SEASON 2013-14
ISSUE 07
ROTARACTION CYPRUS ROTARACT NEWSLETTER
District 2452 Armenia|Bahrain|Cyprus|Georgia|Jordan|Lebanon|Palestine|Sudan|United Arab Emirates
SEASON 2013-14
ISSUE 07
ROTARACTION CYPRUS ROTARACT NEWSLETTER
The Team DRR: Vincent Fayad
Peter Ashdjian
drr2452@gmail.com
PDRR: Elena Aroti
drrep2450@gmail.com
Cyprus VDRR: Kyriacos Christofides christofidisk@me.com
Cyprus PR Coordinator Chief Editor: Hannah Mortaga hannahmortaga@gmail.com
Creative Advisor Mishel Fayad
contact@mishelfayad.com
Living within the Rotary Spirit
The first time you see him, you will be terrified… at least I was! But it doesn’t take long to realize that Peter Ashdjian, President of Rotary Club of Larnaca Kition is anything but a terrifying person. It only takes a couple of minutes to comprehend that he is just a Rotarian that adores Rotaract and all Rotaractors. To get to know him better, I had the chance to meet up with him and ask him a couple of question. How did you first get involved in Rotaract? My great grandfathers established the Rotary Club of Larnaca 75 years ago and my father is the founder of Rotary Larnaca Kition. Since a very small age, I was aware of Rotary and I grew to appreciate the idea and concept behind it. After completing my studies, I attended a Rotary event and had the chance to meet some Rotaractors. After that day, I decided to join Rotaract. How do you combine family with Rotary? I met my wife through Rotaract. Currently I’m the president of Rotary Club Larnaca Kition, my wife is the secretary and my daughter attends nearly all Rotary meetings and events. I have built a strong connection with Rotary and my family. Rotary is a big part of my life. My life is Rotary, and my family is Rotary.
Editorial It is with great pleasure that we present the second issue of ROTARACTION for the Rotaract year, 2013-2014. In this issue, we meet Mr. Peter Ashdjian, we learned about the visit of our District Governor Mr. Jamil Mouawad, we find out about Armenia and Rotaract in Armenia, we remember the October events of all Rotaract clubs and more. Enjoy reading! | ROTARACTION | ISSUE 07 | 2
What do you do for a living? I’m the Director of Pierides Archaeological museum, in Larnaca since 2000. My daily tasks include the day to day functioning of the museum, organising education programs for schools, setting up of art exhibitions and organizing different events at the museum. What is your best memory in Rotaract? Meeting the woman in my life! (Immediate response, he laughed and then continued). In 2005 I was the District Secretary and I got the chance to travel with the DRR to the different countries of the district representing Cyprus. Experiencing the Rotaract spirit all around the countries of the district is by far the best memory I cherish. How did Rotaract help you in your professional development? Through Rotaract I have learned to be more comfortable with my public speaking and presentation skills. This has helped me a lot as a museum director since I’m required to do public
speaking numerous times. What do you do as Cyprus Rotaract Chair? My official task is to be the liaison between Rotaract and Rotary clubs in Cyprus. It also includes assuring the well being of all Rotaract clubs and their members, visiting clubs, supporting the clubs by attending their events, being a mentor, advising where necessary to
castle. It was a huge success, 5000 people attended and the purpose was to promote the union of different nations to live together in one land, Cyprus. Many cultures took part by presenting their traditional dances, songs and more. As a Rotarian, the cheese and wine event that took place in October was a great success and we managed to raise EUR 5000 for the Multiple Sclerosis Association of Larnaca. How do you see Rotaract in Cyprus in 10 years? I have seen and met many aspiring Rotaractors. With the proper guidance, I believe that Rotaract have the chance in becoming more successful in the society. Of course there will be difficulties, nothing is easy but part of being a Rotaractor is seeing the challenge and riding it.
overcome difficulties and assisting the VDRR in any possible way. What are your hobbies? Travelling, supporting charity work and being involved in many community organizations. If you had the choice to live in another country, which would that be? France. What is the most successful project you have worked on with Rotaract? As a Rotaractor, the most successful project was when I helped in the multicultural fair organized by the Paphos club in front of the
Any last words? We live in difficult times. Being a Rotaractor means that you can see through the hardship and find solutions to rebuild a better com-
munity raise spirit and bring back hope to the society. This is the challenge that we must take and after meeting most of you I’m confident that you are more than capable of being the change the community needs. As future leaders of this country you should make the most of the Rotaract experience since it will give you the tools to improve and develop our society!
After answering the questions that I had prepared for him, I had the chance to sit for a couple more minutes and discuss about his life in Rotaract and Rotary. His words were so passionate and he was so proud of being part of this organization which was a motivation for me. Peter Ashdjian is a very exciting person, with a lot of ideas and experience to share.
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Did you know?
1 3
Since the first donation of The Rotary Foundation of $26.50 in 1917, the Foundation has received contributions totaling more than $1 billion.
2
Rotary’s name came from the group’s early practice of rotating meetings among the offices of each member.
In 1932, Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor created The Four-Way Test.
Meet the Cyprus Rotaract Clubs Vice Presidents
RAC Nicosia Aspelia Olga Panfilova Rotaract Club
Nicosia Aspelia
RAC Nicosia Ledra Dinos Papadopoulos
RAC Kyrenia St. Hilarion
RAC Nicosia Sarayonu Erkin Sucu
Feyha Avcisoyu
Rotaract Club of Nicosia Sarayonu
RAC Limassol Berengaria Cosmopolitan
Athos Kanari
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RAC Kyrenia Liman Gorkem Yamaner
RAC Larnaca Kition Hannah Mortaga
Rotaract Club
Nicosia Ledra
Rotaract Club
Larnaca Kition
RAC Limassol Amathusia
RAC Nicosia Antonia Hadjicosta
Stephanie Kyriakides Rotaract Club Limassol Amathusia
District Governor visits Cyprus Rotaractors In the month of October, District Governor Mr. Jamil Mouawad and his spouse Mrs. Patricia Mouawad visited Cyprus. On Sunday the 20th, Cyprus Rotaract Chair, Cyprus VDRR along with the presidents of all the Rotaract clubs of Cyprus had a meeting with the Governor at Atrium Hotel in Larnaca. The Governor discussed some matters that the presidents should be aware of and he set some goals for this Rotaract year. Some of the issues that
were discussed were about increasing the number of members in the clubs, the ratio of males and females a club should have and the proper exposure to the social media. The presidents brought to the table some of the issues that they were facing and listened as the governor provided them with the suitable advice and steps to be taken to eliminate these problems. Overall, the meeting went well and the Rotaract presidents were happy of the outcome.
District Governor’s visit in Cyprus was exuberant for us Rotaractors. The DG’s knowledge and experience in Rotary & Rotaract, instigated a series of ideas and projects which are already in motion with your club’s president. Dear District Governor, thank you for helping us help others. I wish we could have such visits more often. Kyriacos Christofides , Cyprus VDRR 2013-2014 The meeting we had with Mr. Jamil, was very constructive and offered us a different point of view regarding Rotaract, we hadn’t had the opportunity to see before. He was humble enough, to walk in our shoes, and give us advice on how to overcome the challenges our clubs are facing at the time, and gave us all of his support. Eva Antoniou, President 2013-14, RAC Limassol Amathusia
During the visit of DG Jamil Mouawad in October 2013, as a President I had the opportunity to present my club’s performance. Having heard the targets of DG for this year we have a clearer idea on where to target, ie. increase of membership and strengthen the relationship of Rotaract with the mother Rotary Club. I was glad to see how focused he is on the Rotaractors. Charis Michael, President 2013 - 2014, RAC Nicosia Aspelia
It was a very constructive meeting and it was a pleasure to have the chance to meet the Governor. I was happy to see that he is interested in each and every club. Andreas Matsangos, President 2013 - 2014, RAC Larnaca Kition
He listened to all of us carefully and gave us constructive advices. Vasviye Baltacı, President 2013 - 2014, RAC Kyrenia Liman
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Celebrating
Armenia
Armenia was inhabited since 6000 BC. The native Armenian name for the country is Hayk. Tragedy and devastation have haunted Armenia and its people for centuries - yet it has survived and resurrected as phoenix from ashes never losing hope for gaining independence, until 1991 the dream turned into reality. Now Armenia covers a
territory of about 30.000km2 and in itself is smaller than Belgium. It lies beyond Caucasus mountain range and neighbors to Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Iran. The population is about 3 million out of which 90% are Armenian s, 3% Russians, 1.5% are Kurds, Yezids, Assyrians, Greeks. The climate is dry continental which means we have cool winters and hot summers. On August 1990 citizens of the Soviet Armenia voted overwhelmingly for independence from the Soviet Union through a popular referendum. The Republic of Armenia was established on September 21, 1991. Yerevan is the capital and larg-
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est city of Armenia and one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities. . The tricolor flag of Armenia is composed of three and equally sized strips of red, blue and orange. The red color of the flag symbolizes the blood that the Armenian people have shed in the struggle for independence; blue symbolizes the clear sky
of Armenia; while the orange one symbolizes wheat or bread that have brought up the nation to hold in high respect towards its land, history and culture. The first Rotaract club was chartered in 2000 sponsored by the Rotary club of Yerevan. Nowadays there are 3 Rotaract clubs in Armenia, 2 of which are located in Yerevan and the other one is located in Gyumri. Gyumri is the second largest city in Armenia; it is located around 126 km north of the capital city
Yerevan-Ineternational collected DVDs and books; bought a DVD player, chess and sporting goods for Tigranashen frontier village. Rotaractors have donated the above described things to school since school is the only public place in the village which children attend. Rotaractors of RAC Yerevan did a great job by collecting 600 book for Etchmiadzin city library. It was a pretty small and poor library that is why the Rotaractors were willing collect books and donate them.
The Rotaractors work with orphans and children from the frontier villages and poor families. The Rotaract clubs of Yerevan and the Rotaract club of Yerevan-International organize and conduct also environmental projects. Each Rotaract club is
known to have a tree plantation joined project together with their own sponsor Rotary club. Another remarkable project implemented by Rotaract club of Gyumri every year is organizing summer camps for children from poor families. Thanks to these generous projects, many children are granted the exceptional opportunity of spending their summer holidays both in a very interesting and beneficial way since they get the chance to enjoy the time and learn many things during it.
Yerevan. The target of the 3 clubs (RAC of Yerevan, RAC of Yerevan-International and RAC of Gyumri) is children. The Rotaractors work with orphans and children from the frontier villages and poor families. They also work with frontier villages’ schools and libraries. Rotaractors of Rotaract club of 7 | ISSUE 07 | ROTARACTION |
Rotaract Club of Nicosia Ledra
Christmas Preparations For the past couple of weeks the attention, focus and manpower of the Rotaract Club of Nicosia – Ledra have been targeted towards the Christmas bazaar. This is a joint event with the fellow clubs of Nicosia that is set to take place in December. As
part of the preparation process we have started holding crafts workshops over the weekends. The workstations will be active on all weekends leading to the Christmas bazaar. This has been a great opportunity to engage into activities with our fellow Rotaractors as well as to get in touch with our creative side. To also get in touch with our “appet-side” the workstations will turn into baking stations during the week before the bazaar.
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Rotaract Club Nicosia Aspelia
Support of the Alzheimer Day Care Center with their families, Rotaractors, and friends of Rotary. The guests had the opportunity to enjoy a gourmet dinner accompanied with live music by Ms Marina Purita. The net proceeds of €1832.60 were donated to the Alzheimer Day Care Centers in Kaimakli The Rotary and Rotaract Clubs
Alzheimer Day Care Centers on
of Nicosia Aspelia and the
Friday 11th of October at Occhio
Rotary and Rotaract Clubs of
Venue in Nicosia. One hundred
Nicosia co organized a fund-
and forty two people joined the
raising dinner in support of the
event, among them, Rotarians
and in Lythrodontas. The Alzheimer Day Care Centers were founded by the Rotary club of Nicosia Aspelia, the Rotary club of Nicosia and the Inner Wheel.
International Service Project As part of its international service, the Rotaract Club Nicosia Aspelia collaborated with Rotaract Club of Sao Paolo Avenida Paulista, in order to raise awareness against child labour, paedophilia, violence against women, and violence against the elderly in Brazil. Aspelians, gathered together and recorded a short video while holding the Cypriot flag and saying “We Rotaract Club Nicosia Aspelia from Cyprus, district 2452, are together with Rotaract Avenida Paulista in this campaign”! It is probably the most straight forward international service project that Aspelians have implement so far but it is very important at the same time since
this short video will be combined with similar videos from other Rotaract clubs worldwide, in order to create an awareness campaign against child labour, paedophilia, violence against women, and violence against the elderly in Brazil. The initiative of the Rotaract club of Sao
Paolo is actively supported by the police of Sao Paolo and the Government of Brazil. Rotaract club Nicosia Aspelia awaits with excitement the awareness campaign and the impact of the campaign within the community of Sao Paolo.
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Rotaract Club Nicosia Aspelia
Third Year Birthday Party Rotaract Club Nicosia Aspelia celebrated on Friday 4th of October, at Cafe Mercedes in Nicosia, its third birthday and its active volunteer service in the Cypriot society. This birthday party was one of the most successful fellowships of the club and gave the opportunity to Rotaractors and Rotarians from different clubs of Cyprus to strengthen
their bonds in Rotary. The past District Governor, Mr Kevork Mahdessian honoured the club with his attendance. The guests list included 63 people, among them, Rotarians, Rotaractors, and friends of the club. Aspelians would like to thank the Rotaractors from Larnaca Kition, Limassol Amathusia, Nicosia Ledra, and Kyrenia St. Hilarion, for attending the event and for making this fellowship event very successful and energetic. The wild party lasted until early in the morning and was accompanied with finger foods, drinks and lot of dancing. Considering the current economic crisis that Cyprus is facing, Rotaract Club Nicosia Aspelia promises, for the current year and for the years to come, to expand its voluntary actions and implement
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bigger and more creative projects in order to support the vulnerable groups, the young unemployed, and the young professionals in Cyprus.
Rotaract Club Kyrenia Liman
Halloween Party On 26th October 2013, we cel-
Each year, we pick a charity or
ebrated Halloween with a big
a cause and use all proceeds
and thrilled Halloween party.
to help with their requirements.
Every year since our establish-
This year the proceeds were
ment, in October, we celebrate
given to homeless children.
Halloween with a big party for a
We decorated the place with
specific cause.
decorations that we prepare ourselves and they are all handmade. It was a very successful fundraising event. We had 131 guests this year which is the most crowded event we had
for the whole week and during
since our establishment.
the party. We also sold costumes, had make-up artists to
It also helped in building team
put make up on to our guests
spirit as we all worked together
and had fire show.
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Rotaract Club Kyrenia Liman
Breast Cancer Awareness October is the breast cancer awareness month and we wanted to raise awareness. All of us have ourselves as well as mothers, grandmothers, sisters that might be in a risk of breast cancer as well. We designed a brochure and tried to spread the word via social media and printed media. We also distributed brochure on streets as well to raise awareness of all society.
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Rotaract Club Nicosia
Fellowship Weekend Rotaract Club of Nicosia organised the 2nd Fellowship Weekend for its members on the 19th – 20th of October 2013 at Cavo Maris Beach Hotel in Protaras. The aim of this event was to improve communication between the members and learn about one’s strengths and weaknesses through various activities and ice breakers. Most of the games helped us see how other members see us, how the team works together and discover better methods of communication. We are clad that a number of prospective members joined us and also had the honor of having with us the VDRR Kyriakos Christofides. Social activities during the weekendincluded swimming, dining at Kalamies Restaurant, followed by a beach party with games and drinks, and a morning walk on the coast of Protaras, this has encourage members to spend time together and get to know each other better. It was a relaxing, team building and fun weekend that will definitely be organized again!
Support of the Alzheimer Day Care Center On Friday 11th of October Rotary Club of Nicosia, Rotaract Club of Nicosia, Rotary Club of Nicosia Aspelia and Rotaract Club of Nicosia Aspelia have organised a joint Buffet Dinner at Occhio Restaurant in support of the Alzheimer Day Care Centres.The fundraising event helped to raise 1832euros. On the night of the event Marina Purita has showed us her excellence in piano and vocal performance, while we have also enjoyed the ruffle game and the secret auction. A night with great food, music and dancing!!
World Explorers Bulletin To celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Piri Reis World Map (1513) Bostanli Rotaract Club was inspired to create a bulletin to give Rotaract Clubs around world the opportunity to exchange information about famous and accomplished explorers of all time from every country. Each participating club chose one remarkable explorer from their own country and prepared a small text including a brief description about the explorer and his/her photo. Bostanli then created a bulletin out
of all the work collected and shared these “World Explorers” on the RotaractNet group and Facebook by posting the World Explorers Bulletin. Rotaract Club of Nicosia was glad to participate and proud to share the story of George Andreou, the first Cypriot to climb Mount Everest. We thank Bostanli Rotaract Club once again for this great idea and the chance to join forces for this excellent International. Tebrikler!!
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Rotaract Club of Sarayonu
World Pasta Day! Rotaract Club of Nicosia Sarayonu did a gathering to celebrate the world pasta day on the 25th of October. As club members, we gathered in one of our member’s house
and cooked pasta. This was a very delicious and fun project, because our new members were able to meet with other members and it was a very warm atmosphere with good food.
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Rotaract Club Larnaca Kition
Charity Fasion Show Rotaract Larnaca Kition took part in the organizing of a Charity Fasion Show, on Sunday 13th of October. The event took place at Ammos Beach Bar, at Makenzy Area, Larnaca, for the launch of the new athletic label by the name Radical Fashion. The concept of the show was athletes and real people. Famous athletes of each respective sport were chosen to be part of the show. The show included the Olympic gold medalist in swimming Karolina Pelendritou, 100metre track and field Olympic athlete Ramona Papaioannou, Kristi Louca artistic gymnast, Atlanta Patsali tennis player in the national team of Cyprus, Mr. Universe Andreas
Falas and football player Jose de Souza. We also had a Cuban live singer, Alberto Mendez and a dance show performed by Alex Sandor and Anamaria Onutu. All net proceeds were given to the Κοινωνικό Παντοπωλείο Λάρνακας.
International Service Project Rotaract Clube de São Paulo Avenida Paulista of Brazil initiated a campaign against four big themes; child labor, pedophilia, violence against women and violence against the elderly. Rotaract Larnaca Kition, as
part of its international service, took part in supporting this campaign. On 31st of October, the club members met and recorded a short video with the clubs flag
saying: “We, Rotaract Club Larnaca Kition from Cyprus, district 2452, are together with Rotaract Avenida Paulista in this campaign”. The videos from several clubs of the world will be collected and compiled to make a great institutional video campaign. Rotaract Clube de São Paulo Avenida Paulista will act together the local police and governmental department to stratify the information about these themes. Rotaract Larnaca Kition wishes Rotaract Clube de São Paulo Avenida Paulista the best of luck in this campaign and we look forward to receiving the result of the campaign.
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Rotaract Club Larnaca - Kition
Charity Tennis Tournament The Rotaract Larnaca Kition
Mayor of Larnaca Mr. Andreas
with
Larnaca
Louroutziatis. The tournament
Kition and Interact Larnaca
took place from the 12th till the
Kition organized a charity ten-
20th of October and all pro-
nis tournament with the sup-
ceeds were given to the Larna-
port of the Larnaca Tennis Club
ca Community Medical Centre.
and under the auspices of the
On the 20th of October, the
the
Rotaract
award ceremony took place where our District Governor, Mr. Jamil Mouawad was the honored guest. At the award ceremony, Rotarians, Rotaractors and Interactors were present to support the cause. After presenting the awards, everyone enjoyed finger foods and drinks. | ROTARACTION | ISSUE 07 | 16
A final note When we were first assigned the position of the PR team, it was with great pleasure that we accepted. However, we did not realize the hard work that the position required. Working on the first issue was numerous days of rigid work yet it was enjoyable. Late night phone calls, last minute changes, several meetings to finalize the work and then more changes. When we finally decided that it was ready to be published, it was with fingers crossed and great anticipation that we pressed the send button. Only minutes after the publishing of the first issue, we started receiving thank you emails, messages and
phone calls for the outcome of the newsletter. The positive feedback that we received put a smile on our faces and we are grateful to each and every one of you that took the time to give us their feedback. We are thankful to everyone who took the time to read our work. It is an honor to be part of the district team and it has been such a great experience to be working with Rotaractors from all over Cyprus. Once again we thank you for your continuous support and hope that we will keep astonishing you with the following issues.
Thank you!
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SEASON 2013 - 14
ISSUE 07
ROTARACTION CYPRUS ROTARACT NEWSLETTER
This is the Official monthly Cyprus Rotaract Newsletter. For any suggestions, ideas or thoughts about the uproming issues, please contact us directly at hannahmortaga@gmail.com or contact@mishelfayad.com