Contents

President's Message - By Raymond Sin
I attended a Rotaract Club Meeting - By John Wan
Kingspark Camp on board Star Leo - By Calvin Fung
Why Star Leo - By Peter Lo
More on Star Leo Cruise - By Patrick Wong
Smiling Students in Guangxi Rotary School - By Stephen Lin
DG Official Visit - By Michael Eyles
Coming Up Events
The Board

President's Message

By President Raymond Sin (2001-2002)

Last week was a busy week for Rotary.Starting from 14 Aug (Tuesday) I had my 2nd JPM which was held in the Rainbow Restaurant, Lamma Island. It was the 1st first time a JPM was held in such an informal way outside HK Island or Kowloon. It was a great fellowship dinner after the formal JPM. Everyone seemed to know each other very well although it was only the 2nd JPM. I got home by almost 12:00 midnight. The next day Rotarian Joseph, David Cheung and I had a meeting.

DG Johnson Chu has officially visited Kingspark. Before the Club meeting, DG and I had a Private Meeting together with DGE Gloria, AG Johnny, DS Stenley Mok, PE Anwer, Sec Michael and Vocational Director Amy.

I was told that the Private Meeting was a tradition. I discussed my Year Plan with DG. During our Club meeting, DG spoke about the RI Theme of this year and elaborated on the importance of the Global Quest put forward by RI President R. King. The key issue of the Global Quest is membership growth. Every Rotary club is challenged to bring in one new member each month and to have a net growth of five members at the end of the Rotary Year. I would like to see Kingspark keep up the effort and meet the goal. On that evening, we had our 2nd Board of Directors meeting at Chariot Club. Having done all the formality, 6 of us stayed for dinner and had a lots of food and drinks.

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Chan Ka-lok is the Professional Development Director of the Rotaract Club of Kingspark. He told me weeks ago that he had invited Cao Renchao of the Economical Journal to speak at the Club's August General Meeting and asked me to join the meeting last weekend. Mr. Cao is a household name in town, well known for his daily investment column and for his readiness to speak his mind without fear or favour. He is good news and good value. That he had agreed to talk to a bunch of Rotaractors amidst his busy schedule actually speaks volumes about this man. I am not about to record in very much detail what he said here, except for some observation, not only because I had not taken any notes, but also because I suspect that the Rotaractors would write an article in the next issue of Kingspark Link, as they normally would for any heavyweight speaker at their meetings. Kingspark Link, by the way, is their monthly bulletin. I would like to believe that it was inspired by Kingspark News, but they have certainly done well over the years in their own right and Kingspark Link has established itself as a very readable and reputable monthly, certainly in the Rotaract District.

For over 90 minutes, the seasoned writer, journalist and newspaper co-proprietor spoke ad lib non stop and answered questions. He spoke without any script or notes. He spoke from the heart with conviction, humour and intellectual pride. His message was clear and his words, sobering. The future belongs to the next generations. The young people of today will shape our future. If they believe they can make it, Hong Kong will have a future. Don't lose heart on hearsay that Hong Kong is finished or has lost to Shanghai or the Mainland. Hong Kong is miles ahead of the Mainland in terms of economic development, human resources, legal framework and infrastructure and will continue to remain so if the people of Hong Kong, in particular the young people, are determined to succeed and if they would endeavour to equip, enhance and improve themselves on a continuing basis. There is no short cut to success.

In response to a question from the floor, Mr. Cao said that he spent on average four and a half hours each day on his diary. I was impressed. That would be half of the time an office worker would normally spend on deskwork each day. It proves the point that nothing good comes easy, and for that matter, nothing easy would be worth doing.

My mind drifted to a favourite pastime - letter writing. People often asked me how much time I spent on each letter. I had never managed to give a definitive reply because it varied widely and wildly. By and large, I spent more time writing my monthly letters and the continuity column in Dipo's year. That was because I was conscious that the readership of these articles was not homogenous, and that they were official letters. I never sent them off immediately after I had written them. I would read and re-read them a couple of times before sending them to print. On the other hand, I was much more relaxed with my letters. Often I would simply type what comes to the mind and I would press the send button after typing the last phrase, normally without proofreading. A member of the club had said that I wrote those letters at 3 am in the morning. Well, not every one. I wrote when I felt that I had something to say or when I was in the mood to communicate. Last week, I began reading my book as a third party, cover to cover, and I began to pick up the various typo and mistakes. In some area, the flow was odd or disrupted. There could be two reasons at least. I could be called away halfway, or bits of a sentence could be lost during editing. There was also the technical typo generated from transcribing word documents to the Mac format, something that would be very close to Tom Hui's heart, from the days when he was editor and publisher of Kingspark News.

