On May 12, District Governor Keith Chow, Past District Governor Ada Cheng, Immediate Past District Governor Eric Chak and District Governor Elect Norman from District leadership joined our luncheon. From Rotary Club of Hong Kong Island East, our “mother club”, President Bernard Lee, Past President William Wong, and President Elect Rico Fung joined. Other guests included District Secretary Elizabete Fong, Mr. Kevin Chuc (a former speaker) and Winnie (Past President Dora’s guest). Our Honorary Member Vivien Lau introduced our speaker, the Honorable Kenneth Fok, a member of Hong Kong Legislative Council. Kenneth’s talk on “The Role of Sports in Social Development” was an extension of his talk at the 61st District Conference in 2021. Sports is more than sports. Over the course of the last 50 years of Chinese history, sports played a role in opening China to the world. In challenging political times, it is always best to keep sports and cultural exchange open among nations. In the Q&A session we learned a bit more about Kenneth. His grandfather’s involvement in sports development in Hong Kong and China was critical to his choice of profession. Just elected to the 7th Legislative Council, Kenneth seeks to support sports, arts, culture…
In our 4th regular club meeting of the year, we had Past District Governor Ada come speak to us about “Integrating Integrity and Ethics in Your Rotary Journey.” It is always good to go back to basics like Rotary’s Four-Way Test and the Code of Conduct. While we join Rotary for years and focus on community service projects, we have to remember what makes Rotarians stand out from other membership organizations. Rotarian Jason gave a vote of thanks, while President Elect Eliza presented Ada with a precious gift: organic soap, handmade by Eliza!
On consecutive days of October 16-17, Rotarian Jason attended Rotary Leadership Institute (“RLI”), which seeks to provide quality education in Rotary knowledge and leadership skills to Rotarians interested in developing their Rotary participation and to those identified by Rotary Clubs as having a potential in club leadership. Needless to say, Rotarian Jason is not recently identified as having leadership potential, but has for many years been leading aspects of our Club in many ways, including the planning and execution of our many community service projects this year, as well as aspects of Club Service and other activities. Past Presidents Grace and Angela, both certified District Trainers, were trainers at RLI.
On January 15, more than a dozen Hong Kong Harbour Rotarians and spouses were present at the naming ceremony of Patrick SC Poon Amity College at Hang Seng University of Hong Kong. Patrick SC Poon, of course, is our Club’s Charter President and well-known philanthropist. During Charter President Patrick’s speech, he mentioned that Rotary philosophy of service above self is one of his chief guiding principles when he does philanthropic deeds. Plenty other District dignitaries were present, including District Governor Wilson Cheng, Past Governors Moses Cheng (Chairman of the University’s Council), Anthony Hung, Jones Wong, Peter Wan, Ada Cheng, YC Ho, and District Governor Nominee Keith Chow.
On September 21, President Mark Tong, Past President WT Wong and Rotaractors Anuj Bhatia and Cindy Effendy attended the District Peace Night Dinner at Regal Kowloon Hotel. Rtrs Anuj and Cindy are respectively from India and Indonesia. Our Club arguably sent the most internationally diverse group of attendees to Peace Night (if one also counted el niñito, the Mexican cowboy…)