At the rehearsal on Saturday morning, we walked around the empty Rod Laver Arena where the opening session would take place, receiving a personal thank you from Rotary International president, Jennifer Jones as she rehearsed her introduction. Over 200 flags representing all the regions and countries Rotary has a presence really gives you an appreciation of what a huge international organisation we are part of. There was a special raffle to choose who would go on stage with the Australian, Canadian and Rotary flags but I was not one of the lucky ones. Walking out at the opening ceremony with the flags, the reaction of the audience, the music and the national anthems of Canada and Australia was an awesome experience. I carried the flag of Equatorial Guinea. Fortunately, the stage managers had reserved a couple of rows of seats for us so we were able to watch the rest of the opening ceremony.
I love our friendly little local Rotary club in Yarraville, and we do lots of local projects, with the occasional international project. But to be in a stadium with thousands of people from around the world hearing about the huge scale of our projects and listening to speakers such as Nobel Peace prize winners and Global citizen really stretched my imagination.
I was so inspired by Jennifer Jones and the incoming leadership of Gordon McInally and Stephanie Urchick as inclusive and energetic leaders and got a real buzz to see people can be serious about world peace and ended global poverty, but also enjoy fun and fellowship and dancing.
I particularly liked the quote from Nelson Mandela, “Peace is not just the absence of conflict; it is the creation of an environment where all can flourish, regardless of race, colour, creed, religion, gender class, case or any other social markers of difference.” This spoke to me about why diversity and belonging is so important. The peace bells speech from Mary Barry about how we must obtain inner peace first, also resonated.
I meet a number of volunteer flagbearers from around Australia and New Zealand and would be interested to know of others from District 9800. Julie Mason’s young grandson was a flagbearer: it would be great to hear how he got involved and if he enjoyed the experience.
Now I can say I have performed at Rod Laver arena. More to the point, the Melbourne convention has inspired me to say that this won’t be my last Rotary International convention.
I purchased two new Rotary T-shirts and will be wearing them everywhere. Imagine: Create Hope in the World.