Outgoing President Mahmood Al-Yousif conducted the last official meeting of the RCA last night as president. He expressed his thanks to everyone for their help and fellowship through what has been a very difficult year! He also wished incoming president Laith Shukayr the best of luck with RY11/12 and charged him to take the Club to newer and higher heights!
The Rotary Club of Adliya is YOUR club. It’s main function is to help the Bahraini community without discrimination. We do a lot of good stuff. We’ve raised approximately BD300,000 for local charities since inception in 1994.
Today, we celebrate another milestone in our attempt to continuously connect with our global community by launching a Facebook Fan-Page. Please favourite our page and tell your friends and acquaintances to do so too so that you too can enjoy our successes and keep abreast of our news.
You can view and subscribe to our page here.
District Governor 2009/2010 Nijad Al-Atassi
Bahrain is to host the 74th District Conference of the Rotary International District 2450, which will take place from April 29 to May 2.
The event will be held at the Gulf Hotel’s Gulf Convention Centre, Adliya, under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander.
About 1,400 Rotarians, spouses and guests from Bahrain, Armenia, Cyprus, Egypt, Georgia, Jordan, Lebanon, Sudan and UAE are expected to attend.
Rotary is a volunteer organisation of 1.2 million business and professional leaders united worldwide to provide humanitarian services and help build goodwill and peace.
The Rotary International District 2450 takes place annually and Bahrain hosts the event every seven years.
“Our mission as Rotary International is to promote global understanding, goodwill and peace and we as Rotary in Bahrain are here to serve others and our community,” district governor Nijad Al Atassi told the GDN.
“It’s important to have this conference in Bahrain, it doesn’t come around very often. “The last one was in April 2002, and it is excellent for us and Bahrain to promote business and our Rotary mission in Bahrain.
“It is also about promoting Bahrain, because the Rotarians that will be coming are business people and leaders in the field, so it will be an opportunity for them to expand their contacts and schedule appointments to advance their businesses,” he aid.
For more information and to register visit http://www.rotaryd2450.org/Conference/conference.asp
Source: GDN – 28 Dec 09
UN Leadership Forum on Climate Change (22 September)
General Secretary Ed Futa has been invited to attend the UN Leadership Forum on Climate Change in New York. The meeting will be led by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and organized by UN Global Compact. Over 200 heads of state, business leaders,civil society representatives, and UN agencies are expected to attend.
World Bank/International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings & Civil Society Forum (2-7 October)
This is part of the IMF/World Bank’s regular series of meetings to highlight developments within both organizations. Past RI Director Örsçelik Balkan has been appointed by President Kenny to serve as Rotary’s official delegate
UNESCO Partners Forum (5 October)
This is the inaugural meeting for NGOs that work with UNESCO. The Forum’s theme will be: Multiple Partnerships for a Common Ideal and will focus on successful UNESCO partnerships from 1999-2009. Representatives Dervaux and Noirtin are scheduled to attend.
Polio returns to Afghanistan
The following is a link to a news story that ran on UN Wire about the return of Polio to Afghanistan. It serves as a reminder of the need to keep up the pressure to eradicate the disease everywhere.
link
Concert to End Polio
As you may have seen on rotary.org, RI is joining with violin virtuoso and polio survivor Itzhak Perlman and the world-renowned New York Philharmonic to present the Concert to End Polio on 2 December at 19:30 in New York City. Polio eradication resonates strongly with Mr. Perlman, who contracted the disease at age four and overcame serious physical challenges to become one of the world’s most celebrated musicians. In this historic performance —his first with the New York Philharmonic in four years —Mr. Perlman will help Rotary in its effort to raise $200 million to match a $355 million challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
You can learn more about the concert here and tickets are available here.
We’ll share more information about the concert and Itzhak Perlman’s support of polio eradication in the coming weeks.
Kimeli Naiyomah at the National Press Club and Library of Congress
Kimeli Naiyomah, Maasi warrior, Rotary Peace Fellow, and author of 14 Cows for America, will speak at the National Press Club in Washington DC on 25 September. Additionally he will participate in the National Book Festival at the US Library of Congress on 26 September.
