Rotary: Making a Difference – President Induction Night |14 July 2017

Rotarians set to make a difference through service

At last Saturday’s Rotray President Induction Night, the message of the incoming Board of Directors for 2017-2018 is clear: “ROTARY : MAKING A DIFFERENCE! Fellow Rotarians, we can make a difference through our service to change the lives of others!”

This is what the incoming Rotary President Charlie Ng said in his induction speech. The keywords are ‘Service’ and ‘To Serve the Community’. This is where a bunch of influential professionals of Seychelles society have come together as the Rotary Club of Victoria.

Rotary Club of Victoria in Rotary District 9220 (which comprises seven countries and 70 clubs) was formed in 1969, thus it is going to be soon a Golden jubilee Club in the District.  Every Rotary Year, which starts on July 1 and ends on June 30, would witness a new team of President and other directors of each club. The Rotary Club of Victoria on July 8, 2017 at Eden Bleu Hotel had its August function of installation of a new team and its new president Charlie Ng, who became for the second time the president of the club.  Together with the induction night, there was also the new team installation of Rotaract Club at the same venue where Christian Ng became the president together with other young Rotaractors as the directors. These are young professionals with the same ambitions to serve and help the community and may one day evolve into the Rotary Club.

The ceremonial event saw the outgoing Rotary president Jalan Nathan pass on the Presidential Chain to the incoming president Charlie Ng while the outgoing Rotaract president Winnie Low handed over the Presidential Chain to incoming president Christian Ng.

Past District Governor V. J. Patel read the message from the District Governor Manoj Vaughji (from Mauritius).

In his induction speech, the incoming President Charlie Ng outlined the projects and past achievements as such: “We have given more comfort to those terminally-ill patients at the Hospice, we have given joy to those orphans at the President’s Village, we have donated water tanks to the North East Point hospital and given more facility to those exceptional school children and helped out with wheel chairs for those in need.”

He further noted that it is in this spirit he would want to carry on the good charity work in Seychelles during his year of presidency, encouraging the fellow rotarians with the motivating quote: “YES, we can make a difference!”

The event was attended by Health Minister Jean-Paul Adam, leader of government business in the National Assembly Charles Decommarmond, the chief executive of the Seychelles National Youth Council Alvin Laurence, among other dignitaries.  

The black tie event included dinner, dance, fund raising activities which brought in flavours and entertainment to the official function with a turnout of 120 guests including the rotarians and their related clubs, such as the Rotary Club of Victoria Coco de Mer, the Soroptimist and the Round Table which were also celebrated during this special inauguration event.

One more special feature for the Rotary Club of Victoria is that this year a member from the Club, Rajasundaram, is nominated as Governor for the year 2019 -20, while the club had two former Past District Governors, namely Suketu Patel and V. J. Patel. 

The Rotary Club of Victoria, well known for its regular and popular fund raising event the Rotary Christmas Lottery, is actively involved in various community projects and one of the major ones is the hospice at the North East Point Hospital meant for terminally ill people.  Water, sanitation, health and education are the main areas where Rotary International focuses on. Globally, Rotary International is well known for the eradication of polio. Only three countries are left with isolated polio occurrences, otherwise the whole world would be polio free, something to be proud of thanks to Rotary International. 

Besides President Charlie Ng the other members of the new Rotary Board are Jalan Nathan, Dr Sarka, Vijay Vairasamy, Foram Varsani, Behram Uwadia, V. J. Patel, Raja Sundaram, Nandu Raghvani and Rubel Brewer.

Contributed