What follows is a thank you from Glenn Raynor, our 2009-2011 Rotary World Peace Fellow.

He would like to pass on his thanks and best regards to the Rotarians of Victoria Harbourside Rotary Club!

 

Glenn Raynor was a 2009-2011 Rotary World Peace Fellow, who studied at the International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan. All of the funding for the Rotary Peace Fellows comes from The Rotary Foundation.

Sponsored by the Victoria-Harbourside Rotary Club, Glenn was hosted in Japan by the Tokyo-Musashino Rotary Club, District 2580. Glenn is currently on contract with Transparency International in Berlin, Germany as a Senior Pacific Specialist overseeing the anti-corruption work of Transparency International chapters in the South Pacific region (Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu).

The Rotary World Peace Fellowship opened up a world of opportunity academically, professionally and personally for Glenn.

Academically Glenn was privileged to study under excellent professors who inspired him to ask difficult questions and challenged him to push the boundaries of knowledge. This phase also included an opportunity to conduct several months of applied field research into traditional food economies in the remote and pristine Marovo Lagoon in the Solomon Islands.

Professionally it has opened the doors to work in a respected international organization present in over 100 countries around the world while personally it allowed him to spend two years living in the fascinating and vibrant city of Tokyo where he was also blessed to meet his future wife to be, a fellow Rotary World Peace Fellow from South Africa who was also studying at the ICU Rotary Centre for International Studies in Peace and Conflict in Tokyo.

For this and so much more Glenn would like to express his immense gratitude to the Victoria-Harbourside Rotary Club and Rotarians around the world for providing him with this powerful and life changing opportunity.

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With Host Counselor, Mr  Suryo Nakazato, Tokyo Musashino Chuo Rotary Club, District 2580

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With Dr William Adukrow, President of the Honiara (Solomon Islands) Rotary Club, District 9600, where he did his Applied Field Research

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Post-Tsunami clean up Ishinomaki, Japan 2011. Glenn went with two fellow ICU Rotary Peace Fellow colleagues to help clean up in some of the worst hit areas of northern Japan