President Neville Taylor opened the meeting and handed to Chair Gerard Hogan to propose a toast to Rotary International.
Guests
Krystal Mitchell
Ariik Mawien, inductee
Mawien Wol, Arik's cousin
Luke Allen
Martin Langton, inductee
Karen Clydesdale, Martin's partner
Sean Car, RC Docklands
Paul Fowler, RC Melbourne
Mandy Wendt, RC Melbourne
Peter Jankowski, guest of Rana
President Neville informed members that the raffle would go towards End Trachoma campaign.
Gerard Hogan wished Alan Driver and Daniel Lim happy birthdays.
Announcements
Peter Duras thanked members for the overwhelming support for the Shine for Kids Toy Appeal.
Peter also made a preliminary announcement for the Oh Kolkata! event on Saturday 4th May to raise funds for a project with our sister club to support the unemployed.
Mary Voice reminded members about the Golf Event on Friday 29th March to support the End Trachoma campaign.
Kevin Love presented the certificate of appreciation for donating our trailer to the Philip Island Landcare group.
Alan Seale is recruiting mentors for Ambulance Victoria. There are total of 17 mentees.
Alan also stated that a last minute replacement has been found, James Young, to send to Nuremberg.
Neville John shared thanks from PDG Peter Frueh for our work in staging the stall at the Multi District Rotary Conference and utilizing the opportunity to raise awareness of homelessness. Over 1000 brochures distributed. Great work to Peter Duras, who is a tireless advocate for this issue.
Marjorie and Bernie Gerlinger are currently at Gold Coast looking for their new home. Marj is recovering from knee surgery. Bernie diagnosed with a cancerous tumour in his lung.
President Neville inducted Ariik Mawien and Martin Langton to RC Melbourne.
Speakers: Rana Ebrahimi and Peter Jankownski, "Our Multicultural Wedding"
Both Rana and Peter was excited to move to Australia, particular Melbourne, which was known for its multi-cultural diversity. The past 2 years was happy and positive. Currently they are both at the happy stage.
Peter lived in a few countries including Australia, Germany. He was expecting Australia to be similar, but turn out completely different as he landed in Whyalla. It was a huge culture shock and he was always looking for the next plane back.
Rana did a lot of research, such as local cultures, such as footy, bbq etc... She met many multi-cultural friends and a few suggested her character will suit Rotary, in particular Australian values and international values. She met George Mackey and joined RC Melbourne.
After culture shock, they had to integrate. They have a new culture, second culture and created third culture. In total, there were a mixtures of 6 cultures. Peter was in army for 2 years, wanted to go back as he couldn't adapt. He went back to Poland after 5 years only to experience reverse culture shock. Rana has many Iranian friends, so she started to explore other friends. On one of the pictures, there were friends from 5-6 continents in the room, it was inclusive with lots of political disagreements.
As soon as they met, Rana gave Peter some time to propose. According to Rana's dad, if you can't decide in a month whether you want to marry the girl, you're not serious. The wedding was organised here, with 50 guests and friends. There was a wedding in Iran with the family. Peter couldn't get married in church, because according to Persian culture, he has to obtain her dad's written permission. In regards to religion, Peter had to convert to Muslim. Both are happy to call Australia home.
President Neville closed the meeting by thanking Rana and Peter for their presentation and all our vistors for joining us then encouraging all to find ways to inspire others to service beyond self.