Our Club can be said proudly, is active. So are many of its members. Recording all events would be too much so I select some.
Every month we have a birthday cake for the members who have their birthday that month (I have birthday EVERY month and steal a big slice for Valerie).

See above on 19 December 2005, with Chris Verrill, Christopher Müller, Gilbert and Jörg Wuttke.
We also have a wide range of speakers, any nationality, any (interesting) topic.

See above on 16 January 2006 my friend Peter Danford, our no. 1 photographer in Beijing showing his work, including the 360 degrees shots.

See above on 17 October 2006 the ambassador from Kuwait, Mr. Faisal R. Al-Ghais giving a presentation on the former occupation of Kuwait by Iraq while the present ambassador of Iraq, Dr. Mohammad Sabeir Ismail (left) approvingly listens.
Indeed, the Club is non-political and everybody is a welcome guest. In the past we also had the ambassador from Israel.

We also have our Fellowship Events, on 21 October 2006 our Brazilian friend Norton Seng Santos took us to Paulaner Brauhaus in the Kempinski for the Oktober Bierfest. Ja, sehr gut!
We all had lots of fun and it was a bit strange to realize this was Beijing and not Munchen.
Some of our members are also frequent public speakers.

Here is Russ Miller talking to the Danish Chamber of Commerce, on 24 August 2006. He’s a great entertainer and knows how to transmit his China experience.

Of course, Jörg Wuttke is everywhere. here he is making a presentation to BENCHAM on 17 October 2006 (The Benelux Chamber of commerce). Poor Jörg had to face a breakdown of Bencham’s laptop and the projector went dead. Turned out a welcome change – the speaker gave an improvised talk and did wonderfully. Maybe next time we should hope the projector goes dead again.

On 20 July 06 the Beijing Rotary Club held a small reception, sponsored by Kempinski Hotel. The event was to welcome back Kong Li from Shaanxi Province, 9 years old, who had a successful surgery in New York. Media delegates also attended.

See in the picture: Mr. H. C. Kwok, General Manager of Continental Airlines; Kong Li with his father; Mrs. Sarah Randt, wife of the US Ambassador; Ruby Chang (Chairperson, Gift of Life, Beijing Rotary); Mike Furst (Beijing Rotary President).
The Gift of Life was established in 1975 by Rotary International and started full scale in China in 2001. Its purpose is to fund corrective heart surgeries for less privileged children. As a result, by 2005 the program helped 170 Chinese children out of which 25 underwent heart surgery in the USA. Other operations were done in Chinese partner hospitals.
The Gift of Life is one of the many programs of our Beijing Rotary Club.

Now that we have numbers in our Club… Club Number: 60724 we also had the change of the “guard” at the end of June. Exit our president for 2005-2006 Carl-Ludwig Doerwald (Germany) and enter our president for 2006-2007 Michael Furst (USA). Carl certainly had a full year with all the exceptional festivities and the usual activities. It looks like a smooth transition as much of the former team stays on board. Well Michael has two quiet summer months to realize what he is himself getting into… Yes, our Club is very active and we receive a regular load of visiting Rotarians from all over the world. I guess we have one of the most diversified clubs in terms of nationalities…

Quite a number of foreigners living in China are involved in charity work. Even Belgians!
Since over a year I am now an active member of the Beijing Rotary Club – we have nearly 60 members, as a result of local regulations we can have only foreigners as members. The Club is involved in many charities. Further information: see the website www.rotaryclub-beijing.org.
On 9 May we had as guest speakers Koen Sevenants and Pierre Schavey from the Morning Tears Charity, based in Belgium, introduced by myself. They explained their program to help children in China whose parents are in jail or have been executed. The charity supports a children’s village in Xian with 49 children. It especially helps with counseling for children suffering from trauma. Eventually, the organizers hope that the government will take charge of the problem. A benefit event will be held at the Belgian embassy on June 10. Further details can be found at their website www.morningtears.com.

From the left: Pierre and Koen receiving the Beijing Club banner from our president Carl-Ludwig Doerwald, on the right.