On July 13, 10 Harbour Rotarians attended District Installation at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. It was a long evening with a ton of speeches, but also a ton of fun.
President Mark Tong, together with Past Presidents Dora Liu, Webster Ng and Patric Lee of Rotary E Club of Lantau, and Joey, visited our Sister Club in Kuala Lumpur over the weekend of July 12-14. President Mark could not stay for one more than one night as he had to return to Hong Kong on July 13 to attend District Installation, but the rest stayed behind to attend our Sister Club’s 53rd Installation. Naturally, they were feasted with fabulous food and warm hospitality from our dearest Rotarians from Pudu. President Mark did manage to join Pudu’s fellowship evening, during which the Sister Club Agreement between the two Clubs was renewed. Harbour Rotarians also managed to watch a presentation by Past District Governor Paul Lee, who is readying a Global Grant application to build water access for indigenous people in the rural forests of Malaysia.
Rotarian Eliza Ning of Rotary Satellite Club of Tolo Harbour Happy Health came to our Club to give a talk on “Peer Mediation”. A career banker, Eliza upon retirement has a new-found interest in mediation, particularly amongst our youth. She shared her experience taking classes on mediation, attending peer mediation competitions among secondary schools, and teaching mediation techniques to secondary schoolers. She is hopeful that conflicts, especially among our youth, can be resolved through peer mediation techniques, including active listening, reframing, uncovering underlying interests, doubt creation to firm beliefs etc. These techniques, when properly executed, help to promote an environment whereby others resolve conflict through mutual understanding.
Past Presidents Grace Yen and WT Wong joined Interactors from St. Clare’s Girls’ School on their service visit to Macau on July 6.
As July arrives, members are busy attending various Club Installations in the District. Amongst the most important Installations are those of our mother Club (Rotary Club of HK Island East), baby Club (Rotary E Club of Lantau), and grandbaby Club (Rotary Club of Neoteric Hong Kong).
My Dear Harbour Rotarians and Friends, I am truly honored and blessed to be your Club President for Rotary Year 2019-2020, and I look forward to serving each and everyone of you with passion and love. I look forward to serving with you, with our service partners, with our Rotaractors and Interactors, with our Sister Clubs, with our friends in District 3450, and with Rotarians internationally. This Year’s Rotary theme is: “Rotary Connects the World”. In Rotary International President Mark Maloney’s words, “(Rotary) allows us to connect with each other, in deep and meaningful ways, across our differences…it connects us to people we would never otherwise have met, who are more like us than we ever could have known. It connects us to our communities, to professional opportunities, and to the people who need our help.” I hope that in this new Rotary Year, we find not only new connections with others, but rekindle old connections that we take for granted. I hope that we connect more with our communities, with our service partners, and as R.I. President Maloney says, with people who need our help. I count on you to make this happen. Finally, I would like to take…
Jenny Leung, director of marketing at Hummingfish Foundation, came to our Club meeting on June 27 to talk about her Foundation, based in East Timor. Amongst the many endeavors of her Foundation are development services for local coffee growers and soap makers. To cap off an amazing lunch meeting, she and her team also brewed all-natural coffee, made with East Timor beans, for Club members to taste.
Our mother Club, Rotary Club of Hong Kong Island East, hosted the annual 4-clans meeting today. As usual, our Club sent a strong delegate of eight, led by President Lily Chan. Past President Eddie Wong also attended, and was spotted mingling with our District Governor YC.
Master Sammy Au (區仲德) talked about the year of the Pig.
Principal Chan, from “Principal Chan Free Tutorial World / 陳校長免費補習天地” was our Guest Speaker today. “Principal Chan Free Tutorial World” is recognized by the HKSAR Government [registration no.: 91/11019] as the only non-profit organisation committed to providing free one-to-one or small group tutoring service and learning support for teenagers who are experiencing financial and learning difficulties. Principal Chan shared with us his experience starting up, running and managing his venture.