Rotary projects around the globe

Rotary projects around the globe

September 2024

By Brad Webber

Canada

About 200 college students, faculty, and community members took turns swinging baseball bats at junkyard vehicles during a Car Smash for Charity event organized by the Rotaract Club of Vancouver-University of British Columbia. The fundraiser, held each of the past three years before final exams, “offers people a fun way to relieve stress or test their own strength, while supporting a wonderful cause,” says Sara Lee, a past co-president of the club. The event, held on the campus quad in April, raised more than $2,200 Canadian for education-related endeavors. A scrap car company delivered a Volkswagen and a Chevrolet and collected the remnants afterward for recycling. “Our team is continually amazed at the response the event receives,” Lee says.

United States

The Rotary Club of Patchogue in New York has raised more than $138,000 over the past dozen years by feting civic and business leaders in rollicking style. The most recent soiree, held in March to roughly coincide with St. Patrick’s Day, attracted nearly 250 guests. Attendees paid $125 each for food and drinks and to listen to friends and relatives roast local celebrities. “There were some slightly embarrassing stories of their childhood and baby pictures,” says Paul Moran, a club member and organizer. A band featuring Moran and other Rotarians performed cover tunes to help lead the merriment. More than $17,000 was donated to the Patchogue Community Service Foundation, principally for youth services, including Camp Pa-Qua-Tuck, a residential program for people with disabilities that is operated by Rotary District 7255.

England

Christopher Hill was diagnosed with a heart condition at age 38. A past president of the Rotary Club of Bolton Lever in Greater Manchester, he has since become an advocate for automated external defibrillators. In 2022, Hill’s club joined five other Bolton-area Rotary clubs to purchase a nearly $1,900 defibrillator for the Bolton Steam Museum. “When you are out there in the countryside, you can be miles and even hours from one,” but when needed, Hill says, “it is needed in minutes.” Hill takes to area trails as leader of a walking group, prompting the Bolton Lever club to acquire a portable, single-use defibrillator that Hill carries on the treks. All 33 club members have attended training sessions and refresher courses on how to operate the machines.

Italy

Brushes and rollers in hand, members of the Rotary Club of Torino Lagrange converged on a youth center to supply a fresh coat of paint. The club members spent a weekend in April and about $1,500 sprucing up the facility, which offers counseling services and a gathering place for people ages 14 to 28. “The aim is to help young people overcome difficult moments and face changes in a welcoming, confidential, and judgement-free environment,” says club member Raffaele Battaglini. The club partnered with students at an arts high school who made paintings for the center.

India

The Rotary Club of Bombay Seacoast staged a concert and high tea reception in May for about 150 veterans injured on duty and their families. Club members tapped their connections with local celebrities, among them the emcee, Neeta Mirchandani, the wife of club member and singer Vijay Mirchandani. “The jawans (soldiers) participated with full joy and excitement as several kept dancing and clapping to the music, with the families of many joining in toward the end,” says Sampath Iyengar, a past club president. “Some of the jawans seated on chairs or in wheelchairs participated as a mark of solidarity, their chairs lifted by their fellow jawans who still had strength in their arms, love in their hearts, and deep empathy for their fellow ex-soldiers without limbs.”

This story originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of Rotary magazine.   

Visit :-

https://www.rotary.org/en/rotary-projects-around-globe-september-2024

                                                                  

 

Rotarian helps vaccinate his homeland of Ethiopia

 

Rotarian helps vaccinate his homeland of Ethiopia

By JP Swenson

Image credit: Monika Lozinska

In 1997, Ezra Teshome traveled from his home in Seattle to a Rotary peace conference in Ethiopia, where he was born and raised. Rotarians there were organizing National Immunization Days. In one village, Teshome met a man and his 8-year-old daughter, who had polio. The man thought the visitors were there to cure her. He asked Teshome for help.“For the whole day, it really bothered me that the child was crippled for the rest of her life, for the loss of two drops of vaccine,” says Teshome, a member of the Rotary Club of University District of Seattle. “When I came back to the United States, I said, ‘I will come back every year to participate in National Immunization Days with my Rotarian friends.’”

