DG Newsletter
Posted by David Ling
From our DG
March is traditionally the month in which District 9790 has held its annual Conference and this year is no exception. Almost a year ago, at our 2011 Conference in Wangaratta, I promised that our 2012 Conference would be a “Conference with a Differ-ence”. At the end of this month after you have at-tended our 2012 Conference, I hope you will agree that we fulfilled our aim and that the Conference was different.
One of the aims has been to hold a Conference which is more interactive. To this end, we have built in more time for networking especially at the breaks. It is an opportunity for attendees to share their Ro-tary experiences, develop new friendships and infor-mally hear about Club projects. The Saturday morn-ing program will include a Panel Discussion and Q & A on change and how it will affect Rotary. The panel includes commentators and experts in the economy and social and climate change.
March is traditionally the month in which District 9790 has held its annual Conference and this year is no exception. Almost a year ago, at our 2011 Conference in Wangaratta, I promised that our 2012 Conference would be a “Conference with a Differ-ence”. At the end of this month after you have at-tended our 2012 Conference, I hope you will agree that we fulfilled our aim and that the Conference was different.
One of the aims has been to hold a Conference which is more interactive. To this end, we have built in more time for networking especially at the breaks. It is an opportunity for attendees to share their Ro-tary experiences, develop new friendships and infor-mally hear about Club projects. The Saturday morn-ing program will include a Panel Discussion and Q & A on change and how it will affect Rotary. The panel includes commentators and experts in the economy and social and climate change.
March is also Literacy month and we should all focus on the importance of literacy in our communi-ties. Being both literate and numerate is to empower people. We need to instil in our young people a love of books and reading, for that will establish the groundwork for a meaningful and fulfilling career or vocational path. To this end, the District has again this year encouraged Clubs to be a part of the ‘Books for Babies’ program this month by presenting to newly born babies a copy of Mem Fox’s book, Ten Little Fingers, Ten Little Toes.
But we should also not forget the importance of liter-acy and numeracy amongst our adult population. Whilst we can easily identify young people who ex-perience difficulty with their level of literacy, there is a portion of the population in adulthood, who are illiterate and are ashamed of it. These people will keep their illiteracy to themselves and it has a huge impact on such things as basic shopping, reading and understanding pharmaceutical prescriptions and safety on the roads and public transport.
Internationally, literacy provides young people with the power to break the poverty cycle within their de-veloping countries and economies. Having the abil-ity to read and write allows them greater opportuni-ties to earn income and it also has important ramifi-cations for the social cohesiveness of the society in which they live. Being able to read, for example, al-lows young people to be more aware of the risk of contracting AIDS and other diseases.
Literacy is empowerment and it’s why Rotary Inter-national has adopted basic education and literacy as one of our six key areas of focus.
See you all at Moonee Valley when “the Country-side Comes to the City” for our annual District Con-ference.
Yours in Rotary
David Anderson
District Governor 2011-2012
Rotary District 9790
The Drum can be accessed from our Webpage
But we should also not forget the importance of liter-acy and numeracy amongst our adult population. Whilst we can easily identify young people who ex-perience difficulty with their level of literacy, there is a portion of the population in adulthood, who are illiterate and are ashamed of it. These people will keep their illiteracy to themselves and it has a huge impact on such things as basic shopping, reading and understanding pharmaceutical prescriptions and safety on the roads and public transport.
Internationally, literacy provides young people with the power to break the poverty cycle within their de-veloping countries and economies. Having the abil-ity to read and write allows them greater opportuni-ties to earn income and it also has important ramifi-cations for the social cohesiveness of the society in which they live. Being able to read, for example, al-lows young people to be more aware of the risk of contracting AIDS and other diseases.
Literacy is empowerment and it’s why Rotary Inter-national has adopted basic education and literacy as one of our six key areas of focus.
See you all at Moonee Valley when “the Country-side Comes to the City” for our annual District Con-ference.
Yours in Rotary
David Anderson
District Governor 2011-2012
Rotary District 9790
The Drum can be accessed from our Webpage