Welcome to Paphos Aphrodite Rotary Club

The Paphos-Aphrodite Rotary Club has an International Membership and our meetings are conducted in English.

Paphos, the capital of Cyprus in ancient times with many World Heritage sites has also like Cyprus the cleanest beaches in the Mediterranean.

Being a great tourist resort we are used to welcoming guests from all over Europe and beyond.

First Meeting After the Summer Break

After our summer break we met in the Anemi Hotel and it was great to see all our members again. We also welcomed Jane Vice-Long with her husband from the Bury Abbey Rotary Club in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, UK.

Our talented Violinist Giannis

At our final meeting before the summer break, we were delighted to welcome Giannis Christodoulides and his father Savvas. Giannis is 17 years old and a very talented violinist who attends the Paphos Music School and also was awarded a Scholarship to study advanced technique at the Nicosia University.

Giannis auditioned, and was accepted to participate in a European Youth Orchestra Academy organised by the Rotary Club of Mannheim-Rhein-Neckar as a RYLA Project. He is the only Cypriot to be accepted with students from all over Europe.

We are so impressed by this talented young man and unanimously agreed to sponsor him. He will come back later in the year to tell us about his experiences in Germany and also to play for us. Well done Giannis, I am sure you will make Paphos (and Cyprus) proud of you!

https://www.facebook.com/reel/295714459607610

Handover Dinner in the Lodge

After 2 years being president out our club Juergen Krekeler handed over to our new president Reda Youssef. A big thanks to Juergen for all his work he has done with his team.

Congratulations to Reda and we wish him a successful year. It was great to see so many Rotarian friends from several other clubs as well as many supporters of our club. Big thanks also to the team at THE LODGE who looked after us. We all had a fantastic evening and looking forward to the new Rotary year.

Charity Raffle April 2023

Two of our members attended a recent event where we were allowed to have a charity raffle. A lovely lady called Gail won the huge food hamper, which she said she would share with her friends, and €235 was raised for the Friend's Hospice. Thank you to our Club members for their donations.

Happy Easter

Rotary Club of Paphos Aphrodite ABC

A is for American University of Beirut

As most readers will be aware the prestigious American University of Beirut is opening an off shoot in Paphos, building next to AlphaMega in Kato Paphos.

We entertained the Rector of the University, who gave a good sized audience a talk on the plans they have. In brief they start taking in students in September and are planning to expand at around 200 students per year until they reach their target of 2000. Students will come from all over the Eastern Mediterranean area as well as from countries such as the US, UK and Germany.

This is a great coup for Paphos, which was selected ahead of the UAE. Thu University, a long established charitable institution, will provide jobs and income for the city.

B is for bees

A second guest at our club was Dr Manfred Lange who is a leader of Rotary Cyprus’s Pollinator project. He explained the pressing need to encourage pollinating insects including, though not exclusively, bees. Rotary Clubs across the island are working with communities to establish areas that attract pollinators and to educate the public on the need.

This was a very informative presentation (worrying in places , when talking about global warming) and inspired our club members to take forward our own plans to develop pollinator gardens.

C is for Concert

Our Rotary Club is not all about serious things. We like to have fun, too. And to raise money for charity. So we are planning our fourth Rock Concert, which will take place in Tala Arena in June. A great night is guaranteed and we hope to raise more than the €3000 from last year. Keep an eye on Facebook and this publication for date, tickets etc.

If any of this interests you and you would like to help us and attend events, either as a full member or as a supporter we would love to hear from you. Give me a ring on 96418623 or mail me at ian.graves@mac.com. You will receive a warm welcome to our club and the fascinating and worthwhile world of Rotary.

Polio and Rotary

Polio – what does that word mean to you? To some of us, those of a somewhat more advanced age, it will likely conjour up mental pictures of children walking with calipers and patients confined to an iron lung. To younger people polio may mean little or nothing. Polio was a fearsome and much feared disease which particularly affected children, a disease eliminated from Britain (and Cyprus) and most of the world.

This remarkable feat was achieved thanks to almost universal vaccination (the first vaccine came out in 1953 and earned its inventor, Jonas Salk, a Nobel prize and the gratitude of millions). Despite cynicism about covid vaccines it has to be acknowledged that vaccines have transformed disease control and in the case of polio made its complete eradication possible.

In1988 the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was founded and since then polio cases have been reduced by 99.9%.Rotary International has been a part of the Initiative since its inception and Rotary Clubs have contributed the staggering sum of $2.1 billion. Many Rotary volunteers have participated in mass vaccination programmes across the world.

Now polio is only endemic in 2 countries – Pakistan and Afghanistan ( and Pakistan is well on the way to being polio free). It is tempting to think of polio as ‘their problem’ and that we need do no more. But until polio is eradicated- until it ceases to exist anywhere – we cannot rest. Traces of polio virus were found in London water last year and, because polio is no long the feared spectre it was, vaccination rates have dropped, leaving people vulnerable.

Every Rotary Club in the world – all 14,000 – in Cyprus, UK Germany, Russia ,Pakistan among many in virtually every country – is pledged to continuing the fight against polio until it is completely eradicated.

Rotary Clubs see defeating polio as ‘our fight’. We in Paphos Aphrodite Rotary Club regularly send funds to buy vaccine ans support its use. Indeed, every time we have a guest speaker we donate 100 euros in their name.

So, when you see one of our members collecting for the End Polio Now campaign, please give generously. Help us to make this only the second disease to be wiped off the earth. We are so close to winning but inevitably the last round takes the greatest effort.

