By Rotary International From the April 2016 issue of The Rotarian
Rotary clubs are catnip to people running for public office: Rotarians are involved in their communities, civic-minded, and engaged in public improvement. Especially in an election year, clubs are likely to receive calls from candidates in search of a receptive audience.
How a club responds to these requests is completely up to the club itself. For many, it depends on experience with politicians and the preferences of the club officers. Rotary International requires only that clubs not endorse candidates or take sides on public issues.
But the role of… …read more

Source:: Rotary.org

By Rotary International From the April 2016 issue of The Rotarian
Do you need some context for all you’re experiencing while you’re in Korea for the Rotary International Convention from 28 May to 1 June? Check out one or more of these museums:
1. National Museum of Korea: If you have time for only one, this museum, the sixth largest in the world, has something for everyone: relics from prehistoric times, calligraphy, paintings, sculpture, and even a children’s museum, all housed in a six-story building in the wooded Yongsan Family Park.
2. Korea Furniture Museum: To see how Koreans of the past lived, walk through… …read more

Source:: Rotary.org

By Rotary International From the April 2016 issue of The Rotarian
“This was a gift from God.” Stephen Mwanje remembers those words, spoken by a sick man who had just received free treatment from a doctor at a Rotary-led Family Health Day in Uganda last fall. “He never thought he would get the medical attention he needed,” explains Mwanje, a member of the Rotary Club of Mukono, Uganda, who made that man’s care possible.
In 2010-11, Mwanje was governor of District 9200, which then included Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. As he was researching options to address Uganda’s lack of health care, he crossed… …read more

Source:: Rotary.org

By Rotary International From the April 2016 issue of The Rotarian
What’s the most common work-related injury that firefighters endure? “It’s not falling through a roof, falling from a house, or burns,” explains Homero Ponce-Lόpez, 57, a retired Houston fire captain and member of the Rotary Club of University Area of Houston. “It’s cancer.” A 2015 study found that firefighters have a greater chance of developing cancer than the general population, including double the risk of testicular cancer and a 50 percent increase in multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. When cancer strikes, firefighters often end up at the… …read more

Source:: Rotary.org

By Rotary International From the April 2016 issue of The Rotarian
He should have been thrilled. Carl Sanders had joined Rotary to be of service, and now, even though he was a relatively new member of the Rotary Club of Kenosha, Wis., he had an opportunity. A well-respected member called to ask Sanders to take over as sergeant-at-arms. He explained that the position involved preparing meetings, introducing guest speakers, and reading announcements. “So you’ll do it?” he asked. “I, uh, um … ” Sanders panicked. “Let me think about it,” he said, hanging up quickly.
Sanders had built a prosperous painting business. He… …read more

Source:: Rotary.org

By Rotary International From the April 2016 issue of The Rotarian
What Kerstin Jeska-Thorwart remembers is the silence. No birds chirping, no dogs barking, no car engines revving. Nothing. “I’ve never heard such a silence before, and never since,” she says. “I knew something must have happened.”
It was 9:35 the morning after Christmas 2004, and in Sri Lanka, it was a Poya Day, a Buddhist public holiday held every full moon. Jeska-Thorwart, a lawyer from Germany, was on vacation in Hikkaduwa, on the island’s southwestern coast. Any other morning of her holiday she and her husband would have been on the beach, but… …read more

Source:: Rotary.org

By Rotary International From the April 2016 issue of The Rotarian
They came from Denmark and Spain, Thailand, the U.S., and other points around the globe. Last fall, the Rotary International Board of Directors gathered again in Evanston, Ill., not far from the office where Paul Harris hosted the first Rotary club meeting.
One hundred eleven years later, Rotary’s Board spent three days addressing dozens of issues that boiled down to one: How will the organization Harris founded thrive in its second century?
They met on the top floor of Rotary’s world headquarters, an 18-story tower with commanding views of broad-… …read more

Source:: Rotary.org