By Rotary International From the August 2015 issue of The Rotarian
What’s the worst that could happen? For most of us, that’s a simple question. We might be late for a train. We might miss out on a promotion, or even lose a job. But for some, the worst is unimaginably worse. An unfortunate few endure what Ani Kalayjian calls “true trauma.” War. Fire. Flood. A daughter disappears. A son contracts Ebola. When faced with such disasters, “people feel anger, guilt, sadness, frustration – feelings that can poison the body and spirit,” says Kalayjian, a trauma specialist at Columbia University. “Trauma survivors may think… …read more

Source:: Rotary.org

By Rotary International From the August 2015 issue of The Rotarian
A group of teenage journalism students in suburban San Diego were in the early stages of a new project – an educational film funded by a Rotary grant – when their teacher’s phone rang. A prominent blogger had caught wind of what they were doing from a local news story, and wasn’t pleased. The fledgling film came under fire almost overnight as ripples of protest spread through the blogosphere. With calls pouring in before shooting had even begun, the advisers considered halting the project, questioning whether it would be worth the controversy… …read more

Source:: Rotary.org

By Rotary International From the August 2015 issue of The Rotarian
One evening, sitting in the back seat of the car, our two girls, ages six and eight, were discussing the show we were on our way to attend. Called The Illusionists, it featured seven of the world’s top magicians. The debate consisted of whether there would be real magic involved, or just tricks.
“When they cut the man in half,” our younger daughter asked, “how do they keep the blood in?” She was convinced there was true magic. Her older sister, a little wiser, wasn’t buying it.
“Easy,” she said. “R-o-b-o-t.” She rolled her eyes at how obvious this… …read more

Source:: Rotary.org

By Rotary International From the August 2015 issue of The Rotarian
The six-day-old baby shuddered with convulsions. Her mother, Rosa, had given birth at home and cut her daughter’s umbilical cord with what she could find – a sharp piece of metal. When the newborn contracted tetanus, Rosa walked miles to reach a clinic. That’s where Caryl Stern encountered the pair. Stern was on a field visit with UNICEF in Sierra Leone and stayed with Rosa, trying to comfort her, until the child died. The image of the baby in pain, hypersensitive to light and sound, stayed with Stern as she got off the plane in New York and headed… …read more

Source:: Rotary.org

By Rotary International From the August 2015 issue of The Rotarian
Robb Knuepfer should be in a hurry. It’s Monday morning and his day is full of appointments, a client meeting, and an evening board meeting. Instead, he’s found time to have coffee with me at a Starbucks near his home in Hinsdale, Ill., outside Chicago.
He’s a busy guy, and he likes it that way. He’s been involved in dozens of volunteer endeavors, including decades in the Rotary Club of Chicago. A well-respected and civic-minded lawyer, he reached the top of his field. Still, he’s ready for more. “I want to go from a life of success to one of… …read more

Source:: Rotary.org

By Rotary International From the August 2015 issue of The Rotarian
The girls were alone. Their families were dead, or gone, or lost in the broken landscape of southern Sudan. They had nowhere to turn, and no one to turn to. Some lived in the market, others in the cemetery. When Cathy Groenendijk saw them, she couldn’t help herself. She offered them tea, then some food, then a place to sleep in her guesthouse.
“In the morning, we would sit together and talk about what had happened the night before,” Groenendijk remembers. “And what I heard I could not believe. I could not believe it.”
One girl’s father had died, and… …read more

Source:: Rotary.org

By Rotary International The following Rotarians will serve on the 2015-16 Nominating Committee for President of Rotary International in 2017-18. The committee is scheduled to meet on 3 August.
Zone 1 Masahiro Kuroda, Rotary Club of Hachinohe South, Aomori, Japan
Zone 3Yoshimasa Watanabe, Rotary Club of Kojima, Okayama, Japan
Zone 5P.C. Thomas, Rotary Club of Nilgiris West, Tamil Nadu, India
Zone 7Stuart B. Heal, Rotary Club of Cromwell, New Zealand
Zone 9Hee-Byung Chae, Rotary Club of Seoul West, Seoul, Korea
Zone 11Serge Gouteyron, Rotary Club of Valenciennes-Denain aerodrome, Nord, France
Zone 13Paul Knyff, Rotary… …read more

Source:: Rotary.org

By Rotary International The rules of the Shaftesbury Rodeo Academy are simple: no school, no rodeo. It’s a message that teenagers who attend school at Bisley Farm, most of whom have never attended any school regularly, take seriously. Because come Friday night, these aspiring rodeo heroes want to join their friends to ride bulls for a heart-stopping eight seconds, if they last that long.
The school in rural Queensland, Australia, also teaches the boys, who are of the Wakka Wakka Aboriginal people, basic academics and farming skills, including how to care for crops and livestock. It’s a fairly common form of… …read more

Source:: Rotary.org