Download - Cyprus Rotaract Newsletter 08
SEASON 2013-14
ISSUE 08
District 2452Armenia|Bahrain|Cyprus|Georgia|Jordan|Lebanon|Palestine|Sudan|United Arab Emirates
ROTARACTIONCYPRUS ROTARACT NEWSLETTER
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The Team
DRR: Vincent [email protected]
PDRR: Elena [email protected]
Cyprus VDRR: Kyriacos [email protected]
Cyprus PR Coordinator Chief Editor:Hannah Mortaga [email protected]
Creative AdvisorMishel Fayad [email protected]
ROTARACTIONCYPRUS ROTARACT NEWSLETTER
EditorialWe are delighted to present the
third issue of ROTARACTION
for the Rotaract Year, 2013-2014.
In this issue, meet Cyprus VDRR,
Kyriacos Christofides, find out
more about Bahrain and Rotaract
in Bahrain, and review the November
events of all Rotaract clubs and more.
Here we would like to give special thanks
to Charis Michael for the ‘did you know
section’. We hope you enjoy reading!
SEASON 2013-14
ISSUE 08
It is with great pleasure that I have this opportunity as the Vice District Rotaract Representative of Cyprus to write this
few words for my fellow Rotaractors.
When I have first joined Rotaract, It felt like walking into an unknown world – as human beings – we often don’t have the courage to realize the realities of our times, which are indeed cruel and very un pleasant.
Since the time I have joined two and a half years ago ,the time flew by, meeting after meeting, event after event and that nice calen-dar application on my phone seized to be decorative and actually served its purpose! In Rotaract you are always thinking, about people who lack the basic necessities of life, such us not enough food to eat, lac of basic health care and basic education.
Taking into consideration the above, I feel that Rotaract is the bea-con for bringing people like you and me together to work as one towards projects with common goals. With such great cause you forget about being tired, travelling from city to city straight after from work. The anticipation of time which I will sit with my fellow Rotaractors and plan ahead - plan the future is simply exhilarat-ing.
With such busy schedule for almost every Rotaractor, we often forget to allow some time for us to reflect our actions, how those impacted our local communities, how did Rotaract
changed us to better persons.
It has been a struggle for some clubs but each club, presi-dent, board and Rotaractor is never alone. Knowing that
I am a part of such an immerse network of young pro-fessionals exhilarates me and pushes me to go fur-
ther, be part of greater projects.
I would like you to take a moment and think how many experiences, acquaintances and
GreetingFellow Rotaractors
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Kyriacos ChristofidesVice District Rotaract Representative 2013-2014
Did you
know?
1Rotary members have persevered in the fight for
Polio since 1979 and have now helped eradicate
polio in all but three countries worldwide.
3 You can buy Rotary products
at http://shop.rotary.org
2Rotary’s name came from the group’s
early practice of rotating meetings
among the offices of each member.
knowledge you have gained out this organization, we even have numerous instances that found true love through Rotaract (myself included). I believe that Rotaract is bringing together GOOD people with same mind-set sharing the same vision.
It is not a coincidence that Paul Harris, when he be-gan Rotary a century ago, decided for everyone to be called with their first name, the reason is simple. In Rotary and Rotaract we are all friends. Age does not matter, old or young Rotarians, Rotaractors, Interac-
tors or Innerwheel. Let’s not forget that the purpose of Rotaract and Rotary in general is to bring GOOD people together for a GOOD cause. I would like to push every Rotaractor in Cyprus to be a ROTARACTOR and not just a Rotaract Members, in Rotaract we play hard and we want our actions to be sound and effective.
I would like to thank every single one of you for helping me help others.
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Bahrain’s uniqueness relates to its longstanding past, natu-ral resources and multicultur-al society. Home to the long praised civilization of Dilmun, the Bahrain archipelago has al-ways been assimilated with an earthly paradise and a vigorous market place. Its lustrous gar-dens, abundant water and ex-quisite pearls have always cap-tured the attentions of travelers
throughout time.
Manama, the capital, is a city of multilingual people, different colour faces, fascinating archi-tecture, transparent heritage and engaging culture. Cities that aren’t blessed with culture will have no luck with tourism either. Only a city with culture can explain itself, interest oth-ers and change over time.
