A Speaker who knows about Business!

I imagine that's what Vivienne Spooner knows about and given the nature of our Rotary Club it's very much foreign territory for many of our members. We have lots of people who consult to business but no Captains of Industry! It'll fascinating hearing what she has to say.

Why didn't our guest speaker arrive last week? He thought it was 7,00pm so maybe we will be third time lucky with Dominic in November.

With the recent natural disasters in the Philippines and Indonesia I thought you might be interested in the local response from Rotary:

Rotary Governor Urges Help For Calamity Victims

Written by Achong TanjongFriday, 16 October 2009 09:02

Bandar Seri Begawan - Rotary International Dis

trict

Governor Datuk Haji Latip Sarrugi has urged fellow Rotarians to raise funds to help flood and earthquake victims in the Philippines and in Padang, Indonesia.

He was in Brunei recently and visited Rotary Clubs under District 33I0, which includes Brunei (Rotary Club of Bandar Seri Begawan), Johor Bahru, Malacca, Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan. Overall there are 65 Rotary Clubs under District 3310

.

Datuk Haji Latip, a lawyer by profession, said he has been involved in the Rotary for 23 years. The Rotary International District Governor's post is seldom given to Muslims but the club has accepted me as a Muslim to hold the post, he said.

"I am not saying that I am good but I do have integrity that is accepted by non-Muslims, which has became my main task now. This is part of an international integration for us as Muslim in order to integrate with people in the world." He said the Rotary also helped people in Indonesia when a tsunami hit Banda Aceh. The Rotary International also built mosque in Banda Aceh. The Indonesian government has given the Rotary 24 hectares of land to build a vocational institution to train youths. This matter is still under monitoring process through the Rotary International Indonesia. Rotary International had channelled humanitarian aid to Muslim countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Egypt. Datuk Haji Latip said the main task and concern of Rotary International now is to eradicate polio, which mainly occurs in countries like Pakistan, India and Nigeria.

Bill Gates (Microsoft) contributed US$385 million to help fight polio worldwide and Rotary International was given a challenge to raise US$200 million in this joint effort project with the World Health Organisation (WHO), he said.

Datuk Haji said the Rotary is a nonreligious, non-political and non-racial service organisation helping people in need nationally and internationally. Rotary's vocational service commitment is through the motto "Service above Self".

Datuk Haji Latip said the club has the Rotary Foundation, which provides US$90 million annually for international scholarships, cultural exchanges and humanitarian projects large and small that improve the quality of life for millions of people. Rotary is widely regarded as the world's largest private provider of international educational scholarships that enable Rotarians to bring hope and promote international understanding throughout the world.

Datuk Haji Md Latip was a police inspector before reading law at University of Buckingham, 1979-8I. He joined the Rotary Club of Kota Melaka in I989. He was the President of the club, in I997-98 and Assistant Governor in 1998-99 and 2005-06.-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

There was a huge response from Rotary locally as well as from Rotary International in the States and also from Rotary Australia. Many of the UK Clubs sent Emergency Boxes.