Today, President Elect Chris Winslow presented on his trip to the Rotary International Convention in Sydney, Australia. Sydney has 4.7 M people and is ranked as the 12th most expensive city in the world. (A Big Mac costs $8!). Sydney generates 25% of the country’s economy and rugby is their most popular sport. There were 18,000 rotarians from 150 countries at the Convention. At the Opening Plenary, Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced that Australia is contributing $100M to End Polio Now. The Second Plenary was on Leadership and featured Jack Sim, the founder of WTO (World Toilet Organization) established to improve sanitation in the world, and Brett Lee, a famous cricket player, who founded the MEWSIC Foundation to use music for Healing, Empowerment, Education and Advocacy centered in India.
Chris showed the new End Polio Now video and reported the new strategy of using children to vaccinate other children in areas where outside adults and organizations are not trusted. Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan are reported to be the last countries with new cases of polio.Chris especially enjoyed the breakout sessions and the opportunity to share ideas with other Rotarians. He returned with the idea of having a “Quiz Bowl” on Rotary current events and provided delicious chocolate Tim Tam bars for members to sample.
