conference – Rotary Club of Centurion

Our second youth conference, “Changing Lives, Touching Tomorrow” was conducted with a resounding success!

The success was made possible with the support of Cornwall Hill College in providing us with a fantastic venue and competent students who took on the role of facilitators. The role of the facilitators in the event is key. Cornwall Hill College’s Social Responsibility Director, Mrs Wendy Barrett coached and guided the facilitators through the delicate art of facilitating a peer group and Rotarian Marilyn Traugott guided them with pointers in handling different cultures. Our relationship with Cornwall Hill College is of huge value to our Club.

Catering for 158 busy students was a task that was ably handled by the Rotarians and their spouses. The Saturday Lunch was sponsored Steers, Highlands Centre and the Rotarians got stuck in flipping the burgers. Vegetarian options were also available and the food was enjoyed by all.

Dala, KV Art Materials (Pty)Ltd , K Craft Imports (Pty) Ltd and Mr Price were our sponsors for the stationery and creative materials. Lovely expressive art work was created!

As before, the feedback from the delegates was very positive. They loved being able to interact with people they did not know before and express themselves freely in an environment they found comfortable.

Some of the comments:

“Meeting new people, this was very wonderful. I wish I can come back!”

“The idea of the talking stick was truly out of this world and I’m going to do it at school.” “The change you wish to create needs to begin from within yourself.”

“I learnt that serving people can actually change my perspective about life.”

The schools that participated were:

Al Ghazali College
Amity International School
Cornwall Hill College
Hoërskool Eldoraigne
Malatse Motsepe High School
Olievenhoutbosch Secondary
Phelindaba Secondary School
Pretoria Central Technical College
Pretoria Chinese School
Pretoria Girls High
St. Albans College
St. Peters College
Sutherland Ridge High School
Voortrekkerhoogte High School
Willowmoore High School
Hoërskool Waterkloof
Hoërskool Zwartkop
Lyttelton Manor High School

We live in a world where it is critical that we find answers on how to end the conflict in homes, schools and towns. It has never been more appropriate to sit together and search for answers than now.

This situation encouraged us to put together a peace conference encouraging our youth to participate in discussions enabling them to take away new ideas for ways to engage and work for Peace through Service.

Our first “Peace Conference” was held at Cornwall Hill College on the 1st and 2nd of 2 March 2013. The Rotary “Peace Conference” was an initiative in line with 2012-13 Rotary International objective of Peace Through Service.

Our club’s objective was to create the opportunity for interaction and dialogue between learners of different economic and cultural backgrounds, regardless of community or religious background, to open doors of self-discovery and opportunity.

We succeeded in bringing together 108 learners, enabling friendships, mutual understanding, knowledge exchange and joint activities. We encouraged active participation in various sessions, stimulating the learners to think for themselves, displaying ingenuity and initiative as an individual or as part of a team.

To give an example of a few; we had poems, music, skits, collages as well as numerous questions and debates on what peace means to them.

Our guest speaker, Dr Ryan Blumenthal – a forensic pathologist, spoke about conflict resolution through misdirection, and kindly donated a copy of his book to each learner.

A special thank you goes out to Cornwall Hill College for their continued support and the hosting of this conference. We believe that this conference empowered the learners, encouraged new ideas and confidence to change their work.

Tag: conference

Changing Lives, Touching Tomorrow

Rotary Centurion Peace Conference