The next year, about 24 people came with him. Almost every year since, he’s taken anywhere from 60 to 80 people at one time to administer vaccinations.

Ethiopia’s mountainous terrain and hot weather make transporting vaccines difficult. “When you walk three, four hours without any refrigeration system, the vaccine could start to spoil,” Teshome says. “We have built clinics and asked people to bring their kids there.” These clinics are also equipped to meet other public health needs in the communities.

The impact of Teshome’s trips has spread in other ways too. Rotarians attending his trips have helped install nearly 100 water projects throughout the country, provide 120 shelter homes, and donate ambulances.

Time magazine named Teshome a global health hero at the 2005 Time Global Health Summit. That year, Ethiopia’s national immunization campaign reached 16 million children. Looking ahead, Teshome wants to continue providing clean water access in Ethiopia, contribute to peace in the region — and see a worldwide end to polio.

This story originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of Rotary magazine.

Visit :-

https://www.rotary.org/en/rotarian-helps-vaccinate-his-homeland-ethiopia

Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 y

Keep the Buzz going to fight polio

 

Keep the Buzz going to fight polio

Unexpected bumps fail to dampen an epic road trip around Europe in an electric VW Buzz

Bashar Asfour is no stranger to ambitious road trips. He’s managed the course for an annual motorsport rally through the desert in his home country of Jordan — before there was Google Maps. He’s had a passport since he was 4, traveled through 57 countries, and, as a polio survivor who has difficulty walking, is an ace driver himself. So, he was confident about organizing his own road odyssey around Europe last year to raise money for polio eradication.

Image credit: Maurizio Gambarini

He even had a cool ride picked out: a VW Bus. Not the classic version, but Volkswagen’s modern electric one, known as the Buzz. At times, however, the Buzz turned out to be more of a buzzkill. “Charging the car was a real hassle,” Asfour says, recalling charging stations that were fussy, slow, miles out of his way, or that wouldn’t accept his credit card. “The trip took 54 days, 12,342 kilometers, hundreds of hours of driving, and hundreds of hours charging the car!”

Thankfully, the longtime Rotarian, who currently lives in Jordan but is forming an e-club based out of Georgia, made it to the finish line, raised an estimated $277,000 (preliminary figure), and — astoundingly — missed only one of his 48 fundraising events. He also had a grand adventure, met some incredible people, and was awestruck by the kindness of strangers. Here, in his own words, are some of the stories from the 2023 My Journey to End Polio, which began in Berlin on 31 August.

BREMEN, Germany, 2 September

When the Buzz, with its bright paint job and End Polio Now logos, is displayed in the historic town center, it generates quite the buzz as passersby stop to ask what I’m doing or ask about polio. Later in this journey, other Rotary districts will do the same, putting the Buzz in the middle of marketplaces and old town plazas for a few hours to show people the good that Rotary is doing in the world. Many people in this part of the world have forgotten about polio, and it’s important to remind them that it remains a problem and we need their support still.

Image credit: Bashar Asfour

MILAN, 13 September

One of the biggest challenges of this journey is fatigue. I’m driving a minimum of six hours a day and sometimes as many as 13. Crossing the Alps from Switzerland to Italy, I discover a time-saving tunnel is closed, forcing me to drive over the mountains — and to charge the car even more. In Italy, charging stations are very difficult to find. On the positive side, there’s a gala dinner with a large crowd waiting for me in Monza, outside of Milan. And later, there’s an even larger crowd — the biggest of the trip — in Rome. While there, I will pass by the Colosseum, one of many extraordinary landmarks on the route.

