9. TONY ZHANG HAN

Sponsor Club: Rotary Club of Chengdu Chengdu, China, District 0052 

Host Club: Brisbane Planetarium Rotary Club, Brisbane, AUS, District 9600 

Tony was born in Kunming and most recently lived in Chengdu, China. Since 2010, Tony worked for Heifer China as the Communication & Networking Officer, School Program Manager and Development & Communication Manager. His major responsibilities included domestic fundraising, communication, poverty education, and donor care. Heifer International works to lift impoverished farmers in rural China out of poverty and strengthen community cohesion to improve their dignity. In 2008, an 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck Sichuan Province causing more than 100,000 people to perish. Tony feels that destiny brought him to Rotary when he answered a call for service following this earthquake. Tony began volunteering for Rotary’s ShelterBox, and helped deliver 800 boxes and thousands of tents to homeless refugees in the remote mountainous countryside. 

Tony became the first certified ShelterBox Response Team member from China and completed two more deployments in 2009 and 2010, helping to send hundreds of tents to typhoon and earthquake affected victims in China’s Anhui and Qinghai provinces. Tony assisted in organizing the First Rotary District 0052 Conference in Chengdu, held Rotary fundraising events, and strengthened the communication among Rotarians in Switzerland and China as a GSE program participant. Tony co-founded the Chengdu chapter of Toastmasters International out of a desire to improve his leadership and communication skills. He was awarded the “Division Governor of the Year” and “Area Governor of the Year” of District 0089 in the past two years due to his excellent service for fast development of Toastmasters in Southwest China. Tony obtained his MA in Applied Linguistics and BA in English Education (Teaching English as Second Language) at Southwest University in Chongqing.