facebook.com/SBChallengeNL @SBChallengeNL
PRESIDENT’S LETTER Dear Rotaractors, In the name of the whole E.R.I.C. board, we are delighted to welcome you to the Rotaract European Convention (EuCo) in the French Riviera. Every year, Rotaractors from all over Europe, and even from all over the world, come together to meet, discuss and learn. During these 5 days, we get to know each other better in workshops, meetings, presentations, sightseeing events and parties. The highlight of the event is the conference on Friday morning. In this conference, the board will report about the achievements of the year. There will be inspiring guestspeakers, projects from all over Europe will be presented and the board 2014-2015 as well as the EuCo 2015 venue will be announced. Also the finalists for the ‘Best European Service Project’ award and the ‘Twin Club Award’ will show their projects at their best. This weekend you will meet old and new friends, you will learn about Rotaract clubs and their projects all across Europe, and of course you will have a lot of fun! Engage Rotaract, change lives. EuCo French Riviera, I’m here! Laura
Laura VERDEGAAL
Rotaract Club of Aalsmeer-Mijdrecht-Uithoorn
E.R.I.C. PRESIDENT 2013-2014
CONTENTS Austria page 6 Azerbaijan page 7 Belarus page 8 Belgium page 9 Bosnia and Herzegovina page 10 Rotaract International page 11 Croatia page 12 Cyprus page 13 Denmark page 14 France page 15 Engage Rotary, Change Lives! page 16 Germany page 17
spring 2014 Portugal page 18 Romania - Moldova page 19 Serbia page 20 New Generation Symposium page 21 Slovenia page 22 Spain page 23 Switzerland page 24 Turkey page 25 Ukraine page 26 Upcoming events page 27 # Save the date page 28-29
who worked at this magazine EDITOR IN CHIEF Veronica Bradaschia RAC Venice v.bradaschia@gmail.com
EDITOR IN CHIEF ASSISTANT Rana Kesken RAC Izmir ranakesken@hotmail.com
HEAD OF DESIGN A. Lucky Dalena RAC Conegliano - V. Veneto luckydalena@msn.com
E.R.I.C. EDITORS Laura Verdegaal RAC Aalsmeer Mijdrecht Uithoorn lauraverdegaal@hotmail.com
Mikolaj Dragovic Past president ERIC Florian Wackelmann RAC Gebering Tobias Hacker RAC Prenzlau AND... all others editors and rotaractors who contributed sending articles.
On the 5th of July 2014 the RAC Graz invites 16 teams (4 people / team) to join our first Beachvolleyball Charity Tournament at Naturbad Eggersdorf (Badstraße 5, 8063 Eggersdorf bei Graz). The participation fee is 10 Euros per Person and the profit will be donated to the association “Die Schwalbe”, where women in crisis get help and support. Informations: www.rac-graz.at Applitcation: info@rac-graz.at
he Rotaract Club Linz is very pleased to invite to the first Rotaract Kidscamp in Austria. 5. –8. July 2014 at Scoutcamp at St. Georgen im Attergau. Kids Camp is a camp for children aged 8 to 14 years of age, who have no possibility for several reasons to go on holiday. Rotaractors, who want to joint and help are warmly invited. Info: http://linz.rotaract.at/category/aktuelles/
We are proud to announce the 35th charter anniversary of the Rotaract Club of Vienna and we invite you to celebrate with us for an entire weekend in one of the most flamboyant, fascinating, and splendid cities in the world. We have organized numerous events that will allow you to see Austria’s capital through the eyes of a local and grasp its tradition, its culture, its vibe and - of course - its night life. We believe you should make the best of this weekend and don’t just want another touristic city trip. For this very reason we have put lots of effort into making this celebration a mind-blowing experience for you. Website:http://charter.rotaract-wien.org/
Austria
Rotaract Club of Baku (Azerbaijan) cleaning project: We decided to make our contribution to the World Clean-up initiative of Rotaract and perform some cleaning in our beautiful capital - Baku. We all love our beautiful city and always try to help keeping it clean with the help of our fellow members. This time we went to the biggest cemetery in Baku called Gurd Gapisi during Novruz (spring holiday celebrated in Azerbaijan) as a sign of respect to all that rest there.
Azerbaijan
This project gathered together Rotaractors, potential members and friends of our club, and we even had a Rotarian joining us for this project.
We all can do it - join our initiative for more clean and prosperous world!
Belarus Two Belarusian Rotaract clubs - Rotaract club Minsk City and Rotaract club Minsk Ratusha - jointly with the music club ‘’Graffiti’’ are realizing a project with the aim to equip and improve the territory of the Children’s town in Minsk, Belarus. The project includes a few stages. The first stage consists in carrying out a few charity concerts in order to raise funds. The second and final stage is equipment of the Children’s town territory. The first charity concert was held in the music club ‘’Graffiti’’ on March, 29. Famous Belarusian alternative music groups, performing in the concert, made audience dip into the world of unusual and positive music. The musicians amazed everybody with the variety of their music instruments. Not only performers created the atmosphere of the night, but also the audience supporting and playing up to the musicians in various ways. The charity night was held in warm friendly atmosphere. The musicians got small gifts from Rotaract club Minsk City, made by children from the Children’s town, to express gratitude for their support. Second charity concert within the project will be held on April, 23 with participation of other music groups. The first stage of our project is almost completed. In the nearest future children will get new playing ground, and equipped territory for playing in the open air. Volunteers of Rotaract club Minsk City and Rotaract club Minsk Ratusha are grateful to all the participants of the project, and hope that soon such projects will be very popular in Belarus, since we believe that...
