| This
is the biweekly bulletin of the Rotary Club of Kingspark Hong Kong Club Website: http://www.rotary3450.org/kingspark-hongkong | ||||
 | Kingspark News Rotary
Club of Kingspark |  | ||
| Chief
Editor : Francis Wann Club Webmaster : John Wan | ||||
Editorial
(History Repeating Itself) - By Francis Wann | ||||
| History Repeating Itself Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it - 1 Corinthians: A History Lesson in Holiness. Obviously the single most worrying scenario concerning our future development and progress of democracy to date is that history has returned to haunt us, time and again. It first happened in 1996 when the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) decided on the addition to and deletion from Annex III to the Basic Law , then in 1999 in the Rights of Abode case after the Court of Final Appeal ruling, and this time for the clarification and pace of electoral reforms after 2007. And as Chief Secretary Donald Tsang met the press yesterday after his meeting with NPC officials in Shenzhen, he made it clear there should not be any illusions of universal suffrage without Beijing's consent. "We have to accept political reality," said Tsang. One just can't help wondering what the Basic Law fuss is all about. If our mini-constitution is here to protect and safeguard our rights and freedoms, let's hope the Basic Law library will give us some clues as to the original intention of the draft. If everyone is equal before the Common Law, then everyone is also equal before the Basic Law. At a recent seminar on the changes in the judicial system in the UK chaired by the Hon Mr Justice Bokhary, we witnessed how steps have been taken to make the law more accessible to people. The conference "Access to Justice" inevitably reminded us that it is the courts which are entrusted with the authority to deliver justice, and to interpret the rule of the law. As Master of Rolls Lord Philips who presides over the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal said in closing, the State must provide adequate resources to ensure that the civil justice system is soundly based and effectively operated." But all this is only possible when the law has justice and humanity in its foundation. It is not enough for justice to be done; justice must be seen to be done. Now that Britain has finally abolished the House of Lords and has just published the Constitutional Reform Bill which outlines the concept of an independent Supreme Court as the final court of appeal, would there be anything to inspire us? Some people never learn. | ||||
President's
Column Run up to our anniversary First I would like to apologize for no submission in the last issue. I will start writing earlier time permits. I was invited by Rotaract President Eddy to present the certificates to the students who were involved in our student envoy program. CP John delivered a speech about Rotoractor movement and history, and I took the opportunity to share my story to inspire them to devote themselves to community service with continuity and consistence, and told them if they wanted to be a leader, they had to sacrifice. But why are there so many people who still want to be leaders, especially when you look at the election in Taiwan, and I suggest you dig into your history books for an answer. On May 1 our club is to celebrate our tenth anniversary and will hold our annual ball at Sheraton, in a way which coincides with the tenth anniversary of our sister club Sathon. I attended their annual ball with John, PP Edward, and PE Thomas. P.E.Thomas met his future classmate and exchanged ideas for the coming year. I was also impressed by their program and perhaps Ball Chairman PE Thomas might have picked up an idea or two there. On community service, we have undertaken a joint project with Lam Butt Chung school in Tung Chung, a Matching Grant Project with our sponsoring club Zuunmod for the (Sheep donation to poor families) in Mongolia Centennial Community Service Project “, the Ten Most Outstanding Professionals Election “,and the Infectious Ward in a Kwongzhou hospital. There’s still much to do for my remaining months, and I should take this opportunity to appeal to all of you for support, and make it a truly centennial year. | ||||
A
Success Formula [Patrick Wong is Vocational Service Director and Organizing Committee Chairman of the recent vocational service project - Ed] The Rotary Club of Kingspark Hong Kong, for three successive years since 2002, has organized and run three separate vocational talks at the secondary school community in Hong Kong. These projects were designed and dedicated to a total of more than 1,300 secondary school students. The impact has been favorably and we think our Club has found a formula for a successful vocational service project. The formula which so far works is simple, namely, Rotarians + School + School Principal + Speakers. It all started in the Year 2001 when Hong Kong was entering into the fourth year of economic hardship and structural adjustment. The Year 2002 was not a good year for the Hong Kong economy either. It was naturally not a good year for those secondary school students who had to face the hard reality of seeking jobs for the first time in their life. These young men and women, fresh from school, had to compete for scarce employment opportunities among candidates of equal or even higher caliber in Hong Kong. Holding up the ideal of helping and guiding these young men and women to adapt and succeed, our Past President Anwer Islam and his Vocational Project Committee of the Year 2001-02 initiated a vocational talk project. The purpose of the project was to provide effective guidance and advice to the students at Anwer’s mother school and to help them equip themselves and plan for their future. Our Club partnered with the Secondary School of TWGHs Wong Fut Nam College, Kowloon. Together with the school principal, Mr. Yim Chin Ming, we designed a 3-hour structured program for the students. We also selected a theme for the project called “What kind of human resources are required in the future job market.” The objectives of the vocational talk were as follows: to facilitate the students’ decisions in choosing a stream of study or career planning; to enrich their knowledge about the nature and requirements in different industries; to provide them with real life examples from people with hands-on experience in various industries; and to offer them first hand opportunities to raise any questions about future career with prominent speakers in various industries. The program began with a 45-minute keynote speech delivered by Mr. K.Y. Leung. This was followed by 1-hour 'shot gun' classroom discussion sessions presented to around 360 Form 4 to 6 students, led by interactive participation of about 20 volunteered guest speakers from about 10 different vocations and professions. The guest speakers shared their experience and success stories with the students in separate small groups. The feedback and a survey conducted at the end of the program confirmed that the project was well received by the school. Encouraged by the popularity of the project, Past President Raymond Sin and his Vocational Service Project Committee in the following year decided to continue organizing the project along the same theme. This time, our Club partnered with S.K.H. St. Benedict’s School at Choi Hung Estates, Kowloon, and the school principal was Mr. Lo Fat Keung. Based on the same formula from the previous year, the program began with a 1-hour keynote speech by Mr. Alexander Tsang, Vice Principal of Hong Kong Polytechnic. It was then followed by 1-hour 'shot gun' classroom discussion sessions presented to over 400 Form 4 to 7 students and their parents, led by interactive participation of 22 volunteered guest speakers. The 22 speakers represented 13 vocations and professions from tourism, education, television and broadcasting, interior design, accounting, medicine, aero business, information technology, police, advertising, social services, banking and law. Members from our Club, Channel Island, Bayview Sunshine and the Rotaract Club of Kingspark were mobilized as small group guest speakers. The feedback and a survey conducted at the end of the program confirmed that the project was overwhelmingly well received. The positive feedback and encouragement received in these two years had motivated our incumbent President Peter Lo and his Vocational Service Project Committee to organize a project on an even bigger scale in 2003-04. They applied the same formula on another school. Our Club partnered with S.K.H. Lam Kou Mow Secondary School in Shatin, New Territories, and the school principal was Mr. Lai Nai Pang. This year’s program began with a 1-hour keynote speech delivered by Mr. Andrew Leung, Chairman of Federation of Hong Kong Industries. It was then followed by 1 1/2-hour 'shot gun' classroom discussion sessions presented to around 500 Form 3 to 7 students and their parents, led by the interactive participation of 23 volunteered small group guest speakers. The 23 speakers represented 16 vocations and professions from tourism, education, television and broadcasting, interior design, graphic design, accounting, information technology, medicine, social services, education, air industry, hotel, movie acting, news and publication, banking and law. Members from our Club, Tsuen Wan, Admiralty, Kowloon Golden Mile and the Rotaract Club of Kingspark were mobilized as small group guest speakers. The feedback from a survey subsequently conducted and received recently again confirmed that the project was very well received. The positive responses from the school community have given our Club the drive and encouragement to continue the same program year after year. To conclude, we believe that the following factors make our formula successful: career interests of the school students were properly identified and reflected; the school principal, the volunteering guest speakers, and the Rotarians shared the common vocational interest and objectives; interesting keynote speakers; and value-added but low budget service project. | ||||
