First Presentation

First Presentation

Hello,

Today I gave my first successful presentation as an Ambassadorial Scholar. I was invited to speak at the lunchtime meeting of Ruislip Northwest. They were very welcoming and I was surprised at the large crowd; the Rotarians had invited their partners to listen to me as well. We were also joined by visiting Rotarians from North Carolina and South Africa so it was a very international meeting! I spoke about Canada, my history and the scholarship scheme. I also spoke a little bit about Rotaract, which I will explain below.

Yesterday evening I attended a meeting about starting up a Rotaract club in the Hillingdon area. Rotaract is a dynamic club for people between 18-30 which involves social activities, volunteering, raising funds for charity and gaining life skills both at home and abroad. It is part of the ‘Rotary family’ and bridges the gap between Interact (12-18 year olds) and Rotary. The idea is that the four Rotary clubs in the Hillingdon area would jointly support a Rotaract club that would draw from students and young professionals who live here. Young people who had previously participated in Interact, the Group Study Exchange or the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards would make excellent members.   It will be formalized and taken to committee in December and hopefully we can start recruiting members in the new year. It is a very exciting idea that was well supported.

 

Frozen Pond at Brunel

I was surprised to see big fluffy snowflakes when I woke up this morning. The whole of the UK has been receiving unusual amounts of snowfall for this time of year. It has resulted in several areas becoming nearly paralyzed and over 500 school closures. Some areas in the North have received as much as 30 cm in the past two days!

Well, I’d best get going. Tomorrow I have to give a group presentation on social inequalities that contributed to the 1992 cholera outbreak in Venezuela.