Volume 02 Issue 47

Dear Fellow Rotarians,

We started our meeting with a heartfelt thanks to IPP Bill for the very pleasant windfalls we all received from our partnership earlier in the year. As a result our Sergeant at Arms reported that the donations to the box were slightly higher than usual, at HK$854. I’m not sure whether his good mood was caused by this or by the fact that, since he will be unable to attend next week, this was his last meeting as our Sergeant at Arms.

We hosted two friends from the Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden Mile – PP Robin Ching and PP Joseph Kwan – this week, along with PE David’s guest Mr David Wright, whom many of us know from our Annual Balls, and IPP Bill’s guest Mrs Sally Begbie, who was with us last week to talk about Crossroads International and Global Hands.

Sally was invited along to accept a cheque from the Club, in the amount of HK$77,000. HK$50,000 is to cover the living expenses of their temporarily-resident computer scientist and the remaining HK$27,000 will cover the purchase of a badly needed pallet stacker.


Sally Begbie thanks the Club

In thanking us, Sally said she and her colleagues were overwhelmed by both the size of the cheque and the swiftness with which a decision was made by the Board to assist with a very urgent need. The pallet stacker will be particularly useful as it will enable them to make a more efficient use of the space they have available, resulting in them being able to accept more goods. Their resident computer scientist is also fulfilling a very important role in the construction of the Global Hands website. Whilst she did not name this individual, she did tell us that he is extremely well-known in his field and Crossroads were very lucky to have secured his assistance, particularly at a time when he was working on his own project. However, he and his family believed so wholeheartedly in the Global Hands project (which, incidentally, is recognised by the United Nations) that they were willing for him to take the time to work with Crossroads on this.

After our guest speaker’s speech – and before many of us ran off to watch the England-Brazil match – Rtn Howard reminded us that we have agreed to work at the Crossroads warehouse on Saturday 29th June. So far, only 5 people have signed up for this so COME ON GUYS!!! give up ONE day (or even HALF a day, if you can’t make a full day) to a very worthwhile service project. This is what Rotary is all about! You can bring your families with you – every helping hand is a welcome one.

Finally, I’m almost at the end of my term of producing The Sampan. It has been hard work but also fun and I’ve learned an awful lot through checking out various Rotary websites for news that I thought might interest you all. You have also been very kind in letting me know that you DO read the newsletter – it makes all the difference knowing that someone is reading what you write. From July onwards, PP Bruce and I will be producing the newsletter together. However, as you probably know, he will be out of town until mid-August and so I need to recruit some assistance. Any of you who feel you could help me by writing this introductory section and the report back on our guest speakers each week, please let me know.

Till next week…

Yours in Rotary,
Rotarian Nicole Burt


SPEAKERS THIS MONTH

Last Week’s Speaker (Friday 21st June) was Cliff Duddle, who is the legal correspondent for the South China Morning Post. His talk was entitled “One Country, Two legal systems: Five years of controversy”.


Our guest speaker – Cliff Buddle

Cliff hails from London where he worked for many years as a reporter with news agencies based at the Central Criminal Court, otherwise known as the Old Bailey, providing reports for the national press. He was brought to Hong Kong by the South China Morning Post in 1994 and was Chief Court Reporter between 1995 and 2000. It was during this time that he covered the big constitutional cases.

In September 2000 he became deputy editor of the Focus section and now edits the opinion pages and writes a weekly column on legal affairs. Whilst he does not have a legal background, he passed a post-graduate diploma in law in 2000.

His speech was intended to take a look back at the major constitutional court battles of the SAR’s first five years and to assess the extent to which the rule of law has survived, explaining the fundamental issues at stake and why they are important to everyone in Hong Kong. In doing this, he shared some recollections of the more dramatic events, having been present in court for pretty much every case.

Just prior to the handover, the fear of many was that the constitution would change dramatically, with the reintroduction of the death penalty and even bribery and corruption at top levels of the judiciary system. However, the Courts today remain very similar to the way they were pre-1997 – the common-law system is still in place and even the wigs and gowns are still in use.

The major controversy has been the Basic Law – or rather in the interpretation of it – and the last 5 years have seen a battle for power between the Hong Kong judiciary and the National People’s Congress in Beijing. Indeed the first major challenge came within weeks of the handover, in what has come to be called “the David Ma case” in which the defence lawyers argued that the laws had not survived the handover and the charges were therefore not valid. In this case, the courts found that the laws and the charges were indeed still valid.

There was also a challenge to the validity of Legco, which was also ultimately unsuccessful.

