January 2008
European Rotaract Informational Centre
Newsletter Bringing people together!
Issue #2 (7)
h t t p : / / w w w. r o t a r a c t e u r o p e . o r g
JAMES BOND TO THE RESCUE… EUCO 2008, 30 April - 4 May, London What are your plans for the beginning of next May... sitting around the house, watching the rain fall, wishing for summer to come??? Or, are you going to experience London in a completely new way that you’ll never be able to repeat, at EUCO 2008! We’re pleased to announce that registrations for EUCO 2008 have surpassed the 700 mark and we are heading towards 750 delegates from 82 different districts! There is also a total of 35 countries represented so far...with a few more yet to book. The organising committee is working very hard to ensure that all visiting Rotaractors and guests have an enjoyable time in London with pretty much all the actions now completed. The sightseeing tours are in the final stages of production, currently being tested by the London Rotaract Clubs to make sure we don’t get our European friends lost in the City! The exciting entertainment is all booked from a traditional pub-crawl to the secret agents party The Gala Ball is all arranged with a great DJ, fantastic food and a characturist to keep everyone entertained. There may even be some Bond characters wandering around to show you the latest gadgets The London Eye is now fully booked – with over 300 delegates joining this activity to see London from high-above the clouds… With a fun-filled programme you’re not going to have much time to relax, but you are going to see London in a
whole new light! Read below to find out what you’ll be getting up to… The official EUCO 2008 James Bond themed tour of London! Travelling in special vehicles which have the ability to both drive on streets of London and travel in the River Thames, not only will you get to see some of the greatest landmark sights of London, but also sights used in James Bond Films. Da Vinci Code London Follow in the footsteps of Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou from the blockbuster film based on the best selling Novel by Dan Brown! Delegates will get to see famous sights of London featured in the film and unravel the clues and mysteries left by Leonardo Da Vinci along the way! London Rocks Follow in the footsteps of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Queen, David Bowie and other British rock legends! On this tour you will get to visit venues big and small, star’s homes,
apartments and death sites, recording studios, album covers, management company offices, boutiques, film and video locations and other monumental rock landmarks! Theatreland London Explore London’s famous and historical Theatreland and discover fascinating facts and amazing stories about London’s most famous and important theatres. From ghost stories to love stories… Royal London Discover the essential Royal sights of London, a city rich in palaces, historic sights, famous buildings and museums! We’re pleased to announce that the dates for The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace have recently been confirmed and coincide with the dates of this tour. Arts London London is home to some of the finest art galleries in the world. This tour gives you a taste of some of the best London has to offer, including the National Gallery, the Tate Modern and Tate Britain. Jack the Rippers London Jack the Ripper is one of the most well known and mysterious serial killers in the world. Responsible for the murders of up to 11 women during the 1880s in the East End of London, his identity to date remains a mystery. This unique tour allows you to follow in his footsteps and walk the streets where his victims were
murdered and learn about the chilling secrets which have made him a worldrenowned notorious serial killer. Sports London Visit the grounds of Chelsea Football Club, the largest football stadium in London; and the Wimbledon Tennis championships, the oldest event in the sport of tennis! Gala Ball Celebrate 40 years of Rotaract, 20 years of ERIC and 10 years of EUCO Conferences in style, join us for the main event of EUCO 2008…the Grand Gala Ball. Taking place at the Novotel London West in Hammersmith, London, it is the ideal setting for the biggest party in Europe. The evening will include fantastic food, fun and entertainment from a great DJ. We’re even taking music requests from all delegates, once logged into the EUCO website visit the “Fun Stuff” section and vote for your top tunes. As of right now there are only 82 silver, 39 bronze and 100 Gala Ball only packages left. Given this is only about 20% of the total number of tickets, and it’ll sell out even quicker as people start “panic buying”, now is the time to register for EUCO. For more information or to book your place visit www.euco2008.com or contact Lisa Burnett, EUCO 2008 Co-ordinator by email lisa.burnett@euco2008.com. We look forward to welcoming you to EUCO 2008…
Newsletter European Rotaract Informational Centre
Issue #2 (7) January 2008
WORLD AIDS DAY European social project “Play it safe” AIDS Awareness Party – Turkey After ERIC suggested to make an awareness party about AIDS, we thought of making a wider project distributing brochures, condoms and also Red Ribbon pins in shopping malls and explain how AIDS spreads and how to protect against disease. This project was organised together with many other Rotaract clubs all around Turkey. Twenty-five Rotaract Clubs from Turkey supported this project and together accomplished the awareness organization about AIDS in the different cities and different places. (Participants from D2430 were Rotaract Clubs of Kizilay, Bilkent, Ankara, Metropolitan, Baskent, Koru, Kocatepe, Kavaklidere, Bahcelievler, Cankaya, Tandoğan, Zonguldak, Kemer, Kaleiçi, Diyarbakır, Kayseri; from D2440 were Rotaract Clubs of Bodrum, Bursa Nilufer, Bursa Gemlik, Karsiyaka; from D2420 were Rotaract Clubs of Galatasaray and Atakoy) All Rotaract clubs carried out awareness parties and distributed information in different shopping malls. As the participant Rotaract clubs in Ankara, we collectively organised an awareness party. The participation was magnificant - not only Rotaractors were there but also many other people attended so the idea of Rotaract was introduced to society. I would like to thank ERIC for calling attention to AIDS and thanks to all participants for their hard work.
