The theme of the 104th Rotary International Convention in Lisbon was A Harbor for Peace. Outgoing President Sakuji Tanaka, explained in his opening address that his passion for promoting peace during his year in office came from bearing witness to the end of World War II in Japan. Those terrible events prompted him to set up the global peace forums which have taken place over the past year.
President Tanaka said: “This year I challenged every Rotary club to conduct activities to enhance peace in their community and the response has exceeded my wildest expectations. I offer my sincere thanks to all Rotarians who promoted my theme, Peace Through Service, every day in ways big and small.”
Attendees got their first look at the Lisbon Declaration of Peace, an extension of the declarations that were adopted during the Rotary Global Peace Forums in Berlin, Hawaii, USA and Hiroshima.
Speakers included the 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate, Leymah Gbowee, Founder and President of the Gbowee Peace Foundation in Africa and Emmanuel Jal, a former child soldier and Founder of the Gua Africe Foundation.
Celine Cousteau, Founder of CauseCentric Productions, a charity which promotes good causes through storytelling, Jane Goodall, Founder of the Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace and Craig Kieburger, Co Founder of Free The Children, also delighted those attending with their inspirational speeches.
The convention was closed by Rotary International President Elect, Ron Burton, who became President of Rotary International on July 1. In his address, Mr Burton said it is an exciting time to be a Rotarian and the coming year will be one of the greatest Rotary years ever experienced, as Rotary nears the end of its campaign to eradicate polio from the world. He added that it will be the start of a new era for The Rotary Foundation and its Future Vision plan which is a new way of thinking about Rotary that plans for the long term and focuses on sustainability.
[vimeo: http://vimeo.com/69008057]