WORLD IS FULL OF KIND PEOPLE :)
Rotaract Brussels Coudenberg International. The no. 1 international club in Europe! What a nice time it is again. EUCO time! and this year in the lovely France. The sweet smell of lavender which lingers on, the Mistral gently blowing through your hair and the finest of food, wines and liquors for us to taste. A real experience of “la douce France” and this for the very first time at the French Riviera. The Belgian delegation is more than happy to participate once again at this unique event with over 1,000 Rotaractors! We thank Rotaract France for hosting us this couple of days in their wonderful country.
RBCI is the no.1 club of Brussels. We are English speaking and our club consists currently over 15 different nationalities. Brussels is an exciting city and the capital of Europe this entails that we have thousands of people travelling to our city to work, study and live in this vibrant metropolis. Amongst our members we have people from EU delegations, NATO representatives, students, professional dancers, nurses and a million other things... But we don’t care where you are coming from or what you are doing as long as you want to help and join our social causes than you are more than welcome. And the most important of it all. We want to have fun! Some of our social causes are very well renowned like the “Rotaract Hearts” project in South Africa a couple of years ago. https://www.facebook.com/RotaractBrusselCouden-
We are constantly evolving and looking for new ways to improve. Our club and its members are really well connected throughout Europe and at every REM and EUCO we are well represented. Once a year we organize our “Rotaract Brussels International” weekend in which we invite everyone we know. This year’s edition we will have over 50 people coming from more than 20 different countries! If you want to be part of this great experience than come to Brussels from 16th-18th May 2014 and come and join us for the “Galaddin” weekend See you then! Simon Ginis www.rotaractcoudenberg.com party@rotaractcoudenberg.com
BELGIUM
HERZEGOVINA
In February 2014, members of Rotaract Club Sarajevo visited „Dom-Porodica“ children’s home in Zenica and presented them with gifts bought with donations collected at the Rotaract New Year’s Party. This humanitarian gathering was organized on December 21st, 2013 in order to raise funds for „Dom-Porodica“, which houses over 100 children. Thanks to the great number of people that attended, the party was a success and raised significant funds. In agreement with „Dom-Porodica“, RAC Sarajevo decided to use the majority of the donated funds for gifts that would be interesting to the children and would contribute to their healthy development and upbringing. The children’s home was given a foosball table and equipment for different sports (football, basketball, volleyball and table tennis). As „Dom-Porodica“ is divided into 8 families, made up of children and either one or two caregivers, the remaining funds were used to buy a household appliance for each family. Representatives of „Dom-Porodica“ expressed their appreciation for the donations and thanked Rotaract Club Sarajevo for initiating this drive. The children were very happy with their gifts, particularly the foosball table, which „Dom-Porodica“ didn’t have earlier.
BOSNIA AND
ROTARACT SARAJEVO VISIT TO „DOM-PORODICA“ CHILDREN’S HOME IN ZENICA
ROTARACT BANJA LUKA CHARITY COSTUME PARTY Rotaract club Banjaluka organized a charity costume party in December 2013. It had two main goals: having fun and collecting donations for charity purposes. At the party among costumes we had a hula dancer and a cowboy, a lumberjack and a Venetian lady, a butterfly and an Indian girl, everyone gathered around karaoke and jiving all night long to the dance hits. But not only we had fun, but we have also reached our goal: we have collected money (from masks bought at the entrance by those guests coming without costumes) and we have also collected loads of sweets (which served as the entrance fee). Later on, together with the Center for Social Work Banjaluka, we have contacted and visited seven socially endangered families of elementary school-age children. We have made packages of basic foodstuff and sweets which were given away to them. We had occasion to get to know about their everyday needs and troubles, but also to give a small contribution and of course, socialize with children through play.
Ro t a r a ct In te rn ational It is often a fact that is underestimated by many Rotaractors and Rotarians alike – Rotary International is called… well – “International”… And it is so for a good reason. It is not simply a geographical description of Rotary structure for unaware outsiders, nor is it for boasting how cosmopolitan Rotary is. The addition of “international” is for ourselves, for internal understanding of members, so that we remember it’s not 20 members of the club that we join, nor 200 of district but hundreds of thousands worldwide. Indeed it is quite abstract to think of all those people worldwide as really meaning something to us, being in any way relevant to our daily Rotary or Rotaract live. But this is simply because most of us are too preoccupied with own club, daily projects and socializing with a close circle of club friends, to appreciate and use the opportunities that international Rotaracting gives. In this daily grind we lose the wide perspective which is: Rotary and Rotaract are not a mass, widely known organizations. It means that accidental meeting of a Rotaractor during international travel is a unique and rare situation. And as we are at the same time a selected people of common values as well as same age a Rotaractor met abroad is straight away very close friend, with tens of topics to discuss and tens of possible common Rotaract friends to check out. In these international Rotaracting moments, what we usually consider a weakness to fight with – small size of Rotaract – becomes its biggest strength. Because there is so little of us, we cherish each and every Rotaractor we meet. And it is exactly this feeling bond and brotherhood across borders among European Rotaractors that made them create European Rotaract Information Centre, or ERIC, 26 years ago. It was exactly this feeling of slight sadness among them that we cannot be all in one big club… But to experience this small world of Rotaract you need to start Rotaracting internationally. And by this I do not mean only attending ERIC conferences like REM or EUCO (although it is a good start). What I mean is reminding yourself that you are a Rotaractor also when you go for a private holiday. Let say you go to Lisbon – enter into Google “Rotaract Lisbon” or contact Portugal Country Representative in ERIC, call these guys and girls. Meet with them. And soon you will realize that I was not exaggerating when saying that when you join Rotaract you do not join just 20 people of your club but 20 000 Rotaractors in Europe. That is the club you are joining.
