A challenging guest speaker
There are many challenging guest speakers available to address Rotary clubs, District Assemblies and Conferences, and special events.

However, Mary Galea, of the Rotary Club of Strathalbyn, South Australia, is a Rotarian speaker of extraordinary qualities.

A Youth Exchange Student to South Africa in 1972, Mary was raped during the term of the exchange but chose to bury it in her mind for 33 years. She went public last year, after hearing someone else who had suffered a similar experience.

Since then, Mary has been supported by Rotary and has been working with the Australian National Youth Exchange Program Committee to implement uniform policies, with a tightening of reporting lines to help protect our young people.
Mary says Rotary International has been supportive of the work being done in Australia and she is pleased to offer her “good news” to the Rotary speakers’ circuit. She said she understands that some people are sceptical and derisive of her motives for wanting to speak out, and emphasises that the focus of her talk ‘‘is on protecting young people, not denigrating an organisation that did not even know what happened to me until I spoke up!’’

Mary joined the Rotary Club of Strathalbyn at the end of last Rotary year. She’s having a great time and says that becoming a Rotarian is one of the best things she has done.

On her speaking engagements, she says: “I focus on the positives that have come out of coming forward. I certainly don’t dwell on the negatives of my experience. My talks are not doom and gloom, and are certainly not controversial. People who have heard me speak are very supportive.”

Mary is happy to go anywhere to address a Rotary meeting or major event. All she requests is that the group concerned meet her travel and accommodation expenses – and she is happy to be home hosted by a Rotary family.
Rotarians interested in using Mary as a keynote speaker may email her on nunkuri@bigpond.com She is a splendid speaker with a very refreshing, honest approach to a long-time problem finally acknowledged and addressed by Rotary.

Computer windfall for PNG schools: All eyes will be on the District 9600 newsletter for further news on the computer windfall for Tapini High School in Papua New Guinea. Newsletter editor District 9600 Past Governor Bill Waterfield advises that a woman from Arizona, U.S.A., has been in touch with the school to organise delivery of a container load of 250 computers! PDG Bill reported that the benefactor and her husband spent seven years teaching at Goroka, Papua New Guinea, and, in that time, saw their house girl, Virgi, through school and college. She is now principal of Hoskins Girls Technical School in PNG and the American is keen to do something special to assist her and her pupils.

ARHRF Safari celebration dinner: A very appropriate celebration dinner, hosted by the Rotary Club of Sutherland, is planned for the Sutherland Entertainment Centre on Wednesday, December 14, to mark the successful conclusion of the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund’s history-making Health Safari. No other event in the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund’s amazing history has created such interest and awareness in the fund and its programs!

Special guest speaker at the evening will be John Flower, the Health Safari manager who will complete the entire 169-day journey around Australia in the fabulous Winnebago. He is a much-sought-after raconteur and will have many, varied tales to tell.

To round off a splendid program, the ARHRF’s favourite speaker on mental illness, Fay Jackson, will also add her humorous/emotional touch to the evening. Fay is a passionate advocate for the education, destigmatisation and early intervention of mental illness.

Tickets are $A40 each and replies (with payment) should be forwarded to the ARHRF, P.O. Box 779, Parramatta 2124, N.S.W. Enquiries should go to District 9680 Past Governor Ted Atkinson on (02) 9633 4888.