There were two major events scheduled in honor of International Literacy Day
United Nations, New York
The first major event was held on 8 September at the United Nations in New York. Representative Sylvan Barnet made well-received remarks about Rotary’s work on literacy before an audience of about 75 NGOs and diplomats. Barney’s remarks focused on Rotary’s success with the Concentrated Learning Encounter (CLE) method, cooperation relationships with the International Reading Association and Dolly Parton Foundation’s Imagination Library, and projects focused on empowerment of women, girls,
and underserved populations, particularly in parts of Asia and Africa.
Library of Congress, Washington, DC
The second major Literacy Day event was sponsored by the International Reading Association (IRA) and held at the US Library of Congress in Washington. RI Representative Rich Carson graciously filled in for Bill Boyd and spoke about Rotary’s extensive work with Literacy. Rotary was well represented at the event. All three Washington based
representatives were in attendance as well as several Rotarians heavily involved in literacy (including Judy Backlund who is a Rotarian out of Washington state who is working on a joint IRA/Rotary teacher training project in Sudan). The International Reading Association was very pleased with Rotary’s role during the event.
World Food Day
Friday 16, October has been declared World Food Day by the United Nations. The day marks the founding of the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organization and serves as an opportunity to highlight issues related to hunger and malnutrition around the world. Rotarians will be asked to help expand awareness of the day and work to alleviate hunger locally and around the world.
You can find out more about World Food Day by going to the FAO homepage. They have handouts and posters available to download and distribute should you choose to do so.
The Rotary Club of Adliya held its first meeting of the new Rotary Year 2009/2010 with a set of excellent early achievements.
The board has voted to convene regular meetings in a new location, one that is easily accessible, has plenty of parking, cost less than what it used to pay thus dedicating more fund to help the community directly and be a pleasant place in which to invite guests. All of these point have successfully been achieved by adopting the Marina Club in Manama as the new venue.
Thanks should be rendered to Rotarian PP Redha Faraj who suggested the venue and did an excellent job at negotiating the new rates with the management, our current President Hasan Al-Balooshi and Rotarian Mahmood Al-Yousif for their efforts in securing this location. Judging by the reaction of the good Rotarians in attendance, the choice is a success.
President Hasan Al-Balooshi chairing the inaugural meeting of RY09/10
The meeting’s attendance broke the usual record for RCA meetings with 69% of registered members in attendance! One of the board’s main priorities is to maintain and increase this attendance rating throughout the year, with the board’s principal commitment this year is actively engaging members in club’s activities.
The Club also celebrates the new year by strengthening its service to the community. Rotarian Dr. Faiza Ghabrial requested that the Club find a way to donate 4 new computers to The Hope Institute as they are rebuilding their computer lab. Computers were secured by the efforts of PP Redha Faraj through a generous donation from Al-Moayyed International Group. Further, PP Faraj also secured another computer from AIG which he suggested the Club donates to the Aisha Yateem Family Counsiling Centre. President Hasan expressed his thanks to Rotarian Dr. Ghabiral, PP Faraj and Al-Moayyed International Group for their generosity and commitment to the community.
During the meeting President Hasan Al-Balooshi shared with members and guests the Roadmap for his year and encouraged everyone to put in as much effort as they could to elevate the Club, it’s programs and reputation in the local community.
The outline of the President is available for download here in pdf format.
PP Redha Faraj, who holds the office of honorary treasurer for this year, then took the floor and explained the Club’s finances and outlined his plan which if followed will ensure not only the continued Club’s survival, but also continued sustainability.
The Treasurer’s presentation is available here for download in pdf format.
Comedian Ali Esbai (left) with local celebrity/DJ Imran Al-Aradi
Mr. Ali Esbai, the Bahraini up and coming talent in stand-up comedy then did his bit much to the enjoyment of everyone present. His topical biting remarks on the worsening traffic situation in Bahrain, the “benefit” of a botched bank robbery, and various other mundane aspects of life in Bahrain which he twisted and wove into excellent comedy. Everyone present thanked Mr. Esbai for his gig and wished that they had more time to enjoy his comedy, hopefully in a future function they could!
Please click to view the Secretary and Treasurer’s report for the Club’s meeting on 6 July, 2009.
You might also wish to view some of the pictures taken of the gathering in our Flickr stream. Please click here to view them.