By Rotary International

Jean Best addresses participants of a peace conference.

By Jean Best, a Peace Officer in District 1020, with Rotary Peace Fellow Flor Yanez and Rotary Coordinator Keith Best

Who would have thought that sitting in an awareness raising session about Rotary Peace Fellows would have led to the creation of a skills based Peace Advocate Programme and an invitation to affect the lives of young people across the entire country of Mexico?

We received an invitation from Mexico’s national commission for peace after Rotary Peace Fellow Flor Yanez addressed the state congress in Mexico City about building a national engagement with young people through a culture of peace. The program provides a bridge from oral intention to practical reality. This reality empowers young people to develop conflict resolution strategies for themselves and to work with others in conquering conflict within themselves, their school, community, home, and beyond.

Half of the program develops skills for changing the mindset from acceptance to questioning to making informed decisions. The other half develops service projects to promote peace in their communities. The combined impact of these individual projects and skills contributes to a culture of peace.

From left, Jean and Keith Best with Flora Yanez in …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Rotary Peace Fellow Barbara Herthel

By Barbara Servulo Herthel, a Rotary Peace Fellow from Brazil

As I reached the end of my Professional Certificate Fellowship Program at the Rotary Peace Center at Chulalongkorn University, I found myself dealing with a lot of feelings and thoughts about this experience. I am very thankful for the three months, all the sharing and learning I received from others, the daily routine, the field trips, and more.

To express my gratitude, I decided to come up with 5 reasons to apply for this program, based on my own experience and the lessons I learned.

Sharpen your motives: Through the application process, you have a chance to reflect on your experiences, review your life story, recap your achievement to date, and affirm your interest in the peace field. This process was my first great learning experience.
Embrace diversity: Having the opportunity to study, learn and make friends with people from different backgrounds and life experience encourages you to examine your attitudes and values, and in turn broaden your perspective of the world. It also helps raise self-awareness and an awareness of others.
Learn to face conflict: Yes, we don’t have to be afraid of conflicts! The program is …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

The Emergency Operations Center in Abuja, Nigeria, kicks into action.

By Chris Offer, Rotary Club of Ladner, British Columbia, Canada

In late August 2016, I had the extraordinary opportunity to be in the National Polio Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in Abuja, Nigeria. The center was activated to manage the response to two polio cases confirmed in Borno State.

I was in Nigeria as part of a Polio External Review team with the World Health Organization, CDC, and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that had been planned months before. But with the discovery of new polio cases, our focus shifted.

Chris Offer, middle, with other participants at the emergency operations center.

As a retired senior police officer, I’m familiar with the use of a central command center to deal with emergencies. The strategy to bring key decision makers into one room from all participating agencies is an effective way to manage emergencies. Communications is face-to-face and decisions are not delayed.

In 2012, emergency centers were established in the capital of Abuja and Nigeria’s northern states with the highest polio infection rates. Nigerian government health agencies, Rotary International, UNICEF, WHO, CDC, USAID, and the Gates Foundation are all involved. Rotary is represented by a member of …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Peggy Tingle with Neal Beard (left) and Keith Rohling, president-elect of the Lawrenceburg Rotary Club.

By Neal Beard, a member of the Rotary Club of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, USA

“I was 18 when I contracted the disease,” Peggy said, as she spoke into a lowered, stationary microphone set up at the front of our meeting room. She spoke from a motorized wheelchair, reading from her notes.

Peggy was the guest speaker at our club meeting recently, and her story underscored for me why we need to remain committed to eradicating this terrible disease of polio. Statistics are one thing, but when you hear someone’s story who has battled the disease, it takes your emotional resolve to a completely different level.

“I had been married for three years and had a one-year-old daughter when I contracted polio,” Peggy continued.

“One evening my husband and a couple of friends went on a night fishing trip. We girls decided our treat would be to go out and eat burgers and shakes and smoke a cigarette. This was during the ‘50’s…The next morning I woke up very nauseated with a severe headache that quickly got worse. The next day my neck was stiff and very painful. My husband carried me …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Christopher John Lindstrom and English and Spanish trainers aboard the Peace Boat.

By Christopher John Lindstrom, a 2011-13 Rotary Peace Fellow at International Christian University, Japan

As a Rotary Peace Fellow, I was excited to be able to use my experience building bridges of understanding through language all over the world on board the Peace Boat.

Peace Boat is a 33-year-old nongovernmental organization based in Japan that works to promote peace, human rights, equal and sustainable development, and respect for the environment. Peace Boat’s first voyage was organized in 1983 by a group of Japanese university students as a creative response to government censorship regarding Japan’s past military aggression in the Asia-Pacific. They chartered a ship to visit neighboring countries with the aim of learning first-hand about the war from those who experienced it and initiating people-to-people exchange.

It was my pleasure to travel the world via this cruise ship during 106 days ending in July on board a vessel that embodies many of the same values as our Rotary Peace Fellowship program. Before I began the journey, I touched base with current and past peace fellows in Tokyo at International Christian University, and later three more in Iceland, and finally two more …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Geraniums hang from the railing in front of a house destroyed by the earthquake in central Italy.

By Luca Della Volta, Charter President of Rotary E-Club 2042 Italia and 2016-17 Service Projects Committee Chair. ( Read it in Italian )

I wanted to write about how much love and support Rotary is bringing to the areas of Italy devastated by the recent earthquake. But my words fail me, so I have to first write from the heart about what I have seen.

I feel as if death has entered me. My lungs inhale the dust of the earth. My feet walk amid debris. My hands touch stone that suddenly gave way, smashing hopes and dreams.

I trudge through streets where, a few days earlier, joyful children were walking with their grandparents, spending time during their summer vacation in the town where their parents grew up before moving on to start a family elsewhere.

Geraniums which once brought joy now are a sad reminder of a happy home that is no more. Outside, near the rubble-strewn lawn, is a crushed car, parked by the driver who returned home a few hours before the earthquake.

The faces of the people reflect pain and their skin bears the …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Belgian Exchange Student Marcellin Niset in Alaska

By Marcellin Niset, Rotary Youth Exchange Student from Belgium to Alaska

The Italian-American author and actress Vanna Bonta wrote, “There’s no hospitality like understanding.” That quote stuck with me as a Rotary Youth Exchange student to Alaska in 2015-16. I arrived in Alaska, a wilderness filled with beauty and love, determined to make my exchange purposeful and beneficial for myself, my host community, and the world.

An exchange is not only about a student going abroad, it is about all the people that make this exchange possible, and the ones that are impacted, directly and indirectly.

Niset is using his exchange year as an opportunity to promote tolerance and respect.

I come from a small village in rural Belgium and the exchange is a unique chance to accomplish something bigger than myself. To be selected as an ambassador for Rotary and my country meant being the custodian of national values and beliefs.

Sometimes, the mission was easy. I brought happiness to people by making countless Belgian waffles. I presented facts about my homeland to my host club and community. But going deeper, and sharing what makes people from my country unique, explaining why we think and behave differently, without …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog