International Convention in Birmingham
Posted by Dan Wong
This event saw over 20,000 international Rotarians from over 150 countries congregate to the city of Birmingham, England. Birmingham was host of the Rotary International Convention in 1984 and was said to be extremely run down and the crime rate was through the roof. 25 years later, the city has cleaned up its act and is now an international tourist destination and home to over 1 million residents. They were chosen to host Rotary's 100th International Convention and everyone will agree that they did an excellent job.
R.I. President, D.K. Lee, addressed the crowd during the opening plenary session. He recalled a story of a recent trip to India to help in the Polio vaccination. During this trip he was saddened to see the large number of starving people that he could not help. In one of the villages, he entered a hut of a malnourished single mother who was attempting to feed her newborn, but was unable due to her poor physical condition. Seeing that person lying there, he wanted to do anything to help them. But even if he could help that one person, that was just one person in a camp of hundreds, and only one of dozens of camps in one village, and only one village out of thousands that need help in only one country. Every day tens of thousands of people die from lack of clean water, shortage of food or preventable diseases. That is why we need every Rotary Club to take on international projects and help as many as possible. Rotarians must continue with their campaign of keeping "humanity in motion" in a world where so many will never feel anything but pain or see anything but despair.
An address by UN General Secretary, Ban Ki-Moon, told us that it is because of organizations like Rotary that we've seen a 27% reduction in child mortality in the past 10 years. Rotary has not only delivered emergency aid to many needy countries, but has also provided long-term access to clean water, education and skills training. The Rotary wheel continues to be a symbol of peace and hope to millions of people around the world.
Mia Farrow was a keynote speaker at one of the sessions. She was honored as Time Magazine's Most Influential Person in the World in 2008 for her work in Darfur. As a witness to the atrocities in Darfur, she tells us that with knowledge comes responsibility. We all have a responsibility to pass on the knowledge of human rights violations in Darfur and to do what we can to stop it. "We cannot fail these people like we failed in Rwanda." The stories of babies being torn from their mothers' arms and bayoneted in front of them are too graphic to recount. Her presentation was so moving that many in the crowd were filled with tears. At the first of her 11 trips to Darfur, a woman gave Mia her only possession, which was an Africa amulet of protection. The woman believed that the amulet was the only thing that kept her alive while her village was attacked and 3 of her 5 children were brutally murdered. She insisted that Mia take the amulet to protect her during her journey and then safely return to civilization and tell the rest of the world what was happening to them.
We should be proud of our involvement in Rotary and what that means to everyone around the world. From Ed Futa, Secretary General of R.I., the "internationality of Rotary" is seen at the convention and is an example of what can be accomplish if we all work together. We should be proud of our Swan City Rotary Club which stands in an elite class among Rotary Clubs and is a fine example of how Rotary works. We should be proud of our contributions to our community and to the Polio Plus campaign. Finally, we should be proud of our Interact Club, who has done extremely excellent work in fundraising for Darfur and for those Rotarians who participated in our letter writing campaign 4 years ago advocating to our Canadian Government against the atrocities in Darfur.
Rotary conventions are a great way to meet Rotarians from around the world and to celebrate the great works that are done all over this world. It's an experience that will redefine what you know about being a Rotarian.
Rotary conventions do not focus on just service projects. There is plenty of fellowship with Rotarian from the host city and from visiting Rotarians around the world. One of the best events is the Host Hospitality Event which breaks the convention goers into smaller groups that are hosted by individuals or Rotary Clubs. This event will typically have between 8 and 50 Rotarians together for a meal and some fellowship. Whether its riding a canal boat, like Drew, Marvie, Eve and Len, or playing "skittles" at a pub, like Dan and Karen, the evenings are fun and full of great memories with other Rotarians. If you ever get a chance to attend an International Convention, make sure you register for this event before it sells out.
Next year's convention is being hosted in Montreal and is already being promoted by the HOC (Host Organizing Committee). It promises to be a great event. President Elect Dan Drake is slated to go, but remember, we have a convention fund that will help any of our members with some of finances should you choose to attend.
An address by UN General Secretary, Ban Ki-Moon, told us that it is because of organizations like Rotary that we've seen a 27% reduction in child mortality in the past 10 years. Rotary has not only delivered emergency aid to many needy countries, but has also provided long-term access to clean water, education and skills training. The Rotary wheel continues to be a symbol of peace and hope to millions of people around the world.
Mia Farrow was a keynote speaker at one of the sessions. She was honored as Time Magazine's Most Influential Person in the World in 2008 for her work in Darfur. As a witness to the atrocities in Darfur, she tells us that with knowledge comes responsibility. We all have a responsibility to pass on the knowledge of human rights violations in Darfur and to do what we can to stop it. "We cannot fail these people like we failed in Rwanda." The stories of babies being torn from their mothers' arms and bayoneted in front of them are too graphic to recount. Her presentation was so moving that many in the crowd were filled with tears. At the first of her 11 trips to Darfur, a woman gave Mia her only possession, which was an Africa amulet of protection. The woman believed that the amulet was the only thing that kept her alive while her village was attacked and 3 of her 5 children were brutally murdered. She insisted that Mia take the amulet to protect her during her journey and then safely return to civilization and tell the rest of the world what was happening to them.
We should be proud of our involvement in Rotary and what that means to everyone around the world. From Ed Futa, Secretary General of R.I., the "internationality of Rotary" is seen at the convention and is an example of what can be accomplish if we all work together. We should be proud of our Swan City Rotary Club which stands in an elite class among Rotary Clubs and is a fine example of how Rotary works. We should be proud of our contributions to our community and to the Polio Plus campaign. Finally, we should be proud of our Interact Club, who has done extremely excellent work in fundraising for Darfur and for those Rotarians who participated in our letter writing campaign 4 years ago advocating to our Canadian Government against the atrocities in Darfur.
Rotary conventions are a great way to meet Rotarians from around the world and to celebrate the great works that are done all over this world. It's an experience that will redefine what you know about being a Rotarian.
Rotary conventions do not focus on just service projects. There is plenty of fellowship with Rotarian from the host city and from visiting Rotarians around the world. One of the best events is the Host Hospitality Event which breaks the convention goers into smaller groups that are hosted by individuals or Rotary Clubs. This event will typically have between 8 and 50 Rotarians together for a meal and some fellowship. Whether its riding a canal boat, like Drew, Marvie, Eve and Len, or playing "skittles" at a pub, like Dan and Karen, the evenings are fun and full of great memories with other Rotarians. If you ever get a chance to attend an International Convention, make sure you register for this event before it sells out.
Next year's convention is being hosted in Montreal and is already being promoted by the HOC (Host Organizing Committee). It promises to be a great event. President Elect Dan Drake is slated to go, but remember, we have a convention fund that will help any of our members with some of finances should you choose to attend.