By Rotary International

By Kenneth Solow, incoming governor of District 7620 (Maryland, USA)

Can you picture Dr. John Sever, member of the Rotary Club of Potomac, Maryland, asking Rotary’s 1979-1980 Board, at the request of RI President Clem Renouf, to imagine “what if” Rotary adopted the goal of a polio-free world?” The rest is history.

Recently the Zone 33-34 class of incoming district governors asked a different “what if” question. What if the Rotary districts in Zone 33-34 combined to fund an international project using a global grant from the Rotary Foundation? If they could pull it off, the financial contribution from each district would be relatively small, but the impact of their combined effort would be gigantic. The result of asking that “what if” question is the unprecedented cooperation of twenty-two districts to fund a Rotary Family Health Day in the country of Ghana in Africa next year.

Volunteers provide counseling and share information about breast cancer at a booth in Zandspruit, South Africa. Photo by Anna J Nel

With contribution from so many districts, and a grant from the Rotary Foundation, it looks like 100 percent of the $109,000 project will be funded through the generosity of thousands of Rotary members throughout the East …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

RI President Gary C.K. Huang (middle) with young participants of the Rotary Day UNESCO in Paris.

By Kristin Brown, manager of Rotary Service Connections

I like to say I have one of the best jobs at Rotary because in Rotary Service Connections we are responsible for many of the programs and activities that help Rotarians connect, partner and serve to make the world a better place.

Last Saturday found me in Paris where, as part of UNESCO’s 70th anniversary celebration, the organization welcomed 400-plus Rotarians and Rotaractors from more than 20 countries for Rotary Day UNESCO. The conference highlighted Rotary’s history with UNESCO and ongoing work for peace, with particular emphasis on the role of intercountry committees (ICCs). ICCs are cooperative relationships established between districts in two countries to promote bi-lateral communication and cooperation between Rotarians, leading to greater understanding and peace between peoples.

Eva Roehrig, a German student at Science Po in Paris, spoke movingly about her involvement since 2012 with the “Youth Parliament” sponsored by the Germany-Poland Intercountry Committee and the relationships formed between German and Polish youth at the annual event. The group recently expanded to include French youth in what Roehrig referred to as “a new Weimar triangle” …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

By Evan Burrell, a member of the Rotary Club of Turramurra, New South Wales, Australia, and a regular contributor to this blog

Have you noticed that everywhere you look these days people are using this symbol #?

To the social media novice, hashtags might seem confusing, annoying, or even pointless at first. But if you understand their purpose and learn how to use them properly, hashtags can be a powerful way to help you engage with new members and the community and increase Rotary awareness.

Hashtags are a word or phrase preceded by a hash mark (#) used within a message to identify a keyword or topic of interest. Basically it’s a way for social media users like you to tag your posts, which in turn makes them easier for social networks to organise and users to search. But we all know that, right?

I bet you’re asking how you can use them for #Rotary promotion?

Well one way is to join the #MyRotaryMoment campaign that was started by the Rotary Club of Melbourne Park. The campaign asks you to share your own Rotary story on your personal social media account and use the hashtag #MyRotaryMoment within the post.

Another example is how we …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

A member of the Rotaract Club of Caltanissetta, Sicily, records a section of an audio book.

By Mirko Gangi, Rotaract Club of Caltanissetta, Siciliy

There are many visually impaired children in Italy and Sicily who lack teaching materials and educational aids. The purchase and distribution of books in Braille is difficult, there is only one distribution house in Sicily, and the cost of audio books is very high.The present economic crisis and lack of public funds also does not help.

So as members of Rotaract, we joined together with the Rotary Club of Caltanissetta to record and produce three audio books which we distributed to 750 children with visual impairments in primary, middle, and high schools in Sicily. We intend to make the audio books available to schools free of charge as a teaching tool.

We held 15 different events, including a concert by the renowned master Luigi Mariani, who is himself blind, to raise money for our project. We worked closely with the ministry of education, the City of Caltanissetta, and the Braille Printing House of Catania.

We are also putting the files of the audio books on the Internet so they will be available to blind children anywhere in the world, and not …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Renée Riley-Adams exchanges club banners with a member of the Rotary Club of Ubatuba, São Paulo, Brazil.

By Renée Riley-Adams, Rotary Club of Ashland, Oregon, USA

My husband and I recently traveled to Brazil on vacation to visit my brother. The one-hour Rotary meeting I went to while there remains one of my most treasured memories from the trip.

Though I understood perhaps only ten percent of what was being said, it was the welcome I received that made the experience so worthwhile. There is a magic in knowing that I share the same values as the people I met. The hearty handshakes I received and the kisses on my cheek spoke volumes of the shared fellowship that is Rotary around the world.

Ubatuba is three and a half hours by car from São Paulo, where Rotary’s International Convention will take place this June. In my broken Portuguese, I could make that connection, along with another question that brought smiles to their faces: “How long have you been in Rotary?” Whether the answer was one year or twenty, I could tell these people were dedicated.

With 14 members, the Ubatuba Club was much smaller than my Ashland Club of 110 and met in the …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Members of the Rotary Club of Onigbongbo at the Red Cross Orphanage. Photo courtesy of Yomi Lawson

Members of the Rotary Club of Onigbongbo, Lagos State, Nigeria, decided to celebrate 110 years of Rotary by donating supplies to a Red Cross orphanage that provides a home for 200 abandoned or vulnerable children. The club delivered 10 packs of diapers, 150 liters of diesel fuel, two cartons of infant formula, ten crates of eggs, two cartons of biscuits, five cartons of noodles, three cartons of fruit drink, and detergent. Members stayed to play with the children after dropping off the goods.

Have a …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Michiko Mitarai shows Kenyan villagers a Japanese method for drawing water from a well.

By Michiko Mitarai, Rotary Club of Tokyo Hiroo

Rotary has changed my life in many ways. Through Rotary, I have discovered the world is a bigger place and I have been able to visit parts of it that I would never have been able to if I hadn’t joined.

As a member of the Rotary club of Tokyo Hiroo, I traveled to rural communities in Kenya with members of four different Rotary clubs. We visited 14 wells that our club supported. In Funyula, near the border of Uganda, we …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog