President's Column By President Joyce Mak
The Journey Begins ....
September is not only the 'new generations' month but also the 'district seminars' month. There were a total of 3 seminars have been organized by the district for 3 consecutive Saturdays: District Membership Seminar on 13 September, Foundation Seminar on 20 September and District PR Workshop on 27 September. Great attendance at the membership seminar! President Alfred Poon from Kowloon West and myself had the privilege to present on behalf of Area 8 regarding District and RI resources we could utilize in helping clubs on membership development and retention. It was indeed a good exercise for us to realize that there are currently so much information both at the district and RI level but the most effective ways to introduce Rotary to new members are by bringing them to attend club luncheons, fellowship activities, district functions and also to participate in different community service projects. The District realized the importance of providing easy access on membership development information and therefore created a website (http://sites.google.com/site/3450mdc/) for members to retrieve information which contains a good collection of useful presentations and helpful manuals.
Another good turn up was the District Rotary Foundation Seminar and it was successfully held on 20 September. We had the pleasure of having a couple of distinguished speakers to share with us the program operations, projects currently working on and some special programs (e.g. Peace and Conflict Studies Program) being funded by Rotary Foundation. Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator, Jason Hsu also shared with us Foundation's future vision plan. To me, the highlight of the seminar was having the pleasure to meet with our Rotary World Peace Fellow again, Ms. Miho Kishitani. Not only she is pretty, but also a very devoted humanitarian worker who is willing to give up her time and safety, staying in Iraq since November 2000. She is now working for a NGO called Peace Winds Japan. She manages and coordinates reconstruction programs in Iraq focusing on education, social care, health, water and sanitation. Again, everyone was moved by her testimony that afternoon and overwhelmed by her courageous devotion to peace.
Let's turn to something more fun! Our first phase of our Rotary Bring Me A Book Project has finally kicked off - Musical Story Book Charity Concert was a smashing event for both parents and children! With the help of our co-organizers, Peegaboo and SAR Philharmonic Orchestra, the concert was duly completed by an overwhelming response. Three young performers were outstanding and they played violin, piano and cello respectively. Followed by 'Peter and the Wolf' the featuring theme for the concert was being performed by a narrator and the orchestra. Parents and children would need their imagination and creativeness to follow the narrator's description and at the same time to enjoy the sound of each instrument which represents each character in the story. Children found the most exciting part was to have the chance going up on stage to learn how to be a conductor. They were all very cute and not afraid to perform in front of the audience! Thanks again to all different organizers in putting this wonderful concert together and all the sponsors who supported the work of Bring Me A Book HK and we all endeavor to participate in future events for the project.
Last Thursday luncheon, PP Thomas invited Mr. Peter Schindler as our guest speaker. Reviewing briefly Peter's profile, he was once a race-car driver and became an IT consultant. This came to my mind the word "contradiction", since I do find car racing is something exciting and exotic, but "IT" - information technology does sometimes represent "boring" to me. He presented himself as a smart, funny and creative individual. He is a holding a Swiss passport and has been resided in Hong Kong for more than 10 years.
When he was a lot younger, he raced cars in Europe- Formula 2, Formula 3 for four years, he then entered the 'dark years' of his life as he mentioned which he became an associate partner in Accenture. His passion for driving has never left him and most recently, between May and Aug 2007, a dream came true for Peter. He took off on a 100-day road trip through China, not in a Land Rove or a Porsche Cayenne, but in the granddaughter of a 1950s Lotus. Peter's journey was to drive along 2 China's great rivers - the Yangtze and the Yellow River - from the natural splendor of the Tibetan Highlands, from the terraced rice fields of Longsheng to the plains of Inner Mongolia. He vividly described his exciting 21,000km journey with great passion. Moreover, in Nov 2008, he will be organizing a driving adventure tour into Sichuan to explore the beautiful scenery and at the same time see firsthand devastation of the earthquake as well as make a contribution to those most affected by it. At the end of the luncheon, I realized I have a new dream ¡K once in a lifetime to have the opportunity to follow Peter for such a mystical driving adventure into China. Unfortunately, I still think this is something too luxurious to me at the moment, but I know as long as I have the courage to dream and with my perseverance, it would not be difficult to make dreams real! Let's keep it up! Wish Peter and the crew all the best in their next journey.
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