Last week's Proceedings -

4th October, 2006

The 13th Rotary meeting of the year was started by President Paul at 1pm. 17 members were in attendance. There were no visitors nor visiting Rotarians.

Four birthday boys were present, viz. PP John Luk, Rtns Alex Ling, Charles Bien, and Norman Lee. The birthday song was led by PP John Luk into a rousing chorus. Each received a present in the form of a long cylinder to help their memories.

Rtn 1Alex was welcomed back. SAA was PDG Uncle Peter ( now a regular feature), and he reported takings of the red box at $1,300.

Announcements were made by president Paul on 5 items.

  1. The Manufacturer advised on 4th October that their forwarder informed that the ship will arrive Hong Kong on 9th October and they will around 13th October to approach Home of Loving Faithfulness Fellowship to confirm the date of delivery the Washer Extractor to their premises.

  2. We have fixed our visit schedule on 28th October, 2006. Our tentative schedule is as follow: 1:30pm or 2:00pm Pick up at Central We will hire a big coach with 50 seats capacity. We may consider 2nd stop pickup at Kowloon Airport Express Station 3:00pm Arrive HOLF and start our program. 5:00pm to 5:30pm Program at HOLF end. 5:45pm Debriefing Place to be advised 6:30pm plan to have the BBQ Place to be advised. Some members need to leave before dinner, we will arrange the coach to make a trip to the city 8:30pm Return to Central.

  3. Fundraising Project of RC of HK Harbour Charity Ball on 21st October 2006. RC of HK Harbour has obtained 50 free table from Regal Hotel for fundraising for Hepatitis B As at 1st October at least 3 more tables in the pipeline. Payment Method : Make check payable to "Rotary Club of Hong Kong Harbour" Mail it to 25/F, Oxford House, 979 King's Road, Taikoo Place, Quarry Bay, HK Attn: Ken Wu Tel: 2863 9988 / 9018 4914. The deadline for putting a complimentary message in the souvenir book has been extended to 11th October. The costs are $9,500 (full page), 5,000 (half page)and $2,500 (quarter page)!

  4. "Hong Kong & Macau O! Day" Fund-raising To hope that there will be a team represents the Rotary Clubs of Hong Kong to joining this meaningful event. The event is scheduled on Saturday, 21st October 2006. Hope that our members to forming a or several team(s) to support The Salvation Army.

    Information and on-line registration is available by visiting the link http://oday.salvation.org.hk

  5. Rotary Club of Kwun Tong will hold their 33rd Annual Dinner on 13th October 2006 from 19.pm to 22 pm. The primary purpose of this function is to raise fund for our community service in 2006/07, there are :

    1. Hong Kong Youth Cultural & Arts Competitions ~ Drawing Competition
    2. Little Sister of the Poor - St. Joseph's Home for the Aged ~ Body checked of the elderly
    3. Evangelical Home for Children ~
    4. Kwun Tong District ~ Give Children a Chance
    5. A lucky drawn are organized for the purpose of fund-raising.

    Venue : The Four Seasons Ballroom, Renaissance Kowloon Hotel, 22 Salisbury Road, TST, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
    Cost : H$600.00 per person

Then Pres. Paul invited Rtn. Dr. Tony Loy to come forward to conduct our debate. He announced that the meeting was intended to be a debate on the "Pros and Cons of admission of lady members to the RCHKIE". Rtn Tony was delegated to be the facilitator for the debate. He read out the opinions of two PP of the Club, who were not able to be present personally.

PP Con Conway's opinion was a con. He opined that “I did and still do hold strong views that it was wrong for RI to force a California "equality law" on an International Body. The USA is not the Universe and, in fact, the US is very much a country isolated, in the main , from cultures of Africa , Asia and Europe. We do not follow US law in HK, it really is too bizarre.

Men and women join "clubs / associations" for differing reasons”.  He further stated that “….no female Rotarian comes to mind when one considers actual value to the Rotary movement and most initial female Rotarians joined because they could , and not because they should as they had a deep affinity with the 4 Way Test”.  “…I cannot name one club that is better off because they have female Rotarians. And I'm sure that a number of RCs that admitted females had males who resigned as a result”.  “The net ‘Rotarian capture’ probably is negative.