It was the first time since the MDIO of ERIC proposed a social activity at European level in each country coordinated by the ERIC representatives. The chosen date was 1st December, World AIDS Day. That’s how fate played its cards and made us agree on this date with the trip of our district project “Gambasse” in Guinea-Bissau. The first step was to get the raw material, condoms. We contacted our friend Beatriz Carbonell (Rotary Barcelona), who said with a quiet voice “Leave it in my hands. I will see what I can do.” That was how, four days before our departure, Beatriz informed us that she already had them in her possession and that we could take them. Our surprise was even greater when we saw 22,000 condoms, all well packed in their boxes. Activate the Rotaract machine! We had to unpack all condoms to save space and weight and infiltrate it in our luggage. All the boxes were marked with the logo of the campaign and Rotaract. We asked the airline TAP Portugal to have permission to carry more weight as is normally allowed. After we got permission we started with the action. On Friday afternoon, Alex, Lucas and I arrived at the airport in Bissau. Luckily we did not miss a box. There already was waiting Mr. Sumaila (trusted person and president of Guinebus), who already had two activities scheduled for distribution: Distribute the condoms on a truck going from the airport to the centre of Bissau campaigning to raise awareness and distribute condoms in a first division football match where play-
Rtc. Begam Ozsuca Rotaract Club Ankara Kizilay D2430
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AIDS Awareness Party – Spain On behalf of World AIDS Day, eleven members and visitors of the Rotaract Club Barcelona gathered round Plaza Catalunya on Saturday December 1st.
ers also made their contributions. The rest went with us to Gambasse. The five percent of the population is infected with the HIV virus. The awareness campaign during the two weeks we were there took place among the young population. After talking about the problems with the doctor of Gambasse, Mr. Faustino, we gave him condoms so that he could distribute among his patients. The next step was to inform the “tabanca” (village) of the risks associated with not using condoms in promiscuous sexual relations. For this reason, our friend Sidico contacted the theater group of Bafata (second capital of Guinea-Bissau), and convinced them to make a performance explaining the dangers of sexually transmitted infections. They also discussed other issues affecting the tabanca including clean water, solar panels, traditional medicine and the medical clinic. Ultimately, we are proud that we have in our district a collaborative project in a European project, in addition to having reached our district goal. But that is another story…. Alexander Rüth Lucas Xirinachs Oskar Irmler District 2210 – North Spain
We had in mind to distribute 500 condoms we received from Durex. Furthermore, we intended to inform people about the Rotaract Club, as we noticed, it is not well known around here. As one of our members had a talk with an AIDS organisation placed in Plaza de la Universitat, we decided to move over there to carry out our duty. As we arrived there, one of the organizers asked us to participate on a little play about the history of AIDS medication. Each of us represented a single medication and one of us portrayed HIV. We danced around him trying to drive him away, whilst another participant was telling the story out loud with a microphone. People stopped by and started paying attention. They really showed interest and obviously learned more about HIV medicine. We all had great fun and we felt proud to have been a part of it. After that we started distributing the condoms, which took us about an hour. Most of the people were grateful, some of them surprised because they were not aware of the existence of World AIDS Day. To sum up, we felt satisfied with our project and we are certain that someday the struggle against HIV, that acquired great notoriety throughout the past 30 years, will be won. Rotaract Club Barcelona District 2210 - Spain
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Newsletter
Issue #2 (7) January 2008
European Rotaract Informational Centre
Violins’ Weekend II
REM Budapest 2008?
Cremona Rotaract Europe Meeting
Just say yes!
Dear fellow Rotaractors, In September we had our first RE meeting which was hosted by the Rotaract Club of Cremona in Italy. Those of you who could not attend this meeting missed a great weekend full of intercultural exchanges of Rotaract ideas and long party nights.
