President's Message

 

It is with great honor that I am addressing you tonight as the newly elected President of The Rotary Club of Aruba, with my powerhouse of a Board.

A Club with such history and legacy of doing good in Aruba. Next month we will be celebrating 84 years serving the community of Aruba. What a milestone and more reasons to celebrate.

 

This year is also a milestone for Rotary International. They finally caught up with the trend that women are very much able and capable to lead. Rotary International President Jennifer Jones want us as members "to IMAGINE the possibilities in the change we can make to transfer the World."

Hence the theme of this year, IMAGINE ROTARY.

 

After two years of pandemic, that changed all our lives, it is time again to dream about a brighter future. And I must confess I am excited about the future.

 

Becoming a mother myself, as cliché, as it sounds has triggered a different excitement for the future. Thinking about my daughter Isabelle, and her beautiful future. How she will grow up, the things that she will experience. What for vocation will she choose. And what it would be like when she has children of her own.

She is only 2 years old by the way.

 

Nevertheless, this has also got me thinking about the community that she will grow up in. What will the World be like?

 

This can sometimes be a daunting thought, that the future might not be as beautiful as I IMAGINE. But, I also know that I have it in my hands. Actually, we all have it in our hands to create that beautiful future for our children and generations to come.

 

IMAGINATION IS THE VOICE OF DARING.

To IMAGINE, To DREAM, is a call for ACTION. A call for ACTION to make things happen.

 

But! We have to take ACTION, take the responsibility to make it happen. TODAY!

 

And this starts with all of us. Us as members. Together, we are the Rotary Club of Aruba. That is what makes us such a great Club. It is us, the members, that make things happen. We are the reason that we exist for 84 years.

 

The object of Rotary itself talks about its members first. How we can develop meaningful connections to encourage and foster the ideal of service. Of doing good in the community and in the world. The advancement of international understanding, goodwill and peace through a world of fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.

 

If one thing we have learned about the pandemic is that we evolve and can take care of each virtually, remotely, but we will always crave the human connection. No, zoom, teams, can ever totally replace that.

 

That is why this year one the main objective is to bring back to the fellowship within our Club. To foster member engagement. To spark the light again of the reason why you and I have joined Rotary in the first place.  And with that spark, ignite the passion of doing good for our community through our service projects.

 

I will request from to IMAGINE once more what you can do, as a member of Rotary Club of Aruba.

 

 

 

 

These are only a couple of examples of the ideas we have imagined in the past that are now a reality. We cannot IMAGINE an Aruba without them.

 

As I embark on this new journey, together with my board and together with all of you,

I dare you to IMAGINE the possibilities and to IMAGINE a "world that deserves our best, where we get up each day knowing and believing that we are all capable to make a difference in our lives and the lives of those we serve."

 

Because hope lies in dreams, in imagination and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality.

 

Thank you!

 

Yours in Rotary

 

Shelby Maduro

President 2022-23

Rotary Club of Aruba