In Gear | Rotary in Southern New Zealand Issue 2 | Page 20

fellow Rotarians, spreading
the grim word about the
atrocities faced by the
children Project Starfish
seeks to protect. Some are
just pre-schoolers.
After seeking advice from
former Rotary International
Zone director and Rotary
Club of Cromwell member
Stewart
Heal,
David
travelled, with the support
of his club, to Sydney in
2010 to speak to district
governors-elect
from
throughout New Zealand,
Australia and the Pacific
Islands.
Half-way
through
his
address,
though,
he
wondered if he’d made a
terrible mistake in going.
“You know, you’re talking,
and you’re wondering how
your presentation’s going?

Mealtime at the Rescue Mission for Children.

“But there were people
leaving the room, and I’m thinking: this is not good.
“Afterwards, though, without exception, they came up
and apologised and said: ‘Look, I’m sorry, I was in tears,
I couldn’t stay in the room – I had to leave’.”
As David spoke with people after his speech, a softlyspoken man approached him and shook his hand.
“He said: ‘I understand what you’re trying to achieve –
it’s a massive thing. Is there anything I can do to help’?”
The man handed over his business card. David was
stunned.
“Oh, you’re Kalyan Banerjee – Rotary International
president-elect.

“The story had gone right to the top of Rotary. With
his help, I got a booth, pride of place in the House of
Friendship at the 2012 Rotary International Convention
in Bangkok – one of the biggest they’d had, in front of
38,000 Rotarians.”
At the end of the convention he travelled to the
Rescue Mission for Children. As a result of the
exposure gained at the Rotary gathering, Rotarians
from Australia, Nigeria, the United Kingdom and the
United States dropped in to the centre to get a greater
appreciation about what was being achieved.
Nowadays, any trip he’s away for on work typically
comes with as many Rotary meetings as he can squeeze
in around business. It’s a chance to promote Project
Starfish, and to ensure Rotarians are in no doubt about
the gravity of the plight of many millions of the world’s
children.
When it comes to horrifying stories and examples,
sadly, David is not short of material. As he says, just
when you think you’ve heard it all, you find out there’s
worse.
“We are talking children – in some cases very, very
young children. We’re not talking about this happening
to them once in their lifetime; we’re talking about
them being raped 10, 15 and 20 times a day,” he says.

David Black with fellow Rotarians at the 2012 Rotary
International Convention’s House of Friendship in Bangkok.

“And when the abuse stops, they’ve got such intense
pain between their legs, they can’t sleep. So, they
build up a sleep deprivation, their immune system’s
compromised … and the next thing you know, they’ve
got something like HIV, because the clients have
decided not to use protection, then that’s it. They’re of

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