However, the main focus has been on the Right of Abode issue which has dragged on for the past 5 years. When the original qualifications for Right of Abode were changed after the handover, the decision was swiftly challenged in the courts and at the Court of Final Appeal, on 29th January 1999, a momentous ruling was handed down when 5 judges ruled unanimously in favour of the Right of Abode seekers. This was the first important constitutional judgement and very sensitive with the mainland and quickly earned a strong reaction and public criticism from the NPC which stated that the HK Court of Final Appeal had put itself above the NPC – basically favouring “two systems” against “one country”.

Within the Basic Law, the “One Country : Two Systems” principle holds that rulings that do not affect Beijing and the NPC are within Hong Kong’s autonomy, but anything that directly affects Beijing cannot be overruled by Hong Kong. The HK Government then asked the judges to clarify their ruling with regard to intervening upon acts of the NPC. The Court clarified by saying that if the NPC does something which does NOT break the Basic Law, Hong Kong courts cannot intervene.

As a result of this, the HK Government asked Beijing for a reinterpretation of the Basic Law and to overturn the decision, which was done with the results that everyone is now familiar with.

This was so controversial that at the time, 600 lawyers staged a protest march. It has also raised fears that every controversial decision would be open to being overturned by reinterpretation. Recently however, the Courts again ruled on a Right of Abode issue saying that Chinese people born in Hong Kong, regardless of whether their parents were just visiting or illegally overstaying, do indeed have Right of Abode.
Friday 28th June: Dr H dos Santos; Health Director at HK Adventist Hospital – “The diet for the 21st Century”


WELCOMING COMMITTEES

Please arrive early if you are on the Welcoming Committee as most guests and visitors arrive at 12.30 prompt. If you are unable to attend on that day, please ensure you make arrangements for a replacement (or else face the wrath of our Sergeant at Arms and his fine box!)

28th Jun: Tommy Tam & Susan Young
5th July: Meeting replaced by District Installation on 4th July
12th July: Chris Richardson & Brian Wong
19th July: Peter Lo & M.S. Kalra
26th July: Nicole Burt & Ramesh Chugani


NEWS – NEWS – NEWS

ROTARY NEWS
PolioPlus Partners

The Rotary Legacy
The lessons learned from Rotary’s role as the largest source of private support for a public health initiative can be applied to future disease eradication and other public health initiatives. Rotarians around the world have demonstrated that the cooperative efforts of volunteers, governments and public health organizations can result in triumphant victories against overwhelming odds.

Become a “Partner” to Achieve a Polio Free World
Individuals, clubs and districts help support PolioPlus Partners projects through:
· Direct Contributions of any amount (eligible for Paul Harris Fellow Recognition)
· Use of District SHARE funds

Rotarians who are interested in supporting a PolioPlus Partners project should complete a PolioPlus Partners remittance form and the accompanying Foundation Contribution/Recognition Form.

Rotarians Thinking Globally, Acting Locally
Clubs and districts around the world are becoming PolioPlus Partners with their fellow Rotarians. Here are examples of how they are participating:
· Rotarians in District 3450 (Taiwan) contributed SHARE funds to support the first-ever National Immunization Days in Liberia. Their funds were helped produced T-shirts and caps, which were then shipped to Liberia.
· Rotarians in District 6440 (United States) set a goal of encouraging every club in their district to participate in a district-wide PolioPlus Partners project. The district selected the Togo National Immunization Day project and focused specifically on the purchase of 1000 bicycles, which were needed to help distribute vaccine to villages.
· Rotarians in District 1600 (The Netherlands) worked with laboratory officials in Indonesia and the Netherlands to coordinate the training of Indonesian laboratory workers.

Here is How Your Gift Can Help
US$30 can provide ten vaccine carriers, which keep vaccine at the right temperature. US$100 can provide a bicycle to distribute vaccine to villages.
US$250 can provide 25,000 pamphlets to inform the public about a National Immunization Day.
US$500 can provide a fax to help polio medical officers transmit crucial data regarding poliovirus circulation.
US$1,000 can purchase a motorcycle, which can be used to distribute vaccine as well as transport specimens of suspected cases of polio to laboratories.

Prices for items may vary from country to country. Please consult the current PolioPlus Partners Summary Open Projects List. Use the PolioPlus Partners Remittance Form when sending contributions.

For additional program information, contact PolioPlus Partners staff
Registration Opens For Kuala Lumpur Presidential Conference

Registration is in progress for the first RI presidential conference of the 2002-03 Rotary year. Based on a theme of peace and development, the 9-11 August meeting will be held in Kuala Lumpur, the bustling modern capital city of Malaysia.

