Speakers Bank - International - Members - Rotary District 9800

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SPEAKERS BANK - INTERNATIONAL

INTERNATIONAL Deposits include:

Burma under the Generals - the looming crisis
Tony Thomas, RC Central Melbourne Sunrise

Military juntas have run Burma for nearly half a century, impoverishing the country and subjecting opponents to harsh prison terms. The party of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi won the national election in 1991 but the generals nullified the result, subjected to her 14 years of house arrest and gaoled many of the party's other leaders. Tony Thomas recently spent three weeks in Burma and uses dramatic film clips to explain the current environment and the struggle of Aung San Suu Kyi to restore democracy to a stricken land.

Contact Tony Thomas on 0407 305 757 or by email at tthomas2@bigpond.net.au

Transparency International,
David Mattiske

'Transparency International (TI) fights corruption. Formed in 1993 by Peter Eigen, a World Bank representative in Kenya, when he became exasperated by the World Bank’s policy of ignoring corruption, treating it as a matter of internal concern only to the country where it occurred. It took an ex-Australian World Bank President, Jim Wolfenson to finally decree that corruption was an economic issue.

Since its formation TI has had an objective of publicising the inhumane effects of corruption on the political, economic, social, and environmental fabric of societies, and especially on the world’s poor. It has also developed a number of very useful tools and a policy of working with governments in a critical, constructive and non-confrontational manner to make corruption a ‘high risk’ and ‘low return’ activity. This it does adopting an incremental process, publishing the level of corruption in countries, the evil effects on the populace, and driving for a legislative framework, supported by appropriate resources, that reduces the opportunity for corrupt practices to occur.

From its humble beginnings in Berlin, TI now has 98 Chapters throughout the world in both developed and developing countries with its international secretariat still in Berlin. It collects data on corruption, publicises the Corruption Perception Index which measures the reputation of a nation’s Public Servants, the Bribe Payers Index that measures the perceived likelihood that corporations from a country will offer bribes. It also publishes each year a Global Corruption Report on a specific sector of government, giving a detailed report of that sector in a number of countries. Some of the sectors covered so far are the judiciary, health, forestry, water, construction and post-conflict construction.

The reversal of the World Bank’s policies on corruption were certainly influenced by TI. TI has worked closely with the OECD in formulating the OECD Convention Against Bribing Foreign Public Officials, which all OECD countries, including Australia, have signed and ratified. It has also played a critical role in formulating the United Nations Convention Against Corruption. So far 140 countries have signed and ratified this convention, but the implementation of this convention varies greatly in effectiveness, an issue of great concern to TI.

TI has developed a number of coalitions with Civil Society organisations to fight corruption. It has also been instrumental in establishing the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) that aims to force mining and petroleum corporations to publish what they pay to governments where they operate and to encourage governments to publish in a transparent manner what they have received and what they have done with the proceeds.

TI-Australia in committed to encourage the governments of Victoria, South Australia to establish Independent Commissions Against Corruption and to provide for an effective Whistleblower Protection legislation to prevent whistleblowers suffering discrimination. TI-Australia also is working with TI Chapters in the South Pacific region to assist their respective governments effectively address corruption in their countries.

Has TI been effective in eliminating corruption? Sadly the answer is “No!”. But corruption is now an international issue, discussed a lot more than it used to be, and some progress has been made in tightening the screws on this pernicious activity. TI will keep attacking this problem until it is no longer an issue'.

Contact David D. Mattiske, Director on 9537 2418 or by email at ddmatt@bigpond.net.au

PHP Foundation (People Hurt People)
Melissa Pearson

PHP Aspires to:
# Create awareness to individuals and world communities of the hurt people bring to each others lives
# Be an advocate for awareness of people hurting people.
# Act as a resource for education, prevention and ultimately cessation of people hurting people.
# Stop the cycle of hurt in our existence
For further details, please contact Melissa
**NB: Melissa is available to travel to speak at country Rotary Clubs**.
Contact: Melissa Pearson Telephone: 0411 65 65 30 or by email at phpfoundation@optusnet.com.au

Vicki Mustafa, Pastor

Vicki had a Muslim background, for the first 21 years of her life. She has lived and worked in the Middle East for 20 years. Vicki is now a Christian Pastor who talks on Islam, specifically:
* Explaining the religion of Islam
* Sharing about Middle Eastern culture
* Talking specifically about Muslim women in the Middle East

Email Vicki Mustafa

'Coolies Week'

Br Dennis Loft of de la Salle College, Melbourne, organizes ‘Coolies Week’ in which students from secondary schools and colleges raise funds and put them towards paying their fares to Bangladesh to work on rudimentary building projects for local schools, where education is prized and many young children are educated as ‘foundlings’ because their parents are too poor to support them'.
For full details, see: http://www.cooliesindiatrip.blogspot.com/

or contact Br Dennis Loft by email

Dr Simone Jameson

Dr Simonne has just published a book of her experiences as a survivor of the holocaust. Simone's story is gripping, moving and very special. Refusing to go through life as a "victim" Simonne has become a child psychologist and has worked at the Flinders University before retiring to write her remarkable story. She has gone on to found the Children's Rights Foundation. Her book is to be made into a film in 2007 by the producers/directors of Children of a Lesser God
Contact: Dr Simonne Jameson Telephone: 9740 6238 or email Simonne Jameson

