Dear Rotarians,
May is the month for two highlights of the Rotary Year: The 63rd District Conference and the RI Convention in Melbourne.
The 63rd District Conference was held on May 20 and 21. After 3 years of the pandemic, we finally organized a full-scale DC at the Regala Sky City Hotel with a record high registration of close to 600 participants. Among the registrants, we had over 80 from Mongolia and over 70 from Macau, it is also a record high in the history of District 3450. After the DG visit to Mongolia at the end of April, our Hong Kong District Officer team planned for the welcoming activities for our Mongolian delegates, with a special welcome lunch to greet them on May 19th. We also had an important guest for this DC: RI President Personal Representative (RIPPR) Trustee Larry Lunsford from Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Isa and I were very happy to receive and welcome him. Thanks to DGN Nigel, who was appointed as Aide to RIPPR Trustee Larry, for accompanying our guest throughout his stay with us. Trustee Larry enjoyed meeting our Rotarians and Rotaractors from HK, Macau, Mongolia and Shenzhen, and thoroughly enjoyed the range of Chinese food presented to him!
The DC proceedings went smoothly. The highlight of the event was the most entertaining performances by Rotarians across different regions in our District. All eyes were on the Presidents’ performance. Thanks to P Angela Wong of RC of Peninsula East for writing the lyrics for a special musical performance by all Presidents and myself. Our Mongolia as well as our Macau Rotarians had also put up their cultural performances on stage. We have all showed our talents from different cultures. Many of us stayed until mid-night. The fellowship still went on with more drinking and we were all exhausted. Despite the late night, all voting delegates were punctual in the second day for the voting on the resolutions. The high spirits of the participants were maintained throughout the 2-day event until the final closing remarks by RIPPR Larry, myself and Conference Chair DS Frank. RIPPR Larry showed his appreciation for such a wonderful conference which was well-planned with high engagement by all. Trustee Larry said that this was the most outstanding DC he has ever attended.
A second highlight this month is the RI Convention in Melbourne. District 3450 had a registration of close to 90 Rotarians and Rotaractors joining the Melbourne Convention, and indeed over 100 people with including family members. Right after the District Conference, Isa and I, together with some of our Presidents and their family members took off to Perth, Australia for our pre-RI Convention fellowship trip. We enjoyed relaxing moments in Perth after such an exciting DC. To create an unforgettable memory for all participants, I arranged to hold the traditional DG Dinner at Arundel Farm Estate in Keilor, a very nice farm restaurant which is famous for special banquets. We had received over 100 members and family registrations to join this very special dinner. Coaches were arranged to pick up all participants in town to transfer to the venue. The all-you-can-drink package added much to the atmosphere. The event was full of fun and laughter. The disco dancing on the coach must have been an unforgetable experience for many. I am sure this memory will remain with us for our lifetime. A full Convention report will be covered in the June newsletter.
May is also a month of celebration. Many clubs organized their long-awaited anniversary parties. Isa and I attended the parties of Rotary Clubs of Admiralty, Kowloon, Tsuen Wan and Wanchai. These are all long-standing clubs with strong service focus and it is exciting to see dedicated Rotarians having a lot of energy and dynamism.
On District Service Projects, I would also like to bring to your attention the Award Ceremony of the Hong Kong Student Service Ambassador Award (HKSSA) which was held on May 8th, 2023 at the Grand Theatre of the Hong Kong Productivity Council. We had over 150 participants and 25 awards presented. All awardees receive a NFT certificate as their lifetime record of this memorable moment of being the inaugural batch of HKSSA winners.
Since our District will be joining Zone 10C in the next Rotary year, a team of seven district leaders (including DGE Andy, incoming District Officers and myself) from District 3450 joined the Regional Team Learning Seminar (DTLS) of Zone 10B and 10C in Phuket from May 14 to 16. There were a lot of exchange of ideas and learning experiences with our counterparts from Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos. We enjoyed good fellowship with RI Director-Elect Mr Ghim Bok Chew and our DG/DGE classmates.
June is the last month for this Rotary Year. I look forward to a great closing of the year as we continue to complete our services and handover Rotary matters to the incoming officers. Let’s continue to Imagine Rotary and prepare to Create Hope in the World!