“This meeting will provide an opportunity to bring Rotarians in Asia and the surrounding countries together to cultivate peace and development throughout the world,” says incoming RI President Bhichai Rattakul in a letter inviting members of the Rotary family to the event. “We will hear from internationally renowned experts on conflict resolution and take an in-depth look at the mission of our Rotary Centers for International Studies.”

The event will feature topics that include successful conflict resolution, aid to victims of violence and displacement, opportunities for volunteer work in Asia and beyond, challenges in combating poverty and improving health education and food production, and the Concentrated Language Encounter (CLE) method of teaching.

2002-03 RI President Bhichai and incoming Rotary Foundation Trustee Chairman Glen Kinross will make keynote addresses outlining the new Rotary theme, “Sow the Seeds of Love,” and Foundation programs for the year. A project fair will bring together Rotary clubs and districts looking to co-sponsor World Community Service projects. In addition, the conference will offer attendees the opportunity to enjoy Rotarian fellowship and friendship in a Malaysian setting. The country’s mixed heritage goes back 10,000 years, making Kuala Lumpur a true Asian melting pot with a diverse population that includes Malays, Chinese, Indians, and Orang Asli, as well as Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, and Muslims.

Participants venturing outside the conference venue will be able to see beautiful mosques, temples, preserved British colonial buildings, and the ultra-modern Petronas towers – the world’s tallest buildings. They also can sample Malaysia’s rich, spicy, and tropical cuisine during a tour of Kuala Lumpur’s botanic gardens, the Central Market, and many more local attractions.

To secure a place at the conference, Rotarians and guests are invited to register by the 26 July deadline. Registration, housing, and projects partnering fair application forms in .pdf format can be obtained from the Meetings section of the Download Center. Completed registration and projects fair application forms should be faxed respectively to 847-866-3064 and 847-328-9239. Completed housing forms should be faxed directly to the Renaissance Hotel directly by 8 July. Accommodations have also been reserved at a special rate at the alternate Park Plaza Hotel (telephone: 603-2711-8866; fax: 603-2711-9966).

For more details, visit the Meetings section of the RI Web site and the Host Committee site at www.D3300.rotary.com.my, or contact RI Registration Services by telephone: 847-866-3495; fax: 847-866-3064; or e-mail: rireg@rotaryintl.org.


CLUB NEWS

Community Service Day at Crossroads International

A Community Service trip to Crossroads International is planned for Saturday 29th June 29. Starting at 10.30 am we will be helping load goods for shipping to the needy, at their humungous warehous at the old Kai Tak Airport. If you and your friends and/or family can attend, please send an e-mail to Rotarian Howard Davies at buhoward@inet.polyu.edu.hkletting him know numbers. If you can’t attend for the whole day, please do still come along for as long as you are able. Many hands make light work!

The Crossroads warehouse is located at the Kai Tak Government Building, 5 Arrivals Road, Kowloon (the old airport). For those of you going by taxi, go up the ramp to the 2nd floor, alight and enter the doors by the car show. Turn right and take the elevator to the ground floor and push the intercom by the Crossroads door (near the stairwell). Click here to see a detailed map.

Don’t forget to wear your old clothes and remember, this will be a much cheaper – not to mention more meaningful – workout than you could get at the gym!


THE WEEKLY ABC’s OF ROTARY

Selecting A President

Each year a distinguished Rotarian is selected as the worldwide president of Rotary International. The process begins two years in advance when a 15-man nominating committee is elected from separate regions of the world. To qualify for the nominating committee, a Rotarian must have served on the RI Board of Directors and have extensive Rotary experience and substantial acquaintanceship with the world leaders of Rotary.

The nominating committee may consider all former RI directors for the presidential candidate. Members of the nominating committee and current directors are not eligible. Any Rotary club may suggest the name of a former RI director to the committee for consideration.

The committee convenes in September to select the Rotarian to be the presidential nominee. His name is announced to all clubs. Any Rotary club may make an additional nomination before December 1, which must then be endorsed by one percent of all the Rotary clubs of the world (about 250). If such an event occurs, an election is held by mail ballot. If no additional nomination is presented by the clubs, the man selected by the nominating committee is declared to be the president- nominee. From that point on, that special Rotarian and his wife will spend more than a year in preparation and then a year serving the Rotarians of the world as the international president.


THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson


THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

Sunday 23rd June
0930 – The world’s oldest parliament, the Iceland Parliament, was established.
1947 – The first reported sighting of Flying Saucers were reported near Mount Rainier, Washington by airline pilot Kenneth Arnold. He reported that he saw nine UFOs over the area. He estimated the speed at 1,700 mph and described their flight pattern as similar to a saucer skipping across water, inspiring a newspaper man to name then Flying Saucers.
1992 – John Gotti, the “Teflon Don”,was sentenced in New York to life in prison after being convicted of racketeering charges.

Monday 24th June
1675 – In colonial New England, King Philip’s War began when a band of his Wampanoag warriors raided the border settlement of Swansee, Massachusetts, and massacred the English colonists there.
1812 – Following rejection of his Continental System by Czar Alexander I, French Emperor Napoleon ordered his Grande Armée, the largest European military force ever assembled to that date, into Russia.
1973 – Eamon de Valera, the world’s oldest statesman, resigned as President of Ireland at the age of 90.

Tuesday 25th June
1876 – Lt. Col. George A. Custer, age 36, and 208 men of the seventh Calvary were killed at the Little Big Horn, during the Sioux Indian War in the Battle known as Custer’s Last Stand.
1942 – Following his arrival in London, Major General Dwight D. Eisenhower took command of U.S. forces in Europe.
1977 – Lightning struck Roy Sullivan for the seventh time in his life, during a fishing trip.

Wednesday 26th June
1541 – Francisco Pizarro, the governor of Peru and conqueror of the Inca civilization, was assassinated in Lima whilst he was eating dinner, by Spanish rivals.
1945 – In San Francisco, delegates from 50 nations signed the United Nations Charter, establishing the world body as a means of saving “succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”
1993 – In retaliation for an Iraqi plot to assassinate former US President George Bush during his April visit to Kuwait, President Bill Clinton ordered U.S. warships to fire Tomahawk cruise missiles at Iraqi intelligence headquarters in downtown Baghdad.

Thursday 27th June
1829 – In Genoa, Italy, English scientist James Smithson died after a long illness, leaving behind a will which stated that in the event that his only nephew died without any heirs, the whole of his estate would go to “the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.”
1844 – Joseph Smith, the founder and leader of the Mormon religion, was murdered along with his brother Hyrum when an anti-Mormon mob broke into a jail where they were being held in Illinois.
1950 – President Harry S. Truman announced that he was ordering US air and naval forces to South Korea to aid the democratic nation in repulsing an invasion by communist North Korea.

Friday 28th June
1491 – Henry VIII (King of England) was born in Greenwich, London.
1519 – Charles I of Spain, who by birth already held sway over much of Europe and Spanish America, was elected the successor of his late grandfather, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I.
1914 – In an event that is widely regarded as sparking the outbreak of World War I, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, was shot to death along with his wife by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia.

Saturday 29th June
1932 – Siam’s army seized Bangkok and announced an end to the absolute monarchy.
1972 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty could constitute “cruel and unusual punishment.” The ruling prompted states to revise their capital punishment laws.
1974 – With Argentine President Juan Perón on his deathbed, Isabela Martinez de Perón, his second wife and vice president, was sworn in as the leader of the South American country.


DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Saturday 28th June: 10.30 am Community Service project – come along with your friends and family and help load goods for shipping to the needy at the Crossroads International warehouse at the old Kai Tak Airport. The plan is to be there all day, but if you can only manage a half day, do still come along. A Fellowship will probably be held afterwards so watch this space for more news.

Thursday 4th July: The District Installation will be held at The Convention & Exhibition Centre in Wanchai. Rotarians from District 3830 (Makati, Philippines) will also be attending to officially renew the agreement between our two Districts.

9th – 11th August: President Bhichai Rattakul’s Presidential Conference of Peace and Development, will be held at the Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel, Malaysia. The main themes will be: Peace and conflict resolution and the Rotary Centers for International Studies. Other topics will include a Project Partnering Fair and polio updates.

Saturday 7th September: Rotary Foundation Seminar, New World Renaissance Hotel

19th – 20th December: Intercity Meeting to be attended by 2002-2003 RI President Bhichai Rattakul.

1st – 4th June 2003: The 94th RI Annual Convention will be held in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia


FROM THE BREADBASKET

CYSTIC FIBROSIS PROGRAM
Submitted by Lindsay Elliot
Community Service Director and Cystic Fibrosis Coordinator
The Rotary Club Of The Glass House Mountains, Queensland Australia 4519

The Rotary Club Of The Glass House Mountains has embarked on a huge project – that of supporting Cystic Fibrosis sufferers on the Sunshine Coast. We put this program into place soon after we were chartered and have now had it running for about 18 months. Currently we support 42 sufferers in surrounding areas by assisting parents and carers with physio support. We pay a fully trained physiotherapist nurse to go into the homes thus cutting down the visits of sufferers to hospital and also giving the parents/carers of these sufferers a break.

