It’s the World Rotaract Week!

TheTheTheTheOLYMPIANSOLYMPIANSOLYMPIANSOLYMPIANS The Official Newsletter of the Rotary Club of Makati - OLYMPIA

VOL. 01 NO. 29 • MARCH 2011

The President’s Corner

My dear

Fellow

Olympians,

It's March. How time

flies! The main activities for this

Rotary year (those that have to be

reported anyway) are almost

complete. This does not, however,

mean that we are resting in our

endeavors. The whole of March until

its last day is laden with activities.

We will have our celebration of the

Rotaract week starting March 7 and

this will culminate in the selection of

the Mr. and Ms. Rotaract who will

serve as our Rotaract Ambassador on

March 12. Next week will be our

DISCON at Sofitel. We shall be

introduced as a new club on the

second day, March 19. Then the following week we will have the

Outreach at Hospicio de San Jose and

the Leadership Workshop for our

sponsored youth. Cont’d on page 2…

The week where March 13 falls is celebrated by Rotary as the World Rotaract Week. The Rotaract Club of North Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, was chartered on this day. Today, there are about 7,500 clubs with 145,000 members in more than 150 countries around the world. Members are young men and women, 18-30 years old who serve the needs of the community, widen their personal and professional contacts and increase their understanding of the world. The Rotary Club of Makati Olympia (RCMO) has 3 sponsored Rotaract Clubs - the

PE Jay’s Corner

My dear Fellow

Olympians,

I think it was Albert

Einstein who said

there are two ways to live

life; either you live it as it has no

miracle, or live it as everything

is a miracle. I just want to share

that the choices we make in

this life falls in duality, a blessing

or a curse... your choice!

I choose the everyday miracles

that happen to me: the

countless blessings of Cont’d on page 2…

Rotaract Club of Makati Olympia headed by Pres. Ahl Legaspi, Rotaract Club of Teatro de Olympia headed by Pres. Edgilou Mendiola and Rotaract Club of Olympia Folkloric Dance Ensemble headed by Pres. Alfonz Mendoza. For the Rotaract week, the three clubs have collaborated to hold a joint project, the Mr. and Ms. Rotaract. It had been on-going since its launch last January 29 and will culminate in the selection of the Rotaract Ambassador on March 12. The Rotaract Clubs are taken cared by the Service to New Generations Committee headed by Dir. Ju Abdulcadir with Co-Chairs Nica Pacis and Wilbert Zamuco.

PE Jay’s Corner cont’d from p.1

relationships coming in for either

a season, a reason or for a

lifetime; the serendipity in events

that are happening; the

responsibility we have with every

Being in this blue planet we call

Earth; a state of gratitude for

living our potentials with courage

and strength. This I share with the

next generation, the NOW

generation. In Rotary we call

them the New Generation, the

youth partners, our future leaders.

They need to learn from the past

and plan for the future by

choosing to value the NOW. I

walk with you dear Rotaractors

and Interactors.

inspired largely by the youth

programs

Today, we boast of having 3 registered

Rotaract Clubs who are not only

considered as service partners but as

part and parcel of the whole family.

God-willing, we shall be able to

register 10 more whic are just waiting

in the wings for registration. RCMO

is truly proud of its sponsored

Rotaractors who have carved a niche

as leaders who are responsible,

productive and global.

As we celebrate the World Rotaract

Week, I ask you, my fellow

Olympians, to participate in our

activities with an even greater

enthusiasm and fervor as we pledge to

continue our dedication and

commitment to youth development

through the RI New Gen Programs of

Rotaract, Interact, RYLA and Youth

Exchange.

Cheers to Rotaract! Cheers to RCMO!

Global peace festival grand finale As it started with a bang, so it ended with an explosion! The Global Peace Festival was completed last February 28 with a fanfare befitting a month-long celebration of a universal aspiration - PEACE. Starting with the Peace Parade joined by the RCMO delegation, students and faculty of the University of Makati (UMAK) and officers of Global Peace for Youth Foundation, the festivities continued through the afternoon and evening with the Interfaith Prayer for Peace, Thousand Messages for Peace, Dance for Peace and the Peace Concert. In the sideline, RCMO also chose the winners of the Slogan and Poster for Peace. The Global Peace Festival was Rotary Club of Makati Olympia's program to celebrate World Understanding month which is RI's theme for the Month of February. It was a most memorable series of activities with the youth, the other socio-civic peace advocates and the students and faculty of UMAK.

The President’s Corner cont’d from p.1

Let me, however, speak about the main

celebration this week - the World

Rotaract Week. It is celebrated on the

week where March 13 falls. The first

Rotaract Club was chartered on March

13, 43 years ago.

So what is Rotaract? It is a program of

Rotary International (RI) for the youth

aged 18-30 in the Service to New

Generations. Rotaract Clubs are part of

the global effort to bring peace and

international understanding to the

world. With Rotaract, Rotary's reach

for this advocacy becomes even more far-

reaching. Why do we organize Rotaract

clubs? It is simply because today's

youth will be tomorrow's parents,

leaders, professionals, etc.

The Rotary Club of Makati Olympia

strongly believes in this. That is why, it

was born with RI's programs for the

youth already very much a part of it.