Mikolaj Dragovic Past President E.R.I.C.
Croatia ‘’FROM ROTARACT WITH LOVE’’- MASQUERADE WEEKEND IN RIJEKA (CROATIA) ‘Her Majesty’s Secret Service invites You to 007 Masquerade party with a Licence to kill. The world is not enough for You to run away but dont worry because You only live twice so You can always Die another day. Dont Octopussy around and make sure You are in disguise because Tomorrow never dies. From 28.02. to 02.03. Rotaract club Rijeka hosted guests from other Rotaract clubs on their famous, traditional Masquerade weekend. ‘’Masquerade weekend’ is a project which Rotaractors from Rijeka are organising for 12 years already, each year in a time of Rijeka’s famous Carnival. CARNIVAL IN RIJEKA The Rijeka Carnival is held each year before Lent (between late January and early March) in Rijeka, Croatia. Established in 1982, it has become the biggest carnival in Croatia and the third largest in the world, attracting great number of guests from all around the world. The International Carnival brings together about 8,000 -10,000 participants in the carnival parade and about 100,000 visitors. Doubtless, it is most famous and popular event in Rijeka and therefore a perfect opportunity to gather friends from other Rotaract clubs at this time. ROTARACT’S MASQUERADE WEEKEND The ‘’Masquerade weekend’’ is not only about gathering Rotaract members for the purposes of socialising and exchanging of experiences although that is the important part too. Main goal is to raise funds for a specific user. In previous years Rotaract club Rijeka collected money for various people or institutions- from sick children to hospitals, schools, nurseries… This year fund raising was designated for buying speech and language aids and didactic aids for Nursery in Rijeka. We are happy to say that we collected 10.000HRK on our Masquerade party ‘’From Rotaract with Love’’ by selling raffles and tickets for a party. We want to say Thank You to all our guests who came and made a donation for this purpose. This crazy masquerade weekend was attended by guests from Rotaract Club Zagreb- Sesvete , Rotaract club Split, Rotaract Club Varaždin, Rotaract Club Osijek , Rotex Club Zagreb and guests from the Italian Rotaract Club Cividale del Friuli . Saturday night we started at the Governor’s Palace on Rotarian ball after which we mysteriously retreated to the TOP SECRET James Bond party which was held in Rijeka Club Boa . Till midnight the Club was already full with men in toxidos and golden girls. (I guess it wasn’t a top secret party after all? ;) ) We have finished the Masquerade weekend on Sunday , following the traditional carnival parade. Tired but happy we said goodbye to our friends , until next year. Lara Kapovic, Rotaract club Rijeka
THE CONCEPT OF VOLUNTEERING IN MODERN SOCIETY As part of the ongoing training, education and development of its members and the general public, Rotaract Club of Nicosia organised at the EU House in Nicosia, a Professional Development event titled “The Concept of Volunteering in Modern Society”. The Commissioner for Volunteering and NGOs, Mr Yiannis Yiannaki, who was the main speaker, introduced this newly established position and explained his main duties and responsibilities. He further presented and analysed his aims and goals in relation to the development and modernisation of volunteerism in Cyprus, with particular emphasis on the need for co-operation and co-ordination amongst the various NGOs. Mr Yiannaki also presented the “Declaration of the rights and responsibilities of volunteers and voluntary organisations” which has been approved by the Council of Ministers, following Mr Yiannaki’s suggestion. Copies of the Declaration were handed-out in the form of a booklet to all participants. Mrs Nadia Karayianni, board member of the NGO Support Centre and an active volunteer for several years, elaborated on the concept of “volunteerism”, with particular reference to the status quo and future perspectives. She presented the NGO Support Centre’s philosophy and their upcoming projects. She further stressed the fact that in the last couple of years Cypriot society has made a remarkable progress in promoting and developing volunteerism, but there remain improvements to be made in this respect. The Red Cross Representative, Mr George Frantzis gave a historical overview and presented the structure of the organisation. He then elaborated on the new strategies they are in the process of implementing in order to modernise and better-organise the Red Cross. Both Mrs Karayianni and Mr Frantzis expressed their interest in a future co-operation with our Rotaract Club, which was noted by the Commissioner with pleasure. In the Commissioner’s view we, as Rotaractors, have a very important role, as representatives of the new generation and as active members of the society, in effecting a change in this field.
