Address by Dr Peter Hollingworth, AC, OBE
Our club presents awards each year to several Australians whom it regards as worthy recipients, by recognising the contributions they have made in community leadership and service.
It is always one of the highlights of the year, when the Chair of the Young Achievers Awards Committee presents three awards to young people between the ages of 18 and 26. Speaking personally from my involvement in the process, we have found among those nominated by their organisations, young people of the highest calibre, who have come before our members and briefly told their story. Invariably, this has been a very moving one to hear and to admire.
This year’s three young people are Olivia Beasley, an advocate and role model for the deaf, Eangano Singehebhuye, for his passion through helping other young people like himself to thrive, and Hiba Abd el Hamid, for her community work with diversity and inclusion, locally and internationally through the United Nations.
In their remarkable endeavours within their respective communities, they have been nurtured and assisted through the difficult passages in their lives, by family, mentors, educators and several key partner organisations with whom Melbourne Rotary has built some great relationships with over the years. There are few initiatives more important in the development and thriving of young people, especially among those who have settled here after deeply disruptive circumstances and suffering faced by their families in their countries of birth.
As our President has reminded us, Rotary’s simple motto is ‘service above self’. In an age of selfies, self-interest, self-promotion, consumption and the pursuit of personal advancement and rampant individualism, this longstanding motto sounds almost counter intuitive. Until now it has often felt like rowing against the stream of mass mediated values, much are mostly about the self.
Perhaps the worldwide coronavirus will be an object lesson in the recovery of community. However hard things have been and will be in the future, we will all learn, just as you and countless other young people are discovering that ‘we are all in this together’ which is the theme of Reconciliation week, as we all seek a better world for all to live in, despite what has happened in recent times.
This is not the way we usually make these important presentations but we can honour you and recognise the important people in your lives on live stream, proudly sharing in your achievements, both in caring for others and pursuing justice for all.
It is now a great pleasure to hand over to the Committee Chair Rotarian Iqbal Reta to introduce you fully and present the Young Achievers Awards to which you are each invited to respond.
Thank you.
