The
World Transplant Games Federation is entering a new era. With a vigourous
new Secretary, the Millennium approaching and a realisation that we must
grow both in size and in stature, I hope to have your support for some
significant changes in the way we function. Amongst these is the identifying
of key activist members in the 43 countries which comprise our Federation,
particularly the smaller ones. We have designated named Councillors whose
responsibilities include maintaining communications with those countries.
The circulation of the Journal of the WTGF has been increased from 400 to 3,000 and we hope to double that figure by 1997. Please let me know what you think of your Journal what subjects you would like included, how would you like it to be and, most importantly, are you receiving it? We now have a permanent office (see photograph), a secretary (see photograph) for half of each working day of the week and a 24 hour telephone and fax service. Do benefit from this organisation - it is yours.
It gave me great pleasure to be present at the First Eastern European Transplant Games held in the unpronounceable venue of Tiszaujvaros in Hungary and at the first All India Games in New Delhi. Both were memorable events and both pioneered and brought about by great team efforts, lead by a few dedicated individuals and enjoyed by hundreds of diverse competitors often experiencing the fun, comradereie and excitement of the Transplant Games forthe firsttime. And congratulations too to an old hand, Gary Green, of the USA Transplant Association who with his hard working asociates ran the very successful American Transplant Games in Salt Lake City with 1,300 participants.
I would like to share my hopes for the World Transplant Games with you. My dream is that we develop an organisation which can truly help the pioneer efforts of emerging countries, particularly in organ donation. To that end, we will all be very honoured to have a team from Vietnam, India, Romania and Pakistan for the 11th Worid Transplant Games in Sydney, Australia in 1997.
The Australian effort is gathering momentum. The Australian Transplant Association with its President, Warwick Duncan, and Mark Cocks are hard at it. They are busy gathering around them the kind of support which is needed to organise an event of this magnitude. I am certain that these Sydney Games will be tremendous and confess that the idea of our events being held at the venue of the year 2000 Olympiad is exciting. Support for the 11th Games in Australia is growing by the week and we are delighted to have the world's number one golfer, Greg Norman as a key figure. In addition, Jose Carreras, tenor and bone marrow transplantee, has also declared his enthusiastic support.
I write this as 1996 comes to an end and therefore take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy New Year. See you 'down under' in Sydney, September 1997.
Last modified:
11 May 2000