One Uber contained an Indian man, a Hindu by birth, and his Iranian partner, a Muslim by birth. In the second Uber were two Indonesian women. One was Chinese by birth and instinctively Catholic in outlook, whilst her friend was Buddhist. Of the couple waving them goodbye into the night, one was, by upbringing, English and Anglican and the other Australian and Catholic.
Whilst waiting for their Ubers, outside a modern apartment building, the group’s conversation was animated, cheerful, and full of good will. It had been thus since 7pm when they had come together for dinner as total strangers. Any observer might have speculated whether they were plotting an outbreak of world peace, or the final ending of Polio, or the expansion of goodwill around the world.
The reality was that this happened during the recent Rotary International Convention that saw some 14,000 people of goodwill descend on Melbourne, and set Rod Laver Arena and Jeff’s Shed alight with throbbing cheerful – sometimes inspirational - activity.
One microcosm of that Convention was the dinner in the Hawthorn apartment of Ginia and Lawrence Reddaway, under the boring moniker “Home & Club Hospitality”. A better title for the ‘home’ part of this would have been “International Dining at Home and Having Fun”.
Before Interpol starts to investigate this eclectic Hawthorn gathering, we can reveal that the first Uber contained:
Prince Kumar who wrote “I'm an engineer, the Immediate Past President for The Rotary Club of Toronto and Chair of our District's Strategic Planning. My journeys have led me to serve via a Management Consulting Firm that does engineering and strategic planning, along with another two social enterprises, one is focused on healthy lifestyle with clay pot cooking, and another is all about home and lifestyle automation.” During the evening he explained that his father had been an Indian diplomat and spy before being assassinated in Myanmar. (Lawrence adds: I kid you not. And I do believe this unlikely story.)
Sarah Safaei, (according to her partner Prince!) “is a meditation and transformational life coach and the Public Image Chair for the Rotary Club of Toronto Eglinton. Her initial education in Iran was Masters in Economics, she continued her higher education in International Business Management in Canada and thereafter left the corporate world to start a new journey in which she supports people to get to know themselves better, love themselves deeper and have a mindful lifestyle.
In the second Uber were
Suzana Chandra wrote “I am Indonesia born Chinese. I had a pleasure of living in Sydney, Australia for almost 14 years, before deciding to go back home to Indonesia. Now, Octavius & I live in Bali. We have 2 adult daughters, the eldest one works & lives in London, while the youngest one is studying business at the RMIT, Melbourne. I got my masters degree in Finance from UNSW, thanks to the scholarship from the Australian government; and now I run my own businesses mainly in real estate & general contractor. I have been a Rotarian for almost 15 years, and in the year 2024-2025 I will have the privilege to be the District Governor of D3420 - Eastern part of Indonesia.” (Surely, Lawrence adds, one of the geographically largest Districts!)
Jayanti Eni Arini ‘Enny’ “Enny Graduated from Computer Information System, Michigan, USA but most of her career is in management consultant & property agency. Currently she is the principal of LJHooker (various locations) in Bali. She has been Rotarian for almost 15 years, but due to her hectic schedules, only recently, she had a courage to say yes to be the Club President of RC Bali Denpasar.“ (Lawrence adds: Who would have that L J Hooker would have branches in Bali?)
Yes, hosting this dinner was hard work. But Rotary actually paid us to do it! And it resulted in a truly wonderful evening! 😉