If the majority of RCHKIE members wish to admit females into our club, I won't think less of them, although I will be saddened and disappointed. I will advise them before a vote on this, however, that they should be aware that such a move will change the "culture" and "ambience" of our much loved club beyond recovery.”

”Pity I'm not around to deliver something like the above to our members but I'm sure PP Tajwar will do the "nay sayers" proud”.

PDG YK's comments were read out next.
“I am definitely for the admission of ladies into our Club.
The admission of ladies into Rotary started almost 20 years ago.  Two ladies whose application to a Rotary club in the States was rejected on the grounds of “gender” applied for a “judicial review”, and the courts ruled in their favour.  To-date, of the 1.2 million Rotarians worldwide, over 15% are ladies.”
I have been following this topic over the years with interest.  My conclusion which coincides with Rotary International’s membership survey is that ladies in Rotary can only be good for Rotary and humanity.  It is an arrangement which has proved to work.
The definition of “business and professional people” now extends to ladies.  Back in 1905 when Rotary was founded, there were probably very few ladies belonging to this category. The CEO of Pepsicola, the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, the Presidents of Princeton, MIT, UPenn and Brown are all ladies. Times have changed, and Rotary must change with times in an evolutionary way.
Ladies bring life into Rotary club. The view is unanimous in that they are particularly helpful in Club Service. When ladies work hard ; the “lazy” men feel bad, and make effort to work equally hard. This could only be advantageous to the Rotary club ! Ladies are a source of motivation, and they bring life into Clubs.
One theory which I find bizarre is that interaction between men and ladies Rotarians may have de-stabilizing effects on the marriages of the male Rotarians. Those who advance this are likely to be wives feeling insecure and in dire need of psychological consultation. I am happy to note that this particular specis (the wives) are fading out from the centre stages.
The practice of welcoming visiting Rotarians already allows lady Rotarians into our amidst though perhaps not yet into our inner circle.

The reality in front of us is that we need members, and any person who injects vitality into the Club be a he or she will be very welcome. I suggest that an initial effort be made to identify and recruit 3 to 5 ladies as the first batch. In this way, they will not feel “out of place” when they join the Club. Let’s give it a try!”

PP Taj came to the rostrum next. He stated that he is in favour of women and he likes all women. However, lady membership in Rotary in general and in RCHKIE are two different issues. He was not against the former but was totally against the latter. He suggested that because of the strong opinions of some very strong pillars of the RCHKIE, it was better to keep in status quo. He also commented on the pulls between the RI and the need to build RCHKIE into a strong club on the active Rotarians. He suggested to hold a general meeting with ample notice, and the members will vote on the issue of admission of lady membership into RCHKIE by using black and white beads, anonymously. Black or white, and no grey ones being available. Another issue was that the wives who cooks and cleans at home may not like the husbands having nice lunches regularly with nice executive ladies.

PP David then commented that lady members were already in Rotary, though not in HKIE. We should have a proper survey of the membership's preferences. Our Rotariannes did come and enjoy the fellowship, but attendance to meetings was a different matter. If, for example, we could identify 6-10 possible lady candidates who wish to join HKIE, then we may try to find out why do they wish to do so, and what attracted them to HKIE. (PP David maybe? – Ed.) Then we might consider the "trade-off" if some existing members wished to resign over the issue.

PP Tim told the meetings that further debates were of limited use, unless we come up with a vote and action. A referendum would be needed and the directors would have to act in accordance with the result. However, with the decreasing membership in the recent years, the survival of the Club needs to be considered carefully.

As many others present were also interested to speak but limited by the time frame, it was declared that another session will be held in two week's time, 18th October. PP John Luk will be the chairman for the meeting. A vote, non-binding, just for opinion poll, will be taken if the debate is completed.

The meeting was closed at 2:05pm after a toast to the RCHKIE.

 


Rotary Information

District News

  1. Our District 3450 had committed a ten-year project with China to immunize new born babies against Hepatitis B since the Rotary year 2001-2002. This continuous project required HK$2 million per year.

    We are raising money for this Rotary year with the help of the Regal Airport Hotel, Kowloon who offered 50 tables of 10 persons each table totally free of charge for food and venue. All the proceeds we collected will be for our Fund Raising for Hep. B project.

