Ed Futa, (the man in the middle above) the General Secretary of Rotary International, was just introduced as master of ceremonies. East meets West is the theme of this year as the president is Eastern (Korean) meeting in England (West).
Fantastic Korean entertainments started the plenary session, augmented by screens displaying the dancers in traditional costumes from multiple angles. Following the dancers (dancing the formal Korean dancing that would traditionally be in procession for the President) – the western portion was Ta Kwon Do troop of perhaps 50 members of varying ages. This was interesting to me because I wouldn’t have thought Ta Kwon Do indicative of the west, although perhaps appropriate here because these were all westerners following the ritual moves.
The presentation of the flags takes a while as 154 flags come in. Well don with the large screen showing the map of the world overlaid with the current flag being introduced which then shrinks to its proper place on the map. For me it became a game to see how many I knew (at least to their continent) and of course the comparison of the flags themselves. - So do you know where St. Kitts-Nevis is? Rotarians do. The presentation of the flags humbles in that it made me so aware of how daunting a task it is to bring unity to our globe, and to be thankful for Rotary that helps me have this awareness.
His Excellency Secretary General of the United Nations spoke because of their partnership with RI on the program to eradicate polio from the planet. He spoke about global citizenship and the desire to work on a global scale – both organizations take action on global issues and global social justice and both are committed to working with each other. He especially thanked President DK Lee and his work on reducing infant mobility. He told a story of a UNICEF person who was tired and worn-out in Niger – but then felt regenerated to work with the senior Rotarians who were volunteering to help her same efforts. Even more important that financial work is the volunteer work that goes on in different parts of the world. He said we bring a moral force to initiatives such as Polio eradication. In 185 125 countries had polio with a child affected every day. 2 billion have been immunized, saving 5,000 children and reeducating the numbers of new instances to only 4 countries: Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Nigeria.
In this time of global economic downturn he called for investments of health – increasing economic prosperity and reducing health related costs. He expressed health as the foundational efforts that begin to ensure literacy, etc. Partnership is key to having these efforts be successful. Partnership is the way forward – and then he outlined the type of further support he would like Rotary to take on. These included climate change and access to electricity – both of which impact first the most vulnerable populations – those living in extreme poverty.
Aide to the President introduced him by telling of the economic growth and development since they both were in their respective armies in the 1960s. At that time Korea was the bottom of the worldin economic production and it now is in the top 15. President Lee owns many types of businesses and is one of the leading Korean businessmen. Their entire families were introduced, the Lee’s children and grandchildren, all with hugs of greetings, flowers and bouquets for all. This presentation enforced the idea of Rotary families and was really quite (unexpectedly to me) moving.
DK Lee spoke of his year “Make Dreams Well” – how he stretched himself – joking on how much English he has spoken and how patient Rotarians have been with him. In the moment he chose to ask Rotarians to make dreams real, he knew he was asking for the focus on child mortality. In a trip in Africa he attended a local Rotarian who took him on a tour of the countryside. He spoke of the city, the shanty towns and then the Savannah. When they stopped at the village of 1000 mud huts they encountered a baby dying of starvation with his mother unable to produce the milk to feed him. This became the mission for the rest of his life to reduce child mortality in the world, eventually leading to this theme for his year.
In addition making dreams real focused on water, hunger, and literacy. DK went on to thell the story of a child in the Dominican Republic in an area with no clean water. Maria was often sick due to the water. Her mother heard of a filter given by Rotary and so she asked for a filter of her own. Maria’s family now used filtered water for everything – including washing, and she and her new baby sister are healthy. 10.7 million children died a decade ago due to health issues. Child mortality is not down by 27%. These improvements have been in all regions including the poorest countries.
He ended by thanking Rotarians for their work to make Dreams real this year – a heartfelt expression finished with a formal bow to an audience giving him a standing ovation. The session was brought to a close with a short presentation by all the bands, dancers, singers, performers from around the world that will performing throughout the convention.
Fantastic.