Interact
Update [William Tong is President of Interact Club at Wah Yan College, Kowloon - Ed] Education is not an end, but a means to an end. In other words, the object of education is not to teach children, but to prepare them for their future life. This is the aim of education of Wah Yan College, Kowloon. That is why the school appreciates all-rounded students rather than those who only achieve high academic results in examinations. 2004 is the 80th anniversary of Wah Yan College, Kowloon. To celebrate its birthday, an Open Day 2004 was held on 27th March in the campus. Event
: Open Day 2004 As one of the key clubs in the school, our Interact Club participated in this meaningful event. We made two exhibition boards to introduce and promote our Interact Club. We also prepared a game, called "Action speaks louder than words" to attract visitors and promote leadership skills. Our game was carefully designed along the theme of the Interact Club to enhance communication and leadership skills. It was a game for two participants. Player A was given 20 cue cards half of which were about best practices of leaders, while the other half were on other characteristics. Player A was required to decide the best practices of a true leader and would then communicate the contents of these cue cards to Player B through signs without actually using words. Player B would then try to speak out the correct answers. It was a great success and everyone enjoyed the game very much. Unexpectedly, many of them help us promote our game to their friends and even to other participants of the Open Day. The atmosphere was filled with warmth and friendship. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Falco So and Kelvin Li for their great assistance to our club and the Open Day. | ||||
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A Century of Service
David Forward is a past president of the Rotary Club of Marlton, New Jersey. He has written quite a few books and he specializes in helping others improve corporate communications. He has co-authored with Past RI President Frank Devlyn in Frank Talk. Forward said that A Century of Service is dedicated to those men and women who pursue their own vision of service, often at great personal expense. He shows readers that the past century has provided plenty of examples of simple and ordinary men and women doing heroic and great things for humanity, quietly and constantly. All these volunteers, more than 1.2 million men and women are now working in 166 countries and are dedicated to improving the human conditions. He wrote that the spirit of service is alive and well in the 21st century. This is certainly a very positive view and one that I hope every Rotarian subscribes to and better still shares with his friends and family. Some people like to do charitable deeds in a rather loud fashion, and all too often they don't do it too often either. On the other hand, service minded individuals typically carry out their programmes with repetition, conviction and commitment, and some may say, even addiction. Very comfortingly, such acts are contagious, particularly when they are discovered accidentally by unsuspecting spectators, which perhaps helps to explain why one person with an idea could spread it to so many so far and so fast. It does seem that there is hope for the human race. It does seem that life is worth living for. It does add purposes for sickness and suffering even though we truely believe that they need not be part of anyone's life. As we celebrate Rotary's first centenary, let us pray that there will be more and more men and women attracted to our ideals of service, men and women who will voluntarily volunteer their time, resources and talents to make the world a better place in which to live, and in turn make us all grateful and proud to be part of the human race. In the meantime, reach out for the Rotary website and grab your own copies of A Century of Service. Consider it your personal treat in this Magazine Month. | ||||
Views in any article in Kingspark News reflect those of the authors. They are not necessarily the views of the Rotary Club of Kingspark or of District 3450. You are welcome to write to Chief Editor Francis Wann or Club Webmaster John Wan on any topic, particularly in response to articles published in Kingspark News. We would publish all contributions as long as the authors identify themselves, the contents are not offensive or abusive, and would not offend common decency or common sense. You need not be a Rotarian to write to us and you have a choice to withhold your name in the published version. Where the contents make reference to statements or policies of individuals or organizations, we would try to obtain a response fro the latter for publication in the same issue if possible. | ||||
Chief
Editor : Francis Wann The Board of Directors President
: Peter Lo | ||||
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