As you know from the previous ERIC/RE newsletters Hungary article, from the Rotary year 2007/08 Hungary has its own district, the District 1911. This not only means that there is strength in the Rotary/ Rotaract community in Hungary, but at the same time gives a boost to the activities in our country
After the check-in in the hotel, we enjoyed a great evening dinner at a typical farm, after which we had a great party with free beverages. Everybody was really enthusiastic, especially about the free drinks and of course the great music. On Saturday, the Rotaractors had a guided visit tour throughout the nice city of Cremona while the RE board and country representatives had their meeting. During the afternoon, there was also the possibility to do some shopping, or just have a rest. The gala night was a real success, with a delicious meal, and full of speeches
Rotaract in Hungary is getting more and more widespread and more and more renowned in the communities where it is working. Thus, we feel the need to present ourselves to the European Rotaract Community (again ☺), share our passion of Rotaract activities and show our beautiful capital Budapest to you all. To make it short: We (the RAC Budapest-City and the RAC BudapestSasad) would like to organize the Rotaract Europe Autumn Meeting in 2008 to give and to have the opportunity of meeting about 200+ Rotaractors from all over Europe, to share what we have and to get new ideas to be able to grow. If it comes to international friendship, we are there to build it. EUCO, REM, Charters...just name it and we are there! Over the past years we made very
of Rotarians as well as Rotaractors. After dessert, the party started and everybody enjoyed themselves dancing through the night. On Sunday most of us had to leave after a good meal in a typical Italian family restaurant. We certainly won’t forget our great RE meeting in Cremona, and I would like to thank once again the whole Cremona team for their great hospitality and lots of efforts to organize everything in a perfect way. Benoît Klinkers President ERIC/Rotaract Europe 2007-2008
good friendships during these events, now it’s the time for us to invite our present and future friends to our country and show them how much we care! In the planned program – apart from the REM session of course – there will be a little bit of everything Budapest can offer: beautiful landmarks, thermal bath and of course parties and great food! ☺ We really hope that we will have the chance to welcome you all in Budapest. If you haven’t been here yet, then here is your chance to visit the “Pearl of the Danube”, If you have been here, then you know what to expect, so you don’t even hesitate, you just say “YES, I’m coming!” ☺ See you all there, Ildikó Ignácz and Attila Paksi Pictures by Attila Paksi, RE Representative for Hungary
Goals of the board and Rotaract Europe team! The board and the country representatives are working very hard to make the goals that came forward during the meeting of EUCO Milan, come true. First off all we are aiming for four newsletters a year, which is good. So we can keep you informed about what’s going on in ERIC/Rotaract Europe and so that you can read the articles and understand how great it is to attend meetings in other countries and meet the different cultures! BUT to create these newsletters we need your help. That’s why we are asking you to write articles about
projects or visits to other Rotaract clubs abroad! Besides this, the newsletter will be on our webpage and everybody will be able to read it. We also wanted to create a good website so that everybody can find the necessary info about ERIC there. Well, that’s already been done, just take a look at www.rotaracteurope.org . Our webmaster Stephan
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worked very hard to make this happen, and thanks to him we can be proud of our new website!!! There will be a Rotaract event calendar on the website where you will find dates of different events organized by Rotaract clubs in Europe. Also we would like to promote twin clubs in Europe! Twin clubs are the key to get in contact with Rotaractors in other countries and you would be amazed how great it is to meet each other again after several months. And if you want, you can
participate on the twin club award (TCA) with your club. Who knows - maybe your clubs will win! But our key function is still, communication, making sure that everybody in Europe gets the news and info they need. And this will be done by website, mailing, newsletter and of course our RE meetings and the EUCO! Enjoy the reading, Y ours in Rotaract, Benoît Klinkers President ERIC/Rotaract Europe 2007-2008
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Newsletter European Rotaract Informational Centre
Greece Rotaract in Greece: 40 years of history
Issue #2 (7) January 2008 My Rotaract Country
Country of a passionate history
Rotaract was launched officially in Greece in AthGreece is a country that has much to offer to visiens in 1968, with the charter of the first RTC Club tors: paradisiacal landscapes, hundreds of charming of Athinai-North. The aim was to spread the idea of islands, amazing sandy beaches in crystal waters, and Rotaract and find people willing to work for the idea. a wide variety of flora. All expectations were fulfilled and a second club was Located in the southern of Europe, even had an influence in countries as far as Greece forms an irregular-shaped penin- Japan. Greek sculptures are very important chartered in Athens a year later and soon other clubs sula in the Mediterranean with two addi- as the vast majority of them tell us a story followed their activities and their beliefs. Nowadays tional large peninsulas projecting from it: about Gods, Heroes, Events, Greece has 19 clubs with approximately 500 members Chalkidiki and Peloponnese. The famous Most other forms of History knowledge and accountability of the ancient Greeks we Greek islands are generally subdivided into in both districts 2470 and 2481 where most of them two groups, according to location: the Io- know is not only due to of temples, sculpare active and ready to serve the community. nian islands (including Corfu, Cephalonia, ture but also through major Greek people As the years passed by the need to share our experiences led us to our first National conference “Rotaract Panhellenic conference” in March of 2004 in Kozani. That date was fixed ever after. Every March an annual conference is organized, where all clubs get together to address the physical and social needs of the communities and to promote better relations between all people worldwide through a framework of friendship and service.
