Dear Rotarians
In March great news on the relaxation of COVID restrictions finally arrive – and we are all excited that we could have a “normal” life. Many Rotary Clubs have resumed their physical meetings and busy service schedule. I have attended the anniversary balls of Rotary Clubs of Kowloon Golden Mile, Kowloon East and Hong Kong Harbour.
With the borders reopened, we immediately make trips to Shenzhen and to Macau. We visited the Rotary Club of Shenzhen. Despite the pandemic, the club is working well with meaningful service projects planned. We also spent a great weekend in Macao. A delegate of District leaders and Macau Presidents visited the China Liaison Office in Macau on March 24th. I presented our activity plans and our focus to Officer Xia (夏副部長) who has always been very supportive to our Rotary services in Macau. The official Macau DG visit to clubs in Area 1 took place at the Fisherman’s Wharf grand ball room with over 200 participants. The 2nd Public Image Seminar was held in Macau on Mar 25th morning at the Macau Tower. PP Joao of Rotary Club of Macau has shared with us different kind of fake news in social media and teach us how to avoid. Professor Agnes Lam has showed many good tips on telling a story in social media to attract viewership. The 9th JPM was held in Macau right after the PI Seminar at the Macau Tower. This is the first time the Presidents from Hong Kong and Macau meet up physically. The VR Stories of the DG Visit and the PI Seminar can be viewed through the following links.
DG Visit to Area 1: https://jitevent.optitable.com/en/vr/?story_id=949bf948155164843a32f9457463d30a87ca
PI Seminar II: https://jitevent.optitable.com/en/vr/?story_id=951dcdfba96012ef65d98fb7e325e2b3fa9e
Back in Hong Kong, we have organized a second round District Blood donation which took place in a school in Ma On Shan. Over 80 Rotarians and friends have contributed. Isa and I have also made our second blood donation in 6 months. On March 25th, we have also held a Vocational Development Day “Imagine the Future” at the Cyberport in Hong Kong. The event is full of exciting topics that share with the audience on vocational development.
Further from our District in the global Rotary family, we also made connections with the Districts that are in the Turkey/Syria Earthquake Disaster Areas. Our District has quickly allocated USD50,000 from our DDF grant to this special Disaster fund. Many clubs and individual Rotarians have also contributed. An estimate of over USD100,000 have been donated. Thank you, Rotarians, for your generosity.
Our District is undergoing a process to incorporate to a new limited company by guarantee as recommended in the RI code of policies. We need to have two third (2/3) of all clubs in the District to vote yes to proceed further. May I urge all clubs to cast your vote within the voting period from Mar 29th to Apr 6th.
As we move into the final quarter of the Rotary Year, I would like to encourage all clubs to continue to exercise our imagination in not only completing our service projects this year, but also set a great foundation for the coming Rotary year. Let’s Imagine Rotary!