Rotarians attend global peace forum

THE Rotary E-Club of South Africa One achieved recognition from RI President Sakuji Tanaka for their efforts to promote Peace Through Service during the past Rotary year.

The club held Peace Forums at Addington Primary School and at Ekuthuleni Primary School and in addition, two of their members attended the Rotary International Global Peace Forum in Honolulu which was attended by thousands of Rotarians from all parts of the world.

According to Gil Lewinsky and Jenna Reinbach of Rotary E-Club South Africa One, the Rotary Peace Forum was a unique experience, both for personal development and to build an understanding of Rotary as a global movement. The women met people from the four corners of the world such as Morocco, Mali, Nigeria, other USA states, Australia and Japan. Each had a unique message about how to move Rotary forward and each brought their own unique expression of peace combined with their own peace identity shaped by geopolitical factors.

Rotary International President Tanaka made perhaps the biggest impression during the opening ceremony, enlightening the group with his global message of understanding, peace, goodwill and cooperation.

“In a South African context, we would like to suggest that our district connect with the United Nations Association of South Africa and form a partnership with them to align ourselves to reaching the Millennium Development Goals. Our literacy and polio projects would fall into the category of the Millennium Development Goals and it would help to emphasise the excellent work of our district. We learned from other Rotary clubs abroad how important these partnerships are,” they said.

Social media and the future of peace activism dominated the theme at this peace forum as this is the future.

“Certainly, the E-club of South Africa can help the more conventional Rotary clubs move towards the digital era,” said the women.