Cyprus Rotaract Newsletter 10

SEASON 2013-14

ISSUE 10

District 2452Armenia|Bahrain|Cyprus|Georgia|Jordan|Lebanon|Palestine|Sudan|United Arab Emirates

ROTARACTIONCYPRUS ROTARACT NEWSLETTER

| ROTARACTION | ISSUE 10 | 2

The Team

DRR: Vincent [email protected]

PDRR: Elena [email protected]

Cyprus VDRR: Kyriacos [email protected]

Cyprus PR Coordinator Chief Editor:Hannah Mortaga [email protected]

Creative AdvisorMishel Fayad [email protected]


EditorialSome have to say that Janu-ary is the month of empty pockets,(somehow true) but I like more those who say that January brings the snow, makes our feet and fingers glow. Cyprus PR team is proud to present the is-sue of January. In this issue, we are honored to have Deputy Governor for Cyprus 2013-14, Mrs. Christina Covot-sou say a few motivational words, learn about the unforgettable Kalopanagiotis fellowship, have a look at past events of each club, and many more. Special thanks goes to Kyriakos Achilleos for the kind con-tribution of the cover photo. Enjoy!

SEASON 2013-14

ISSUE 10

I have been following your activities this year and I am very

proud of what each club and each one of you have achieved.

Since last year We suddenly live in a strange economic environ-

ment and suddenly Rotary has far greater scope and a far more

important Role to play in supporting our ailing community.

I find the way you express Service to the Community refreshing

and inspiring. I admire the solidarity between your clubs and the

support you offer from one club to another. I envy your energy to

pursue all the activities and to have new ones scheduled up front,

and I look forward to the day that you will join a Rotary club.

District Governor Jamil Mouawad was very happy to have had the

opportunity to meet all clubs individually and a lot of Rotaractors

and was impressed with you all.

Finally when I look at you all I feel nostalgic for the experiences I

shared with my fellow Retractors in my days so many years ago,

I feel proud to have served as one and I feel gratified about how

Rotaract has eventually shaped my life.

With these few words I salute you and your vigor and wish

you all the very best for a meaningful life ahead of you.

Warmest Rotarian Regards

DearRotaractors

Christina Covotsou-PatroclouDRR 1988-89, District 245

Deputy Governor for Cyprus 2013-14, District 2452

Did you

ABOUT

know?

RYLA

1Rotary is made up of three parts: at the heart of Rotary are our clubs, that are supported by Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation.

3 In 1987, the first peace forums were held, lead-ing to Rotary Peace Fel-lowships.

2In 1978, Rotary introduced the Health, Hunger and Hu-manity (3-H) Grants. The first 3-H Grant funded a project to immunize 6 million Philip-pine children against polio.

It has come to our attention that some members are not fully aware of what RYLA is and what the benefits of attending a RYLA are. Well, to answer your question, RYLA, which stands for Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) is a leadership development pro-gram run by Rotary. While participants can be any age, most events focus on secondary school students, university students, or young professionals. The interesting thing about RYLA is that it is open to the public and not only to Rotaract or Interact members. RYLA events are typically 3–10 days long and include presentations, activities, and workshops that cover a variety of topics, including:

1. Leadership fundamentals and ethics2. Communication skills

3. Problem solving and conflict management4. Community and global citizenship

So next time you hear about a RYLA, don’t hesitate to attend.


Rotaractors from all over Cy-prus gathered for a fellow-ship weekend at the wonder-ful village of Kalopanayiotis on the 17th - 19th January 2014.

During the weekend many activities were organized such as hiking at St. Ioan-nis Lampidistis, a monastery under UNESCO Heritage, fun teambuilding games, tra-ditional Cyprus dinner with

dancing/singing, and many smaller gatherings around a fireplace for pleasant con-versations and exchanging of ideas on various Rotaract issues.

The Cyprus Rotaractors had the opportunity to spend time together getting to know the experienced, new or prospective Rotaractors on a friendly level and under a relaxed atmosphere.

The aim of the fellowship weekends is to bring the Ro-taractors closer and facilitate future join projects/events as well as supporting other Rotaract Club’s events. A big thank you to the or-ganizing committee were VDRR Kyriakos Christofides, President Charis Michael and President Niovi Georgia-des, that managed to orga-nize a beautiful weekend in

The Kalopanagiotis Fellowship

5 | ISSUE 10 | ROTARACTION |

the Rotaract spirit.

Stay put for another great fel-lowship beginning of Sum-mer 2014 season… !

The Kalopanayiotis

fellowship committee


A meeting with Rotaractors is always a nice experience. A fellowship with Rotaractors is an extrava-

gant experience. Being together for a weekend, enjoying our coffee and a great dinner, with the nice view of

Kalopanayiotis was relaxing. We all met at kalopanayiotis and it was nice seeing friends from all the clubs of

Cyprus. We had time to discuss and share our news. We spent time laughing, drinking, relaxing and having

long promenades in the traditional village Kalopanayiotis. A fellowship is a nice excuse to leave your every-

day routine and meet with friends... and new friends.

As a newly formed club, this was the first time we had the opportunity to take part in a fellowship weekend.

It was an excellent way for us to meet new people as well as to strengthen the bonds with acquaintances from

other clubs. Taking place in picturesque Kalopanayiotis Village, the Fellowship Weekend was relaxing, rejuvenat-

ing and brought us closer to nature. We are grateful to Alexandros Daskalakis a.k.a. Hercules for making the hike

possible by throwing away large tree branches which were blocking the path. The charades game was definitely a

highlight and according to the now famous saying “Rovertos’ team always wins”. The weekend was full of fun and

adventure and we cannot wait for the next one!

Testimonials

It has been a truly relaxing and enjoyable weekend, which gave us the opportunity to get to know each

other even better and make new contacts, away from the fuss of the city. Most certainly enjoyed the board

games that kept us laughing all Friday night and Saturday afternoon, the amazing spa treatments and last,

but certainly not least, the party at “Palio Cinema”. I hope that in the future more fellowship weekends are

organised with even more participation than this one, allowing for Rotaract clubs of Cyprus to interact further

in order to maintain and expand the strong bonds we already developed.

As a newly formed club the fellowship weekend was something that we have never experienced. In

truth, it lived up to our expectations as we had a wonderful time bonding with our fellow Rotaractors from

Cyprus. The 18 Rotaractors of Nicosia Ledra that attended were taught a very good lesson on how enjoyable

Rotaract can be. We are now looking forward for the next fellowship weekend.

The fellowships are events that prove that Rotaract is not only to work hard but also play hard. The Kalo-

panagioti event was a great way for Rotaractors from clubs all over Cyprus to get together, bond, dance, sing and

have lots of fun. If you wanna know how Rotaractos define fun, then you must join the next fellowship.

Thomas TsolakisRAC Nicosia Ledra Membership Director 2013-14

Maria Michaelides RAC Nicosia Ledra PR Director 2013-14

Rovertos Hanadjias RAC Nicosia Ledra President 2013-’14

Hannah MortagaRAC Larnaca Kition Vice President 2013-14

Niovi Georgiade RAC of Nicosia President 2013-14


The Fun times!...


As part of the Pancyprian Ro-

taract Project, Rotaract Club of

Nicosia has organized a food

collection for “Social Groceries

of Cyprus on the 25th of Janu-

ary at Alpha Mega supermar-

ket in Engomi, between the

hours of 10:00- 14:00.

All the members of the club –

smiling - stood by the two en-

trances of the supermarket,

sharing 300 copies of a list

of grocery necessities. While

categorizing and packing the

products as people left the su-

permarket. People were posi-

tive and willing to offer.

The collection was a great suc-

On the 25th of January, Rota-ract Club of Nicosia arranged a social night out for its members, at Symbols Bar/ Restaurant in the old town of Nicosia. The main objective of the night was the cutting of the Vasilopita cake, which

turned into a great night out. Vasilopita is part of our tradi-tion and culture on the New Year’s Eve, taking that into an excuse to meet again. Τhe team had a cheerful Satur-day night with a lot of crazy dancing, drink-ing, eating and laughing. The Vasilopita cake was made by a Rotaractor, while the win-ner of the coin hidden in the cake had the

chance to win a massage voucher-the lucky one of the night was a very faith-ful friend of Rotaract Club of Nicosia. We work hard and we party hard !

Vasilopita Fiesta

Being part of a Pancyprian Project

Rotaract Club of Nicosia

cess as we managed to collect a large amount of products such as

sugar, flour, long life milk, pasta, baby food and hygiene products

etc. Rotaract Club of Nicosia donated an amount of 30euros on

products for this purpose.

The products will be distributed to the Social Groceries as sched-

uled on the 8th of February, with all the Rotaract Clubs of Cyprus.


An excellent fundraising dinner in favor of The Polio Eradica-tion Programme of Rotary In-ternational was organized on 19th of January 2014, by Rotary Club Lefkothea. The dinner was held under the Auspices of His Excellency the President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades.

Rotaract Club Nicosia was ac-tively involved on the organi-zation of this event and three

members of our club attended the Gala Dinner. The club also presented its Polio Campaign by printing some posters, which were used to decorate the Pres-idential Palace Dinner Room and continuing in this way the awareness on Polio.

The DG Jamil Mouawad has also attended the dinner with his spouse and an amount of €6.000 was raised during the event, which will go towards eradication of Polio disease. At the same time, guests were given the opportunity to have a photo taken by a professional photographer with the gesture ‘This Close to Ending Polio’ in order to raise more money. €160 were raised and will be

donated by the Club of Nicosia to Polio International.

The world is now 99 % polio free thanks to Rotary! Special thanks also to our new friend, Christos Panayides, a profes-sional photographer, who vol-untarily helped us with the po-lio campaign.

