Glitz and glam under the African skies for SA’s rotarians
"Mark Twain once said, the best thing in life is to be born into it. The next best thing is to find out why. I know I was born to do what I do and I have immense passion. That is why I have achieved this award, and I am honoured."
It was a week the Rotarians of South Africa will not soon forget. Besides learning about important national matters and spreading goodwill among local communities, the Rotary Clubs of South Africa celebrated their achievements over the past year in style – Under the African Skies.
More than 400 Rotarians and Rotary Annes gathered at Ingwenyama Conference & Sports Resort from June 18 to 21 for their biggest annual function.
The event kicked off with meets and greets and announcements of outstanding achievements over the year. On Friday the Rotarians revelled in the Chinese-themed party before they went about changing lives on Saturday (one club distributed 6 000 meals in and around Mbombela) They received awards for outstanding achievements on Saturday evening.
In the midst of celebrating their achievements of the past year, one man stole the show when he walked away with the coveted Paul Harris Award for his outstanding contribution to the Rotary Club and for his achievements after he received the Rotary Scholarship in 1983. Dr Kobus Neethling holds an impressive six degrees, including a doctorate, a post-doctorate (cum laude) and two masters in the identification and development of creative behaviour from the universities of Cape Town and Georgia.
Creativity is a pivotal point in Neethling’s life. He is the president of the South African Creativity Foundation and has worked with major corporations around the world, national sports teams and global education groups.
He has been labelled by The International Who’s Who of Intellectuals as one of 2 000 outstanding scholars of the 20th century and received 10 international Who’s Who Awards, including personality of the year in 2000.
“The main driving force for any scholar, if they want to achieve anything in life, is passion,” he told the attendees at the prestige gala evening on Saturday.
“Mark Twain once said, the best thing in life is to be born into it. The next best thing is to find out why. I know I was born to do what I do and I have immense passion. That is why I have achieved this award, and I am honoured.”
“The surprise of the evening, however, was Damian Joseph Lahoud of Boksburg Rotary who received the Paul Harris Fellow Award for his tireless work throughout the year. “I am flabbergasted,” he said. “Usually you prepare a speech for these awards but I am bowled over!”
Lahoud received the award for the immense contribution he has made to the Rotary Foundation.
Under his supervision, more than US$ 1 000 was donated to the foundation and more than 3 000 people received homes. He is the young leader, or Rotaract, of his district and stands a chance to win the Paul Harris Award next year.