In their years of existence, the clubs have successfully organized numerous humanitarian and charity actions for different kinds of groups in need (abandoned children, old and helpless persons etc). During the last few months Rotaract clubs from 2470 and 2481 districts conducted several actions including blood donations, fundraising parties to build playgrounds for children in nursery schools, donation of wheelchairs to an organization of paraplegic and quadriplegic persons, donation of an electronic cardiograph in a medical center, youth exchange programs, fundraising parties to supply “filtastraws” in areas without drinkable water, participation to the “Play it safe - European AIDS Awareness Party, the “International recipe fundraiser calendar“ project of Toronto club and many others projects. Throughout our services/activities we realized that what makes
Rotaract special in Greece is the fellowship throughout service, the strong bonds among members, the good communication with Rotary and that Rotaractors help is present worldwide in any occasion. This was also proved last summer when huge fires in the southern part of Greece turned whole villages, beautiful forests and agricultural areas into ashes, threatening even the area of ancient Olympia, the birth place of the Olympic Games.
With a count of almost 100 deaths, hundreds wounded and more than 3000 families left homeless, this was the biggest tragedy to strike Greece since World War II. During these desperate times of need, Rotaract has been initiating and supporting all means of help, collecting money throughout Greece and other countries to support people rebuilding their homes. The development of Rotaract members is stable at the moment and this year we had the great pleasure to have two new clubs chartered. Therefore Rotaractors from Greece will continue their humanitarian projects quite simply because it’s all about life, having the opportunity to help someone less fortunate. Mahatma Gandhi once famously said: “Do something for your fellow man each day. Something which you do not get paid for, but the privilege of doing it”.
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and Leucas) west of the mainland and the Aegean islands (including Euboea, Samos, Chios, Lesbos, Rhodes, Mykonos and Crete) to the east and south.
The Land area is 50,502 sq miles (130,800 sq km) and the Population (2007 est.) is 10,706,290. Athens, the capital of Greece, took its name from the goddess of wisdom and knowledge Athena and still stands as the symbol of freedom, art, and democracy in the conscience of the civilized world. This is where art became inseparable from life, and this is where Pericles gave the funerary speech, that monument of the spoken word. In the centre of the town are two hills, the Acropolis with Parthenon, the marvel of architecture, and Lycabettus with the picturesque chapel of Ai Giorgis. Ancient ruins provide a vivid testimony to the glory of Athens, hailed by many people as the cradle of western civilization. Since life was dominated by religion in ancient Greece, it is not surprising that temples from that era were among the biggest and most beautiful in the world. Greek art and sculpture has had a profound effect throughout the ages. Many of the styles have been reproduced and copied by some of the finest artists to have ever lived e.g. Michelangelo. Western art and sculpture derived from Roman art, while in the East, Alexander the Great’s conquest gave birth to Greco-Buddhist art which has
in history like playwrights, epic poets, philosophers, mathematicians, historians etc. Some of them are Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Euripides, Sophocles, Hesiod, Homer, Aristotle, Epicurus Plato, Socrates, Archimedes, Pericles, Alexander the Great, Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Phidias and Praxiteles. Democracy, the theoretical basis of governance since the foundation of the Modern Greek state in 1832, has had its longest and most consistent application in the era that began with the toppling of the military junta in 1974. Economic growth, which virtually stopped in the 1980s, showed signs of revival in the early 1990s, aided by substantial infrastructural aid programs and strict economic guidelines from Greece’s partner nations in the European Union. Another thing that has originated from Greece is the Olympic Games. According to tradition the Olympic Games began in 776 BC. Efforts for the revival of the Olympic games in modern times reached a peak at the end of the 19th century with the instrumental contribution of the French Baron Pierre de Coubertin and Greek Dimitrios Vikelas. The first contemporary Olympic Games took place with great glamour in 1896 in Athens where they returned 108 years later.