Polio Fundraising Dinner

Rotaract Club of Nicosia


The Rotary and Rotaract Clubs of Nicosia Aspelia organized a joint meeting on the 30th of January 2014, at Hilton Hotel. It was a great opportunity for both Rotaractors and Rotarians to meet, socialise, and discuss various topics for Ro-tary and other current news. Dur-ing the meeting the President of Rotaract Club Nicosia Aspelia do-nated the cheque of EUR 3,200 to the Rotary Club Nicosia Aspelia scholarship foundation. The mon-ey was raised by Rotaract Club Nicosia Aspelia during the Rock-ing for charity concert, which was held at RED music stage on Fri-day 6th of December. The charity concert was especially organised by the club in order to support the scholarship foundation.

Additionally, during the joint meet-ing Alexandra Kouklina was offi-cially pinned as a new member of Rotaract Club Nicosia Aspelia. We

would like to welcome Alexandra to the Aspelia family and wish her a productive and active participa-tion in Rotaract.

Rotaract Club Nicosia Aspelia

Rotary and Rotaract Clubs of Nicosia Aspelia Joint Meeting


Following his appointment as District Governor, Mr Jamil Mouawad came to Cyprus to meet with all the Rotary and Ro-taract clubs. As part of this jour-ney a joint meeting between all Rotaract Clubs of Nicosia and the District Governor took place on the 16th of January 2014 at Cleopatra Hotel. In this meeting, Mr Jamil Mouawad opened the discus-sion by letting the Presidents express their view on what Ro-tary is. The presidents shared a common view of networking, helping the community and believing in a cause. All of us, including the District Gover-nor agreed that not everyone

can be a member of the Rotary Club. To be a member you have to be active and you have to be willing to offer your services.

The District Governor then opened the floor to the other members present so that each could share something about their clubs activities. Follow-ing this, the District Governor talked about Rotary and the idea of Rotary. He discussed how people should embrace the club, the benefits of being a Rotarian, and how they should promote it to others. He em-phasized on the work that has been done on Polio and how this is the biggest achievement

of Rotary worldwide. Coming to an end, Mr Jamil Mouawad talked about how each club should be working, and that retention of existing members and signing of new ones are important.

Thursday, 30-01-2014 at the Syr-ian restaurant Sawa, reservation for 30. We arrive late, most of the people are already there and our table is hard to miss. A big table, just like a Cypriot wedding, full of young people talking and laugh-ing. It only takes a few minutes before the few latecomers arrive one after the other.Rovertos, our Club President, welcomes us to this gathering. Though his speech is brief and

concise, people around him, are whispering and complaining. As Rovertos moves to the next subject a sudden noise of excite-ment covers his voice. Finally, there is food on the table. The meeting pauses and the dinner begins. Amazing Syrian food, un-limited local wine and 30 friends. What could have been better for a Thursday night? After dinner there are still some subjects to be discussed, some debriefs to take place and then the two things we were all waiting for. First, the pinning of our newest member. We are excited to for-mally welcome her to our club. Her pinning only formalizes what we all already feel. Konstantina has been with us as a prospective member for a few months but she is already part of the “family”.The night ends with the cutting

of ‘vasilopitta’, which is not the traditional one, as we chose the best chocolate cake in Nicosia. The lucky winner is Katerina and though our humorous boys try to steal her victory by putting coins in their pieces, the truth is revealed.

Meeting with the District Governor

Club Outing at Sawa Syrian Restaurant

Rotaract Club Nicosia Ledra


Rotaract Club Nicosia Sarayonu

During her visit to Pakistan, our president was able to

meet with Rotaractors from Rotaract Club of Karachi.

They had the chance to discuss projects and ideas.

Visit to Karachi, Pakistan


Rotaract Club Larnaca Kition

Rotaract Larnaca Kition met for their first meeting of 2014 on the 16th of January.

The president of the club, An-dreas Matsangos wished the members a happy new year and shares his plan for the rest of his Rotaract year.

The president of Rotary Larna-ca Kition, Peter Ashdjian and Cyprus VDRR Kyriakos Christo-fides were also present.

Two new potential members were also present and showed interest in what the club has to offer to the community. Af-

ter the new members were briefed about the future plans of the club, members gathered around to cut the New Year’s cake (vasilopita).

Hannah, the clubs Vice Presi-dent found the lucky coin.

Members enjoyed the rest of the night chatting and getting to know the potential members.

New Years Cake Cut


A final noteMarguerite De Valois, a fa-mous French princess of the 15th century once said: “Love works in miracles ev-ery day: such as weakening the strong, and stretching the weak; making fools of the wise, and wise men of fools; favoring the passions, destroying reason, and in a word, turning everything topsy-turvy.” We, the Cyprus

PR team, would like to wish all single Rotaractors out there to find the right person to come by and fill the emp-ty space which was waiting to be filled. And don’t think that we forgot about the in relationship Rotaractors, we wish each and every day of your life to be the most awe-some ever.

With lots of Rotaract love,The Cyprus PR team

This is the Official monthly Cyprus Rotaract Newsletter. For any suggestions, ideas or thoughts about the uproming issues, please contact us directly at [email protected] or [email protected]


ISSUE 10SEASON 2013 - 14

Documents

Cyprus Rotaract Newsletter 10