Quiz question: What is the only disease that has been completely eradicated?

Rotary in March

Today is pretty grim – hail, rain, wind! Winter is here. But thankfully by the time you read this we will be looking forward to spring.

Spring is the time for action and Paphos Aphrodite Rotary Club is already springing (forgive the pun) into action. We have been planning our programme of events and fundraising so I am writing at more length than usual (editors willing) because without you and your support we can not achieve our aims.

So firstly, what are our aims? One is to bring people together in common cause because as we all know people working together can achieve far more than on their own. Those causes and aims are to improve the lives of others, whether by education or our efforts or by raising funds for others. We are planning to work in all those ways.

Education: A major push by Rotary across Cyprus is to encourage people to understand the necessity for assisting pollinators, such as bees (though many other insects pollinate also). We are helping to create pollinator gardens at the Learning Refuge, Hope Farm and our own little patch in Mesa Chorio. Pollinator Gardens are really simple- essentially they are just areas within a garden or open space filled with plants that attract bees and insects. If you are interested in the pollinator project look at http://rotary-cyprus.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/ROTARY-Cyprus-pollinatorProject Flyer eng.pdf

By our own efforts: You may have noticed that there is quite a lot of rubbish by the roads and streets of Paphos. On March 18th Rotarians will take part in a clean up operation on Europis Avenue (ERA to the triangle) which we hope will be the first of many such events. Of course the help of others would be much appreciated so if you think a tidy town is important come and join us – keep an eye on Facebook.

Raising Funds

For three years now we have put on a rock concert in the summer and we will be doing the same this year. It will be in Tala Amphitheatre and will feature two acts. If it is as good as previous years there will be much fun and dancing. Proceeds go to our charities. Keep your eyes out for publicity and please join us.

We are also planning to put on other events and to run raffles at other music events.

And lastly – did you know that there was a Rotary Square in Paphos and have you been there? It is a little hidden, just off Kennedy Square with entrances from Kiniras Hotel and Palia Elektriki. Although it bears our name it has not been used for much – so far. We have plans to put on a number of events there, starting with a craft market in late spring/early summer. So find out where it is and come along.

Just typing about the programme we have has worn me out but we are excited as well. If you feel that you would like to get involved in any way , either by joining our club or just coming along to help you can contact me at ian.graves@mac.com.

The motto of Rotary is Service Above Self and we do our best to live up to it.

Ian Graves

Vice President

Paphos Aphrodite Rotary Club

Online Auction

Online auction on 27 March!

Join us!

Pollinator Garden at the Learning Refuge in Paphos

Rotarians at work! A start to prepare the ground for our Pollinator Garden at the Learning Refuge in Paphos. This centre provides support and assistance to refugee and asylum seeker families and also the underage young people who are currently housed in the New York Plaza apartments. As you can see we had two mini Rotarians to help us as well as two young Afghan boys. It was hard work, so well done! Updates on the progress of the garden will follow.

Pollinator Project

Our guest speaker in March was Dr. Manfred Lange who spoke about the idea of Pollinator Gardens and explained how they benefit our environment. We had many ideas, good questions and interesting discussions.

Speaker Event March 2023

Speaker Event February 2023

Our speaker in February was Dr. Wassim El-Hajj, the Rector of the new American University of Beirut Mediterraneo. We had many guests at our meeting who were interested in hearing about the history of the AUB and the development of the new campus in Paphos.

February 2023 Fellowship

Several of our members enjoyed a great fellowship evening at Agora Restaurant.

It was a pleasure to have DDG Emilios Tannousis and his wife as our guests.

The new American University of Beirut – Mediterraneo will share the vision of the new university due to open in Paphos

Greetings from Paphos-Aphrodite Rotary Club

We would like to extend an invitation to attend a presentation where the Rector of the American University of Beirut – Mediterraneo will share the vision of the new university due to open in Paphos with its first student intake in September 2023.

Details are as follows:

Location: Anemi Hotel – Paphos - https://anemihotel.com/

Date: Thursday 23rd February Time: 20h00

Guest Speaker: Dr. Wassim El-Hajj-Rector of the American University of Beirut – Mediterraneo.

RSVP: As space is limited, please RSVP by Monday 19 February to Rob Ullrich on either Mobile No:. 95767714 or email: robtradeup@gmail.com

Brief Bio of Dr. Wassim El-HAjj

Wassim El-Hajj is tenured Professor of Computer Science at the American University of Beirut (AUB).

He received his BS degree from AUB in 2000, and the MS and Ph.D. degrees in 2002 and 2006, respectively, from Western Michigan University (WMU), all in Computer Science.

Right after his graduation, he joined the Information Security department at UAE University as an assistant professor. He then joined the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at AUB as a visiting professor and then joined the Computer Science department as a full-time faculty member in 2011.

In 2013, he was elected to Chair the department of Computer Science and served for two terms until 2019. He was promoted to Associate Professor in June 2014, and to Professor in June 2021.

In 2019, he was appointed as the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences at AUB leading the eLearning and entrepreneurship strategies, and attending to student concerns.

In September 2021, he was appointed as the Executive Director of the American University of Beirut – Mediterraneo project, AUB’s first ever twin campus abroad, leading on and participating in all the project aspects including strategic planning, local and US accreditation, legal agreements, HR matters, communications, finance, procurement, and housing.

In January 2023, he was apppinted as the Rector of the American University of Beirut – Mediterraneo.

We look forward to seeing you at the meeting