cyprus rotaract newsletter 08

| ROTARACTION | ISSUE 08 | 2

The Team

DRR: Vincent [email protected]

PDRR: Elena [email protected]

Cyprus VDRR: Kyriacos [email protected]

Cyprus PR Coordinator Chief Editor:Hannah Mortaga [email protected]

Creative AdvisorMishel Fayad [email protected]


EditorialWe are delighted to present the

third issue of ROTARACTION

for the Rotaract Year, 2013-2014.

In this issue, meet Cyprus VDRR,

Kyriacos Christofides, find out

more about Bahrain and Rotaract

in Bahrain, and review the November

events of all Rotaract clubs and more.

Here we would like to give special thanks

to Charis Michael for the ‘did you know

section’. We hope you enjoy reading!

SEASON 2013-14

ISSUE 08

It is with great pleasure that I have this opportunity as the Vice District Rotaract Representative of Cyprus to write this

few words for my fellow Rotaractors.

When I have first joined Rotaract, It felt like walking into an unknown world – as human beings – we often don’t have the courage to realize the realities of our times, which are indeed cruel and very un pleasant.

Since the time I have joined two and a half years ago ,the time flew by, meeting after meeting, event after event and that nice calen-dar application on my phone seized to be decorative and actually served its purpose! In Rotaract you are always thinking, about people who lack the basic necessities of life, such us not enough food to eat, lac of basic health care and basic education.

Taking into consideration the above, I feel that Rotaract is the bea-con for bringing people like you and me together to work as one towards projects with common goals. With such great cause you forget about being tired, travelling from city to city straight after from work. The anticipation of time which I will sit with my fellow Rotaractors and plan ahead - plan the future is simply exhilarat-ing.

With such busy schedule for almost every Rotaractor, we often forget to allow some time for us to reflect our actions, how those impacted our local communities, how did Rotaract

changed us to better persons.

It has been a struggle for some clubs but each club, presi-dent, board and Rotaractor is never alone. Knowing that

I am a part of such an immerse network of young pro-fessionals exhilarates me and pushes me to go fur-

ther, be part of greater projects.

I would like you to take a moment and think how many experiences, acquaintances and

GreetingFellow Rotaractors

3 | ISSUE 08 | ROTARACTION |

Kyriacos ChristofidesVice District Rotaract Representative 2013-2014

Did you

know?

1Rotary members have persevered in the fight for

Polio since 1979 and have now helped eradicate

polio in all but three countries worldwide.

3 You can buy Rotary products

at http://shop.rotary.org

2Rotary’s name came from the group’s

early practice of rotating meetings

among the offices of each member.

knowledge you have gained out this organization, we even have numerous instances that found true love through Rotaract (myself included). I believe that Rotaract is bringing together GOOD people with same mind-set sharing the same vision.

It is not a coincidence that Paul Harris, when he be-gan Rotary a century ago, decided for everyone to be called with their first name, the reason is simple. In Rotary and Rotaract we are all friends. Age does not matter, old or young Rotarians, Rotaractors, Interac-

tors or Innerwheel. Let’s not forget that the purpose of Rotaract and Rotary in general is to bring GOOD people together for a GOOD cause. I would like to push every Rotaractor in Cyprus to be a ROTARACTOR and not just a Rotaract Members, in Rotaract we play hard and we want our actions to be sound and effective.

I would like to thank every single one of you for helping me help others.


Bahrain’s uniqueness relates to its longstanding past, natu-ral resources and multicultur-al society. Home to the long praised civilization of Dilmun, the Bahrain archipelago has al-ways been assimilated with an earthly paradise and a vigorous market place. Its lustrous gar-dens, abundant water and ex-quisite pearls have always cap-tured the attentions of travelers

throughout time.

Manama, the capital, is a city of multilingual people, different colour faces, fascinating archi-tecture, transparent heritage and engaging culture. Cities that aren’t blessed with culture will have no luck with tourism either. Only a city with culture can explain itself, interest oth-ers and change over time.

Bahrain is an Arabic word meaning ‘two seas’, which re-fers to the island’s twin sourc-es of water: the surrounding Arabian Gulf and the nation’s fresh springs. Since ancient times, Bahrain has been a key trading hub in the Arabian Gulf. Home to a cosmopolitan mix of nationalities and faiths, the

country is a major financial and business centre, as well as a growing tourist destination.

