Not a huge gathering for a dinner meeting, but 38 members and guests enjoyed a full and entertaining meeting, and the food was delicious! First up were Nina and Shamara from the Glendowie College Interact Club, Nina being the Club President. Both girls presented very professionally and brought us up to date on the success of the recent Workshops at school that were organised by the club in-conjunction with Alexia Hilbertidou, the founder of GirlBoss, who had been introduced to the Interact Club by St. Johns Rotary. Feedback from those who attended the workshops was very positive and more workshops are now being planned.
Nina also advised that the Interacts recent Easter Egg sale raised over $600 for Starship Hospital - a great result and an indication of what is to come from this active and committed club.
Next up was our own Megan Gallagher who spoke about her recent visit to Sri Lanka with her Mum,. What was meant to be a relaxing new experience for both turned into a difficult and sad holiday. Four days in to the holiday, the tragic Easter bombing took place. When the bombings occurred, Megan and her mum were in Galle about to board a bus to Columbo, 2 hours north, where the largest bombs had been detonated. Unfortunately their tour was cancelled and the rest of their trip was significantly disrupted, but they still had some very memorable experiences from their curtailed and amended plans. Despite the disruption they still got to see much of Sri Lanka which Megan described as the most beautiful that she has ever seen anywhere in the world. Megan also had some very positive experiences with local Sri Lankans whom she couldn't speak more positively of. Despite the disruption it sounds as if Megan had a wonderful trip and she is now a committed advocate for travel to Sri Lanka, highly reccommending the beauty, people and the food. If you want more detail of these experiences please talk to Megan directly! Our third speaker on the night was Glenys Parton from "Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children, (ROMAC). Glenys travelled from Tauranga to talk to us and she shared a heartfelt description of the work that ROMAC does to help medical needy children from the Pacific Islands and in particular from Vanuatu. A very interesting and thought provoking talk - thank you Glenys. Our own Sue Smith is also very involved with ROMAC in the area of "Operations Manager". If you would like more information on how you can assist, please contact Glenys or Sue.
