Next Meeting Thursday 30 July 7.30pm
Rewi Alley Education and Cultural Centre, 32 Matipo Street
Gold coin donation (suggest $2). Bring-&-buy table!
ROGER DAVIES
NZCFS PROJECTS IN GANSU
AND IMPRESSIONS OF CHINA
Roger Davies and Dave Bromwich recently returned from visiting NZCFS poverty alleviation projects in Gansu Province, notably the desert regions of the Hexi Corridor. Our projects in this region aim to continue Rewi Alley’s legacy of assisting the local Chinese people to lift their farming economy, through education and the forming of farming cooperatives. Roger will show photos to illustrate Dave’s and his activities, as well as photos from the other provinces he travelled to on business, while aiming to generate the income to return to Gansu!
Please look at the Herald Article later in the newsletter re our Earthquake Projects
New Members
Welcome to: Kate Miller, Melva and John Broughton.
Resignation
Farewell to: Diana Robilliard
Please diary these dates:
Sunday 30th August – Afternoon meeting commencing at 2.00 pm to view the movie “Children of the Silk Road” followed by a discussion.
Thursday 1 October – Banquet and the speaker will be our patron The Hon. Philip Burdon.
Secondary Schools’ NZ Chinese Speech Competition
Congratulations to all the winners. The winners in alphabetical order:
Intermediate Yeun-Su Kim (Christchurch Girls High School), Ashleigh Taylor (Lincoln High School), Caroline Turnbull (St Margaret’s College).
Secondary Sarah Agyeman (Columba College – Dunedin), Chung-Hee Lee (Christchurch Boys High School), Emma Price (St Margaret’s College).
The National Chinese Speech Competition takes place on Saturday 11 July (during the school holidays).
June Meeting Speaker – Dave Adamson – My Life Working for the Christchurch City Council.
Members were very entertained by Dave as he described his working life in the Christchurch City Council including 13 years in the International Department. In the beginning he was the only person in this department but there is now a team of dedicated people who support and advise the voluntary members of the Sister City committees as well as arrange the programmes for visiting delegations to and from the Sister Cities and other places. He said he felt that the small budget allocated to this was well recovered by the economic benefits received from this work. Just this year in March Dave organised and helped a visiting TV crew with a programme to promote Christchurch city as a tourist destination.
His most important message was the value he placed on the Sister City relationships and the people to people friendship that is created. The understanding and appreciation of different cultures is important and the only way to break down the misunderstandings that seem to lead to such worldwide conflict. Dave’s enthusiasm for his job and he way he described it delighted us all.