Truth to tell, RCMO was born

RCMO is Matched Club with Rotary Club of Iligan Maria Cristina, D-3870

One of RCMO’s thrusts is to open doors for friendship and widen its service endeavors through forge matched clubs agreement in other districts. On March 3, Director Ju Abdulcadir represented RCMO as it signed an agreement with President-Elect Sarah Jane Mutin Matba of Rotary Club of Iligan Maria Cristina, District 3870. With this, RCMO has formed partnerships with clubs in all the 10 districts of the Philippines.

The new matched clubs promised to collaborate on many activities and also pledged exchange visitation in the coming months.

RCMO welcomes its newest matched club, RC Iligan Maria Cristina.

RCMO Hosts Australia’s Inbound GSE Team

The Inbound Group Study Exchange (GSE) Team from Australia was hosted by RCMO in a tour of La Mesa Dam and Eco Park. Knowing that one of the members of the team is a Water and Sanitation Engineer, RCMO chose this destination as the most appropriate place for the guests to experience.

The tour started at the Vermiculture Area through the salt water pool, mini-forest and to the park within the forest. Lunch of "binalot" was also at the park.

La Mesa Dam is the only remaining watershed in the metropolis. Sitting on a land and water area of 2,000 and 700 hectares respectively, it supplies the water requirement of 12 million residents of Metro Manila.

The GSE team is composed of Past President Graeme McLean, Joanne Barton, Frank Dyrssen, Dane Hendry and Libby Skipworth. Charter President Rose Acoba, PP Amor Isip and Director Ju Abdulcadir accompanied the team for the tour.

Former Rotary Scholars publish children’s book by Maureen Vaught

ROTARY international NEWS

Two former Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholars are introducing cultural understanding and communication to young German children through the retelling of a popular Japanese fairy tale. Gabriela Bracklo, a 1992-93 scholar from Germany, and Keiko Funatsu, a 2004-06 multiyear scholar from Japan, worked with illustrator Momo Nishimura to produce Dank des Kranichs (The Grateful Crane), a German version of the Japanese story Tsuru no Ongaeshi. Since its release in October 2009, Dank des Kranichs and its illustrations have been featured at libraries, book fairs, and festivals throughout Munich, where Bracklo lives. “From the beginning, the idea of improving cross-cultural communication by introducing Japanese fairy tales to German children appealed to me,” says Funatsu, who edited and translated Tsuru no Ongaeshi into German. Bracklo conceived the idea for the book and served as its publisher. The two met while Funatsu was studying German culture and literature at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. Bracklo, a member of the Rotary Club of München-Bavaria and chair of District 1840’s Rotary Foundation alumni subcommittee, often took her daughters to alumni events, where they were captivated by the stories told by Funatsu and fellow Japanese scholars. Unable to find German translations of the stories, Bracklo approached Funatsu with the idea for the book. She also contacted friends in the publishing business, many of whom volunteered their time and

expertise to the project. Both Bracklo and Funatsu credit their years as Rotary Scholars with giving them the confidence to pursue this project.

Origami included “It’s not in my upbringing to do this kind of thing. But I had the chance to live in an open-minded, positive, and outgoing environment, and I brought that home with me,” says Bracklo, who studied journalism at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Before beginning work on the story, the women had to choose which version to tell because Japanese folk tales, unlike their German counterparts, can have a number of variations. “One of the reasons we chose this version,” says Bracklo, “is because it focuses on the Japanese New Year, one of the most important important holidays in Japan. Through Nishimura’s illustrations,

German children can see a typical Japanese home, how they dress, what they eat, and how holidays are celebrated.” Each copy of the book is accompanied by origami paper and a folding diagram that includes instructions for making a crane. Although not a scholar herself, Nishimura also has a Rotary Foundation connection. In 2010, she married former Rotary Scholar Keiji Nishikawa, whom she met at a Foundation alumni meeting in Munich. In addition to introducing Japanese culture to Germany’s youth, Dank des Kranichs is raising money to help eradicate polio. For every book sold, €1.50 (US$2) is donated to PolioPlus. To date, about €700 ($944) has been raised. Funatsu, who teaches German at the Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan, says she is looking for the right German folk tale to translate for Japanese children. In the meantime, the three literary colleagues have already started work on a new book, Momotaro, the Peach Boy, which is planned for release in Germany later this year. Says Bracklo: “Our first book was set in the winter and featured a graceful woman and crane. The second book is set in the summer and is about a Japanese boy who fights demons. It’s more of a boy’s book.” As with the first book, a portion of sale proceeds from Momotaro will be donated to PolioPlus.

From left, Momo Nishimura, Gabriela

Bracklo and Keiko Funatsu in the 2010

Bologna Children’s Book Fair in Italy. Photo courtesy of Gabriela Bracklo

ROTARY information of the week

editorial team: adviser Rose Acoba •••• editor Joel D. Adriano

Write us your ideas and thoughts or contribute articles that you think is interesting and will be beneficial to our organization. Contact us at (0917)545-6171 and (0917)891-4695 or email us at rmacoba@yahoo.com.

Rotary Club of Makati Olympia meets every

Tuesday, 12 noon at the German Club, Eurovilla 2, V.A. Rufino St., Makati City.