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KINGSPARK NEWS Club Number: 30119 2005-06 Rotary Year : Issue 12 : 16 December | ||
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is the biweekly bulletin of the Rotary Club of Kingspark Hong Kong Club Website: http://www.rotary3450.org/kingspark-hongkong | ||
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| Chief
Editor : Francis Wann Club Webmaster : John Wan | ||
| Editorial
(Let It Be) - By Francis Wann | ||
| District Website | RI Website | RI President | TRF | News Room | Global History Fellowship | ||
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Let It Be
In his message to the Rotary Club of New Orleans back in 1917, Paul Harris had this to say: "Rotary is simple, genuine, true. It abhors deceit and pretentiousness, and had rather run the risk of under-rating than to run the risk of over-extolling its own virtues." Rotarians might come and go, but over the decades, the virtues and standards we believe and live by have managed to withstand the test of time. Today we're probably doing very similar things our predecessors did a century ago. There probably wasn't any social science research to help them formulate their service strategies. Rotary relies on our simple, understated goodwill and elegance, the will to see a better society, or a better world. And we are proud that we can help to make it happen. And suddenly people are crying for recognition - not only in our district. The Rotary image - or rather the lack of a right image - has been bothering many a Rotarian over the years. Then we initiated the Image Committee with scores of sub-committees and taskforces and adhoc working groups under it. Little do we realise that image is something which is dearly bought, and easily lost. If we choose to go down that road, we might as well ask if we've played all our cards. The past few months have seen within our district quite a bit of actions discussions on the issue. In the last editorial, I mentioned the avalanche of projects big and small, the image-inspired photography competition, and centennial cup race. The Image Committee has also updated its report which advocated our intention to establish a working relationship with the media, etc. Much of what has materialised rarely rises above the noise level. But what is not mentioned is perhaps no amount of these measures would enhance our image unless we go back to the fundamentals. What we need to do is to explore vigorously various possibilities of service avenues. What we need to do is to prove to the world that we are a service club, not a social club. Our politicians have been telling us these days that Hong Kong is at its crossroads, that Britain is at its crossroads, and that European Union is at the crossroads. It would be safe to argue as well that Rotary is at its crossroads. The road ahead for our District leaders requires some soul-searching questions and a solid agenda. Or as we remember John Lennon who left this world a quarter of a century ago this month, we'd whisper - Let It Be. | ||
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President's
Column
RI Past President and Rotary Foundation Chair Frank Devlyn visited Hong Kong in early December, 2005. He officiated the Installation of the Centennial Time Capsule at Hong Kong Park on 4th December, 2005 and the capsule will be opened in 2055 by our next generation. PP Anwer as the Centennial Celebration Chair, PDG John, IPDG Alexander, PP Edward, IPP Thomas and myself were there. PP Anwer asked everyone to keep healthy to see if anyone can witness the opening in 50 years' time. I am sure IPP Thomas's daughter will be able to do so because she is only about 6. The Inter-City Meeting on 5th December 2005 was held in honor of RIPP Frank. He speech was very inspirational and motivating and I am sure everyone was impressed. As introduced by IPDG Alex he was promoting Rotary to any person he met in every corner, in the lift lobby, in the street, etc. He gave everyone in the meeting his new book Frank Talk II which was recommended by our Editor Francis Wann in our last issue of Kingspark News. He also said in the meeting that if you love Rotary you should introduce your friends to Rotary and contribute to the Rotary Foundation because the Foundation has done so much to the world and all Rotarians should be proud of Rotary. Our Club has joined our international partner, the Rotary Club of Boulder of Northern Colorado, USA, District 5450, in a project to purchase durable medical equipments for the Alliances for Smiles, Inc. for their team to provide surgeries in China. Alliance for Smiles, Inc.("AFS") is a non-profit organization that sends teams of medical professional, Rotarians, and other volunteers to China for the purpose of treating children born with cleft lip and palate anomalies. AFS provides all the supplies and equipments and organizes the medical and non-medical volunteers for the medical missions. The equipments that will be purchased will be maintained by AFS and be used on multiple missions. They are needed to perform surgeries safely. Most hospitals in China have standards of equipment that are not equivalent to the equipments in hospital in the United States. Because they will be used on multiple missions it can benefit more children than if given to just one hospital. AFS encourages Rotarian volunteers to explore further service opportunities based on relationship formed with the hosts during the medical missions. It is also the hope of AFS that the Chinese will become acquainted with and copy the concept of volunteerism and that the principles of Rotary will be introduced at grassroots levels. The equipments will cost US$29,258 and our club will contribute US$5,000 by means of the Paul Harris Fellow donations from our members earmarked for this project. The RC of Boulder will contribute US$5,000, the District Designated Fund of District 5450 will contribute and RI will match the funds from both the clubs and the district DDF. Finally, AFS will contribute the shortfall of the financing. We have submitted our application for Matching Grants and we hope we can achieve our target. | ||
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The Monk and the Philosopher
Of course, there are casualties, or inconvenience. One of the consequences of MC6 is that the regular meeting of the RC of Wanchai this week was shifted from Grand Hyatt to Lan Kwai Fong. They have also invited a rather unusual and heavyweight speaker. There were 60 people in attendance, including a few heavyweights. I suspect some board members could be asking, "If we can achieve this every week, we don't we shift our meeting venue to LKF every week?" The speaker was Venerable Matthieu Ricard, and his theme, Buddhism in modern times. Venerable Matthieu Ricard and his father Jean-Francois Revel (the Philosopher) co-authored The Monk and the Philosopher which was first published in 1999. He was a biochemist with a promising career in science and would have been a Nobel Prize winner, but he chose to follow the Buddhist teachings and became a monk some 30 years ago. He is now a writer, a photographer and the Dalai Lama's French and European interpreter as well as his spokesman on scientific issues. Matthieu, as he would like to be called such by his friends, discussed the relevance of Buddhism to modern times and clarified the position of the Dalai Lama on the Tibet issue. He spoke with compassion. Specifically, he spoke of the service projects in Tibet and in China he had been working on, which seek to remove the sufferings of people living in remote areas, where women give births alone under poor hygiene conditions, where children have no access to schools or basic health care, where people live well below subsistence level, with less than HK$1,000 a year, and where clean water and a bar of soap would do wonders. Most projects were financed in part or whole by voluntary service organizations and the RC of Wanchai is one of them. Did RC of Wanchai or Matthieu get any publicity because of last Monday? Had Rotary's local image improved? These are the wrong questions, if I can call a spade a spade. The important issues are as follows. We have a Rotary club in the district which has invited a very good speaker to their club meeting. They have given the district ample notice - more than a month - of the event. The meeting was well attended. And most importantly, the club is embarking on excellent projects with a Buddhist monk. All these however will get any or no publicity, either in the printed or electronic media. But I don't see the membership being put off by this at all. Buddhism has been around for more than 2,500 years. If one Buddhist monk can make himself relevant in a community through service work under conditions that are not too conducive, there is nothing to stop an institution which has only been around for 100 years to do even better. The key words appear to be, get ourselves integrated with the community; and be relevant if we cannnot be reverent. | ||
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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 from the latter for publication in the same issue if possible. | ||
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Chief
Editor : Francis Wann The Board of Directors President
: Dominic Ko | ||
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