ROTARACT NICOSIA CYPRUS
ROTARACT DENMARK: 60 PER CENT MEMBER INCREASE IN 2 YEARS Awards for outstanding individual- and club performances, warming up to a national Rotary Day the 6th of September - and a 60 per cent member increase in two years. That sums up the last couple of months for Rotaract Denmark. It was a good day for Rotaract Denmark when two of our members got the idea to count the number of active rotaractors in Denmark. In total it added up to 198 members. This may not sound like much compared to the number of members in countries like Germany or Italia, but for us in Denmark it is actually a very high number – especially seeing how the equivalent number in 2012 was 119. So a membership increase around 60 per cent in two years is something we are very proud of, and we consider it a sure indication that we are moving in the right direction.
Honouring those we deserve it As a voluntary organisation, the commitment and drive of our members is key. Therefore Rotaract in Denmark wants to be even better at recognising those clubs and individuals who have went the extra mile and really boosted the performance or the impact of Rotaract. With that in mind we handed out three awards at our first national conference of 2014: One for Best Club, one for Rotaractor of the year and one for Project of the year. The winners were Kronjyllands Rotaract for best club (see picture), Holger Gyldenlund Petersen for rotaractor of the year and finally Rotaract Odense’s mentorship project between Rotaract and Rotary.
International Rotaract Day Are the rest of you gearing up for International Rotaract Day 2014? We certainly are in Denmark! As you might know, 2014-2015 RI President Gary Huang has encouraged us to arrange an international Rotary Day in fall this year. Each country, district or city are invited to host their own Rotary Day, reflecting the idea of “ordinary” Rotary members doing “extraordinary” humanitarian work. The Danish Rotary Day will take place on September 6th and will encompass all districts and clubs in Denmark, also Rotaract, who has a member in the steering committee. We are already in the midst of preparing the day at various locations around the country and hope that this event will be a vitamin kicker for the entire Rotary family –not only internally but also externally.
DENMARK
Bonjour, Good Morning, Buenos Dias, Dobraj ranicy, 你好 [nǐ hăo] , Goddag, Päivää, Bom dia, Chao … Did you ever get together 30 differents nationalities in the same place? Rotary District 1660 did it during a whole week-end in Paris March 27th-29th. The aim of this huge event, called « Journées Rotariennes de la Jeunesse » (JRJ), was to bring together in one place all the Students Exchanges currently hosted by French Rotary Clubs. For the year 2013-2014, France is welcoming more than 500 young persons, aged between 15 and 18 years. They are coming from all around the World. Three important moments gave JRJ the tempo, - The group photo in front of the Eiffel Tower and the conference at the Economic, Social and Environmental Council on Saturday morning, - The Paris tour by tourist river boat « bateau mouche » , and - The Gala reception in the Marriott Hotel on Saturday night During this celebration at the Marriott Hotel, we were more than 1 000 guests to attend the Students Shows. Indeed, each District’s group of Students had prepared a performance and it was amazing. They were very proud to offer their show to the Rotarians who gave them the opportunity to come in France this year. Rotary Youth Exchange program is an opportunity of a lifetime, One former exchange student said: « My youth exchange year was one of the most incredible Year of my life. It change myself and help me to growth. In addition to see so much of the rest of the world, and making such wonderful friends, I changed in ways I never thought it were possible. I am more confident and positive now when I’m meeting new people. I have greater ability to empathize with others and to put myself in their place when making judgments. I have greater willingness to take on roles and tasks to which I am unaccustomed. I have more ability to see myself objectively, in a more realistic context. I understand more fully my own strengths and weaknesses. I am more tolerant in ambiguous situations and more open to differing interpretations of them. I feel greater respect and appreciation for my family. And most of all, I feel more surely the common bonds that unites all human beings. Thank you, Rotary for the best year of my life. »
FRANCE
ENGAGE ROTARY, CHANGE LIVES! The motto that Ron Burton, the current president of Rotary International (RI) set forth for this year can be a source of inspiration and a pathway for our Rotaract life. The first part about engaging Rotaract is twofold. While it asks us to commit to the values and the ethical standards of Rotary, it also gives us the most rewarding moments of making difficult things possible. When we engage Rotaract, we have to try to live up to the 4-way-test, we have to try to choose the right path and not the easiest one, we have to try to be the best person we can and respect the interest of others. This is hard work, self-discipline and may require taking uncomfortable decisions. Why should we do that? Why would young people who are eager to explore, get to know and change the world, intentionally limit themselves? Is that a winning strategy in a globalized competitive world? This is where the other aspect of engaging Rotaract comes into play. If we reach out to others who need our help, if we show that the values we preach also count when they are difficult to fulfill and if we dare living up to the ethics of Rotary, we will experience heartwarming thankfulness, a comforting state of knowing and doing what’s right and an unspoiled joy of having accomplished meaningful activities. Remember when a child was looking up to you asking if you’d come again tomorrow! Recall your feeling when a person in need thanked you with a trembling voice! Relive the passion of celebrating the accomplishment of a project where your idea and the joining together of your fellow Rotaractors have made a difference to other people’s lives! This is the fascinating, addicting, ever motivating part of engaging Rotaract! What about changing lives? At first, I thought about all the people who are less fortunate than me and to whom my action can make a difference. We find people like that in our neighborhood, in our region and around the world. Our Rotaract initiatives do make a difference for them! As we follow through on our projects, we reach the minds, the stomachs and most importantly the hearts of people in need. We – no matter how small our effort might be – change their lives. Those are not the only lives we change, however. As we join in on the adventure of engaging Rotaract, we also act as a role model to our peers. It’s intriguing why you wouldn’t spend the weekend at the park or the lake, but work for people you may not even know. It’s intriguing…and inspiring. Rotaractors, we are role models for our peers! Let us communicate on what we do, why we enjoy Rotaract, why we love this idea of service above self! Every community needs people to look up to. We can be – and often enough we are – those people! This is changing the lives of the friends and family looking up to us. Most importantly, however, engaging in your Rotaract adventure will have the strongest effect on one life. Whilst you are thriving for others, while you’re trying to live up to the values of Rotary and while you find out how rewarding it is to go this extra mile, you learn, you grow, you change. Yes, your life is the one that changes the most. You meet people sharing your passion, you have friends around the world, you know how to organize and accomplish projects even in difficult environments, you have learned to lead, you have proven to yourself what you can achieve, and above all, you have enjoyed this whole experience! If you dare to engage Rotaract to the fullest, your life will change the most and it will change to the better!
