Attending the RI Convention (virtually)

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By Rotary International

Rotary members watch the debut of Rotary’s VR film, “One Small Act” at the Atlanta Convention.

By Bill Pollard, Rotary Club of Churchland, Portsmouth, Virginia, USA, and past governor of District 7600

It would be wonderful if every Rotarian could experience at least one Rotary International Convention. It is a great venue to hear from our leaders, listen to keynote speakers, learn useful information at breakout sessions, and visit with Rotary Fellowships and Action Groups in the House of Friendship. Of course, the best part of attending a convention is the opportunity to enjoy fellowship with Rotarians from all over the world.

I have been a Rotarian for 29 years and have had the privilege of attending the conventions in Los Angeles (2008) and Birmingham, England (2009). I have great memories of both. Each year, I encourage members of my club and district to attend if they are able. This year my club had four members go to Atlanta.

During the past several years, social media and the Rotary website have enabled Rotarians not able to attend a convention to experience it virtually. Every day during the Atlanta convention, I enjoyed seeing the photos and comments from my …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

Improving the lives of Ghana children through handwashing

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By Rotary International

By Neyeram Kukula, Rotary Club of Accra-West, Ghana

On 18 May, I joined fellow Rotary members, the project manager for the Rotary-USAID partnership in Ghana, and an engineer from Global Communities, the implementing partner, in visiting sites in the Shai Osu Doku district two hours northeast of the capital of Accra. We visited three schools where the partnership is working to improve water and sanitation facilities and change personal hygiene habits.

The team visits a primary school in the Shai Osu Doku district of Ghana.

After what felt like a never-ending journey down a rugged road, we finally arrived at our first site at the Agbuviekpong D/A Primary School. We were warmly received by Bernard Nyamado, the headmaster of the school, seated at a desk under a big tree. Nyamado resides in Volivo, a nearby community, and has been with the school for almost 10 years. He told me the isolated community has about 500 inhabitants and the school a population of 172 pupils, 80 boys and 92 girls. The school currently has a six seat toilet facility that is also used by members of the community.

Hilda Addah, a member of the Rotary Club of Accra South, asked Nyamado how the school deals …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

Unveiling People of Action

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By Rotary International

By Rotary staff

We are excited to reveal a new public image campaign, People of Action, at this year’s Rotary International Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. As Rotarians from all over the world came to Atlanta, they are experiencing and learning about this global campaign for the first time at the convention, held at Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center, 10-14 June 2017.

Convention attendees are greeted by new People of Action advertisements on billboards at the airport and around the city of Atlanta. At the venue, the ads are prominently displayed in the convention halls—on the windows and banners throughout the conference center.

There’s also a full agenda to help introduce and inform Rotarians about the new campaign. During the plenary session this morning, John Smarge, Chair of the Communications Committee, showed the campaign video and talked about this campaign as an important next step in promoting awareness and understanding of Rotary, as well as the impact Rotarians make around the world.

Rotary’s social media team will publish the People of Action campaign on their Rotary channels in all Rotary languages.
There will also be two breakout sessions that will include information about the campaign. A session will run on Wednesday afternoon in Rooms B304-305: …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog