From the meeting

 

President Therese Robinson opened the meeting with her acknowledgement of the traditional owners.

 

 

President Therese welcomed members and visiting Rotarians Teresa and Bernard from RC Echuca Moama.

 

Neville spoke about the operation of the Rotary Peace Centres and the opportunity to earn Master’s Degrees and Professional Development certificates from eight partner universities around the world. Neville has taken over from Roger Thornton in representing RCM on the District Committee.

Up to 130 Peace Fellows selected every year in a globally competitive process – 50 fellows per year into the Master’s program and 80 fellows for the Certificate program. D9800 has established an enviable record of having a Peace Fellow accepted into the Master’s program for every year of its operation. Neville also spoke about the many special people who have influenced his life – notably his former colleague Charlie Allen.

 

Neville’s presentation focussed on how “impact” has been achieved by Rotary Peace Builders. Applicants are typically non-Rotarians and move through a rigorous selection process sponsored by a Rotary Club. Commencing in 2002, there have been about 1400 graduates operating in about 115 countries. Applications for the 2022 program have now opened. D9800 applications close 15 May. Neville encouraged all members to refer all potential applicants to himself.

 

Michelle acknowledged the amazing investment by Rotary, and thanked Neville for his very detailed presentation.

 

Darren Park: 24^th February

Steve Hallis (Hon Member) : 27^th February

 

Maria Fragomeni, Ignacio’s partner: 24^th February

 

Russell Rolls and Heather 24^th February 1968 53 years

Roger Thornton and Pip 26^th February 1971 50 years

 

Allan Driver 28^th February 1996 25 years

 

 

 Mary spoke about a number of positives that have occurred recently, notably:

 

Rana Ebrahimi grew up in South East Iran and lived in Tehran.

 

Her parents moved to the US to study, and on their return to Iran were caught up in the Iranian revolution – her Mum and Dad lost their property and jobs during the revolution, and her Dad was also arbitrarily removed from his role as a local Mayor. They were prevented from applying for any government job. After the revolution, Rana attended university where she studied archaeology and German but was strongly encouraged by her Dad to leave Iran and go to the US: “it was just like Iran but more chaotic”. She quickly decided that she didn’t particularly like studying German, and ultimately studied English Literature.

 

She commenced working with the UN with a focus on “disaster reconstruction”, and then moved to the field of “refugees” in 2012. Iran had just opened its borders to about 3 million Afghan refugees - the Iranian government was largely supportive of this cohort although only about half were subsequently recognised as refugees under the Refugee Convention.

 

Rana decided to migrate to either Canada or Australia and was ultimately guided by the weather! She was challenged by our accent and liberal use of figures of speech, as well as the different calendar and currency. And the seasons were back to front. She was encouraged by several people to join Rotary. She checked for her closest RC and was invited to a meeting. Even though she isn’t a “morning person” she felt immediately at home and was subsequently invited to join RCM. She was married the same year, and her wedding was attended by Neville John (who “gave the bride away”), David and Frank.

 

Brett drew on his mother’s wisdom by describing Rana as having “great capability and wonderful qualities of character”.