| 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
(I Can't Get No Satisfaction) - By Francis Wann | ||||
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I Can't Get No Satisfaction At time of writing, the much celebrated environmentalist-cum-activist Winston Chu Kasun has already resigned as Chairman of the Society for the Protection of the Harbour, leaving behind uncertainties in the future of the legal battle in general and Hong Kong's reclamation projects in particular. Perhaps one may just wonder why Mr Chu has bothered to take on the issue in such personal passion which goes back some years. His application for judicial review has made headlines, and so has he. It is interesting to see the difference in the course of action between him and the more ubiquitous Long Hair whose street-level strategies have earned him a lot of publicity over the years. Mr Chu is visiting professor of University of London, and clearly understands how best to manoeuvre the law, and naturally, as he admitted in front of the media, the judicial review would be his trump card. It would however seem incredible that Mr Chu should appear as a lone fighter while there are various environmental groups around. Does he want to make a martyr of himself, or does he intend to take the harbour into his own hands? And, take no offence, is our harbour, or perhaps our skyline, something worth fighting for at all cost? Is it after all a middle class thing? And at time of writing, Mike Rowse of InvestHK has confirmed that the Rolling Stones are off our HarboutFest list. Immediately, it has erupted into a war of words within the LegCo Chamber - that the Government must be held accountable, that Hong Kong's reputation as a cosmopolitan city would be tarnished, and that it's money down the drain. I was at the Ibraham Ferrer concert recently and the septuagenarian satisfied everyone in the audience with his energetic Latin songs. The Buena Vista Social Club was made famous again after Director Wim Wenders reignited the BVSC album. Cuba under Fidel Castro is, and has always been, synonymous with poverty and exuberance, but you can almost feel in the multiple rhythms the love and joy of life, and the power of music. No other contemporaries would come close to that. There might be a lesson for all of us o learn about life. Hong Kong people are an unhappy lot, and that's official. Perhaps that's something for Rotarians to ponder about in the run up to our centenary year. | ||||
President's
Column Habits of Mind The Government has often spoken of the importance of lifelong learning and of keeping an open mind, particularly when the economy is not doing too well and in the wake of rapid social changes. I don't know why these words seem to have fallen on deaf ears. I have been doing some job interviews with my staff recently. Most of them blamed the Government policies for the high unemployment rates and their low wages. It appears they have obviously not been listening to what the Government and politician have been saying. I remember that around 1977 Mr Allen Lee was Chairman of the Hong Kong Productivity Centre. He spoke of industrial development in Hong Kong in the following decades. Referring to the global economic changes and the impending change of sovereignty in 1997, he urged the Hong Kong government to develop high technology industries in place of labour intensive ones, and at the same time, embark on educational reforms to meet the future challenges. Mr Lee was certainly ahead of time, and history has proved him right. We have since witnessed that following the Sino British negotiation over the return of Hong Kong to the Mainland, the signing of the Joint Declaration and China's continuing economic reform and open door policies, Hong Kong manufacturers have been moving their operations into the Mainland, to the extent that our economy and development in education might be seen to be lagging behind some other neighbouring economies, notably Korea and Taiwan. I mentioned Mr Lee's 1977 speech because I was motivated by what he said then and decided to go back to school so as to better equip myself for future changes. I cannot say that I have been very successful, but if I did not do that, I could have been much worse off. Two days ago, my daughter brought back a hand-out from school. I find it very interesting and useful and would like to share its contents with you. It is a good illustration that there are no limits in learning and that we can all learn from each other, as long as one keeps an open mind. Learning with habits of mind Professor Arthur Costa, Emeritus Professor of California State University, Sacramento, defines 16 types of intelligent behaviour called "habits of mind." These habits will aid students to perform well in school and in everyday life as they encounter life's challenges. Habits of mind encourage thinking skills essential to all human activities and especially lifelong self-directed learning. Professor Arthur Costa maintains that a critical attribute of intelligence is not only having information but also knowing how o act on it. The habits of mind that contribute to this intelligence are - 1. Persisting The professor went on to ask students to develop a plan to enhance reading and thinking habits, based on the 16 habits of mind. But I would spare you of that. | ||||
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Swimming
