Rotary Club of Parramatta City Newsletter 27 February 2012

1. Rotary Club of Parramatta City
COMMUNITY NETWORKER
ROTARY CLUB OF PARRAMATTA CITY
VILLAGE AIDE
PRESIDENT MESSAGE PROGRAM
A small group meet for dinner at the Two Forks restaurant at the
Sebel Hotel to celebrate Rotary anniversary last Thursday and it was an
excellent night organized by Prashanth.
I can report the Redhands Gala night was sold out and Prashanth’s
wife Priya was one of the star dancers for the night, funds will go to the For those looking for a broadly based,
foundation for micro credit lending. multifaceted project, the Village
Aide Program may be just the thing.
We have a busy few months coming up and David will be asking for This Philippines located program
looks to the welfare, educational,
numbers for the Rotary Alumni Dinner on March 7th, it will be an health and resources of needy
opportunity to hear from the Finnish Group Study Team members communities aiming to provide
support through practical, hands on
vocational backgrounds, their first impressions of Australia and our commitments by visiting volunteer
teams.
District. The event will be held at the Parramatta Leagues Club, plenty Volunteers, professional, trades
people, and those with enthusiasm
of parking available. A thank you to Mark Hancock for hosting one of
but perhaps less skills are also
the members from Finland, John Surian missed out on hosting the fitness welcome. There is work for medical
professionals, construction teams,
instructor, not as quick as some. administrators and just “gophers”,
often all coming together to provide
I had a call from DG David Cook will concern’s on the lack of much needed local services. Teams
members booked for the Conference at Penrith. You need to book for usually spend two weeks on a project
and can be of male and/or female
catering of tea breaks and lunches, members will not be able to just roll members.
To date projects undertaken include
up and expect entry. So David Ross will again be following through with the provision of meals to drought and
flood victims along with a well
our attendees and whether you have booked. If not go to
established breakfast program for
http://rotaryd9690conference.org.au to make your booking. David Ross school children; medical missions for
both major and minor surgery; design
is also taking suggestions for the theme clothing to wear on the and construction of schools and water
systems; dispensing spectacles
Saturday night. John Surian is going to make the Legion Standard for to sight impaired and medicines to the
the Club using all his Italian knowledge. sick ; provision of low cost housing
and rebuilding of dilapidated public
John Ching will asking for volunteers on Monday to drop off and amenities.
The VAP is looking for teachers,
pick up from a few of the chemist shops in and around Parramatta, not doctors, nurses, builders,
a hard job but necessary for the Bowelcare operation to be effective. administrators, accountants and
anyone who has time to spare.
Also drop in and buy one, just ask some of our members how this help Financial support is also most
welcome. This is a project conducted
them to survive. under RAWCS guidelines with the
associated support mechanisms.
President Elect John Ching has notified 2012-2013 Board members of Contact:.
the District Assembly and the need to attend, unprepared and PDG Bill Little (Chairman)
Ph:02 9728 1679 • Email:
untrained will not make your job easy. Also if there are any members of litlebil@bigpond.net.au
More information is available on
committees who would like to attend please advise John of your www.vap.ph
interest, as the Assemblies are just for Board members but also for future
board members.
Barry Antees

2. Rotary Club of Parramatta City
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
February
27 Alice Wong-China opportunities
March
2 ARH- Golf Day at Riverside
3 Multi-District PETS- Campbelltown
5 Pride of Workmanship Evening-POSTPONED
7 Group Study Exchange Alumni dinner – Parramatta Leagues
19 Michael Crosslands- Ignite the fire within
23-25 District Conference- Penrith
April
2 John Watters
29 District Assembly
30 Police Officer of the Year POSTPONED
May
6-9 International Convention-Bangkok
14 Australian Rotary Health- PHD Scholars night
July
6 Club Changeover
GUEST SPEAKER (VIA DVD)
Stuart Heal-Rotary International Director
A wonderful presentation will be seen for the future of Rotary, If you want to see
where Rotary is heading at least in Stuart’s vision, this is a must see on Monday.
DAVID’S PEARLS
Habit
Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a
step at a time.
- Mark Twain
Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.
- Jim Ryun
Bad habits are easier to abandon today than tomorrow.
- Yiddish Proverb

3. Rotary Club of Parramatta City
The unfortunate thing about this world is that good habits are so much easier to give up than
bad ones.
-Somerset Maugham
MACULAR DEGENERATION
Fellows and colleagues from nearby Parramatta,
We have been offered an opportunity to share a display stand with the Macular Degeneration
Foundation at a craft show at Rosehill Gardens form 8-11 March. I know this is only two weeks away but I
was unsure of the requirements up until this week.
It seems the MD Foundation have offered the shared space to Rotary through our District Governor,
David Anderson in Yea, Victoria.
The hours for the event are 10.00 – 4.30 pm at the Rosehill Gardens (8-11 March). They suggest 3 people at
any time could man the display – the company running the show (Expertise Events) are proving 4 free entries
each day and as one of these should go to the Opthalmologist from Vision Eye Group, that will leave three
free entries for Rotarians.
There is an added bonus in that each “Host” District (these events are being run across Australia
throughout the year) will receive $1000 for manning the stand over the three days. This can be shared with
any other District who supplies ‘manpower’ to support the trade stand. I will contact the other district 9680
and 9750 if we need additional resources.
Full details on the Expertise Events can be found at www.expertiseevents.com.au or on the Sydney event
at www.craftandsew.com.au/Sydney2012/
I would be grateful if you would all mention it at your meetings this week and let me know as soon as
possible if you can support us with manpower. I have assured of being provided with display materials
and handouts form RDU and ARH so all we really need are the bodies to man the stall on a roster basis.
Cheers and thanks
David Cook
District Governor 2011-12, Rotary International District 9690 inc
ANOTHER PHD SCHOLAR- AUSTRALIAN ROTARY HEALTH
Jaesung Peter Choi has been awarded the 2012 ARH/Rotary Club of Dural/David Henning Memorial
Foundation Funding Partner Scholarship investigating Breast Cancer. Jaesung will be studying at
ANZAC Research Institute(USYD-Medicine).
Hi Jaesung,
Congratulations on being awarded a PhD scholarship to investigate Breast Cancer.