Image credit: Bashar Asfour

IZMIR, Turkey, 25 September

Crossing the Aegean Sea from Greece to Turkey — with a VW Buzz — is no easy feat. The first ferry takes hours. I arrive at an island at midnight to catch another boat with just enough room for the Buzz. The sea is choppy and every bump sets off the car alarm. I arrive at a port near Izmir, only to have customs hold the Buzz hostage. At last, a Rotary incoming district governor bails me and the Buzz out. Beyond the gates, I am amazed to find two dozen Rotarians and Rotaractors in End Polio Now T-shirts greeting me warmly. The memory brings tears to my eyes. It was so beautiful. I forgot all the troubles I had.

Image credit: Bashar Asfour

ANKARA, Turkey, 28 September
ISTANBUL, 1 October

The hospitality of the Turkish people is exquisite. This is another beautiful moment. Before reaching Ankara, I pull into a rest area and am surrounded by a motorcade of Rotary members in End Polio Now vests riding motorcycles. They escort me into the capital. The people are so generous. After discovering that my credit card wouldn’t work at charging stations in the country, Rotary clubs call on their members to meet me on highways to charge me up. Some even invite me to lunch. Then, as I leave the country, I’m allowed to cross the border into Bulgaria like a VIP, without any delays. Once inside Bulgaria, a police escort is waiting to take me to my next stop, Stara Zagora. These moments I will never forget.

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LJUBLJANA, Slovenia, 12 October

If I ever decide to retire, I will retire here. They have delicious food, very kind people, and the most beautiful old town.

MUNICH, 13 October

Oktoberfest may have just ended but Rotarians here organize the production of a beer named My Journey to End Polio to raise funds. Of all the stops, Munich raises the most in contributions. During an event at a nearly full auditorium, local Rotarians present a check for 39,000 euros. I feel like I’m going to have a heart attack and am moved to tears again. With other contributions, the total raised here will hit 46,000 euros (about US$48,000).

Courtesy of Bashar Asfour

CHEMNITZ, Germany, 20 October

I arrive at the finish line in time to celebrate World Polio Day. I set out to do something big, and with the support of Rotary districts around Europe, I have. I’d like to do more of these trips on other continents. It has been a wonderful experience. I met so many friends and people I had never met before, but we talked like we’d known each other for 100 years. We are Rotarians, the same family.

Visit :-

https://www.rotary.org/en/keep-buzz-going-fight-polio

Rotary projects around the globe

 

Rotary projects around the globe

January 2025

                                 By Brad Webber

United States

After New Orleans signed a sister cities agreement with its French namesake, Orléans, in 2018, Rotary clubs in the two cities forged their own international ties. Looking to celebrate the connection, the New Orleans club discovered that both cities have Joan of Arc festivities and select a high school student to represent the French national heroine in parades and events, says Gayle Dellinger, a member of the Louisiana club. In true Rotary fashion, the clubs decided to create an exchange opportunity for their cities’ “Joans.” In June, the American “Joan,” Marley Marsalis, a member of the legendary jazz family and a pianist herself, visited Orléans as a guest of French Rotarians. This month, the American Rotarians will host the French “Joan,” Maÿlis Boët. The Joans ride in each other’s parade and visit historical sites. “It gives you hope for the future and gets you excited,” New Orleans club member Sarah Dickerson says. “It’s so uniting for absolutely everybody involved.”

Canada

Since 2020 the Rotary Club of Toronto has supported the Toronto Wildlife Centre, which rehabilitates 300 species of sick and injured animals. The club has donated more than $18,000 to construct enclosures for bats, mourning doves, woodpeckers, water birds, squirrels, and groundhogs. Hammers and drills in hand, club members Kurt Kroesen, Stuart Muirhead, and Michele Guy joined other volunteers and employees in October to assemble a structure for red squirrels. Nathalie Karvonen, the organization’s founder and executive director, lauds the Rotarians for their devotion. “Their generosity is giving hundreds of wild patients each year a safe space in which to prepare for a healthy life back in the wild,” she says.

