Rotary Club of Beijing

This is a short summary, for the full Bulletin in PDF, click the following link:
081216_bulletin.pdf

Sergeant-at-Arms Gilbert welcomed the visiting guests:
- Ms. Sun Bin, guest of Rtn. Gilbert
- Mr. Brian Griffin, guest of Rtn. Charles Lagrange
- Mr. Norbert Stoehr, guest of Rtn. Gilbert
- Mr. Benjamin Thoma, guest of Rtn. Gilbert
- Mr. Rigobert Itoua, guest of Rtn. Gilbert and Rtn. Russ Miller
- Mr. Martial Itoua, son of Rigobert Itoua and guest of Rtn. Gilbert
- Ms. Ilse Mann, guest of Rtn. Niels-Uwe Behrens

New member induction
President Kevin Fong, on behalf of Club Membership Chair Peter Humphrey. chaired the member induction ceremony for our new member, Rigobert Itoua. Rtn. Gilbert acted as sponsor, also representing Rtn. Russ Miller who could not attend.
Rigobert has been Minister Counselor for the Embassy of the Republic of Congo since 2005. He has served on diplomatic postings in China, Cuba and at home in the Congo Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has participated in various Congo delegations to the United Nations General Assembly, the Organization of African Unity and the Copenhagen World Peace Congress.
After the induction ceremony, Rtn. Rigobert made a short speech expressing his happiness in joining the club, adding that he is looking forward to participating in our club activities and services.

Report & Announcements
Rtn. Joerg-Michael Luther informed members that following his imminent retirement, he will leave China and this will be his last attendance at the RCB weekly meetings. He expressed his great sadness at leaving China, a place he found to be full of challenges and surprises which made his life all the more interesting. On behalf of the club, President Kevin thanked Rtn. Luther for his contribution to the club and wished him all the best for his new life after retirement.

President Kevin reported to members that on December 13th, Rtn. Peter Humphrey, together with visiting Rotarian Helen Boyle, her guest, Danny Vincent and himself visited the Xingxingyu Autism Children’s School to inspect the school’s renovation of the office and buildings which our Club had assisted with. The children at the school presented the club with a picture as a small gift, a painting done by one of the children.

President Kevin chaired the Birthday celebration at today’s meeting. All members and guests wished happy birthday greetings to Rtn. Stephane Grand, Rtn. Joerg Wuttke, Rtn. Christoph Mueller, Rtn. Christopher Verrill, and Rtn. Gilbert Van Kerckhove. As representatives of the birthday boys, Rtn Gilbert and his wife Sun Bin cut the cake.

President Kevin reported that due to the coming Christmas season, the coming two Tuesday meetings i.e., for the last two weeks of December, will be held as fellowship meetings.

Other mysterious activities took place. Rtn. Sunny Cheng apparently was talking about something. An unidentified person (E.T.) did something with a box, containing apparently a high-tech device.
The Sergeant-at-Arms and some of his tools are also pictured – such as the feared bell and the brand-new 4-way test banner in English, Chinese and pinyin (used to force members to show their Chinese skills).