Small but memorable….

Bahrain is the smallest Arab state, with a population of 1.05 million within an area of 750 km2

Bahrain’s civilization dates

Celebrating

Bahrain


back to 4000 years ago, known as the Dilmun civilization

Bahraini pearls are amongst the rarest in the world; El Bah-rain in Arabic means the “two seas” referring to the unique phenomenon where fresh wa-ter springs burst out in the mid-dle of the Arabian Gulf, creating the natural habitat for the rarest types of natural pearls.

Rotaract Bahrain is part of the nine countries that make up District 2452. We at Rotaract Bahrain strive to be “True Part-ners in Service” with our dis-tinguished twins. Our club was established on 1st January 2013 under the sponsorship of the three Rotary clubs in Bahrain, namely Rotary Club of Manama, Rotary Club of Sulmaniya & Ro-tary Club of Adliya. We current-ly have 25 active members and there are many young working professionals waiting to join as word of our successes start to spread.

As a relatively new club with small capital, we accomplish most of our current projects

without finance through drives and volunteering at different in-stitutes.

We have completed our Cloth-ing Drive in collaboration with a local volunteer organization called Helping Hands to guide us to worker camps in different villages where we distributed much needed clothing.

We have volunteered at events for orphans and at special needs centers where we only had to provide our time to en-

tertain these beautiful children. Currently we are working on sending aid to the Philippines to help with the Haiyan Ty-phoon victims in the island of Leyte in partnership with the Rotaract Club of San Juan. We will place drop-off boxes in ma-jor malls and supermarkets for donations of food, clothing, and products of personal hygiene. We are also in contact with the Philippine Embassy of Bahrain to arrange for free shipping.

Our hope is to have a success-ful collection and send the aid as soon as possible.

Our club was estab-lished on 1st Janu-ary 2013 under the sponsorship of the

three Rotary clubs in Bahrain.


On the 30th of Novem-

ber, we organised a tea

party and invited Rotary,

Innerwheel and Interact

Clubs of Kyrenia Liman.

The main aim was to get

to know each other bet-

ter. We Rotaractors join

some Rotary meetings

but it is not same as to

meet in more comfort-

able places. We decorated

the meeting room appropri-

ately to make it feel more com-

fortable and make everyone

feel like home. They were very

comfortable and chatted with

each other all evening. Presi-

dent Vasviye Baltaci presented

all Kyrenia Liman Projects for

this term. They all congratulat-

ed Rotaractors and promised to

support us more.

On the 9th of November, Sat-urday, we organised a 2nd hand clothes sale. All mem-bers collected used clothes from their families and friends. People love to donate clothes as they get rid of old clothes and at the same time help others in need. We man-aged to collect a full room of 2nd hand clothes and shoes from all members. We were selling for very cheap prices in old and poor areas includ-ing the old town Nicosia and Kyrenia. The money collect-ed from the bazaar will be used to support homeless children. In this way, we sup-

ported some of the locals in that area that can’t afford to buy normal priced clothes. A famous local newspaper also published us on the first page of their newspaper.

Second-hand Clothes Sale Bazaar

Tea Party of Kyrenia Liman Clubs

Rotaract Club Kyrenia Liman


As part of the ongoing training, education and development of its members and the general public, Rotaract Club of Nicosia organ-ised on 5/11/2013 at the EU House, a Professional Development event titled “The Concept of Volunteer-ing in Modern Society”.

The Commissioner for Volunteer-ing and NGOs, Mr.Yiannis Yian-naki, introduced this newly estab-lished position and explained his main duties and responsibilities. Mr Yiannaki also presented the

“Declaration of the rights and re-sponsibilities of volunteers and voluntary organisations”, copies of whichwere handed-out to all participants.

Mrs. Nadia Karayianni, board member of the NGO Support Cen-tre and an active volunteer for several years, elaborated on the concept of “volunteerism”. She presented the Centre’s philoso-phy and their upcoming projects. She shared her own experiences and noted the difficulties NGOs are faced with during the ongo-ing economic crisis. She further stressed the fact that in the last couple of years Cypriot society has made a remarkable progress in developing volunteerism, but there remain improvements to be made in this respect. The Red Cross Representative, Mr.George Frantzis elaborated on the new strategies they are in the

process of implementing in order to modernise and better-organise the Red Cross. He placed empha-sis on the importance of cultivat-ing a culture of volunteerism in Cyprus and highlighted the ben-efits of being a volunteer.