Gala 2003 It was a perfect Sunday afternoon for a swimming gala. The weather was fine and the temperature was not too high. For the past three years, I have asked my family, meaning my children, to take part in the swimming gala. This year as in previous years, there were lots of children events. I must thank the organizer, R.C. of Kowloon Golden Mile for the good work and smooth rundown. For all I know, this year's swimming gala was held at the Ma On Shan Swimming Pool for the third consecutive year. The venue also offers some sort of water adventures for parents and children to relax when they are not competing in any event. When my family and I got to the venue around 11:00am, President Peter was already waiting anxiously for us and the events had already started. The first few events were normally the Presidents' and Past Presidents' events which were followed by the childrens' events. This year, Kingspark had three families participating in the swimming gala, viz., Terence Leung's family, Sunny's family and mine. As all the children are in almost the same age group, we managed to form a children relay team and they managed to win a medal or two, too. Readers who know me well enough would understand that I am the kind of athlete who can only run and jump. Yes, all these years, I have never taken part in any swimming competition as I am not a strong swimmer. However, in order to encourage my three daughters to take part in this year's swimming gala, I promised them that I would take part even though I knew I had no chance of winning. I wanted to show them that competition is not about winning, but rather, participating. It is about trying one's best and gaining the valuable experience during the course of competition. It is also about not being afraid of losing. Now, both Dora and I like sports very much, so we have made it a point to our girls that they should receive formal training in at least one kind of sports. Moreover, we both agree that swimming is a good start. So, for the past few years, they have been receiving formal swimming lessons from a swimming coach. Occasionally, I would accompany them to the lessons and I would swim too. While the coach is teaching them swimming, I would normally stay close by and learn the skill myself. Under the encouragement of Dora and President Peter, I finally decided to take part in the 50M freestyle and a family event with my daughter Jane, and I am glad that we managed to come second in both races. The overall result for Kingspark was not outstanding as we were not heavily represented, having only the 3 families mentioned above. The overall championship for the year went to R.C. of Admiralty who came very strong in every event. I must take this opportunity to thank P.P. Cassidy Lam of R.C. of Kowloon Golden Mile for all the hard work. Dear Kingsparicans, see you at the pool next year, especially P.P. Raymond Sin and Michelle Sin. | ||||
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By VP Dominic Ko Each year, Youth Exchange programs are arranged by local districts and Rotary clubs worldwide for qualified students aged 15-19. The program has grown to include approximately 80 countries and more than 7,000 students all over the world each year. I have heard that our District had tried to organize this program several years ago, but for some reasons had not continued with it. Hong Kong is an international city, but I am surprised that this program was not well promoted in the past. A primary goal of this program is to provide young people the opportunity to meet people from other countries and to experience their cultures, thereby planting the seeds for a lifetime of international understanding. Our club is starting this program again this year. We are organizing a reciprocal exchange between the sponsored students of our club and the Rotary Club of Canberra Sunrise of Australia. A student from Hawker College of Canberra will attend school in Wah Yan College from late November 2003 to January 2004. In return, Wah Yan College will send a student to Hawker College from June to August 2004. The exact time has yet to be worked out. The inbound student will stay in a host family in Hong Kong and our International Director Michael Au has promised to take up this challenge. Rotarian Joseph Chan has promised to be the host counselor of the student. Thank you, Michael and Joseph. Their contributions will certainly help to make the program a success. The program has been made possible with the help of Graham Hicks of the Rotary Club of Canberra Sunrise who had not only helped us train 2 of our Rotaractors in Canberra to participate in their MUN, but also sent 1 team (4 students), led by him, to support our first MUN in August 2002. Graham's help has enhanced the friendship between the Rotary Club of Canberra Sunrise and the Rotary Club of Kingspark HK. He has arranged for me to meet Principal Richard Powell of Hawker College of Canberra during my visit to the capital city of Australia after the RI Convention in Brisbane in last summer. On 9th October, 2003, Principal Richard Powell visited Hong Kong. He met Principal George Tam in Wah Yan College. After that, both he and Principal George attended our luncheon meeting. He introduced to us Hawker College in some details, as well as the inbound student. Their visit has certainly improved understanding between parties concerned and given our program a good impetus. I have indicated to Principal Richard that I am trying to look for a co-ed school or a girl school for another exchange with his school in order to make it an equal opportunity for both gender. As this is the first program for me as the District Youth Exchange Chairman there will be a lot more for me to do in order to promote this in the District. | ||||
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From
the Rotaractors Reflection
