A short diary about the 2010 Rotary International conference

Dear Rotarians, I would like to share with you a short diary about the 2010 RI Convention held in Montreal, Québec, Canada from the 19th to 23rd of June 2010. More than 18,000 Rotarians from 154 countries, representing over 5,000 clubs attended the convention and from our District (9200) we had 200 Ugandans, 50 Kenyans and 3 Tanzanian Rotarians attending. It was an amazing 4 day celebration to bring to climax the Rotary year we have had. 19th June - We started by attending an Inter Faith Invocation where a Rotarian choir with some amazing soprano singers performed and all religions were represented in prayers. The opening ceremony was held at the Bell Canada Arena (seating capacity about 15,000) and was held in two sessions because of the numbers. We were in the 2nd session i.e. the session at 6.30pm (it was a repeat so the performances were well rehearsed). The session started with RI President John Kenny and his wife June presenting the highlights of the Rotary Year 2009-10. This was followed by a presentation of country flags of all delegate countries present at the conference representatives by Boy Scouts. The newest country where Rotary movement has recently opened its door is "Palestine" and it was amazing to learn that this was achieved by Rotarians from Jordan and Israel. This was followed by a performance of song and dance from Turkey and a fascinating performance of the band Celtic Thunder (pronounced Keltic). Five young, handsome boys performed for about an hour and belted song after song and dance which kept us mesmerized. 20th June - We were welcomed by RI President John Kenny and all past RI Presidents were invited on to the stage with spouses ( this was a touching movement as these amazing Presidents have dedicated their lives to keep this movement going and at the same time motivating 1.2m Rotarians to follow suite). We then had an amazing set of speakers - Pastor Rocky from Tuloy foundation, Philippines who spoke about his street children project, a Cyprian Rotary Peace scholar who spoke about issues between Cyprus and Turkey and how one can change conflict by rewriting history and the discussion was something new for me. This was followed by Greg Mortenson the brilliant author of "Three cups of Tea" a must read book if you have not read it. For those of you who have not read the book Mortenson is a climber and on his mission to climb K2 he fails in his mission and instead finds a new mission â€" "Educating Youth". His presentation demonstrated his amazing work in Afghanistan& Pakistan and highlighted how educating a girl child can change a paradigm. Mortenson is special to us Tanzanians as he grew up in Tanzania and his father was the founder of KCMC Hospital in Moshi and his mother started the International school of Moshi. Afternoons there were many breakout sessions and I attended the Reach out to Africa session (see www.rota.org for more details) 22nd June - Started with good speakers like Jo Luck President of the Hiefer International and Queen Noor of Jordan who spoke about peace for the 21st Century ( both were women speakers and powerful in what they do around the world). Afternoon attended breakout sessions on the new RI strategy. Evening DGE Steven Mwanje had hosted a cocktail for district 9200 Rotarians and partners. It was very well attended. 23rd June - Started with a presentation from a polio survivor who is now the Ontario Lieutenant Governor on how to see "ability in disability" (and here I saw many Rotarians cry). This was followed by CEO of Boy scouts Bob Mazzucca sharing how Rotary and Boy Scouts partnership has helped youth to turn to good leaders. Then it was the turn of the amazing Dolly Parton - what an entrance and an aura, a 64 year old woman in a 30 year old body. She opened her presentation by a song and then spoke about her Dollywood Foundation â€"which distributes books to children aged 1 to 5 and helps them read. I had an opinion about her looks and plastic surgery but after hearing what she has done and her fresh perspective on seeing life through service and humour - I am in awe of her just like the thousands of Rotarians who attended her presentation. She closed by singing a song and giving an interview and she was asked five questions - one I remember starkly was she was asked her take on the doctorate degree she was awarded last year - her reply was "At last I have a real double D ( Doctor Dolly )" Afternoon attended a session on leadership development.