Mrs Karayianni and Mr Frantzis expressed their interest in a future cooperation with our Club, which was noted by the Commissioner with pleasure. In the Commission-er’s view we, as Rotaractors, have a very important role, as represen-tatives of the new generation and as active members of the society, in effecting a change in this field.

In the end, Club President Niovi Georgiades awarded, on behalf of our Club, the Certificates of Appre-ciation to the speakers and prom-ised that us Rotaractors, will do our best to promote and develop volunteerism in Cyprus.

The Concept of Volunteering in Modern Society

Rotaract Club Nicosia


Rotaract Club Nicosia

On the evening of 15th Novem-

ber, Rotaract Club of Nicosia

celebrated its 24th birthday at

“Ala Ellinika” tavern. The fiesta

started with a brief video pro-

jection which highlighted our

Rotaract moments and remind-

ed us all how amazing it is to

be a part of this team!

The members of our Club, to-

gether with our Rotarians, en-

joyed a delicious meze dinner

and showed off their moves on

the dance floor. The highlight

of the night was the pinning of

our three new members Anto-

nis Kalimeris, Niki Chrysanthou

and Yiannis Giannelakis.

Rotaract Club of Nicosia took part in the International Proj-ect “One World Cook book” organized by the Rotaract Club of Aberdeen. The aim of the project was to raise awareness to high-school students, regarding the im-portance of preparing food, as nowadays society lacks of time and people hesitate when it comes to cooking.

In order to change this, Ro-taract Club of Aberdeen has decided to create the “One world cooking book”, a book full of quick and simple cook-ing recipes from all over the world. We took part by sending a traditional Cypriot recipe with a short text on Cypriot cuisine and its uniqueness.

Our recipe idea was KOUPES (minced meat croquettes), which was supported by a photo as well. For the par-ticipation we got a certificate on behalf of Rotaract Club of Aberdeen. Rotaract Club of Aberdeen will publish all the recipes on its blog and on facebook.

International Project «One World Cook book»

Rotaract Club Of Nicosia 24th Birthday Party


Rotaract Limassol Amathusia

organized a brainstorming ses-

sion on Sunday, 1st of Decem-

ber at Delloite offices.

It was an excellent way to start

the month. We were honored to

have Mrs. Christina Covotsou,

the Deputy Governor present at

the meeting.

We had a short introduction of

each member, the reason they

joined Rotaract and how the

story began for each of them.

When we were done with the

introductions, Mrs. Covotsou

told us her story, her experi-

ence through Rotaract, meeting

Rotaractors from all over the

District, Rotaractors that be-

came friends forever.

Also she explained not only to

us but to two prospective mem-

bers what is Rotaract really

about, beyond the word Rotary

and Action. And

then our brain-

storming ses-

sion began.

Each member

had to point

out some ideas

of how our

club can be re-

freshed in bringing new mem-

bers, new projects and ideas of

teambuilding activities.

Overall, we had a great after-

noon brainstorming and we

look forward to our new proj-

ects.

Rotaract Club Limassol Amathusia

Brainstorming Session


As part of the mega twinning proj-ect named “Smaller World”, Ro-taract Club Nicosia Aspelia cele-brated on November 3th, 2013 the “Cyprus month”. “Smaller World” is an international project which aims to increase world under-standing among the participating clubs by sharing their culture. The founding clubs of “Smaller World” are: Rotaract club of Nicosia Aspe-lia –Cyprus, Rotaract club of Alex-

andria East- Egypt, Rotaract club of Las Americas – Guatemala, Ro-taract club of Manila Metro- Phil-ippines, and Rotaract club of Mos-cow East – Russia. Among other criteria, the project requires a monthly cultural cel-ebration of each club involved in the project.On November, club members of “Smaller World” were celebrating Cyprus. For this purpose, Rotaract Club Nicosia Aspelia organized a typical Cypriot Sunday lunch. The Aspelia family gathered at its president’s house, and enjoyed a traditional Cypriot lunch. Among other, the lunch included souvla-kia, halloumi, Cypriot oven pasta, pastourmas, local beer and Ziva-nia shots! The lunch was accom-panied by Cypriot folklore music and traditional dancing. This celebration gave the chance

to Aspelians and their guests to spend quality time together and strengthen their bonds in Rotaract. On top, the event was an excellent opportunity to present our Cypri-ot culture to the rest of the clubs which participate at this project. The halloumi taste and the zivania flavor travelled to Guatemala and Philippines, then reached Egypt and Moscow, and finally travelled back to our beautiful small island!