on Membership Let me give a brief report on what the Rotaract Club of Kingspark did last month together with a preview of our upcoming activities. Last month, we delivered moon cakes to the elderly singles living in the Methodist Centre in Wanchai together with the "Friends Unions." Here, we would like to say a special thank you to DDRC PP Sally Ho who was instrumental to the success of the project. Without her personal involvement, we could not have brought the gifts to the 30 elderly singeltons. At our September General Meeting, we invited Ronnie from the Spina Bifida Concern Group to give a talk on the background and future programmes of the organization. Inspired by Ronie, we are organizing a Halloween Party for the children of the Spina Bifida Concern Group at CRN Lok Fu Centre on 31 October 2003, from 7:30pm. On 19 October 2003, we would take members to hike the countryside, as one of our Club service projects. we would be led by a very experienced instructor, Joseph chan ka Lok. Finally, on 28 November 2003, our guest speaker for the evening will be a coroner. He will share with us his work experience, based on real life cases. We would meet at the Marco Polo Prince Hotel, from 7:30pm. Lastly, we are organizing the long awaited Modern Jazz Dance Course soon. Watch this space for details. Before I sign off, I would like to share with you my reaction to PP Ted Ho's article on whether we need quality or quantity in membership. The Rotaract Club of Kingspark was chartered eight years ago. Membership has always been a concern all these years. The constitution of Rotaract Clubs requires members to retire when they reach 30. In order to keep the Club going, we need to recruit new and young members all the time, which is what we are trying to do this years as well. As to the question of quality or quantity, I agree with PP Ted Ho. We need quality members to make things happen and we need more members and in quantity to make things better. The current economic situation has affected many of our members. Many of us are required to work shifts and overtime and undertake business trips overseas. Some may choose to continue with their studies. By and large, community based Rotaract Clubs are more affected, which is why university based clubs can often find more time for larger scale projects. Service projects are indeed essential for attracting new members. Here, I agree with what CP John Wan said in an earlier article on "Signature Projects." Signature projects are important becasue they tend to attract new members, who are attracted to join the club after they have witnessed how successful and effective these projects are. We have already had a few signature projects, e.g., fund raising for the Spina Bifida Concern group, and More Fun in Hong Kong, the former having won us worldwide recognition by RI as the outstanding project in the East Asia and Pacific Region. I had thought of repeating some of these projects, for not all the current members have had the opportunities of being involved in these star projects, but having discussed the matter with PP Victor, we have decided to let the Board decide what to do. Our new project for this year is - Young Envoy Programme. Our Community Service Director Vinky is working hard on it. I have no idea whether this would turn out to be another signature project that would help membership growth, but we should all try to learn through the project. After all, the project itself may not be as important as the learning experience we would all gain during the process. | ||||
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Letter from North America Here I am, thousands of miles from you. Let me send you warm greetings from United States and Canada, or Southern California and Toronto to be exact. Once again, Editor Francis moaned about as contributors apologized for the late arrivals of articles for this issue. I had problems linking my laptop with the Internet while I was in sunny California and I told Francis that I was not too sanguine about this issue. I arrived Toronto last night in driving rain and heavy traffic. What promised to be a 20-minute drive from the airport took an hour and a half. The good news is I can access the Internet with my laptop here. I have yet to meet a Rotarian since I left Hong Kong some 10 days ago and have therefore not attended any Rotary club meetings, but I met a Lions and we had a great time. I found out later that we both attended the same school, at different times though, and not Wah Yan too. My stay in Los Angeles coincided with the historic election of their State Governor. There was blanket coverage in selected media, mainly on TV, but the local politics are such that reports in the printed media have been generally biased. If you think Hong Kong politics are difficult, you ain't seen anything yet. The people here seem to be anything but united, and they never seem to be bothered. The North hate the South and vice versa, the liberals hate the conservatives, the rich and famous are never happy because they are too busy dieting and doing their own things and the rest of the people hate them for their riches and fame, but would spare no efforts finding out every detail about them. I have learnt that the local radio stations in LA and Toronto have both started a programme to re-broadcast on the same day the magazine programmes of that popular talk show "Teacup in a Storm." I think the programme began in October and has already attracted a good following, mainly from Hong Kong Chinese, of course. I would miss you guys in Hong Kong, and I would try to work on and upload any articles you send me through emails. Try to send them on files rather than on the emails themselves. It would make editing easier. Until the next time, I wish you well. And if I cannot upload the next one on time because I would be cruising on waters where connection to the Internet would be unreliable and prohibitively expensive, I promise to do it as soon as possible. | ||||
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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