The point I was trying to make was that I had never spent four and a half hours each day writing an article, and probably won't. I suppose it was an estimate which included related chores such as reading, research, writing, editing and so on. That is his work and main stay, whereas I am doing it as a pastime. On another front though, he would be doing it for the love of his work, his paper, his reputation, his readers and one hopes, for Hong Kong. The ultimate test of a journalist's mettle is his readiness to uphold press freedom and defend the rights of the individual, particularly the underprivileged and the oppressed, and his recognition of his social responsibilities. That is probably self actualization in its realization, not unlike the many selfless men and women that would work tirelessly and selflessly on the many community service projects dedicated to making the world a better place in which to live. Talk to you next week.

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About a week before the Kingspark camp event took place on 28 & 29 July 2001, President Raymond asked me to be responsible for producing a report for the Kinspark Newsletter. My immediate response was "please don't ask me to do this" but President Raymond kept coercing me to do so. I did not agree nor disagree to take up that task that evening and we digressed to other business matters in that dinner meeting.

Perhaps I owe my friends in Kingspark an explanation for not agreeing to write. Firstly, I hate writing (very bad attitude and totally opposite to John Wan!). I have been doing it all the years in my business life. I am still doing it now to earn a living but if I can avoid it, I avoid. Secondly, precisely in this very period of July and August, I have an overload of project commitments at work for which I was concerned about my ability to meet deadlines. Thirdly, I looked forward to getting on board the Star Leo for this planned event as a short break with my family, my Summer Holiday! The last thing I wanted was for it to become the cause or the reason for one more piece of obligations in my indebtedness list.(At this point of writing, I paused to go to our weekly luncheon meeting)

PP Alexander approached me in the last meeting on the subject of the report on the Camp for the Kingspark Newsletter. He was told that the record of the Camp was in my possession but he quickly comforted me by saying he planned to solicit contributions from all members who care to drop him some highlights. His EQ in handling this won my support. He did email all members two days ago (the email message to be quoted here………………………) and here I am, responding to his call.

I learnt from President Raymond one of the pieces of good news today that PP Alexander is now the Chief Editor of Kingspark News.

Moving back on to the Camp on Star Leo on 28 and 29 July 2001 for some highlights. For preparation, I borrowed from my daughter a digital dictaphone for the purpose of recording some of the events on board. This proved not to be of much use because I am now writing without reference to it.

On board, I was quite attentive to announcements from President Raymond and VP Peter regarding the number of persons present in the Camp. I was not able to get the precise number even up to this very moment. It was reported after the Camp was over that there were more than 215 Rotarians, Rotaractors, members of the Spina Bifida Group, family members and friend joined. Everybody enjoyed the Camp in one form or another. Complimentary remarks on a very well put together event by President Raymond and VP Peter were on people's lips throughout.

President Raymond had only one complaint. The Star Leo staff did not organize our speedy check in well. We were told that if we began boarding between 1.00 p.m. and 1.30 p.m., we would not have to wait in the queues. This turned out not exactly to be the case. It still took people an hour to go through the formalities. This was with the exception of IPDG John Wan and Rosita who were given VIP treatment because they booked themselves a Presidential Suite. The outcome of this nightmare was grumbles from President Raymond. At 4.00 p.m. when the first group function was to start, a lot of us were not gathered in the lounge booked for the function. The starting time was almost delayed for 30 minutes when the venue was supposed to be vacated.

After the first group function the exact purpose of which I cannot remember so well, we moved to another venue booked for group activities for the Spina Bifida Group. Our Rotaractors again did a great job on group games and everybody thoroughly enjoyed it.

In one of the games Michael Eyles was required to sing to the tunes of Chinese songs played to him on earphones. Nobody could listen to the original singing and people are to guess the names of the song through Michael's mouth. This was most entertaining and I am leaving it to readers to imagine.

