HAMBURG, GERMANY – Close to all nationalities that populate this Earth, young and old, Rotarian, Rotaractor and Interactor… An immense crowd. Hopeful, ambitious and energized; this is the Rotary family! Herzlich willkommen in Hamburg; this was the 30th Rotary International Convention. 

The Rotary year theme´18-‘19 “Be the inspiration” never sounded louder than during the 2019 Rotaract pre-convention and Rotary convention. International President Barry Rassin challenged the existing and changed Rotary in its core by elevating Rotaract from program to partner. He was an inspiration to all of us with his charming and caring personality from the Bahamas .

The pre-convention was an opportunity for Rotaract Europe and Germany to showcast what Rotaract life is about in our regions. German Rotaractor Phillip Leonhard Franke and his team created an extracurricular program during the pre-convention showing international Rotaractors what Rotaract Germany and Rotaract Europe is all about – the lifestyle, our diversity, our European joie de vivre. International Rotaractors were even treated with a typical Bavarian night. All of this resulted in the biggest pre-convention EVER! 

The presence of the European Rotaract Information Centre was bigger than ever before. Given the location – the convention was a home game for us. During the pre-convention we organised our famous E.R.I.C. country booths – an amazing success attracting not only international Rotaractors, but also given Rotarians ‘a taste’ of what our countries have to offer. 

At the House of Friendship our M.D.I.O. was the only of its kind to be granted a booth to show the work we do. Together with Rotaract Germany we met with hundreds of visitors, talking about our projects, considering new actions, meeting inspiring people, … To all the volunteers that have helped us; un grand merci!

Finally I wish to thank the International Rotaractors Ssendawula Jakob (Kampala, Uganda), Mohamed Amine Mbarek (Tunis, Tunisia) and Onoriode – Oba – Obareki (Nigeria) for their contributions and teamwork on the pre-con session “How to attract new members?”.

On to Honolulu! Are we gonna see you there? Aloha!