SAVI Committee

The SAVI Committee (Support a Village Initiative) was created following the Tsunami in December 2004. The Committee works with Clubs and other organisations to conduct projects in the areas affected by the Tsunami and in East Timor.
Projects to date have included rebuilding houses in India and Sri Lanka, and in some instances reviewing the possibility of added projects in the same areas, eg. Dental Clinics in Sri Lanka. The RC of South Melbourne arranged for boats to be built for the fisherman in a remote area of Sri Lanka. Ongoing projects are being undertaken in East Timor including the building of an orphanage (completed), a hospital annex (competed) rebuilding a school (nearly completed), providing Micro Credit facilities.
The above is not intended to be complete list of projects but an indication of the types of activities that are occurring.
Contact:
SAVI Committee Chairman- Leon Scott, RC Eaglehawk Tel (03) 5446 8498, email Leon Scott.

OR John Strong, RC Glen Eira Tel 9836 9165, email John Strong.

OR David Dolman Secretary RC Eaglehawk Tel (03) 5443 9241, email David Dolman

Volunteering in Uganda

and

Animals of Africa, Kathy Lynch

Talk One: Volunteering in Uganda.

In late 2005, my daughter and I spent 5 weeks volunteering with a small non-governmental organisation (NGO) called VOLSET. This organisation works in small rural villages to the north and east of Kampala. Our volunteer work involved establishing data capturing procedures for HIV testing and education, participating in seminars on HIV education and family relationships, and developing vocational training materials. We were so influenced by the experience that when we got back to Australia we established a charity organisation, "Aussie Friends of VOLSET", to assist VOLSET. During 2006 we made a difference through raising money for the construction of a resource centre on a small island in Lake Victoria, building of a dormitory for sponsored school children, and coordinating the sponsorship of a number of children. (This presentation is accompanied by a computer presentation full of pictures and videos).

Talk Two: Animals of Africa

A talk by two novice photographers. This presentation takes a pictorial trip through some of the parks of Africa - such as Kruger and Chobe. It also ventures into a trek after the mountain gorillas of Uganda.

For either talk:
Contact: Kathy Lynch, email Kathy

International Speaker, Nathan Rabe

Nathan Rabe has had 20 years experience in the humanitarian and international development field, working in places such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, the Pacific, India, Pakistan, the former Soviet Union. He has recently served for four years as the Head of international Operations at the Australian Red Cross. Based in Melbourne, he is a dual Australian/American national.
****Please note: Nathan is frequently travelling overseas on work assignments, to contact Nathan click to email him.

'The Last Flight Out Of Dili', Author David Scott AO

David Scott is the author of the recently published 'Last Flight Out Of Dili'. David was in Dili in 1975 and witnessed the swearing in of the Democratic Republic of East Timor. 'Last Flight Out Of Dili' is also an account of the hardship, loneliness and danger that Jose Ramos-Horta experienced in his remarkable commitment to keeping East Timor on the United Nations agenda for 24 years.
David is a former Director of the Brotherhood of St Laurence, Founding Director of Community Aid Abroad and Chairman of the Land Conservation Council.
David is an Honorary Governor of the Xanana Vocational Education Trust.

Contact: David Scott Telephone: 03 9534 0078 or email David Scott

Terrorism, Dr. David Wright-Neville

Dr. David Wright-Neville is Senior Lecturer in Politics and Co-Convener of the Global Terrorism Research Project at Monash University. A regular commentator in both the local and international media, David consults regularly on issues relating to terrorism and politically-motivated violence with Australian and foreign government security agencies. Before returning to Monash University in 2002, David was a senior terrorism analyst in the Australian intelligence community and more recently has served as a Special Advisor to the president of the prestigious Club of Madrid, a gathering of more than 50 former world leaders dedicated to fighting terrorism through enhancing democracy. He has also advised the United Nation’s Secretary General’s Informal Working Group on Counter-Terrorism.
Contact: David Wright-Neville Email David Wright-Neville

Health Australia & Tanzania HAT Inc

"Working in Partnership" has been set up to fundraise for development projects that improve the health of people in Tanzania.
Telephone: 0405 515 296 Anne Adams, President

www.hat.org.au

Indigo Foundation

'Alberto Vela gave a very fascinating talk to our club (RC Wyndham) last week on the Indigo Foundation which is a small charitable organization that is doing some great work in 4 of the world’s trouble spots including Rote, West Timor and Solomon Islands. He is prepared to speak to other clubs and is an inspiring presenter'.
Contact: Alberto 0402 069 471

Speakers Bank - International - Members - Rotary District 9800