DISCURSOS - Rotary International
DISCURSOS - Rotary International
DISCURSOS - Rotary International
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New Generations<br />
Sakuji Tanaka<br />
RI President<br />
Good morning!<br />
I hope that you have all had a pleasant night, that you are recovering well from jet lag, and that<br />
you are ready for another day of this <strong>International</strong> Assembly.<br />
One of the most wonderful things about an <strong>International</strong> Assembly is the opportunity it gives us<br />
to meet and talk with Rotarians from around the world. We all come from such different backgrounds,<br />
but here in San Diego, we are equal — united in our love for <strong>Rotary</strong> service and our<br />
hope for a better future.<br />
As a child, I could never have imagined a day like today — or the way my life would one day be<br />
changed by <strong>Rotary</strong> service.<br />
I grew up in a small village in Japan. I was very poor, one of eight children. The outside world<br />
hardly touched our village — and yet my dream was to travel around the globe. I was born in<br />
1939, when world travel was very rare. It was more than an ambitious dream; it seemed impossible.<br />
I used to watch the ships go by and think perhaps one day I might become a navigator on<br />
one of those ships. But how? In a family like ours, there was no money for high school. I knew<br />
that my education would end when I was 14, as it did for nearly everyone else I knew.<br />
But it did not. One of my teachers saw that I wanted to study further and had no way to do it. He<br />
took matters into his own hands. He arranged jobs for me and for two of my friends in a glass<br />
factory in Tokyo. We would work there during the day, live in the workers dormitory, and go to<br />
high school at night. When he spoke to me of this idea, it seemed like the answer to a dream.<br />
I obtained my parents’ permission and soon was on a train to Tokyo with my teacher and my<br />
friends, and with everything I owned packed in a small basket I carried on my arm.<br />
The path of my life was altered forever. The compassion and generosity of my teacher helped me<br />
to realize my dream. This was a tremendous gift for me.<br />
He saw the possibility to take our lives in his hands. He did not let the opportunity pass but<br />
instead reached out to seize it.<br />
Everything that happened in my life was different because of this act. Like my teacher, through<br />
<strong>Rotary</strong>, I have been able to pass a life-changing gift on to many other people.<br />
New Generations Service is the newest Avenue of Service in <strong>Rotary</strong>. It is reflective of the way<br />
we see our work — as something designed to last, to affect not only people today but also generations<br />
to come.<br />
New Generations Service encompasses any service that benefits young people and families, as<br />
well as future generations. Whether it is through literacy or job training, through maternal health<br />
programs or nutrition for young children, through Rotaract and Interact or through <strong>Rotary</strong> Youth<br />
Exchange, we in <strong>Rotary</strong> are working to get young lives off to the best start possible.<br />
For example, today in Nigeria, 1 in 18 women dies as a result of childbirth. Through our maternal<br />
health initiatives, <strong>Rotary</strong> is working to change that, to ensure that fewer children grow up without<br />
their mothers.<br />
<strong>International</strong> Assembly Speeches 2013 13