I used my digital dictaphone to do interviews during the events. It did not serve the planned purpose but as a by-product, some atmosphere was created, children members were entertained.

People began to drop out from group events to do their own things. The boat was full of activity spots for individuals to explore. No commercials here. For details please consult Star Leo's literature.Food wasn't that great but sumptuous.In the Casino, some won, some lost.

At precisely 12 noon on 29 July 2001, we were back at Ocean Terminal, IPP Tom, myself and my family escorted IPDG John and Rosita to disembark from the boat. Why? As VIP, John and Rosita were to use special passage to avoid the queue, with permission from the crew, we shared the priviledge!I am ending my write-up here to give room to other fellow members' input on their highlights.

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Some Comments on Star-Leo Cruise
By Patrick Wong

Here are some of my thoughts: The cost of the cruise was not cheap considering the actual time spent on board the boat, which was not more than 24 hours. Naturally, members would like to spend as much 'quality' time together with their families as much as possible, and to relax. The embarkation arrangement in the terminal was disappointing and terrible, and near to the point of rioting. It took us nearly two hours to get on board! I would not even think about going through it again. My wife would not consider going to the cruise again. I am not sure what my boys would say.

Consequently, the time spent with other members and their families were very short and limited. The timing arrangement of the programs organized by the Roteractors etc., even though for good intentions, was not very appropriate. It seemed that consideration was not given to the fact that some members would like to spend more time enjoying outdoor activities on the deck and under the sun when daylight hours were limited on that day.

To summarize: It was fun. Evening programs seemed a kind of hollow. Not an appropriate occasion to get most of the members to stick together and generate the kind of Rotary spirit wanted.

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At our regular luncheon meeting on 16th August our District Governor formally visited us. Every District Governor does this once a year and the event is to be savoured as special when we should be on our best behaviour. I know not all of you would agree with that, in other words that we should act normally to give DG an impression of our club as it really is. However, do we not modify our behaviour slightly when we have a speaker or when we change venues for our evening meetings on the last Thursday, when the surroundings are different?

It is a matter of fact that our DG addressed us on a variety of matters. He started by mentioning the Immediate Past District Governor, not only as a courtesy because IPDG John was there amongst his audience but also as an acknowledgement that he is the successor of a long line of Governors in District 3450. DG Johnson Chu then took up on our theme for this year: Mankind Is Our Business. The theme is part of the continuity of Rotary International's work and DG Johnson found his own words also when he said "our product is service" : to render service is probably why you joined Rotary. DG then talked about the membership extension programme, not only because August is Membership and Extension month in the Rotary calendar but also because RI President Rick King has exhorted us to gain one new member every month in this rotary year. DG Johnson may have been slightly ahead of his time when he told us that we as clubs are seeking the right people, not people with the right classifications, to join us. It is not every day you will hear DG Johnson enunciating something you do not expect!

He then continued with a detailed description of his incentive programmes pivoted on the District Governor's awards for a range of achievements, including Paul Harris Fellowships (I hope the Rotary Club of Kingspark can get this giving programme right this year after RI's recent simplification of its on-line procedures).All those years ago Paul Harris talked about public relations, just as DG had done during his speech to us on 16th August, and I hope DG does not mind if I end this article with a quote from Paul Harris. In the promotion of understanding, it is important to reach large numbers-non Rotarians as well as Rotarians-and you cannot reach large numbers privately".

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Coming Up Events

(1) Happy hour fellowship time
Monday (20 Aug), 6:30pm, at Grappas of Jardine House. Ted, Anwer,John, Michael, Peter and I all go.

(2) District Swimming Gala
23 Sep 01 (Sunday), 11:00-6:00pm, at Ma On Shan Swimming Pool. All members and their family are welcome. Deadline 15 Sep 01. - Rtn David Cheung In-charge.

(3) District Rotary Foundation Seminar
8 Sep 01 (Sat), 9:00-3:00pm, at HK Academy of Medicine. All new members must go and other members are encourage to go. - PP Ted (our Club Rotary Foundation Chairman) will In-charge this.

(4) District Vocational Seminar
30 Oct 01 (Tue), 12:30-2:00pm (luncheon meeting). Vocational Director Amy will call you later.

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