Day 1 “The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity.”(Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy)
Rotary International President John Kenny spoke evocatively of his trips during his year seeing the impact we have in the world. To Haiti where we acted impressively quickly in providing immediate needs and will continue to help the rebuilding process. To Bandar Aceh, where more than 250,000 lost their lives in 2005 for the opening of a Rotary built health centre from the ground up. To China where an orphanage cares for the unwanted - too many of them abandoned girls. And to Ramallah in Palestine for the chartering of a brand new Rotary club - opened with the cooperative spirit of Rotarians from Israel and Jordan working together - good news in a region where good news is scarce.
And back at our hotel to an e-mail from our own club - where we've raised more than £3,370 for two local charities - Michael Sobell House Hospice & Grangewood School for children with severe learning disabilities - 1,400 at the Ickenham Festival Gala Night witnessed the drawing of our Meal for Two promotion in co-operation with 18 local restaurants - 18 lucky people now have a voucher for a night out worth at least £90. Thanks to all those who bought tickets and all the restaurants that took part - we're proud to be able to make the contribution to two such worthwhile causes.
Alway good to round of the day with a good meal and today was no exception with a warm welcome at Les Pyrenees in Rue St Paul. Stumbled on it by accident - the next visit later in the week will be by design! Great ambience, great value.
Day 2 Women & Children First!
Many of the programs of Rotary are focussed, either by design or by inevitability, on improving the lot of children and more prominently women. Whether we are providing safe water or helping with literacy programmes these inevitably tend to beaimed at children as the most vulnerable and on women as the driving force for improvement in communities.
Our day started with breakfast with our RIBI (Rotary in
The day’s plenary sessions continued the theme – with Fr “Rocky” Evangelista focussed on his work with street children of Manila and Marie-Irene Richmond-Ahoua presenting an award for Rotary’s work in immunising the children of West Africa against polio. Fulbright & Rotary Peace scholar Marios Antoninou set out the role of education in reducing the perpetuation of past conflicts in the minds of today’s children. And finally, award-winning author Greg Mortenson spoke of his work with Afghan villages in building education as a “weapon of peace” Partly as a result of his work, there are 10 times as many Afghan children in education now compared with 10 years ago, although there remains much to be done.
With all this talk of the importance of women in building healthy communities it is shocking to find that Rotary has only one female Director this year and none next year. Seems like something needs to change!
On a lighter note we finished the day off with dinner at Bonaparte in Vieux Montreal (fabulous food – you must go there!) in the company of Irish expatriate John McGuinness, an ex-colleague from the early/mid-90’s at Deloitte where we set about building the consulting practices of the emerging former Soviet-bloc economies. Great company as ever - gift of the gab now available in 7 languagesDay 3 Royalty & Terrific News!
Convention plenary sessions are a mixture of the prosaic formalities of a vast international organisation coupled with addresses from worthy and occasionally stand-out brilliant orators. Today paid tribute to the partnerships that Rotary International has made with other service organisations over decades. Rotary Foundation chair Glenn Estess updated us on the outstanding work of the charity despite economic setbacks - our continuing response to the Haiti earthquake disaster being a notable example and the progress of our fundraising efforts towards the Gates Polio Challenge now top the $133 million mark. Jo Luck, CEO of Heifer International explained how partnership with Rotary is furthering their development work.
We were graced with the presence of Queen Noor of Jordan who spoke of her determination to work for lasting peace in the Middle East and of her work for a nuclear free world.