Let us join our efforts and enjoy working together towards engaging Rotaract and changing lives! Florian WACKERMANN
RAC Germering Chairman RDK 13-14
For many Rotaractors in Germany the BestAct election is one of the highlights at the annual national German Rotaract conference, the “Deutschlandkonferenz” (DeuKo). All Rotaract Clubs, Interact Clubs and even districts are called to hand in Project applications. Since 2004 the “Förderverein der Rotaract Clubs deutscher Distrike e.V.*”(Foerderverein) recognizes the three best projects ( 1st place 500€, 2nd place 150€ and 3rd place 100€). Those prizes are sponsored by the German Rotary publishing house. The BestAct award honors the most amazing social projects. The three best projects, preselected by a jury before the DeuKo, are presented to the plenum. There, all present Rotaract Clubs decide about the ranking of the projects. The preselecting jury consists of one member of the Foerderverein, the chair of the German MDIO, the RDK, and one member of the social committee. Like every year, a couple of minutes before the announcement of the winner of the BestAct award 2014 tension and excitement rose among the Rotaractors. The RAC Clausthal-Zellerfeld made the strongest impression on the voting clubs and took home the first prize for ist project „Glück in Dosen“ (cans of fortune). At a local rock festival they were collecting cans which would have gone to the garbage. They could use the deposit of the cans for their social projects. Their effort resulted in one full truck load of about 22,000 cans with a estimated value exceeding 5,000 €. The proceedings went to two social project for young people. The activity continues in 2014 with the goal to collect even more cans The RAC Ulm finished second with its effort to renovate a gathering place for children and young adults. The third awarded project was the BBQ championship of RAC Eckernförde. Altogether the jury was choosing between eleven projects that had been submitted to the Foerderverein, which is honoring clubs with these awards for more than ten years. While thanking all participating clubs, the chair of the Foerderverein, Constanze Abendroth, pointed out how these projects are great examples of what Rotaractors achieve with their time, their creativity and their devotion.
Germany BestAct
an award with best-in-class characteristics *The Foerderverein is an association supporting Rotaract Clubs with the financial dealings linked to their projects
DISTRICT 1960 “A look towards difference” is a project that was born in 2012 with the purpose to change the mentality of those who think people with disabilities aren’t capable of living doing things like sports or be involved in fashion events. To accomplish this, Rotaract Club Torres Vedras and a local institution (APECI - Association for the Education of Kids with Disability) made a partnership from which was created an agenda (that was sold to purse strings), showing photos of these kids doing model poses and practicing a lot of different sports. With this project, not only this club was able to help this institution with the funds raised, but also made possible for these kids to participate in a lot of activities and have lots of fun while being photographed. DISTRICT 1970 For celebrate Rotatact Week the Portuguese CR, Pedro Cepeda, her team and Rotaract Club of Coimbra organized a very special winter sunset to help ADAV. ADAV have a big and interesting work with young pregnant and her sons to provide condition for a healthy development of this new families. The afternoon was compose by a forum to think about what we need to do for improve the pubic image of Rotaract and training about leadership. In the end of the afternoon, we start the dinner with Rotaractors of all district. The fee for this dinner is 12 units of milk. With this fee and the help of the portuguese milk company we collect 900 units. In the end we celebrate the Rotaract birthday. Happy birthday Rotatact!
PORTUGAL DISTRICT 1960
ROMANIA MOLDOVA
Debate Competition in Iasi (Rotaract Iasi Copou) RotaractCopou in partnership with Rotary and Interact Iasi Copou organized this spring, between 29 and 30th of March, the first debate competition in Iasi. The project was first implemented by our colleagues in Brasov and we wanted to promote this kind of non-formal education also in Iasi. Debating is a technique that helps people practice their argumentative speech, public speaking and teamwork. We challenged 8 teams from 5 high schools in Iasi to debate the resolution: This Parliament would give up paper money in favor of electronic currencies. The project took place at National College ‘C. Negruzzi’ in Iasi and our main partners were Iasi Academic Debate Club. Because the feedback was highly positive from everyone involved, we cannot wait for the second edition and even a big regional competition next year.
