Posted by Andrew Crockett
The speaker at today’s meeting at Kooyong was International Service Director, Dr Peter Lugg.  His topic was the changes he has seen in Cambodia since he first travelled there as a 17-year-old in the early 1970s, a trip that convinced Peter to embark on a career in medicine.
 
 
Peter gave us a fascinating potted history of Cambodia since it gained independence from France in 1953.  He spoke of the relatively enlightened and benign rule of Norodom Sihanouk and his successor Lon Nol, which was followed by the brutally repressive rule of the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot. 
 
 He spoke about his return to Cambodia in the early 2000s as an orthopaedic surgeon and the many return trips he has since made to operate on local people who have no access to proper medical procedures or care. Peter illustrated his talk with graphic pictures of the range of conditions he has treated, including broken bones, damaged joints, severe burns and industrial injuries.
 
Peter promised to provide a sequel to his talk when he’ll tell us more about his current work in Cambodia and the Club’s involvement in the establishment of a new surgical facility at the Kampong Speu hospital.
 
 
 
 
Certificate of Commendation
It was my pleasure to present a Certificate of Commendation to David McNamara for services to Club as Club Protection Officer and Salvo Hawks Liaison.  Members congratulated and thanked David for his contribution to the Club in these roles.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Distinguished Service Award
I also acknowledged the receipt by PDG Dennis Shore of a Rotary International Distinguished Service Award. This is an internationally competitive award granted annually to a maximum of 50 Rotarians who have exhibited exceptional active service to The Rotary Foundation. This year 98 nominations were received for the award, but only 38 nominees, including Dennis, received the award. 
Dennis not only has an outstanding record of service to the Rotary Foundation, but also to District 9800, serving as District Governor in 2012-2013; and to our Club having served on the Board for several years including as President in 2002-2003.
Members congratulated Dennis on his achievement. 
 
Board meeting report
Club Dinner for RI Convention delegates on 29 May 2023
The Board agreed to join Rotary Glenferrie and Rotary Camberwell in hosting a dinner at Kooyong on 29 May 2023 for interstate and international delegates attending the Rotary International Convention.    
The cost of the dinner will be partly subsidised by the Convention organisers, but the three host clubs will need to fund a proportion of the costs.  We anticipate that Hawthorn’s share will be between $1000 and $2000.
Members of the three host clubs will be invited to attend as paying guests and share the task of hosting the 100 Convention guests we expect to attend.
Terry Kitchen will represent us on the organising committee and further information will be provided when it becomes available.
Some Club members have registered to host Convention delegates for dinner in their homes.  These dinners are the same night as the Club Dinner at Kooyong, so those who are home hosting will be unable to attend the Club Dinner.  If you’ve registered for home hosting but would prefer to attend the Club Dinner you will need to advise the Convention organisers. 
You can cancel your registration via the following link: https://rotarymelbourne2023.org/contact
 
Reintroduction of Sergeant sessions
A number of members ad asked the Board to consider re-introducing Sergeant’s ‘fines’ at Kooyong meetings as a means of raising funds.
Under current Rotary club rules the appointment by a club of a sergeant-at-arms is discretionary.  While the functions of the sergeant-at-arms are no longer set out in Rotary club rules, traditionally they have been to ensure orderly and effective club meetings, including acting as greeter and usher and generally freeing up the President to concentrate on conducting the meeting.  The fines function has traditionally been a small but fun part of the role.
For some time now we have run club meetings with an MC appointed for each meeting whose role is to call the meeting to order and to introduce and thank the speaker.  The role of greeting guests has been shared by the President and members on the Front Desk. Since these arrangements are working well the principal reason for appointing a sergeant would therefore be to conduct fines sessions as a way of raising money.  
The fines sessions together with ‘Miss Piggy’ collections and raffles at meetings generated funds for the Club of between $1,000 and $2,500 each year.  These are not insignificant amounts, but handling the cash receipts involved accounting and banking work.  
Since Covid, the use of cash to make purchases has declined to the point that many people no longer routinely carry cash, especially coins and smaller notes.  If we re-introduced the fines etc., there is a question about how much this is likely to raise, and whether it would justify the accounting and banking work involved.
However, the main reason the Board has decided not to reintroduce fines and Miss Piggy is that we now receive considerably more in voluntary donations at Zoom meetings than we previously raised in fines etc., at Club meetings.  Last year, Zoom donations totalled $5,700, an average of $315 per Zoom meeting. In comparison in 2019/20 - the last year we had the fines, etc., we raised a total of $991 for the year.  
The Board also took into account the fact that members pay $5 more for lunches than previously, as well as contributing generously to other club and Rotary causes.  There is a limit to how much it is reasonable to expect members to outlay in donations.
For these reasons, the Board has decided not to reintroduce sergeant fines sessions.
 
Enterprise forum proposal 
The Board considered a proposal by the Vocational Service committee to run a series of Enterprise Forums to which we’d invite local business people, professionals, and university students to hear speakers on topics relevant to their business and career development. 
Attracting such an audience and suitable speakers would require a considerable amount of time and marketing effort.  The Board has asked the Vocational Services committee to prepare a simple business case that addresses questions raised by the Board about the feasibility of running a forum and to report back to the Board’s August meeting.
 
Lift the Lid Lunch 7 October 
A reminder about the Club’s premier fundraising event for the year, the ‘Lift the Lid’ on mental Illness lunch on 7 October.  Please assist the organising committee by not leaving bookings until the last minute.  
Several members are putting tables of friends and other members together.  We encourage all members to consider doing the same, especially if you’d like to sit with particular people.
 
 
Camcare Food project
A huge thank you to those of you who donated a total of 105 items of food to the Camcare Food project at today’s meeting.  The response was extraordinary and the estimated total value of the donated products is $300.  
The project will run during July and August so please remember to bring some non-perishable food products to the next Kooyong meeting on Tuesday 2 August.
 
Next meeting
The Club meeting next week is by Zoom and our speaker is historian Emeritus Professor Janet McCalman AC.  Janet is the author of a number of books, the most recent of which Vandemonians: The Repressed History of Colonial Victoria tells the story of former convicts from Von Diemen’s Land who came to Victoria in their tens of thousands on release or escape.  For our many history buffs, this will be an unmissable event. 
 
 
 
Until next week stay safe, warm and well; and we wish those of you heading interstate or overseas next week, safe travels.  
 
 
 
 
Thought for the Week
Today is the UN International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in conflict. 
On 19 June 2015, the United Nations General Assembly (A/RES/69/293) proclaimed 19 June of each year the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, to raise awareness of the need to put an end to conflict-related sexual violence, to honour the victims and survivors of sexual violence and to pay tribute to all those who have devoted their lives to the eradication of these crimes.
Conflict-related sexual violence includes rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, enforced sterilization, forced marriage, and any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity perpetrated against people that is linked to a conflict. Fear and cultural stigma mean that the vast majority of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence don’t report the violence and practitioners in the field estimate that for each rape reported in a conflict, 10 to 20 cases go undocumented.
Over the past 18 months, continued recourse to military rather than diplomatic and political solutions to conflict in Ukraine and elsewhere has led to displacement on a significant scale and exposed civilians to heightened levels of sexual violence.
 
Here is a reflection on war, specifically the current war in Ukraine, by Ihor Kozlovskyi (1954-), a Ukrainian historian, religious scholar, poet, writer, and essayist.  He was imprisoned for nearly two years in 2016-2017 by the Donetsk People's Republic for his pro-Ukrainian position.
 
This is a terrible armed phase of the civilizational war of values, the existential struggle of the light of the future with the darkness of the past.