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THE ROTAWEEK A compendium of Rotary news No. 1028 Sun 20-Nov-2011 www.rotacal.org/rotaweek ROTARY INSTITUTE KOLKATA 2011 ________________________________________________________ RI PRESIDENT KALYAN BANERJEE ON ROTARY AND PEACE Fri 18 Nov 2011 "We are the world We are the children We are the ones who make a brighter day So let's start giving…" That was Usha Uthup, the Diva of music from this part of the world, telling the more than 1000 strong audience at the Science City auditorium, that the evening would be dedicated to "Peace". Earlier, the ceremonial welcome and arrival of Kalyan Banerjee, President Rotary International and his spouse Binota Banerjee had been livecast on a gigantic screen for the audience and every step of the way, they had been entertained by dancers depicting folk dances from different regions of India, the traditional blowing of conch shells by wives of Rotarians to usher in all that is good and showering of flower petals, set the tone of the evening. The frenzied movements of Bihu dancers welcomed them into the auditorium, to the delight of the audience. Usha Uthup was joined on stage by Dhwani, Meiyang Chang, Francis Lepcha and Shane Hyrapiet whose melodious renditions of meaningful songs stirred a soft cord in the hearts of the Rotarians. After PDG Ravi Sehgal called the meeting to order, the National Anthem rendered by students of a physically challenged children's school, brought tears of patriotism in the eyes of the audience. Interactors bearing flags of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Seycheles, Sri Lanka, USA, Uganda and Rotary International marched on stage and placed the flags in their respective places. Talking about changemakers, Shekhar Mehta, Director, Rotary International, presented a Rotary pin to Usha Uthup, making her an honorary member. A man from Bengal… After Kalyan Banerjee was introduced through a visual presentation, he spoke on Rotary, the Harbinger of Peace. What is Peace? According to Kalyan Banerjee, in many cases people do not understand what peace is. "Peace is not just an absence of war …it is a process, it is a condition, it's a state of mind,' One is at peace when one sees one's neighbour as a neighbour ~ not someone to fight with. Going to the root of why people fight, he explained that most of the world's wars started in the aftermath of an economic disaster when people were not able to live their lives in a safe, secure and normal way. His prescription for eliminating conflict was to catch it before it starts, by dealing with the causes of dissatisfaction which make people turn to conflict. He felt that if the physical needs of people – their health, hunger, water and housing problems – are taken care of, people have a much easier time getting along with each other. When survival is not a fight… He related an interesting story about his journey from Chicago airport to his office in a taxicab driven by a Pakistani named Mohammad with whom he had a chat about how Indians, Pakistanis and Jews lived happily in a place called Devon in northern Chicago. The taxi driver had told him that these people probably did not want to fight. They had come to America because they wanted to enjoy their lives and that is "peace" – the ability to enjoy one's life, free of worries about the bus being blown up or what diseases may be in the water or what one will eat the next morning, or which child may not get an education as she maybe needed to fetch water from two kilometers away! Rotary builds peace… Rotary does not build peace with armies and treaties, not at UNO or in any government houses but day by day, individual by individual. Rotary welcomes people of diverse religions, culture and language as long as they can embrace the core values of Rotary and will place service above self. Rotarians build peace through their work, that is by helping communities and individuals meet their own needs by themselves…. Rotary is both international and local... A very large international organization, Rotary is also very local in their presence. Because of who the Rotarians are and how they operate, they are able to reach out. The internationality of Rotary helps, Rotarians have a great reputation at every level, and they use this at locally where they can do "most good." Kalyan Banerjee feels that Rotarians may be able to improve basic education, break the cycle of poverty and want and the networking of Rotarians may help them to help others more effectively. He explained this point with reference to Tsunami which hit Southeast Asia. A combination of a large, international organization and the commitment and dedication of local leaders is Rotary's strength. Trust is the bedrock on which Rotary is built… He cited the example of the 25 schools built by Sri Lankan Rotarians after the tsunami that are meant for more than 12,000 children. The schools have better sanitation, more modern classrooms, water filtration plants, even computer rooms and these schools are being run with utmost transparency to the satisfaction of every donor. Repaying the help… When people receive help from unknown people in times of need, when a connection has been built where there hadn't been one