Rotary | People of Action

Short and sweet - 2 min read

When we hear their story, we bend perception and eliminate assumption | Cam Calkoen

It was a pleasure to be involved in this year’s Australia/New Zealand Rotary Conference held in ōtautahi/Christchurch. Alongside Patricia Mackenzie, we co-organised the Emerging Leaders Symposium held last Saturday. The line-up included a range of different speakers including a brief history on the evolution of civilisation and empathy, too, an insight into Uganda from two Cantabrian’s making a difference. The theme of the conference was thinking global and acting local. The conference finished up with three local speakers making including myself. The evolution of civilisation and empathy was particularly interesting, we dived into the correlation between homicide and the improved civil nature of society. Over time the rate of homicides per 100,00 has significantly decreased, in New Zealand the homicide rate has nearly halved in 50 years (NZ Herald). Did you know New Zealand has one of the lowest homicide rates in the world (OECD)?

During the break-out sessions we discussed what Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are most important to youth, the five most popular by vote were Climate Action, Gender Equality, Good Health and Well-being, Responsible Consumption and Production and finally, Peace Justice and Strong Institutions.

Rotary International has more than 1.2 million Rotarians, 250, 000 Rotaractors (youth) and 468, 000 Interactors (high school-aged). Each one of them is making a difference in their community and locally. I was privileged to sit on a panel on the engagement of youth with Rotary. I urged the conference and the International President, Mark Maloney, to consider Rotary International’s collective action to climate change as this is what is important to the youth of our generation! After I spoke, I had a Rotarian from Wellington who spoke to me about their commitment to plant 5 million trees in New Zealand. Rotary making a difference! 

A quick background on my experience with Rotary International and how I found myself in this position.

Dream big and achieve more

• 4 years volunteering in a range of different projects.
• RYLA (leadership conference) Alumni and a New Zealand delegate to the North America conference where I was awarded the MR RYLA 2018. The conference had 35 countries represented it was a spectacular event for cultural immersion.
• Co-organiser of the Emerging Leaders Symposium for the Australia/New Rotary Conference

If you re interested in joining Rotary of want to more check out their website and the causes they support. https://www.rotary.org/en/our-causes