If you ever think of visiting Greece, do yourself a favour and take enough time to discover it. Afterwards you will be glad you did!
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Newsletter European Rotaract Informational Centre
Issue #2 (7) January 2008 Rotaract Turkey
Rotaract Slovenia
Multi-district Presidential Conference TURK MDIO MEETING (MDPC) d 1910/1911/1920, October 2007 (Celje, Slovenia)
TURK, which is the common name of all 3 “He who attends to his greater self becomes a great man, districts(2420, 2430, 2440) in Turkey, has a meeting and he who attends to his smaller self becomes a small man.” once a year. This year we had a wonderful weekend Mencius with our friends from all over Turkey between NovemAustria, Bosnia & Herzegovi- Saturday. On the Conference our ber 2nd and 4th which was hosted by District 2430 and na, Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia multi-district board members organized by Rotaract Club of Ankara. We, as an ordo belong to one of the few multi- (DRRs, RCO-Regional Coordina- ganizing club, started arrangements two months ago districts in the world, MDPC 1910/ tors or Vice DRRs, RICO, RERs) just after our District Representative Bulent Erbora 1911/1920. We have multi-district and other club board members had presidential meetings in autumn, their presentations. There was a let us know that we were the lucky club. once a year, and district conferences d 1910, d 1911, d1920, in Spring, once a year. The official language in our district is English. We are very special, since we are multi in so many ways. Rotaractors in our multidistrict speak four mother tongues (German, Croatian, Hungarian, Slovene), from three different language groups. We have different religious backgrounds (Protestant, Muslim, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox…), different economies (like GDP etc.), different currencies, different histories,… we live in countries that are in the EU, candidates for EU or are not members of EU yet. MDPC 1910/1911/1920 (12-14 October 2007) was organized perfectly in Celje, Slovenia by RAC Celje. We had the honor to host Benoit Klinkers, Rotaract Europe president, along with our District governor, past District governor, District Rotaract chairman and more than 60 Rotaractors from seven different countries. We started with a nice dinner, and went to Local for a short party on Friday, 12th October. The Conference (or guiding tour) and the charity concert were on
charity concert music from Lion King and Beauty and the Beast for the Croatian project “Mi ne volimo mine”-“We do not like mines” and the school which was dam-
aged after the natural catastrophe in Slovenia. We went to Local on Saturday night and had a branch on Sunday. What to say about the MDPC now? It is rare to see such colorfulness and the greatness our multidistrict has. Even more, there is not beast in mankind - just beauty in mankind. If you will follow this message that was given to by the concert, you will be able to follow the greatness Mencious tells about and the greatness of Rotaract itself! Hope to see you on District Conference 1910 in Rijeka, Croatia, where we will be celebrating the 40th anniversary in carnival costumes! Nina Kolenc DRR d 1910, P RCO Slovenia d 1910
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We started to prepare for the meeting right away. First the hotel then web page, logo, catchword, gifts and all others. When we concluded the important details we opened our web page and started to wait for the Rotaractors to register. Everything was really fast. I couldn’t understand how 60 days finished so quickly.
When the meeting started on November 3rd we were so excited as a club. After the flag ceremony and some speeches from representatives we took all Rotaractors to the Mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of Republic of Turkey. Some of our friends were at the mausoleum for the first time in their lives. Being there was really meaningful for them. In the afternoon part of the meeting ERIC Turkey Representative Zeynep Yalcin prepared a workshop for voluntary Rotaractors. They say it was very successful. At night we had a magnificent Gala Dinner with beautiful ladies and gentlemen who dressed up. We sang songs all together all night long and danced, danced, danced. However Gala Dinner was not enough for this much energetic Rotaractors
and we continued with our unique After Party till morning. I couldn’t narrate the rest, you had to be there and live it. The aim of this meeting was to get all Turkey Rotaractors together and let them share their goals and projects. Just after this meeting 25 clubs from Turkey from all three districts made a collective project for AIDS at the same day on December 1st with the same brochures. I guess TURK Rotaract Meeting managed the aim more than we thought. And special thanks to ERIC Representative Benoit Klinkers. He came all the way long from Brussels just to be with us. Hope to see you in Ankara soon again.
Warm regards from Ankara, Türkiye, Zeynep the brand new president Zeynep UNLUDOGAN President of Rotaract Club of Ankara 2007-2008
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Newsletter
Issue #2 (7) January 2008
European Rotaract Informational Centre
Rotaract Croatia
Rotaract Austria
Sterntalerhof
we DON’T like MINES
Community Service Project of the Austrian District 1910
Rotaract Club Osijek
Last year’s community service project of my club still holds a great fascination for me. The Sterntalerhof, a children’s hospice located in the far east of Austria in Burgenland, is the only institution of its kind in Austria.
