Caprile. "We were
able to turn this dream into a reality, benefiting disabled persons."
A
letter from RI President Jonathan Majiyagbe
Dear fellow Rotarians,
For Vocational Service Month, I am
dressed in the kurta pajama typically worn by Indian men on formal
occasions. Of course, the clothes themselves do not make me Indian.
Rotary is rich in its cultural diversity,
and it is useful for Rotarians to be aware of cultural differences
in order to conduct business, as well as carry out the ideal of
service. For example, in some countries, including India, shaking
one's head from side to side may mean yes. To many Westerners, the
same gesture signifies disagreement.
In whatever way Rotarians carry out
their business, what is uppermost in their minds is not so much
the business transaction itself, but making sure the needs and circumstances
of all involved are fairly considered.
This month, I urge all Rotarians to
contribute to society through their businesses and professions.
You can do so by providing job opportunities for young people, especially
the disadvantaged and the disabled. Consider sponsoring a career
information conference as part of that effort.
Another way is to organize a district-level
event to recognize Rotarians who have contributed to their communities
through their jobs and encourage others to do the same.
For example, a restaurant proprietor
who was recognized by his club for giving food to the poor inspired
his district to set up a food bank. You can also focus on vocational
service by encouraging Rotarians to join Rotary Fellowships, many
of which are based on occupations; promoting membership growth in
open classifications; and launching a vocational information series
in which club members start each meeting with a five-minute talk
about their jobs.
But however creative or innovative
you are about vocational service, it is equally important to share
with your local business community our venerable Four-Way Test.
I know of Rotarians in Africa who have even circulated copies of
The Four-Way Test among members of their national parliament.
Likewise, a framed copy of the Declaration
for Rotarians in Businesses and Professions on your office wall
can help inform the public of the high ethical business standards
practiced and promoted by Rotarians.
And let us not forget the Rotary Volunteers
program, which provides additional opportunities for Rotarians to
use their expertise in medicine, agriculture, technology, and other
professions to help individuals and families around the world.
So as we prepare to celebrate our centennial,
let us use vocational service to Lend a Hand to all communities
in need, at home and abroad.
As the German poet Goethe tells us:
"Treat people as if they are what they ought to be, and you will
help them to become what they are capable of being."
Jonathan Majiyagbe President, Rotary
International
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