Our club’s medium term goal is to have this program expand throughout district 9600 then throughout all districts in Australia. Our long term goal is of course to see the program active throughout the world. The disease is (at the moment) terminal, there is no cure, with most kiddies dying around 12 years, some live to be teenagers others, very few, grow into adulthood and even get married. In our family we have had personal tragedy losing a 10 year old little girl who certainly did not deserve to be taken so young.

What Is Cystic Fibrosis?
Cystic Fibrosis is the most common life threatening genetic disease of the Western World. It is a multi-systemic condition that affects the body’s secretions, making them thick and sticky. 1 in 24 adults are carriers of the Cystic Fibrosis gene and 1:2000 babies are born with the condition.

As far back as medieval times, midwives licked newborn babies to determine whether or not they would survive as the sweat of babies with Cystic Fibrosis is very salty. German writings stated that the “child which tastes salty is hexed”. Cystic Fibrosis was initially described by Dr Guido Franconi and colleagues in Switzerland in 1936 and first written about by Dorothy Andersen in the US in 1938.

So How Is Salty Sweat Linked To Cystic Fibrosis?
The amount of salt inside a cell determines how much water it retains. If there is a lot of salt in a cell, it retains water to balance the salt. In normal cells, a gate regulates the amount of salt in a cell, by using a protein called the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator. If this protein functions properly, the salt channel opens and closes as required to allow the correct amount of salt to be in the cell. The mucus outside of the cell stays thin and slippery because the correct amount of salt is in and out of the cell.

When a person has Cystic Fibrosis, the Cystic Fibrosis transmembrane regulator protein does not work , causing salt to build up inside the cell. This takes water from around the cell, causing the mucus outside the cell to be thick and sticky from lack of moisture. Because the sweat gland cells have much more salt in them, the sweat of a person with Cystic Fibrosis is much saltier than people who don’t have Cystic Fibrosis.

How does This Relate to Genetics?
All proteins are made by instructions from our DNA. In people with Cystic Fibrosis, the DNA, which gives the instructions for how to make the Cystic Fibrosis transmembrane regulator protein, is faulty and therefore it gets made incorrectly. DNA is the genetic material passed on to children from their parents. Both parents must pass on a defective Cystic Fibrosis gene for the child to have Cystic Fibrosis, and the parents themselves must have inherited the gene from their parents. If you only get the gene from one parent, you are a Cystic Fibrosis carrier but do not have Cystic Fibrosis.

Cystic Fibrosis Affects More Than The Sweat Glands.
Cystic Fibrosis is a multi-systemic disorder which means it affects many systems of the body. It can be more severe in some people than others do but most have the following problems.

The Respiratory System
We all have mucus in our lungs to trap and remove the dust and micro-organisms we breathe in. In people with Cystic Fibrosis, the mucus in the airways is thick and sticky. It traps the particles but the mucus cannot move up out of the lungs like it normally would. Mucus plugs form, blocking the airways and interfering with breathing. People with Cystic Fibrosis need airway clearance treatment (physiotherapy) for up to 2 hours each day to loosen and remove the thick mucus. If the mucus is not removed from the lungs, bacteria thrive and they get infections. This causes the lungs to produce more mucus, causing a vicious cycle of spreading infection. People with Cystic Fibrosis continually take high dose antibiotics to help minimise their infections.

The Pancreas
The pancreas is part of the digestive system and produces digestive enzymes to break down the fats we eat. If a person has Cystic Fibrosis, the enzymes get blocked by the thick mucus secretions in the pancreatic ducts and do not reach the intestines. Without the enzymes to break down food, the body cannot absorb the protein and fats. This lack of food breakdown and absorption can lead to malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies. For these reasons, people with Cystic Fibrosis must take oral enzymes with every meal to break down the food for them. They also need a high fat, high protein, high carbohydrate diet as well as salt and vitamins.

Lindsay R Elliott AFSM
prevncr@hotkey.net.au 
www.glasshouse.bizland.com


AND FINALLY ….

Things you didn’t know you didn’t know

· On average, people fear spiders more than they do death
· You are more likely to be killed by a Champagne cork than by a poisonous spider
· It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky
· A duck’s quack doesn’t echo, and no one knows why
· 23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their buttocks!