Rotaract Club Osijek was founded in 1996. Together with Austria, Hungary, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina it composes District 1910. On 2nd of May in 1998 Rotaract Club Osijek was formally inaugurated, becoming a member of Rotarian Family. Today, the Club has 13 members. The President of Rotaract Club in 2007/08 is Ivan Kos.
It provides terminally ill children and their families with the opportunity of spending some time together in a new environment, where they can find new common perspectives and refuel with energy and hope. The children spend most of their time riding and caring for the horses of the Sterntalerhof with their families and – in the background - therapeutical and medical assistance is present at all times. Even though the Sterntalerhof is a unique and promising project that works with very well chosen experts in horse therapy and psychology it is not funded by the government. After having been elected regional coordinator of our Rotaract district and having been in Burgenland painting the main house as one activity within our community service program, I was convinced that this project could be a unique opportunity for bringing all our clubs together working shoulder to shoulder and also getting to know each other. All clubs joined in at the beginning of this year. The plan of action for this very first district wide project is divided into three major objectives: 1st Each club commits itself to a sponsorship of a certain amount. 2nd We go out there and make use of our hands. 3rd Fundraising And this third part of our plan of action leads me to the next big step on the path towards being able to fund the riding hall for the Sterntalerhof, so the work with the horses is neither dependent on the weather nor the seasons. How much time does a terminally ill child have? Therefore we organized a tribute concert on the 28th of October in the baroque hall of the Austrian Academy of Sciences with the con-
certmaster of the Viennese Philharmonics and some of his friends. Furthermore this event also served as an opportunity to bring students from Rotaract and the older generation from Rotary together. The concept worked out pretty well. (But by the way, never underestimate the time and effort to prepare such an event, in our case successful because of the great teamwork of all our clubs and the strong involvement from a few of us like Emanuel Riccabona or Rüdiger Schernthaner.) So finally everything was done, the whole family of Rotary came, we, the younger age group of Rotary in action, as our guest Benoit Klinkers from Brussels, as well as many of the older family members as our vice-governor Peter Birkmayer. And our return on investment was a lot of excellent music, fun, baroque beauty, sparkling wine and several thousand Euro as donation for the Sterntalerhof. That’s it! Community service in particular forming one of the core ideals of the Rotary idea should serve as a good cause for mingling and exchange.
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Christian Papke
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The Club is involved in many social projects focused on the problems of the local community. One of the largest project started within last year is „we DON’T like MINES“(„mi NE volimo MINE“), assumed to be master project of a series of different humanitarian projects, all in order to collect the means and donations for demining the part of The Park of Nature Kopački rit. Besides this purpose, the goal is to culturally enrich the citizens of Osijek as well. The mines-issue The idea came up spontaneously, by itself. Namely, the War aftermath in Croatia is still greatly omnipresent, and evident on all aspects of people’s lives. Statistics speaks for itself: till now, in Osijek- Baranja County there were 203 civilian mine victims with 45 persons killed and 120 persons heavily injured. Therefore, we felt necessity of involving in mines-issue. Why Kopački rit? The Park of Nature Kopački rit, placed nearby Osijek (cca 13km), it’s one of the most important, largest and most attractive preserved intact wetlands in Europe. Apart from providing a unique experience of nature for anybody that set foot in the Park, it is an exceptional example of genesis and evolution of swamp ecosystems and flooded areas, making it one of the rare ecosystems in Europe. Unfortunately, around 3000ha of special Zoo-reservation in the Park is still a suspicious area. What have we done by now? Great cooperation with numerous partners such as Slavonska banka d.d., Osijek; dance studio Magic Osijek; child choir Zumbići etc...