The Workshop of Hope (Rotaract Iasi Copou) The “Workshop of Hope” is a project organized together with our Rotary sponsor club and the brand new, young and energetic Interact club Iasi Copou, and implies two stages. First stage consisted into a workshop, on the 6th of April 2014, when volunteers form the three clubs handcrafted around 200 objects (bracelets, bookmarks, Easter eggs, handbooks and cards). The second stage will take place between the 16th and the 18th of April, when we will install a booth in the main shopping mall of Iasi, Palas, where the objects will be sold. All the funds will be used to buy new furniture and kitchen devices for Sf. Andrei placement center in Iasi. This institution hosts 25 children who have difficult family situations from the rural areas of the county. We intend to replicate this concept for other causes in the future, with the same brand: The Workshop of Hope.
“For the third year in a row, Rotaract club Nis, organized a traditional charity concert to contribute to talented young people, titled: “To give is divine, to receive is human”. This year concert was intended for Faculty of Arts in Nis, viz to buy musical instruments. The concert was held on twenty-second of december in National Theatre in Nis. Our fellow townsmen had a chance to enjoy in two-hour varied music program and contribute a nobel goal. The Faculty of Arts got a piccolo and our city got another cultural event, which has now become a tradition. 18TH BIRTHDAY Rotaract club Nis, is one of two oldest club in the country. We have got 25 members. We have made a lot of activities, projects and events, our work speaks about improving the lives of communities. We celebrated our 18th year anniversary on march 29 in restaurant Regent. Celebration started with massage of Rotary, and after that, our guests had the opportunity to hear hymn states belonging the district 2483, Serbia and hymn Montenegro, and then hymn of Rotary. That was one big celebration, there was many people of Rotary and Rotaract clubs. We are made new friendships, maybe some of them fall in love.
SERBIA
New Generations Symposium in Birmingham As Ron Burton announced in the beginning of the year, several New Generations Conferences were organized across the world. After Asia, Africa and South America, we gathered in Birmingham for the European perspective. Linked to the RIBI (Rotary in Great Britain & Ireland)-conference, several Rotaractors and other New Generation participants discussed how the cooperation between Rotary and programs for young leaders could be strengthened. While the chairman of the British Multi-District Information Organization “Rotaract in Great Britain and Ireland”, James Lovatt, spoke in the plenary session to the gathered Rotarians, the main exchange on New Generations took place during the breakout sessions. We learned about model Rotary Clubs, where fees, meeting times and other requirements are custom fit for young professionals and families. In workshops, six groups were discussing possibilities for improving the relations between young members of the Rotarian family, alumni, Rotarians and external leaders. We talked about the role Rotaract is playing in Britain and shared impressions from our respective countries. Laura Verdegaal, chairman of the European Rotaract Information Centre, presented the structure and organization in place to support Rotaractors across the continent. The support message from Ron Burton was presented by Holger Knaack, Chairman of the RI New Generations Committee, who explained to us that all participants in New Generations programs are now officially considered “Rotary Alumni”. He also encouraged us to stay on track to become Rotarians following our Rotaract experience. During the whole weekend, the Rotaractors joined to exchange concepts, thoughts and dreams about their respective activities and organizations. The great idea of fostering New Generations through this series of conferences could have given a boost to Rotaractors in countries where we struggle to find acceptance by Rotarians. We found that there is still a long way to go for us to show what role Rotaract plays in some countries and to find it recognized by Rotarians who might perceive us from time to time as “youngsters in a playground”. Let’s keep inviting them to our events in order to show them what we can really do. TOBIAS HÄCKER, RAC PRENZLAU, CHAIRMAN ELECT OF RDK 2014/15 FLORIAN WACKERMANN, RAC GERMERING, CHAIRMAN OF RDK 2013/14
READ BOOKS TO NEW READERS Slovenia
Rotaract club Novo Mesto from the Slovenian district 1912 has been organising a social event of collecting read books for the third year in a row. They install a weekend stand in one of the city’s shopping malls where they collect books people have already read and now want to donate them. The recipients of the collected are different each year, but they have one main thing in common: they do not have regular access to the library. The recipients of the first collection event were elderly citizens in the local retirement home for whom reading presents a big part in everyday life. Second actiw on collected children books for the ill kids in the children’s department of Novo mesto general hospital, and this year the recipients were inmates in two local prisons, who according to the guards read quite a lot. Majority of donators donate a book or two, but there are some cases, where people deliver even an entire bookshelf of books. In a typical raising action around 500 books are donated each year. No matter who is the recipient of the donated books, they are more than grateful – not just for the donation itself, but also for the fact that someone notices their distress and brings them some joy in their painful daily routine. The main goal of our project is to raise awareness that not everyone has good access to culture and also to encourage people to give something they no longer have great use of to someone who would gladly accept that. Each year the project is well accepted by the people and the whole local community and what is more, the project also brings excellent promotion of Rotaract and the Rotarian values to the general public.
