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President Elect, Jennifer Bates, gave the following brief highlights of her recent trip to Seoul, South Korea where she attended the 2016 Rotary
International Convention. She stated that more than 40,000 Rotarians from all over the world spent six jam-packed days in Seoul for the annual event.
The convention began with a Walk for Peace in which nearly 5,000 people participated. Some Rotarians were dressed in their native costumes, which made for a colorfully entertaining morning. In order to get to this event, she took a subway which was clean and organized. The local people were friendly and helpful. They were also very fashion conscious and exuded a sense of pride in their city.
Each day there was an assembly where several speakers informed the participants of current projects and progress. We learned that Nigeria is now certified as polio free, and the only two remaining countries with wild polio virus are Afghanistan and Pakistan. We are that close.
K. R. Ravindran, out current RI President, spoke at most of the assemblies, and he was inspiring yet humble. He told of his mother’s fight with polio, and how Rotary saved her.
Mahatria Ra is a spiritualist who gave a very interesting speech. You can find it in the link below, and Jennifer encourages us to watch the entire thing.
She enjoyed an exclusive dinner cruise especially planned by a few of the Zones. An excellent opportunity to meet other Rotarians and share information.
The Rotary Foundation is celebrating its first 100 years in 2017 and there was a big emphasis on including this in the plans for the Atlanta, George Convention in June 2017.
Jennifer encourages all Rotarians and friends who would like to experience the biggest global convention in the world to sign up and make plans to go. More information will follow as our own District 7000 locks in a hotel. The idea is to make a large showing and have a good time.
Perhaps we will be able to plan a special event there as well.
Jennifer said the Convention was well worth attending, urges each future club president to attend in the coming years.
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