was reached trough „we DON’T like MINES“ actions. Many local level projects were successfully organised within this action as well. One of the major happenings of the „we DON’T like MINES“ project was a concert of renowned music artist, true Croatian diva, Josipa Lisac. Rotary 4 Rotaract We are particularly satisfied that our project „we DON’T like MINES“ was recognised on an international level. We are very grateful to Rotary Club Venezia Mestre which, driven by importance of this project, offered us significant support. Rotary Club Venezia Mestre organised a beneficial picnic (twice this year) placed in Mogliano Veneto, in order to raise money for demining of Kopački rit. The picnic was organised for about a hundred members of Rotary Clubs from Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. The crown of our cooperation took place in October 2007, in Osijek, where an exceptional concert of internationally famous Italian pianist Igor Coglonato was held, again within demining Kopački rit project. Goals & roles... The primary goal of our project is clear: to make a contribution in demining our region in order to preserve our nature, improve quality of life of our inhabitants and of course, dear guests. Sara Mikrut, Rotaract Club Osijek www.rotaract-osijek.hr
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Newsletter European Rotaract Informational Centre
TOGETHER HELPING KIDS FROM GUATEMALA By being abroad Rotaract members are very often involved in projects of other Rotaract Clubs, sometimes very far away from home, sometimes on a different continent. After getting to know each other they work together to achieve important goals. And such was the case with the project “Wheelchairs for Guatemala” which was a perfect example of cooperation between members of two clubs: Rotaract Club of Boston from the United States of America and Rotaract Club of Torun from Poland. This time it was Marcin Kilanowski from Rotaract Club of Torun who, away from his club for five months helped Rotaract Club of Boston in accomplishing a major project. The goal was to send wheelchairs to Guatemala for the children from San Lucas Toliman Mission in which kids with disabilities but not wheelchairs had to push themselves around in wooden wagons or to rely on their relatives to carry them around, or simply stay in their beds not being able to enjoy the sun or go to school. Together with Marcin Rotaract Club of Boston have collected almost 15 wheelchairs, additional medical gear for disable kids and 2500 dollars to ship them to Guatemala. High school students donated 1000 dollars; Rotary Club of Cambridge donated 1000 after a moving speech about the project delivered by Marcin, who was invited by the Rotary Club as a speaker, and 500 were collected after an auction of oil paintings. This project became to be a full
success. It was finally brought to an end on September 15th of 2007 after months of work. Thanks to a constant effort of all people involved it was possible to take this project so far that now many kids have wheelchairs. They will be able to go to school, educate themselves, become valuable members of their communities and maybe one day become leaders, trying to help others as others one day helped them. It was a great experience for everybody involved in that project. It enriched those being part of it in different ways and made clear that one person can do a lot to help others but with a great team of dedicated people it is possible to do so much more - it is possible to make this world a better place, step by step! It is possible because more and more people are becoming aware of the existence of other human beings in need and are involved in shaping their well being. More non-governmental organizations are rising to fight injustices and inequalities. More foundations are focusing to reach the needs of others, and for more and more people “Service above Self” becomes the Philosophy of their lives. Marcin Kilanowski RTC Torun
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Issue #2 (7) January 2008
Nordact 2007 MindsOn On Friday, October 12 at 17.00 pm the participants began to arrive at Haraldvangen, by car, train or airplane. We had visitors from Italy, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. They were all welcomed by the Nordact 2007 group, and divided into cabins. Dinner started at 19.30 and one of the Nordact 2007 committee gave everyone a welcome speech and information about what to expect of the weekend. The rest of the evening went by getting to know each other, listening to Ben Sillon playing the guitar and sitting by the fireplace. The 4 leading dimensions: First session was the four leading dimensions: Time: We learned how time was there for us and not opposite. Right priority of time allows us to manage our self in an efficient way. A leader must be able to help coworkers to manage their time right. One way to do that is to create a good environment for right time managing. Space: Leaders must crate space who serves the coworkers. It can be just small physical things as good chairs, desks, offices, good lunch, snack bar etc. Teambuilding and social interaction can be a good way to create a space were coworkers feel safe. To make the coworkers safe on them self and colleagues is very important. Create a space were it is legal to fail. “People who never fail, does not try hard enough”. Service: Leading through service encourages people to recognize and strengthen their own abilities. Rituals: We learned how rituals are good for people. It is something that always is there, and representing something predictable and secure. It helps people feel safe and build a community. It can be simple things as coffee breaks, after work beer. Yearly teambuilding’s, awards etc. Training: MindsOn divided us into three groups. Each group respectively with responsible for time, space and ritual management. We got the task to serve the other groups with the topic we had responsible for. To do that, we created our own stake, impact and outcome.
