There were a number of speakers that presented to our club in October - below is a brief summary of them
7th October 2020 DG Craig Horrocks
Craig trained as a lawyer, holds a master’s in business management, is a CEO, an entrepreneur and also, from a charity perspective, is a strong advocate of ‘peace in the world’. He has an engaging personality and enjoys being among the people.
Craig was born into a strongly Rotary family – Craig’s great-grandfather was involved in Rotary being established in New Zealand in 1921. Today, in true Horrocks tradition, Craig, his wife Nikola and their daughters are all Rotary members.
His charge, as District Governor of District 9920, covers half of Auckland as well as a massive maritime area of the South Pacific – seven Pacific nations, namely American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Samoa and Tonga.
‘Doors Open Opportunities’, Holger Knaack’s RI presidential theme for this year, evokes a practical significance when addressing the future of Rotary membership – Interact (school age), Rotaract (for the school leavers and beyond) and Rotary (keeping in touch with the Rotary alumni that our clubs have touched over the years).
Craig’s presentation as District Governor was refreshing. He not only gave us the usual District requirement, but also gave us a much wider interpretation from a global perspective.
And now we look forward to the celebration in June 2021 when Oceania Rotary, covering Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, will be celebrating a century (100 years) of service.
14 October 2020 Caralise Trayes:
Caralise Trayes is a journalist, researcher and author, married with two young children, and is a warm, charming, knowledgeable and ethical presenter.
“The Final Choice” book, now on the shelves for purchase, is a presentation of the facts Caralise gleaned through her research and interviewing with regard The End of Life Choice Act.
Her presentation gave a very informed, balanced and non-emotional view, both ‘for’ and ‘against’ the binding referendum vote in this month’s elections. Caralise was very articulate as she shared her process, step by step, giving the audience an understanding of the complicated and massive decision we are being asked to vote on – her presentation on Zoom was very informative, but also sobering. We need to remember that if the voting public says ‘yes’ the Act, as it stands, becomes law.
All good law-making allows choice and must have safeguards and protections in place for its’ citizens. Is this Act sufficiently comprehensive? Time alone will tell.
28 October 2020 Claire Eyes:
Claire Eyes, married with two adult children, has been working as a midwife for 40 years – the last 28 years as a self-employed lead maternity carer (LMC) midwife, focusing on primary care and working out of the Pukekohe Birthing Unit. Claire specialises in natural births, water births and home births. She works alongside four other amazing and experienced midwives to provide 24/7 care and they cover the whole of the Franklin area.
Claire, a very warm and bubbly lady, compassionate about continuity of care, spoke to her audience from the heart. Due to the effects of Covid19, there had been much more real hardship with the lockdowns which affected the breadwinner’s travel to their jobs, often loss of jobs, constrained resources, lack of support etc. She shared many varied stories and reasons why families struggle; sometimes cultural differences, sometimes abusive situations, alcohol and drugs may come into play, and they are often without support from any family or friends. With reference to the midwifery focus on primary care, for a period of time, Claire and her team are often the only light that shines for them.
Her presentation opened our eyes to the domino effect such circumstances present, and Auckland Harbourside found this need too hard to ignore. In recognising that need, on behalf of the club, our President Vidya handed over 20 Foodtown vouchers ($100.00 each) to Claire to assist in relieving some of the pressure these affected families are confronted with.
Claire is a recipient of a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow (PHF). She was a team leader for the Rotary Vocational Training Team for three years and trained 35 midwives from around the Pacific. That project was co-funded by Canberra Rotary and our District 9920.
Claire was honoured in 2018 with the New Zealander of the year award (Auckland region) for services to Midwifery. Again in 2019 she was awarded a Certificate of Achievement Kiwi Bank/Sanitarium Innovator of the Year, also for midwifery.