4. Rotary Club of Parramatta City
You are the 7th person to be associated with our Rotary Club as a result of being awarded a PhD
scholarship.
Our members look forward to meeting you in the future and hearing about your proposed research
project.
For the past few years we have had an annual function when we have all our PhD scholars making short
presentations. This year the function is planned for Monday evening 14th May. We would ask that you
keep this night free. I will arrange for more details to be given to you nearer the event.
In the meantime if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
Once again, congratulations.
Yours in Rotary service,
Keith Henning
Footnote:
Tonelle Handley from Univ of Newcastle has had scholarship confirmed for her third year in 2012.
Tonelle’s project is entitled ‘Suicide in Australia: Determinants. moderators and treatment options for
suicidal thoughts and behaviours’.
SISTER CLUB-RAMON MAGSAYSAY
Some notes from an email.
Tomorrow Feb.24 to 26 PP Romy ,Rtn.Mherlyn, PP Boy and Rtn.Rizza will attend the our district
RYLA to be held at Silang,Cavite.
This coming Sunday Pres.Joue, PP Ramil, IPP Rey, PE Larry and others will go to Mindoro to install
our solar project at the Mangyan community in Barangay Baco.

5. Rotary Club of Parramatta City
FORMER PEACE FELLOW PURSUES HUMAN RIGHTS
By Kate Nolan
Rotary International News -- 14 February 2012
A barrister for the British government, Francesca Del Mese sought a Rotary Peace Fellowship in order to
pursue international work.
Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Watford, England, she applied and was accepted into the 2002-04 class
at the University of Queensland in Australia. For her applied field experience, she worked in the UN
Special Court for Sierra Leone, and later prosecuted war criminals of the former Yugoslavia in The
Hague. As a consultant at The Hague, she trained judges from Jordan on international criminal law.
Del Mese is one of more than 600 former peace fellows who have
gone on to build peace in their communities and nations after
completing their Peace Centers studies. This year marks the 10th
anniversary of the Rotary Centers for International Studies in peace
and conflict resolution.
In 2007, Del Mese traveled to Uganda to advise a London-based
nonprofit concerned with human rights violations stemming from
the country’s 20-year civil war. Del Mese interviewed dozens of the
some 30,000 Ugandan children who survived abduction.
“I typically would hear that they had been taken in the middle of the
night by rebels, their families were murdered in front
of them, and they were beaten and forced to fight for several years
before either escaping or being released,” Del Mese said.
Having missed the chance to receive an education, those who
1 Francesca Del Mese, 2002-04 returned home found only menial jobs with meager wages, such as
Rotary Peace Fellow picking up garbage or digging holes.
“Without education, their chances of getting better jobs were hopeless,” said Del Mese. “Many
[interviewees] were specific about what they wanted to be: teachers, tailors, builders, accountants.”
Last year, Del Mese became the legal adviser, based in Geneva, for the UN Commission of Inquiry into
atrocities committed in Syria. She has since moved back to the London area, but some dark memories
have been difficult to escape, such as reviewing multiple torture cases.
“Now I bank well-being,” Del Mese says, explaining why she spends much of her free time walking her
dog, Sadie, in the quiet woods near her home.
Current and former Rotary Peace Fellows, other Rotary Foundation alumni, and Rotarians will have an
opportunity to hear the latest developments in peace and conflict resolution and learn practical skills
from experts in the field during the Rotary World Peace Symposium in Bangkok, Thailand. The

6. Rotary Club of Parramatta City
symposium, together with the Rotary Alumni Celebration, will be held 3-5 May, immediately preceding
the 2012 RI Convention.
PRESIDENT’S WANT LIST
WANT No 1.
We are a vocational based service organization. Our members all have a business background and one
of the major survival technics in businesses is succession planning. If we want our business to survive we need
to know that if anything happens to me, who understands my business and can step up to the plate.
Therefore my No 1 “want” is all members put into practice what they already do in business, but this time it is
a session plan for their membership of our club. That is, who will replace me when I leave the Rotary Club of
Parramatta City. We need to have in place a club survival practice of succession membership I want every
member to identify a successor for themselves by October 2012 being our vocational month. By this date you
will advise the membership Director who your successor is.
WANT No 2.
Knowledge is a wonderful gift and my second want is I would like all members to adopt a program or project
as their Rotary knowledge base as to be able to speak on the subject when-ever called upon to do so. This
may be at a meeting, at one of our projects or just when doing business. If you need resources read your
Rotary Down Under magazine or use the online version of the programs of Rotary at
http://www.rotarydownunder.com.au/rotary-programs.asp or go to the Rotary International website
http://www.rotary.org
FACEBOOK
We have now available for the club a new facebook page the shortcut is
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rotary-Club-of-Parramatta-City/108769975845097
Please visit, make comments, open discussions and for your initial visit please hit the “like button”. The
reason is the more members who like the page, we receive additional features. The Facebook page is not a
substitute for our website, but more of an additional way to reach our audience.