FOOD IN ACTION IS “SERVICE ABOVE SELF” - Spain ‘Food in Action’ is a project that began in October 2012, led by the Rotaract Club of Mediterranean Barcelona and Barcelona Rotaract Club of District 2202 in Spain. The goal of the project is to provide a decent plate of food for people who, for different reasons, are forced to live on the street or in poverty. This activity takes place twice a month in a central zone of Barcelona (Estació del Nord). It first began with the delivery of 60 sandwiches and now, due to the increase in numbers of recipients, 125 rations are handed out, consisting of plates of hot food, sandwiches, dessert and fruit. The project has been able to develop thanks to the help of members and friends of the Barcelona Rotaract Club who currently lead it, and to the financial support of clubs such as the Barcelona 92 Rotary Club, Barcelona Rotary Club and Millennium Rotary Club of District 2202, all of which have ensured the development of this work, covering all costs needed for it to be carried out for the rotary period of 2013-2014. Moreover, teams have worked together to prepare sandwiches and hot food, enjoying the participation of Rotarians from these clubs and from the Alba Rotary Club, which has enabled an efficient allocation of tasks and responsibilities, fulfilling outlined targets and consolidating warm friendships and development of activities as a Rotary family. The sentiment of helping the most disadvantaged is the reason that has motivated us to continue moving forward with this project. Rotary is about working in teams, as a family and providing services through friendship. ‘Food in Action’ is the result of this organisation, guided by bonds of friendship of our Rotaracts and our unbeatable Rotarians of District 2202. Outside of Rotary, we have managed to bring in new members to the Club, driven by the philanthropic essence of these activities and, for this same cause, private organisations have got together to provide perishable foods. We are very proud of the work that has been achieved and of being able to share this great experience with you. ‘Food in Action’ is the best application of the Rotary motto, “Service above Self”.
IDK 2014 SOLOTHURN: LESS POWERPOINT, MORE INTERNATIONAL GUESTS! After struggling to find a place for our… too numerous slides in 2013, our national board president set one rule for the National Conference 2014: no PowerPoint presentation. Challenge accepted!
Once ready, the Rotaract Clubs of Bern, Lausanne, Mittelland, Solothurn and Zurich presented their best social projects to us. RAC Mittelland was awarded first place with “Rotaract for Life”, a project focused on raising awareness about organ donation. During the year 2013, they built this project on several bases. First, they learnt about transplantation during a conference from the organization SwissTransplant. Then, they prepared presentations on the topic; in this process, they were coached by an expert to make sure that the message would reach people’s minds. And once ready, they started visiting German-speaking Rotaract clubs in the whole country to share what they had learnt. Next step for 2014: visit Rotary Clubs and French speaking Rotaract Clubs! Now, back to our conference… As you can guess from the title, we had the chance to welcome several guests from abroad: Doris Grimm (E.R.I.C. Vice-President) came from Mannheim (Germany) for the second year in a row. This time, we had given her less work to do, so she could enjoy the city tour with the Swiss Rotaractors who had booked this activity! In the meantime, Laura Verdegaal (E.R.I.C. President, The Netherlands), Elia Estragues (Country Representative for Spain) and Alodia Garcia Frisach (Rotaract Spain), hand in hand with Simone Beit, Nadine Broghammer and myself from the National Board (CRSL), gave a workshop about social projects with an international dimension, of course! We hope that “Gambasse”, the project led by the clubs around Barcelona who was awarded Best European Service Project last year, will have inspired some Swiss clubs! After electing next year’s national board, it was time to switch off our brains for a while. As we say it in French: “apres l’effort, le reconfort”! RAC Solothurn had arranged a visit to the most famous local brewery called “Oufi”, which means “eleven” in the local dialect. Why calling it this way? Simply because the city was built around that number: the cathedral took eleven years to build, is three times eleven meters high, there are three series of eleven steps in front of it, and besides that, you can count eleven chapels, eleven fountains, eleven churches, eleven museums and even a clock with only eleven numbers on it, across the city. Fun fact that we all learnt on March 15th in front of a glass of beer! Cheers! For the first time in its history, the Rotaract Switzerland’s National Conference was organized during a whole weekend: after dinner, any member could join the pub crawl across the town and spend the night at Marco’s place, one of the main organizers who welcomed us in his house. I will skip the breakfast part on purpose; the risk of you wanting to stop by his place would simply be too high then ☺ On Sunday, after a little city tour organized by Andrea especially for our international guests, we headed to Lausanne to spend the rest of the weekend with some members of the local club. Philippe, the chief organizer, had planned some activities “with a view”: a dessert at the restaurant “Chalet Suisse”, from where we could admire the Leman Lake, and a visit to the top of the Sauvabelin Tower, to enjoy the Alps at 360 degrees. A fabulous day that wouldn’t have been complete without the “crepes-party” dinner prepared by Maxime, from RAC Neuchatel. Thank you ☺ All good things come to an end… As usual during those Rotaract events, times flies way too fast. But as usual, the next event is waiting right here on the corner! Dear friends, see you in Germany for the DeuKo, in Birmingham for the RIBI Conference, or at the latest in Nice for a memorable EUCO! Looking forward to it already!