But the standout highlight of the day for me was Dr. Bruce Aylward, Director, Global Polio Eradication Initiative, World Health Organisation. Bruce was outspoken in his praise for the work of Rotary - highlighted the extraordinary achievements of the last two years, following a period when polio seemed to be fighting back against our efforts. He described how we "have Polio on the run" with no new cases in Uttar Padesh or Bihar in the last six months and those in Nigeria showing a 99% drop in the past year. On the Afghan/Pakistan border there are now permanent immunisation stations to catch all of the children migrating across the border. And the release last year of a new bivalent vaccine which has increased the possibility of permanent immunisation by 50% has further helped our efforts. None of the work of the last two years in West Africa, in Uttar Padesh & Bihar and would have been possible without funds and the time of Rotarians through the Polioplus initiative. We have in thsoe two years fundamentally changed the game in our favour. It's just not possible to stress though how vital it is that we continue - polio continues to fight back - this year has seen more than 300 children paralysed in Tajikistan, with a migrant attack of the polio virus strain recently tamed in Uttar Pradesh. Adults have died, travel has been banned - this vital work must continue.
Dr Aylward closed by saying "Rotary's decision in 1985 challnged the world to change the course of history by eradicating this crippling disease. Rotary is the heart & soul of the largest global health effort in history".
Day 4 WOW!!
Well, it's not often I find myself lost for words when looking for ways to describe a Rotary event, but Wednesday's final day at the 101st Rotary International Convention was close. An unexpected opening to the day came from Ontario's Lieutant-Governor, Hon David C Onley. He's a shining example of what can be achieved by one who has the strength of character to work past his disability and work to change the perception of people with disabilities, particularly in the workplace. A polio victim, he spoke passionately of the need for everyone to see ability not disability in those they encounter.
We elected as our President for 2011-2012 Kalyan Banerjee, of the Rotary Club of Vapi, Gujarat, India. He told attendees about his first encounters with Rotary in India. "I loved the way the Rotarians seemed to enjoy meeting friends and enthusing about community service projects to benefit hundreds of people," he said. "I decided then that I must be a Rotarian as soon as I could make it."
Bob Mazzuca, Boy Scouts of America chief scout executive, described himself as the warm-up act for the next guest, of which more later. He set out clearly why Scouting is still an integral part of American culture - without encouraging young people to lead more active lives we stand at risk of this generation being the first where their health and lifespan will be worse than that of their parents.
First real treat of the day was from Dolly Parton. On the face of it an unlikely choice for a staid organisation which just shows how wrong that is on both counts!! The philanthropist and literacy advocate went on to explain her foundation’s Imagination Library , which promotes reading among preschool children by providing them with a free book each month from birth until age five. The programme has grown from its base in her home state of Tennessee, USA, to other communities in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Dolly told us she was inspired by her father, who was illiterate but "one of the smartest people" she knew. "He knew it was a crippling thing not to be able to read and to write, so he was proud when people would call me the 'book lady.'" Opening with "9-5" Dolly also treated us to her unrecorded work inspired by her advocacy "Try".
But all this was just for openers. After this uplifting morning session we took off for a trip up Mont Royal, a park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the late 1800's (he also designed Central Park in New York, amongst many others). Views across Montreal were cloudy but worth the trip - we failed to notice the 5.0 earthquake on our public bus trip back to the city - not sure whether we missed it or it was down to the suspension on the bus.
And back for the finale - would it be worth it? Absolutely!! Our final session opened with a superb perfomance from British tenor Russell Watson who had the 12,000 plus audience on their feet with a mxiture of operatic and show tunes. A rousing start. Outgoing Rotary International President John Kenny rounded out his year with an emotional reflection on his year in office followed by a rallying call from incoming President Ray Klinginsmith. And then, to cap it all, a mesmerising hour-long performance from the incomparable Cirque du Soleil. Impossible to capture the feats of strength and agility in words - you have to see it to believe it's possible - and definitely don't try this at home!
Where to go from there? Well back to a favourite restaurant for dinner - a reprise for Les Pyrenees in Rue St Paul. This time we found ourselves in company with a family of Rotarians from Cornwall, Ont and Victoria, BC - take a bow Chris & Barb, John & Linda Edgell who rounded off our visit to Montreal with true Rotary fellowship. We wish John all the best with his upcoming Presidential year - may it be as fruitful and enjoyable as our past year has been.
And now - well we're off to Toronto, via an enforced stop at Oshawa, Ont - VIA Rail is terminating all services outside Toronto during the G20 period. So we'll let you know how we get on!!