Bahrain is an Arabic word meaning ‘two seas’, which re-fers to the island’s twin sourc-es of water: the surrounding Arabian Gulf and the nation’s fresh springs. Since ancient times, Bahrain has been a key trading hub in the Arabian Gulf. Home to a cosmopolitan mix of nationalities and faiths, the
country is a major financial and business centre, as well as a growing tourist destination.
Small but memorable….
Bahrain is the smallest Arab state, with a population of 1.05 million within an area of 750 km2
Bahrain’s civilization dates
Celebrating
Bahrain
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back to 4000 years ago, known as the Dilmun civilization
Bahraini pearls are amongst the rarest in the world; El Bah-rain in Arabic means the “two seas” referring to the unique phenomenon where fresh wa-ter springs burst out in the mid-dle of the Arabian Gulf, creating the natural habitat for the rarest types of natural pearls.
Rotaract Bahrain is part of the nine countries that make up District 2452. We at Rotaract Bahrain strive to be “True Part-ners in Service” with our dis-tinguished twins. Our club was established on 1st January 2013 under the sponsorship of the three Rotary clubs in Bahrain, namely Rotary Club of Manama, Rotary Club of Sulmaniya & Ro-tary Club of Adliya. We current-ly have 25 active members and there are many young working professionals waiting to join as word of our successes start to spread.
As a relatively new club with small capital, we accomplish most of our current projects
without finance through drives and volunteering at different in-stitutes.
We have completed our Cloth-ing Drive in collaboration with a local volunteer organization called Helping Hands to guide us to worker camps in different villages where we distributed much needed clothing.
We have volunteered at events for orphans and at special needs centers where we only had to provide our time to en-
tertain these beautiful children. Currently we are working on sending aid to the Philippines to help with the Haiyan Ty-phoon victims in the island of Leyte in partnership with the Rotaract Club of San Juan. We will place drop-off boxes in ma-jor malls and supermarkets for donations of food, clothing, and products of personal hygiene. We are also in contact with the Philippine Embassy of Bahrain to arrange for free shipping.
Our hope is to have a success-ful collection and send the aid as soon as possible.
Our club was estab-lished on 1st Janu-ary 2013 under the sponsorship of the
three Rotary clubs in Bahrain.
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On the 30th of Novem-
ber, we organised a tea
party and invited Rotary,
Innerwheel and Interact
Clubs of Kyrenia Liman.
The main aim was to get
to know each other bet-
ter. We Rotaractors join
some Rotary meetings
but it is not same as to
meet in more comfort-
able places. We decorated
the meeting room appropri-
ately to make it feel more com-
fortable and make everyone
feel like home. They were very
comfortable and chatted with
each other all evening. Presi-
dent Vasviye Baltaci presented
all Kyrenia Liman Projects for
this term. They all congratulat-
ed Rotaractors and promised to
support us more.
On the 9th of November, Sat-urday, we organised a 2nd hand clothes sale. All mem-bers collected used clothes from their families and friends. People love to donate clothes as they get rid of old clothes and at the same time help others in need. We man-aged to collect a full room of 2nd hand clothes and shoes from all members. We were selling for very cheap prices in old and poor areas includ-ing the old town Nicosia and Kyrenia. The money collect-ed from the bazaar will be used to support homeless children. In this way, we sup-
ported some of the locals in that area that can’t afford to buy normal priced clothes. A famous local newspaper also published us on the first page of their newspaper.
Second-hand Clothes Sale Bazaar
Tea Party of Kyrenia Liman Clubs
Rotaract Club Kyrenia Liman
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As part of the ongoing training, education and development of its members and the general public, Rotaract Club of Nicosia organ-ised on 5/11/2013 at the EU House, a Professional Development event titled “The Concept of Volunteer-ing in Modern Society”.
The Commissioner for Volunteer-ing and NGOs, Mr.Yiannis Yian-naki, introduced this newly estab-lished position and explained his main duties and responsibilities. Mr Yiannaki also presented the
“Declaration of the rights and re-sponsibilities of volunteers and voluntary organisations”, copies of whichwere handed-out to all participants.
