Bidding 2006-7 “A Dieu”

That time of the year has arrived. The Rotary Year 2006-7 comes to an end at Midnight, 30^th June 2007. It has been a marvellous year.

Together we have achieved a number of goals. The Rotary District 9210 Website is now up and running after a two-year hiatus. Special thanks to Rtn Paul Brown and Rtn Mulumba Lwatula. The splash page looks great!

Obviously this will change with the new Rotary International theme and will be updated with new information from RI President Wilf Wilkinson and DG Nkole Bwalya adding messages and information.

Another incredible accomplishment is the contribution of over US$150,000 to The Rotary Foundation for the Rotary Year. (Yes, the beard grew back.) This means a DDF of over US$75,000 in the Rotary Year 2010-2011. We did this TOGETHER and we are ALL to be congratulated!

At the beginning of this Rotary Year our District was placed in probation by The Rotary Foundation because of poor reporting on completed Matching Grant projects. While we were at the RI Convention we received word that we have been removed from probation because of the efforts of our District Grant Subcommittee Chair and her persistence in following up on these grant reports.

We have successfully sent and hosted three Group Study Exchange Teams. DGSE Chair Nimrod Kapwele said he has learned a great deal about working with both teams and clubs and we anticipate the success of two outgoing and incoming teams in the next Rotary Year.

District 9210 has gone from 49 clubs to 53 clubs with the addition of the Rotary Clubs of Bwaila-Lilongwe (Malawi), Mkushi (Zambia), Ruwa (Zimbabwe) and Gwanda (Zimbabwe). The Rotary Club of Chitungwiza is nearly there with final paperwork being processed.

Ambassadorial Scholarships were an unknown aspect of our District just a few years ago, but this year we have had several scholars – both incoming and outgoing. Near the end of the Rotary Year we were given two Ambassadorial Scholarships for the 2008-9 academic year. We have also had several World Peace Scholars and one student participated in the Rotary Peace and Conflict Study Program in Bangkok, Thailand.

There have been many challenges. Not everything we have tried has worked, but we have tried and tried hard to work with the Rotary Clubs in D9210 and around the world.

I am not disappearing from sight. DG Nkole has asked me to chair The Rotary Foundation Annual Giving Sub-Committee and 2007-8 RI President Wilf Wilkinson has asked me to be a part of the 2008 Los Angeles Convention Promotion Committee. You will be hearing from me from time to time.

The sun may be setting on 2006-7, but it is rising on 2007-8 and we look forward to even more successes as “Rotary Shares” the joys and privileges of “Service Above Self.”

YIR,

IPDG Patrick

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