Cyprus celebration as part of “Smaller World”

Rotaract Club Nicosia Aspelia


One of the aims of Rotaract

Larnaca Kition for this year was

to connect and cooperate with

both the Interact Club and the

Rotary Club Larnaca. The first

step was for Rotaractors to

meet with Interacts.

For those of you that don’t

know what Interacts are, they

are another project of Rotary

Club, for young people up to 18

years old.

In other words, Interacts are the

future Rotaractors. On Novem-

ber the 14th, the Rotaract Club

of Larnaca and Interact Club of

Larnaca had a joint meeting.

This was a chance for mem-

bers from both clubs to get to

know each other and discuss

possible cooperation for future

projects. The Interacts showed

great interest in sharing their

skills and were willing to help

in any upcoming projects.

On 24th of November, Rota-

ract Larnaca Kition visited the

Aradippou Dog Shelter. On our

previous meeting, visiting the

shelter was voted to be our next

fellowship event. The staff of the

shelter as well as the manager

was thrilled to have us there

and welcomed us warmly. The

manager informed us that the

shelter is currently taking care

of 127 dogs. It is worth saying

that the shelter is run by only

2 people and they rely on vol-

unteers. Members brought with

them old blankets to be used to

keep the dogs warm and some

food. The Kitions enjoyed their

time walking the dogs (or more

specifically, the dogs were

walking us), feeding them and

cleaning their houses.

The Kitions meet the Larnaca Interacts

Dog Shelter Visit

Rotaract Club Larnaca Kition


Rotaract Club Larnaca - Kition

The Kitions will be organiz-ing a charity Christmas bazaar on the 22nd of December at Finikoudes, Larnaca. The mem-bers brainstormed on the meet-

ing on different handmade items that they could do to sell. It was decided that all proceeds will be donated to the Larnaca Association for People with Multiple Sclerosis. The purpose of the associa-tion is to provide assistance to people with multiple scle-rosis through pharmaceutical and psychological support; to promote new scientific break-throughs against the disease and to provide counseling to the family members of patients.

On the 30th of November, the members met at the premises of the Multiple Sclerosis Asso-ciation to get creative. With the

assistance of some members and friends of the association, we managed to create some ar-tistic inventions of handmade goods. It was a great team building activity that we all enjoyed and we are all looking forward to this event.

Having all three generations under one roof was a challenge but the Kitions are always ready for new challenges.

On Monday, the 25th of No-vember, all three clubs met for a team building session.

Socrates Panayi, Community Service Director, was in charge of organizing interesting team building games.

We were divided into two groups that included Rotarians, Rotaractors and Interacts and dis-cussed about different problem solving exercis-es that were given by Socrates.

By the end of the session, it was interesting to see how members from each club perceived dif-ferent issues differently but yet agreed on many subjects.

Christmas Preparations

Rotary, Rotaract & Interact under one Roof...

A final note(festive)

Have a Great Christmas Time!

It is with warm feelings and thoughts that we end this issue for the year of 2013. Christmas time is a special time of the year and love, care, friendship and togeth-erness make this time even more unique. We hope that 2014 will be filled with great

Rotaract projects that will bring out more young profes-sionals and be of assistance to our community. May this Christmas be so special that you never ever feel lonely again and be surrounded by loved ones throughout the year!

This is the Official monthly Cyprus Rotaract Newsletter. For any suggestions, ideas or thoughts about the uproming issues, please contact us directly at [email protected] or [email protected]


ISSUE 08SEASON 2013 - 14

cyprus rotaract newsletter 08

Documents

rotaract clubs

rotaract newslettereditorialwe

rotaract year

issue of rotaraction

anticipation of time

basic education

cyprus vdrr

rotary products