before, it is bound to lead to goodwill between two countries! Rotarians build similar connections through Youth Exchange, Ambassadorial Scholarships, GSE and the multiclub, multidistrict projects that are carried out with the support of The Rotary Foundation. PolioPlus - the flagship project of Rotary… What started out as an impossible, ambitious dream – something that made others laugh at Rotary , … is today a tremendous partnership with the World Health Organization, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, governments and NGOs on every continent and every county. He emphasized that we should work together, helping others, taking responsibility ~ only then will a job get done. "We are this close", he reminded. Spread the word…. Kalyan Banerjee, President of Rotary International was candid when he said that Rotarians should claim with confidence that Rotary brings peace and, explaining exactly how and why such claims are being made. Maybe that would attract the concerned person to join this organization. "Every Rotarian we bring into our clubs helps to build it a little bit more." PP Shyamashree Sen AG Zone 15, 2011 - 12 RC Calcutta Metro City, RID 3291 ROTARY INSTITUTE KOLKATA 2011 ________________________________________________________ SECRETARY GENERAL JOHN HEWKO ON HIS PRIORITIES Sat 19 Nov 2011 Speaking on his experience of the first 100 days as Secretary General of Rotary International, John Hewko mentioned that he had begun his journey in Rotary by concentrating on the Rotary Headquarter in Evanston, Chicago which has 600 employees and soon enough he realized that there is a great deal for him to learn! "The more I get to know Rotary, the more I get involved," he exclaimed. He admired what Rotary had achieved in 106 years and called it "incredible". He mentioned his visits to other regional headquarters where he had already visited. His first stop during his visit to India was at Mumbai. He spoke about the school project of the Rotary club at Thane - the water project. He had also visited Pune and he mentioned the fantastic distance education programme taken up by the Rotarians there. Sharing his itinerary with the delegates at the Rotary Zone Institute in Kolkata, he said that from India he would be traveling to Australia and a visit to the regional headquarter in Brisbane would certainly be on his agenda before he finally returned to Chicago. John Hewko informed the Rotary leaders assembled at the Institute in Kolkata that his list of to dos contained about 300 items. However, at present, his sights were set of 5 key priorities: The first priority of course, was Polio Eradication. He said that humanity would overcome a great amount of suffering if we succeed with polio. Only after the eradication of polio may we set the stage for the next global health project. He reminded that we needed to meet the 200 Million Challenge of Bill Gates by 30 June, 2012. Supporting the view that we need to work very hard to ensure that we get credit for the work we are doing, he said Rotary should have an understanding with Bill Gates so that our initiative gets endorsed in his campaigns, thereby increasing our public image. The second priority was the need to make the Strategic Plan operational. Once rolled out, the Strategic Plan would be extremely important for The Rotary Foundation and its 6 areas of focus. This will help our image, reputation and also encourage funding from other agencies. The third priority was that Rotary should do an evaluation of all the social welfare projects done across the globe by the different Rotary clubs so that it may be known how much work has been done each year and what was the value of the work done by Rotarians for the betterment of the society. This may then be told to the world at large. The fourth priority according to Hewko, was Membership. He felt it was absolutely necessary to create twelve 3 year Membership Plans, focusing specifically on issues of the concerned regions. He felt that this could be achieved with a worldwide branding exercise which would augment the image of Rotary. He informed that Rotary International was intending to improve the website (www.rotary.org) for more frequent use of Rotarians. Focus would also be on the social media such as Facebook, Twitter and other such networks through which Rotary could access global youth organizations and E clubs. Only in this way would it e possible to attract young members into Rotary. Hewko's fifth and last priority was: how to solve the world's humanitarian problems? Rotary represents 1.2 million business and professional men and women across the globe. He concluded that we have a tremendous amount to give, even at the leadership level. Speaking on Kolkata in particular and on India in particular, he said that he had noticed a lot of change since he had last visited 30 years ago. However, in Kolkata what had not changed were the warmth and hospitality of the people, he remarked. Shyamashree Sen AG Zone 15 RC Calcutta Metro City, RID 3291 Regards ________________________________________________________ Dr Dipak R Sarbadhikari Past President RC Calcutta, D-3291, Kolkata, India To UNSUBSCRIBE: send a mail to drdipak@gmail.com with "Unsubscribe Rotaweek" as the subject. |
