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Meetings: Tuesday’s 5:30pm @ the Dunedin Club, 33 Melville St, Fern Hill, Dunedin.

President:         Derek King
Secretary:         Eleanor Archer
Treasurer:         Grant Batchelor
Welfare Officer: Bob & Jan Clark

 

Next meeting: 9th August.
Time: 6:00pm for 6:30pm start.
 
Apologies and meal guests to be entered into the web base (button below) by 11am on the day of the meeting.
To review your entries go to:
Bulletin Editor
Murray Eskdale
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Speakers
Aug 09, 2016
 
Aug 23, 2016
 
Aug 30, 2016
 
View entire list
Meeting Responsibilities
Reception 1
Mackinlay, S, Sue
 
Reception 2
Meek, Andrew
 
President's guest
Meek, Andrew
 
Grace
Tay, Ah Lek
 
Thought for the week
Tay, Ah Lek
 
Speaker introduction
Walker, S, Susanah
 
Speaker thanks
Batchelor, Grant
 
Sergeant
Clark, Bob
 
What's new
Grant, S, Stephen
 
Heads and tails
Hamilton, Andrew
 
Hospitality
Hamilton, Andrew
 
Executives & Directors
President
 
President Elect
 
Secretary
 
Treasurer
 
WEB Master
 
Past President
 
Rotary Foundation Chair
 
Membership Chair
 
Service Projects Chair
 
Youth & Vocational Chair
 
Public Relations Chair
 

Partners Evening

Tuesday's guest speakers will be Mayor Dave Cull and Deputy Mayor Chris Staynes.
 
This will be a partners evening and if you wish to bring other guests please get as many along as you can.
Use the guest link on the bulletin to register those attending with you.
 
Please note the later 6 for 6:30pm start!
 
Stories
Rotary Youth Exchange Update
Isla Benham is the student that Dunedin Central sponsored to Switzerland. Below is her July monthly report:
 
'Hi everyone! So far I’ve had nearly three weeks in Switzerland which seems crazy when I think about it. The first few weeks of my exchange have been really fun, busy and a little hectic. I’ve really enjoyed my short time in Switzerland, everyone has been so friendly, warm and welcoming to me, inviting me out to things and making sure that I feel included. The Rotary language camp in Bischofszell was also really, really good. It went for two weeks with all the other January RYE Inbounds who are in the German speaking part of Switzerland. We had German lessons for most of the day, which were really good and helpful in explaining grammar and other funny things we weren’t sure about. I would really recommend that they keep doing them as it was certainly really helpful for me and it was nice to be able to meet the other exchange students in Switzerland too. On the middle Sunday of the camp we went on a day trip to the Rheinfall, Schloss Laufen, Schaffhausen and a little town called Stein am Rein. Last Tuesday my host mother and my host sister Lynn took me to Zurich to complete some things for my visa and then showed me around the city. Zurich is a really beautiful city. We took the tram down the main shopping street in Zurich, Bahnhofstrasse, which lives up to its reputation and is very classy. You can visibly see it getting more expensive and exclusive as you make your way down the street with shops like Dior, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany’s and Chanel. They also took me to one of the main churches in Zurich, the Grossmünster. The Grossmünster is a church with two towers, one of which is open to the public. You can climb up to the top of the tower and overlook the whole of Zurich below you, which is really something. I hope that the rest of my exchange here will be as good as these first few weeks have been.'
GLOBAL GRANT SCHOLAR VISITS DUNEDIN CENTRAL
Sahkr Alaqraby District 9980's Rotary Foundation Global Grant Scholar was our guest speaker this week.
Sahkr Alaqraby District 9980's Rotary Foundation Global Grant Scholar was our guest speaker this week. Sahkr is currently studying at the University of Otago completing his masters in Peace and Conflict studies. Originally from Yemen, Sahkr did his undergrad at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, his Post undergrad he interned with the Human Rights Watch for 6 months.
 
Sahkr spoke of the political crisis in his homeland of Yemen, a place he is unable to return to due to his strong political views.
"The conflict in Yemen is a result of decades of corruption and a government that I believe deliberately aimed and hoped to create a politically illiterate nation.
A government or should I say a president who ruled the unified Yemen for 21 years, during which education or any other thing that was beneficial to the people and the country was never a concern.

Yemen was simply a country where the people served the government, where the people were exploited by regime. Lands were sold and ports were rented just so the president and the rest of his criminal entourage would stay in power.

Of course for him to keep the country that way, Ali Saleh, former Yemeni president, depended mainly on creating conflicts within tribes, funding militias who served as terrorists and started several wars against the Houthis whom are his allies now.

Of course the militant dictator did not just become a master mind because he read some books and just found the light; rather, his guiding “angel” then was Saudi Arabia -his enemy now- a country that in my opinion has no interest in ever witnessing a safe, stable and prosperous Yemen."
 

Sahkr is passionate about peace and is driven to make real change in an unstable world, The following is a quote from Sahkr's blog.

'I would actually love to stress on the fact that even with all the wars and civil unrest, Yemen miraculously still managed to have a few who continue to make us say, look there is still hope in Yemen. I attempted to do that in my Post undergrad work with the Human Rights Watch on Yemen. I have never felt as satisfied about working on any other thing in my life as I felt in those 6 months.

I am now about to start my second attempt in my pursuit of a Master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Otago in New Zealand as a Rotary scholar.

I have always had this dream of seeing and working with people who put their community and others first, having had no luck I decided to take it as my mission even if it meant it was going to be me against the world.

However my experience with Rotary has made me realise it was never just me against the world, but every Rotarian I met or heard of was already there, way ahead of me trying to make a change. I no longer felt a force of burden but those of humbleness and slight discontent, I haven’t done enough. I now felt the need to do even more, that of wanting to give back endlessly.

To conclude, I will share with you the 4-way test that Rotary lives by,

Is it the truth?

Is it fair to all concerned?

Will it build goodwill and better friendships?

Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

If you are not a Rotarian and you think it’s coming from the heart and you already live by it, then what is stopping you from becoming a Rotarian?


We can't help but wonder what change this young man may affect on our world, we wish Sakhr all the best with his studies at Otago and look forward to catching up with him again.

Read more...

Remember: It’s your responsibility to arrange a substitute if unable to fulfil your duty.

Seeking Rotary Youth Exchange Students

Do you know a suitable student for the Rotary Exchange? 
We are looking for a student 15-18 years of age to have a similar experience to to Isla (monthly report above).

2 Street Collections!

We have 2 street collections coming up.  Please see the links below to reference the roaster so you can enter your name. 
 
The first of these is Friday 12th August 2016.  This is for Life Matters Suicide Trust and this is outside Starbucks.
 
The second collection is for Cystic Fibrosis (CF) on the following Friday, 19th August.  The times are slightly later, 10:00 am till 6:00 pm. The location is the MacLaggan St  The Warehouse.  It is inside so should be a bit warmer, however you should still dress warmly.
 
If you are clever, you can manipulate yourself from one to the other once you have opened the first. 
 
I realise we all are busy and many “work”.  Please try and organise your day so you can help, by starting early so you can finish early, or do the first segment and start late.  A long lunch break is good too. Remember, service before self.
Upcoming Events
Garage and Book Sale
Cargill Enterpises
Sep 17, 2016
9:26 AM – 3:26 PM