The Rotary International Convention was in Atlanta during June at the Georgia Convention Center across from Centennial Olympic Park. It was a wonderful experience to realize how truly international Rotary is with the opening ceremony of flags from 153 nations, and the 40,000 Rotarians attending cheering! Rotarians from Africa, South and Central America, Asia, Europe and Texas walk in sporting their native dress and indulge in many group pictures and exchanges of club flags. “It’s a people festival with the openness and friendliness of Rotarians the best part” stated by Owen Devlin (Dallas Uptown). There are super general assembly meetings with featured speakers like Bill Gates and Andrew Young and then in the afternoons there are “breakout sessions” of specific topics like social media. The fun place to go is The House of Friendship, a large hall full of exhibit booths of Rotary projects and “action groups”, food and entertainment and Rotary licensed clothing and pins. District 5810 had a Desoto Club booth for the Project HAND UP for HIV and Aids education. “The use of puppets to explain HIV prevention is the best way to reach young children in East Africa” according to Darren Collins who is currently directing and implementing HIC and AIDS prevention education puppet shows in Kenya. PDG Ean and Jan Sullivan were also hosts at the Hand Up booth with PDG Bill Dendy joining in. There were a number of Rotary action group booths staffed by District 5810 members such as the blood donation booth with Dan Long and the water and sanitation booth with PDG Sandy Forster. There are many ways to enjoy the House of Friendship! You can grab a hot dog and iced tea and sit with Rotarian farmers from New Zealand who are having a snack and telling jokes about Texans (“Is it true bullshit is an eight syllable word in West Texas?”. ) ~Contributed by Owen Devlin, Rotary Club of Dallas‐Uptown
Rotary International Convention 2018 Toronto, ON, Canada For more information click link: http://www.riconvention.org/en
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