    Our District 3450 is arranging a table type of 10 guests each as follows:

    (Diamond) Table @ HK$50,000.00 per table
    (Gold) Table @ HK$30,000.00 -do-
    (Silver) Table @ HK$15,000.00 -do-

    Souvenir Programme    
    Full Page Ad. @ HK$9,500.00 per insertion
    Half Page Ad. @ HK$5,500.00 -do-
    Quarter Page Ad. @ HK$3,000.00 -do-
    Compliment Section @ HK$1,500.00 -do-

    Venue : Regal Airport Hotel, Kowloon
    Date : 21st October 2006

    Raffle Tickets and Auction programme will be held. For further details, please contact our club Secretary Andy Wong or Rtn. Ken Wu of the R/C of Hong Kong Harbour at phone No, 2863-9988 or Mobile No. 9018-4914.

  2. Vocational Service Seminar

    October is designated by RI as Vocational Service month. The Rotary Club of Peninsula is again organizing a Vocational Service Seminar on the 24th October 2006 at the Marco Polo Hong Kong Hotel, Tsim-Sha-Tsui, Kowloon at the Centenary Room from 12.30 p.m. to 2.00 p.m. The cost of the luncheon is HK$250.00 per head. Please confirm your attendance by phone at 2523-7437 or fax 2868-4942 attention Ms Eva Wong. It would be a useful seminar to attend if you want to know more about Vocation Service.

  3. A Veteran Rotarian Died

    The Rotary Club of Kowloon West mourned on 4th October 2006 the untimely death of its past president Dr. Raymond Wu Wai-yung, a National People’s Congress deputy and renowned cardiologist, from leukaemia at the age of 69. Funeral service will announce later. It is a great loss to our district. May he rest in Peace.

  4. Adopt A School Programme

    A Signing Ceremony was held on 4th October 2006 at the Central Library, Causeway Bay at 3.p.m. between The Education and Manpower Bureau and Rotary District 3450, represented by Professor Arthur K.C. Li and District Governor Tony Wong who signed as witnesses to the ceremony. It involved ten Rotary Clubs and nine schools.

    The Lecture Hall was fully packed by the Schools Principals and its assistants, Presidents of the 10-Rotary club plus Rotary dignitaries and members. Professor Arthur Li addressed the gathering followed by D.G. Tony. Students and parents also attended. Photos were taken during the initiation and cameras flashed all through the ceremony. By the smile of Professor Arthur Li, it proved the project was a great success. The programme ended at around 4.30 p.m.

 

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Electronic Make-up Questions

You can submit an electronic makeup for this missed meeting by answering the following questions:

1. We have four birthday boys this week, who were they?

Answer:

2. Rotary Information was on several matters, name two of them?


Answer:

3. Pres. Paul made five announcements, briefly name them.

Answer:

4. We held a debate today, What was it on?

Answer:

5. PP Con Conway sent a letter, was he for or against?

Answer:

6. PDG Y.K. also sent a letter, was he for or against?

Answer:

7. PP Tajwar was present, what was his opinion?

Answer:

8. PP David Li was present, what was his opinion?

Answer:

9. Finally PP Tim came to the rostrum, What was his opinion?

Answer:

10. Finally what did we decided to do?

Answer:

Instruction:

Please copy these questions click the following URL John Kwok and paste it to the email and answer these questions and then click send

Jokes

emBill Gates' facts of life

To all those parents that understand what this is about.... Share it with your kids and help them to get real about life.... For the rest enjoy....

Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! To anyone with kids of any age, here's some advice.

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing (getting rid of lice) the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

If you agree, pass it on.

If you can read this - Thank a teacher!

 

Photographs of our meeting
on

4th October, 2006

Today's facilitator for the debate was Dr Tony Loy On "The Pros and Cons of admission of lady members to the RCHKIE"

(L to R) PDG Uncle Peter, Dr Tony, and Pres. Paul.

(L to R) Hon. Sec Andy, Rtn Charles Bien, PP John IV.

Today's birthday boys receiving their presents from Pres. Paul were Rtn. Alex Ling.

Rtn Charles Bien

PP John Luk

Dir Norman Lee

(L to R) PP Tim, Rtn Alex, PP Taj, Rtn. Herman, and PP Hubert.

(L to R) PP Henry, Dir Norman, PP's J.L. Stephen, and Rudy.

Group Photo of our members with PDG Uncle Peter and Pres. Paul on 4th October, 2006.

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