Mrs. Nadia Karayianni, board member of the NGO Support Cen-tre and an active volunteer for several years, elaborated on the concept of “volunteerism”. She presented the Centre’s philoso-phy and their upcoming projects. She shared her own experiences and noted the difficulties NGOs are faced with during the ongo-ing economic crisis. She further stressed the fact that in the last couple of years Cypriot society has made a remarkable progress in developing volunteerism, but there remain improvements to be made in this respect. The Red Cross Representative, Mr.George Frantzis elaborated on the new strategies they are in the
process of implementing in order to modernise and better-organise the Red Cross. He placed empha-sis on the importance of cultivat-ing a culture of volunteerism in Cyprus and highlighted the ben-efits of being a volunteer.
Mrs Karayianni and Mr Frantzis expressed their interest in a future cooperation with our Club, which was noted by the Commissioner with pleasure. In the Commission-er’s view we, as Rotaractors, have a very important role, as represen-tatives of the new generation and as active members of the society, in effecting a change in this field.
In the end, Club President Niovi Georgiades awarded, on behalf of our Club, the Certificates of Appre-ciation to the speakers and prom-ised that us Rotaractors, will do our best to promote and develop volunteerism in Cyprus.
The Concept of Volunteering in Modern Society
Rotaract Club Nicosia
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Rotaract Club Nicosia
On the evening of 15th Novem-
ber, Rotaract Club of Nicosia
celebrated its 24th birthday at
“Ala Ellinika” tavern. The fiesta
started with a brief video pro-
jection which highlighted our
Rotaract moments and remind-
ed us all how amazing it is to
be a part of this team!
The members of our Club, to-
gether with our Rotarians, en-
joyed a delicious meze dinner
and showed off their moves on
the dance floor. The highlight
of the night was the pinning of
our three new members Anto-
nis Kalimeris, Niki Chrysanthou
and Yiannis Giannelakis.
Rotaract Club of Nicosia took part in the International Proj-ect “One World Cook book” organized by the Rotaract Club of Aberdeen. The aim of the project was to raise awareness to high-school students, regarding the im-portance of preparing food, as nowadays society lacks of time and people hesitate when it comes to cooking.
In order to change this, Ro-taract Club of Aberdeen has decided to create the “One world cooking book”, a book full of quick and simple cook-ing recipes from all over the world. We took part by sending a traditional Cypriot recipe with a short text on Cypriot cuisine and its uniqueness.
Our recipe idea was KOUPES (minced meat croquettes), which was supported by a photo as well. For the par-ticipation we got a certificate on behalf of Rotaract Club of Aberdeen. Rotaract Club of Aberdeen will publish all the recipes on its blog and on facebook.
International Project «One World Cook book»
Rotaract Club Of Nicosia 24th Birthday Party
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Rotaract Limassol Amathusia
organized a brainstorming ses-
sion on Sunday, 1st of Decem-
ber at Delloite offices.
It was an excellent way to start
the month. We were honored to
have Mrs. Christina Covotsou,
the Deputy Governor present at
the meeting.
We had a short introduction of
each member, the reason they
joined Rotaract and how the
story began for each of them.
When we were done with the
introductions, Mrs. Covotsou
told us her story, her experi-
ence through Rotaract, meeting
Rotaractors from all over the
District, Rotaractors that be-
came friends forever.
Also she explained not only to
us but to two prospective mem-
bers what is Rotaract really
about, beyond the word Rotary
and Action. And
then our brain-
storming ses-
sion began.
Each member
had to point
out some ideas
of how our
club can be re-
freshed in bringing new mem-
bers, new projects and ideas of
teambuilding activities.
Overall, we had a great after-
noon brainstorming and we
look forward to our new proj-
ects.
Rotaract Club Limassol Amathusia
Brainstorming Session
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As part of the mega twinning proj-ect named “Smaller World”, Ro-taract Club Nicosia Aspelia cele-brated on November 3th, 2013 the “Cyprus month”. “Smaller World” is an international project which aims to increase world under-standing among the participating clubs by sharing their culture. The founding clubs of “Smaller World” are: Rotaract club of Nicosia Aspe-lia –Cyprus, Rotaract club of Alex-
andria East- Egypt, Rotaract club of Las Americas – Guatemala, Ro-taract club of Manila Metro- Phil-ippines, and Rotaract club of Mos-cow East – Russia. Among other criteria, the project requires a monthly cultural cel-ebration of each club involved in the project.On November, club members of “Smaller World” were celebrating Cyprus. For this purpose, Rotaract Club Nicosia Aspelia organized a typical Cypriot Sunday lunch. The Aspelia family gathered at its president’s house, and enjoyed a traditional Cypriot lunch. Among other, the lunch included souvla-kia, halloumi, Cypriot oven pasta, pastourmas, local beer and Ziva-nia shots! The lunch was accom-panied by Cypriot folklore music and traditional dancing. This celebration gave the chance
to Aspelians and their guests to spend quality time together and strengthen their bonds in Rotaract. On top, the event was an excellent opportunity to present our Cypri-ot culture to the rest of the clubs which participate at this project. The halloumi taste and the zivania flavor travelled to Guatemala and Philippines, then reached Egypt and Moscow, and finally travelled back to our beautiful small island!