S W IT Z ER LAN D
First, we decided to apply the technique used during the E.R.I.C. in Zagreb and start the conference with a workshop about how to give a presentation. Nicolas Gurtner, from RAC Geneve, shared his knowledge on that topic with about fifty interested Rotaractors. After this and without losing any minute (Swiss-German style, if I may say!), the five clubs candidates to the Swiss Rotaract Social Award were given quarter of an hour to rearrange their presentations according to what they had learnt from Nicolas.
We are a family dedicated to ‘Peace’ and ‘Service’. As the youth of Rotary family, Rotaracts, we would like to commit ourselves for ‘International Peace Bonding Project’ for the means of ‘service for peace’. In our project, a piece of fabric with sizes 6 cm*25 cm will start its journey starting from Turkey, and will visit 14 countries in 3 continents. In every country, an additional piece of fabric with the same format will be added, and fabric will continue to its journey, as it gets larger and longer. Each country will decide the color of their own fabric inspired by their country flag. There should also be a ‘Peace Quote’ written on the fabric. Fabrics will go through its journey as they are attached end to end. On September 21st, International Peace Day, first piece of fabric will start the journey from Istanbul, Turkey. As the Peace Bond goes through its journey, your Club’s members will record the journey- the making, sending, creating your fabric- (nothing professional, Iphone or any other video recording device is accepted). The length of the video for each country should be 25 seconds max. The shootings will be in front of a structure, at a venue or region specific to the country (For example: Bosphorus Bridge or Blue Mosque Square in Turkey).In the video, Club members will be holding the fabrics and will say the Peace Quote they wrote on the fabric all together. These videos will be broadcasted on the social media and demonstrate every step and progress of the project.
Starting on the 21st of September from Turkey, the Peace Bond will follow the route below, and end its journey back in Turkey; Turkey> Côte d’Ivoire> Morocco> Spain> France> Germany> Italy> Greece> Macedonia> Bulgaria> Serbia> Ukraine> Russia> Georgia> Back to Turkey.
«Sharing The Moment» All-Ukrainian Photo Exhibition as to the social projects of Rotaract in Ukraine During few months 17 clubs in different cities of Ukraine hosted photo exhibition «Sharing the Moment». 1st of November 2013 first exhibition open her doors in Ivano-Frankivsk in gallery “Bastion”. After 1 week it moved to Uzhgorod. Each club hosted exhibition for 1 week minimum. Lviv, Rivne, Ternopil, Vinnytsya, Cherkasy, Simferopol, Yalta, Kirivigrad, Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Poltava – each city had their own unic place (galleries, Universities, Expocenters, TAC, art cafes etc). Last exhibition will be in Kyiv. The main aim of the event is sharing and spread information about Rotary and Rotaract movement in the World and in Ukraine through presentations during photo exhibition. The event helped to attract new members to the club through the presentation of our work, to fundraise money for current projects in each host club. Each club during the organization tried to engage Rotary and build bridges between Rotary and Rotaract by showing main projects made by club Each club had opportunity to represent work of their club to the society. To present Rotary, Rotaract movement in general to the local community and basic projects. Clubs had good chance to encourage their collaboration with sponsoring Rotary clubs. Presentations that have been organized during the opening ceremony helped to attract new members. This project made it possible to show to the public the existing problems in our society. The problems of orphans, poor families, orphanages, elderly people, disabled people. We presented the experience of social service projects. We also attracted new people and sponsors to our future projects.
Ukraine Day of Child Happiness, Rotaract club Odessa 06/02/2013, at the famous Potemkinskaya Stairs in Odessa the most positive and perhaps the greatest event of this summer was held - Establishment of a Balloon National Record. Odessa people decided to break the record and release about 2,800 multi-colored balloons to float in the sky! With the support and organization of Rotaract Club Odessa 47 children from Odessa region orphanages had the possibility to visit Odessa and take part in the festival. The children were able to release their own balloon with the most cherished dream to the sky. Thanks to the sponsors of the Record who helped us with financing, Rotaract club Odessa organized the whole weekend for the orphans with educational excursions, amusement park and butterfly exhibition in Odessa Botanical Garden. After the weekend everybody received a certificate of participation and photos of the trip. It was a really great experience both for the children and for the club members.
UPCOMING EVENTS GALADDIN
20th BIRTHDAY GALA
RI CONVENTION
LYON INTERNATIONAL
CHARTER GALA
ROTARACT CLUB WIEN
2014
16 - 18 MAY BRUXELLES
17 MAY LYON
23 - 25 MAY VIENNA
1 - 4 JUNE SYDNEY
D2060 GALA
VENICE CASINO’
WEEKEND
IN LUXEMBOURG
INTERROTA 2014
CANADA EXPERIENCE
28-29 JUNE VENICE
4 JULY LUXEMBOURG
25 - 27 JULY TORONTO
22 - 31 AUGUST BRITISH COLUMBIA
ROTARACT GLOBAL
REM
INTERNATIONAL WE
PACE TRIP
EUCO
REM
MODEL UN
BREMEN 2014
ISTANBUL 2015
BUCHAREST 2015
4 - 7 SEPTEMBER LONDON
25 - 28 SEPTEMBER BREMEN
15 - 18 JANUARY 2015 ISTANBUL
26 - 29 APRIL 2015 BUCHAREST
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