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With so many guests last week joining us for a meal, this week was a stark contrast with only one guest, although the gathering was smaller it afforded us more time to catch up and chat over a nice meal. Discussion for the night, of course commenced about the coronation of King Charles III and the similarities and differences between England and last weeks speakers from Bhutan. Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders". It is a non-political and non-religious organisation. It is a great place for discussion and expression of ideas. Discussion continuing with various branches being explored including the monarchy v’s political history lessons from Rotarians from different ends of the earth. Graeme provided us with his insight from South Africa, the Boers’ history and religious influences. He then moved onto New Zealand history. As per most conversations go recently, somehow we got to America and you can’t talk about USA these days without bringing in Donald Trump into the conversation. We then moved onto the history of Botswana and then ended up discussing the Pope John Paul II visit to Australia in 1986. Of course you can’t have a discussion about political history and the Monarchy without discussing our alignment with the United Kingdom and the Australia Republic Debate. As always discussion was respectful and informative. On of the members recommended watching ‘The Wave’ although very disturbing this movie is based on a true story and events. ******************************** Leeton Kaamatan Harvest Festival Unfortunately, our guest speakers being the Leeton Kaamatan Harvest Festival Organisers were unable to join us. The Leeton Kaamatan Harvest Festival is planned for 11 June 2023 to be held at Yanco Hall. Harvest Festival, or commonly known as Tadau Kaamatan, is a sacred tradition to honour the bond between the Creator and Creation. According to legend, this is to give thanks to their god, Kinoingan, for sacrificing his daughter, Huminodun, by cutting her to pieces and spread it across the field which then produced a fruitful harvest of the paddy. The word ‘Kaamatan’ means “harvest” in Kadazandusun. ******************************** |
