REPORT OF RCM BREAKFAST MEETING 23 May 2023
President Rohan Williams opened the meeting with an acknowledgement of country.
The Chair, Tom Callander proposed a toast to Rotary International.
President Rohan Williams welcomed members and guests introducing the following guests…
Aviv Palti – Rotary Passport Melbourne President & guest speaker
Jess Palti
Maria Hicks OAM
Rotaractors from Siem Reap Cambodia
Lita Seng
Sokal Nov
Phanich Ron
Tola Nam
Doeb Chhay
Bob Maskell Rotary PDG Rotary D1180
Kate Maskell Rotary Rotary D1210
Carol Hallewell Rotary Cowbridge DGN D1150
Malcolm Hallewell Rotary Cowbridge D1150
Chair, Tom Callander shared the following birthdays and anniversaries…
Members’ Birthdays
Neville Taylor on 23rd May (Today!), and we all sang happy birthday (at Neville’s insistence 😊).
Partners’ Birthdays
Karen Clydesdale (Martin Langton) on 29th May
Wedding Anniversaries
Kevin & Veronica Love 44 years on 2nd June
Date Joined Rotary
Kevin Love 24 years
Suvam Ganguli 6 years
Luke Allen 4 years
Chair, Tom Callander introduced and invited Aviv Palti, President of Rotary Passport Melbourne, to speak to the assembled throng about breaking the poverty cycle in Cambodia through education.
Aviv began by providing background on Rotary Passport Melbourne pointing out that the club has a very clear focus, being international education projects. It is a club that is focused on projects and, consequently, does not engage in fundraising activities.
The Palti family became engaged in education projects well before Aviv and his eldest daughter, Jess, joined Rotary. It began when the family decided to visit Cambodia over 15 years ago when Aviv’s youngest daughter was not permitted by her school to be part of a school visit to Cambodia (since she submitted her application late ☹). The Palti family decided to go as a family.
One thing led to another and since that humble beginning they have registered an NGO focused on empowering people in Cambodia through education – empowerment, education, and inspiration are their three pillars.
Currently there are 104 students in the program, and it was noted that when these students graduate, they earn three times their family’s monthly income. And as they gain more experience in their vocations their incomes continue to grow. This is how this project breaks the poverty cycle.
Aviv then introduced members of the Siem Reap Rotaract club to tell their stories…
Doeb Chhay shared his story of how he has moved from a “country boy” to an “educated man”, planning to graduate with a law degree next year. He then looking to do a Master of Law, with his ultimate goal being to enter politics. His wife is also currently completing a Master of Finance.
Phanich Ron spoke about how students were the future of Cambodia.
Tola Nam spoke about the principles they abide by in the Rotaract Club of Siem Reap in choosing projects.
Lita Seng and Sokal Nov shared the broad range of projects in which their club have been involved in Cambodia. Many of these projects facilitate increased school attendance.
Aviv then shared a powerful uplifting message that underpins their attitude toward the students – “We believe in you before you believe in yourself”.
This presentation generated some interesting questions from the floor that revealed the following…
An important source of funds is from Rotary clubs within D9800 – currently six clubs in the district provide financial support to the project.
Government support – Cambodian, Australian, and Canadian – is vital to the successful running of these projects. But currently only one – Canada – provides financial support.
The project is essentially about Cambodians helping Cambodians with the teachers now being the Cambodians who have recently graduated coming back to teach the younger students.
Aviv is more than happy to share the ‘IP’ of this project to support other clubs doing similar projects in other parts of the world. He pointed out that there are books available in the public domain to encourage such projects.
Before presenting President Rohan and President-elect Michelle with a krama (the traditional scarf of Cambodia) Aviv left the attendees with a key message; “There is no magic moment to help someone else, so start now”.
Tom Callander then thanked Aviv and his team for their presentation.
Member announcements…
Peter Duras advised that they had now collected 45 sleeping bags for the homeless and they are to be handed over at Hosier Lane next Thursday. Channel 9 will be filming.
Rob Hines advised that the next WoD tour to Cambodia will be occurring some time in the first quarter of 2024. Dates to be confirmed. This will be a three-week four- or five-star tour, with part of the fee being a donation to support projects in Cambodia.
Neville Taylor provided an update on the RESCA project with a function to announce the Victorian winners in September. Those winners will then go into the national finals.
In closing President Rohan thanked the guests and announced that there will be no meeting next week due to the international conference and therefore the next meeting will be June 6. He finished by asking us to do the little things that make our world a little kinder.