England

A cavalcade of 120 vintage vehicles, including tractors, steam lorries, and penny-farthing bicycles, rolled into the Mortimer Fairground in June for a fundraiser of the Rotary Club of Reading Matins. The Transport Through the Ages event drew about 4,000 people and raised more than $13,000 for charities. The idea came from similar shows held during celebrations of the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of King Charles III. “We are delighted at the success of the event and the amount of money raised for the charities we feel so passionate about,” says Club President Valerie Robinson. The resulting fanfare has encouraged the Rotarians to reprise the fundraiser in the future, says club member Carrie Wise.

India

After heavy rains triggered flooding and landslides in India’s northeastern state of Tripura in August, the Rotary Club of Agartala City and the Rotaract clubs of Agartala City and Agartala Central mobilized to help. The clubs set up relief camps providing food, clothing, health care, and medicines in Agartala, reaching 400 people. During a second phase, club members distributed groceries and sanitary pads among 125 families in a remote village that was devastated by the floods. “Villagers lost all their belongings. Farms and agricultural crops were destroyed,” says Agartala Rotary club member Anannya Das. Rotary members also organized clinics in the region where patients could see pediatricians, eye specialists, dermatologists, and general practitioners, including Rotarian doctors.

Philippines

Members of the Rotaract Club of Calumpit are passionate about supporting young people with disabilities through skill development and advocacy. As part of their Breaking Barriers initiative, they’ve recorded podcasts on the rights and challenges of people with disabilities. In August, Rotaractors and members of the Rotary Club of Calumpit visited an elementary school, offering hygiene kits, medicine, and school supplies to 160 students with disabilities, as well as mentoring in reading, writing, and art. “The event was met with overwhelming positive feedback from participants, who appreciated the thoughtful activities and valuable resources provided,” says Rotaract Club President Daniel Balingit. A session for caregivers was especially well received, he says. “It offered a safe space for mothers to share their experiences and gain insights into managing the mental health and psychological needs of their children.”

This story originally appeared in the January 2025 issue of Rotary magazine.

Visit :-

https://www.rotary.org/en/rotary-projects-around-globe-january-2025

The mBot equation

 

The mBot equation

(Rotary + USAID) x mBots = a tech-savvy future for Serbian students

Photography by Monika Lozinska

In May 2020, during the earliest months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rotary International and USAID announced an exciting new endeavor. Called Hearts of Europe, the initiative aimed to foster collaboration, networking, and friendship among Rotary clubs in the United States and select central and Eastern European countries.

Creating Serbia's future innovators

With demand growing for IT professionals, the Rotary Club of Beograd-Cukarica started the mBots project. See how it inspires the next generation. Watch

“At this challenging time, we believe Hearts of Europe is a fantastic opportunity to rebuild the bonds of cooperation between communities and nations,” said John Hewko, the general secretary and CEO of Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation. “If we can seize this opportunity, we will pave the way for a healthier and more prosperous future.”

USAID called the collaboration an example of what it and Rotary do best: They both empower communities to help themselves and lay the foundations for a better future.

Administered through The Rotary Foundation’s global grants program, Hearts of Europe has to date approved 21 projects in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Ukraine. The partnership has provided nearly $2 million in funding, with 57 percent of that money coming from Rotary — and, says Sam Kendall, a strategic relations officer for Rotary, there are more projects in the pipeline. Originally scheduled to conclude in 2023, the partnership was extended another two years and will wrap up this summer.

This story originally appeared in the February 2025 issue of Rotary magazine.

Visit :-

https://www.rotary.org/en/mbot-equation

Happy World Rotaract Week!!

Happy World Rotaract Week!!
Today marks the beginning of World Rotaract Week 2023!

All week long we'll be celebrating all things Rotaract!
Let us know in the comments what Rotaract means to you!


#RotaractAustralia #Rotaract #WeLoveRotaract #WorldRotaractWeek #RotaryInternational #Rotary

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