Cyprus celebration as part of “Smaller World”
Rotaract Club Nicosia Aspelia
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One of the aims of Rotaract
Larnaca Kition for this year was
to connect and cooperate with
both the Interact Club and the
Rotary Club Larnaca. The first
step was for Rotaractors to
meet with Interacts.
For those of you that don’t
know what Interacts are, they
are another project of Rotary
Club, for young people up to 18
years old.
In other words, Interacts are the
future Rotaractors. On Novem-
ber the 14th, the Rotaract Club
of Larnaca and Interact Club of
Larnaca had a joint meeting.
This was a chance for mem-
bers from both clubs to get to
know each other and discuss
possible cooperation for future
projects. The Interacts showed
great interest in sharing their
skills and were willing to help
in any upcoming projects.
On 24th of November, Rota-
ract Larnaca Kition visited the
Aradippou Dog Shelter. On our
previous meeting, visiting the
shelter was voted to be our next
fellowship event. The staff of the
shelter as well as the manager
was thrilled to have us there
and welcomed us warmly. The
manager informed us that the
shelter is currently taking care
of 127 dogs. It is worth saying
that the shelter is run by only
2 people and they rely on vol-
unteers. Members brought with
them old blankets to be used to
keep the dogs warm and some
food. The Kitions enjoyed their
time walking the dogs (or more
specifically, the dogs were
walking us), feeding them and
cleaning their houses.
The Kitions meet the Larnaca Interacts
Dog Shelter Visit
Rotaract Club Larnaca Kition
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Rotaract Club Larnaca - Kition
The Kitions will be organiz-ing a charity Christmas bazaar on the 22nd of December at Finikoudes, Larnaca. The mem-bers brainstormed on the meet-
ing on different handmade items that they could do to sell. It was decided that all proceeds will be donated to the Larnaca Association for People with Multiple Sclerosis. The purpose of the associa-tion is to provide assistance to people with multiple scle-rosis through pharmaceutical and psychological support; to promote new scientific break-throughs against the disease and to provide counseling to the family members of patients.
On the 30th of November, the members met at the premises of the Multiple Sclerosis Asso-ciation to get creative. With the
assistance of some members and friends of the association, we managed to create some ar-tistic inventions of handmade goods. It was a great team building activity that we all enjoyed and we are all looking forward to this event.
Having all three generations under one roof was a challenge but the Kitions are always ready for new challenges.
On Monday, the 25th of No-vember, all three clubs met for a team building session.
Socrates Panayi, Community Service Director, was in charge of organizing interesting team building games.
We were divided into two groups that included Rotarians, Rotaractors and Interacts and dis-cussed about different problem solving exercis-es that were given by Socrates.
By the end of the session, it was interesting to see how members from each club perceived dif-ferent issues differently but yet agreed on many subjects.
Christmas Preparations
Rotary, Rotaract & Interact under one Roof...
A final note(festive)
Have a Great Christmas Time!
It is with warm feelings and thoughts that we end this issue for the year of 2013. Christmas time is a special time of the year and love, care, friendship and togeth-erness make this time even more unique. We hope that 2014 will be filled with great
Rotaract projects that will bring out more young profes-sionals and be of assistance to our community. May this Christmas be so special that you never ever feel lonely again and be surrounded by loved ones throughout the year!
This is the Official monthly Cyprus Rotaract Newsletter. For any suggestions, ideas or thoughts about the uproming issues, please contact us directly at [email protected] or [email protected]
ROTARACTIONCYPRUS ROTARACT NEWSLETTER
ISSUE 08SEASON 2013 - 14