Guest Speaker Nicole Macaballug
 
Honorary Philippines Vice-Consul Nicole
 
Lois introduced our International Night guest speaker, Nicole, the Honorary Vice-Consul of the C0nsulate of the Philippines.
 
Born in Manila but raised in Invercargill by her two parents who were doctors, Nicole was initially interested in the sciences but after attending a forum organised by the Sunrise Rotary Club she decided instead to study towards a B.Com which she followed up by completing her Masters in Sydney.
 
She was then inspired by a friend to study law and enrolled to follow this path at Otago University.  She later met with the Philippines Ambassador and two years later they both took on a role to support people from the Philippines who were living in New Zealand.
 
She then met Lois and at that time was promoted to her honorary role.  “If it wasn’t for Rotary I wouldn’t be in this role” she smiled.
 
Nicole explained that people from the Philippines value looking after family in a respectful manner via sharing wealth and showing respect for the elderly and are especially active working in the dairy, engineering and carer fields.  As the country continues to experience challenges in getting itself well organised, many tend to move to live and work overseas including coming to New Zealand which creates a brain drain on their home country.
 
When in NZ they need to meet various requirements to help ensure their time here respected and of value and this is what Nicolle helps them with in her role.
 
Jenny thanked Nicole for her talk and the Foundation & International team for an informative and interesting evening.