During the creation of stake, impact and outcome MindsOn demonstrated great servant leadership by listening, adjust action after what they heard, give us the exactly information on the right time we needed to understand and complete stake, impact and outcome. Excellent demonstration of leading people towards what they need not necessary what they needed. The safe room for failure MindsOn created already in their introduction when they told us the best way of learning is to failure. The training/task of serving the other groups, continued during the whole program. A true Rotaract spirit the day ended with a formal dinner and party. The chef at Haraldvangen prepared a great three course dinner in real Norwegian style. We had a toastmaster, the women’s and men’s speech, entertainment from the Danish, and the Nordact 2007 group was given many thanks and gifts for their job. The Nordact 2007 ended with a late breakfast on Sunday. All the participants had time to say goodbye and we were all welcomed to Nordact 2008 in Sweden, Vesterås. NORDACT 2007 HOC
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Newsletter European Rotaract Informational Centre
Issue #2 (7) January 2008
German-Turkish Summercamp 2007 The idea to organize a Summercamp first came up after the European Convention last year where the German-Turkish Rotaractors had built up close connections. The purpose of this camp was actually to bring these connections to a further step and to built up a bridge between the Turkish and German Rotaractors. Together with our project partners Heidelberg Rotaract Club d.1860, Karaköy Rotaract Club d.2420 and Izmir Rotaract Club d.2440 we decided that the camp should be held in two stages. As decided the first stage was held in Germany from the 17th September until 23th September. The second stage was held in Turkey on the 23th September up to the 30th September respectively in the cities Ankara, Izmir and Istanbul. Stage 1. On the 17th September our project “German-Turkish Summercamp” finally was launched after a six-month preparation. We were welcomed at the airport and were taken to our hostels for a short rest. At dinner the same day we were together with the Rotaractors and Rotarians of Heidelberg at the historical castle in town and had the chance to look over the city from the gorgeous castle terrace.
boat trip we went to the famous main square and had dinner at a famous brewery. The beer was awesome! The third day of the camp we woke up and took a one-hour trip by train to the city Spreyer, quite near Heidelberg. In Spreyer we learned a lot about 17th century EuropeanGerman history and the crusades. The technical stuff about machines and engines was also very fun.
On our second day we went sightseeing on the Necker River and in town. I must admit; I really had never seen a city so green and surrounded with forests. After the
On the 20th September we travelled together to Hedessheim to a golf course. Afterwards we had a small competition; it was such a relaxing time…. Furthermore it was the first time a really enjoyed golf and realized that it is not a grandpa’s sport indeed. The visit at the beer factory was maybe the best part of the camp. The most interesting part of our camp time in Germany was the visit at the world’s largest chemical factory BASF. I really had to wonder how the simplest items in life were produced from
ERIC Newsletter Issue #2 (7), January 2008 MDIO European Rotaract Informational Centre www.rotaracteurope.org
Editor-in-chief Julia Kurbaka Marketing&Communication Officer, Rotaract Club Kyiv-Centre, D 2230, Ukraine Julia_kurbaka@yahoo.com
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which raw materials. Hereby, I would like to thank everyone who was with us traveling through Germany and everyone who helped us to organize this camp and made this dream come true. We had a so wonderful time in Germany and I came back to Turkey with so many memories Özgür Barış Ekici Rotaract Club of Ankara Kızılay District 2430 Stage 2. On Sunday, 23 of September we took the plane to Ankara. After a nice welcome at the airport and a great dinner with a very familiar atmosphere we happily went to bed. In Ankara we visited the mausoleum of Kemal Atatürk and got to know more about the history of Turkey. Places like the historical museums and the former parliament helped us to understand Turkish politics and culture and we got a real good insight of how similar we actually are. On the other hand we learned traditional Turkish bellydance (later in the evening a professional dancer showed us how it’s really done), got to smoke shisha and enjoyed the delicious food such as Ayvalik-toast, Adana and Iskender Kebap.
Technical editor Andrij Eremenko Rotaract Club Kyiv-Centre, D 2230, Ukraine obshaga@ukr.net
After two days we took the night-bus to our next destination. German-Turkish singings entertained us on our way to Izmir. After taking a trip through the city and watching the belltower we came together with a typical Nargilesmoke. In the evening we were invited to a big welcome party on a ship. The next day we visited the sites of Ephesus and had the chance to see Maria’s birthplace. On our way back home we stopped at a big textile factory. During the night from Thursday to Friday we went to Istanbul where we stayed until Sunday. After historical highlights like the Topkapi Palace and the Hagia Sophia we learned how to bargain on the Bazar and got to know and love the modern parts of the city. After a wonderful boat trip on the Bosporus and a brunch above the rooftops of Istanbul the camp finally ended and we had to go back to Germany with tears in our eyes. In these two impressive and beautiful weeks we definitely grew together and formed many new friendships. Moreover the participants thought over their attitude towards the other country and so prejudices were reversed. We want to thank the Rotaract Clubs of Kızılay, Izmir and Karaköy for the wonderful program and the great time. Teşekkür ederim! Franz Peters Rotaract Club of Heidelberg District 1860 Literal correction Thomas Krepitch East Valley Rotaract, D 5510, USA tkrepitch@cox.net
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