Rotary news august 2014 final

Vol.65, Issue 2 Annual Subscription Rs.420

August 2014

Membership and Extension Month

11

President Speaks

12

First Thought

18

Bringing More Hands to Serve

28

Celebrating the Golden Moments

36

Hybrid E-Clubs of D-3131 - Best of Both Worlds!

38

Around the Districts

44

A Tribute Extraordinaire

28

36

11

12

18

44

47

Connect for Good

61

Lighting Up Minds Through Literacy

64

iRYLA 2014 Sydney A Rewarding Experience

68

Nourishing Treats

70

Polio’s Retreat

74

Around the Districts

82

Very Briefly

47

61

68

70

82

ADVISORY BOARD

TRUSTEES Chairman DG Ramesh Agrawal, RI Dist. 3052

RID

P.T. Prabhakar

RI Dist. 3230

Secretary DG Vyankatesh S. Metan, RI Dist. 3132

PRIP Rajendra K. Saboo

RI Dist. 3080

Treasurer DG Sanjay Khemka, RI Dist. 3250

PRIP Kalyan Banerjee

RI Dist. 3060

RI Dist. 2980

DG

S.P. Balasubramaniam

PRID Sushil Gupta

RI Dist. 3010

RI Dist.3000

DG

Jagannathan Paramasivam

PRID Ashok Mahajan

RI Dist. 3140

RI Dist.3010

DG

Sanjay Khanna

PRID Yash Pal Das

RI Dist. 3080

RI Dist.3020

DG

Dr. G.V. Mohan Prasad

PRID Shekhar Mehta

RI Dist. 3291

RI Dist.3030

DG

Dattatraya Shantaram Deshmukh

RIDE Dr. Manoj D. Desai

RI Dist. 3060

RI Dist.3040

DG

Narendra Kumar Jain

DG

Ramesh Agrawal

RI Dist.3052

RI Dist. 3051

DG

Jagdish B. Patel

DG

Vyankatesh Metan

RI Dist. 3132

RI Dist. 3053

DG

Anil Maheshwari

DG

Sanjay Khemka

RI Dist. 3250

RI Dist. 3060

DG

Ashish Ramesh Ajmera

DG

I.S.A.K. Nazar

RI Dist. 3230

RI Dist. 3070

DG

Gurjeet Singh Sekhon

PDG Rabi Narayan Nanda

RI Dist. 3262

RI Dist. 3080

DG

Dilip Patnaik

PDG Radhe Shyam Rathi

RI Dist. 3053

PDG Hari Krishna Chitipothu

RI Dist. 3150

RI Dist. 3090

DG

Pardeep Kumar Chehal

RI Dist. 3100

DG

Sanjiv Rastogi

RI Dist. 3110

DG

Ashok Jyoti

RI Dist. 3120

DG

Satpal Gulati

RI Dist. 3131

DG

Vivek Aranha

RI Dist. 3140

DG

Ajay Gupta

RI Dist. 3150

DG

Malladi Vasudev

RI Dist. 3160

DG

G.S. Mansoor

RI Dist. 3170

DG

Ganesh G. Bhat

RI Dist. 3180

DG

Dr. S. Bhaskar

RI Dist. 3190

DG

Manjunath Shetty

RI Dist. 3201

DG

P. Venugopalan Menon

RI Dist. 3202

DG

K. Sridharan Nambiar

RI Dist. 3211

DG

K.S. Sasikumar

RI Dist. 3212

DG

M. Ashok Padmaraj

RI Dist. 3230

DG

I.S.A.K. Nazar

RI Dist. 3240

DG

Swapan Kumar Choudhury

RI Dist. 3261

DG

Shambhu Jagatramka

RI Dist. 3262

DG

Ashok Bihari Mohapatra

RI Dist. 3291

DG

Pinaki Prasad Ghosh

COMMITTEES DG P. Venugopalan Menon - Chair, Finance Committee DG Dr. G.V. Mohan Prasad - Chair, Editorial Committee DG Sanjay Khanna - Chair, Marketing Committee DG G.S. Mansoor - Vice-chair, Marketing Committee

ROTARY NEWS ROTARY SAMACHAR Acting Editor Jaishree Assistant Editor S. Selvi

Send all correspondence and subscriptions to ROTARY NEWS TRUST 3rd Floor, Dugar Towers, 34 Marshalls Road, Egmore, Chennai 600 008, India.

Phone : 044 42145666 Fax : 044 28528818 e-mail : rotarynews@rosaonline.org

Your Comments Letter of the Month Congratulations for publishing the best club projects titled, ‘Reminiscences 2013–14’ in the July’14 issue of Rotary News, highlighting all the good work Rotarians are doing in the communities here in India. This will create lasting impression and impact on the global grants partners. A remarkable achievement in the history of Rotary News Trust and the success goes to RI Director P.T Prabhakar and the entire Editorial team.

The interview of RIPE K.R. Ravindran conducted

by RI Director P.T. Prabhakar in the same issue is sensational and spectacular. The heading ‘Q & A’ stands for Questions and Answers; however in our industrial language we consider it ‘Quality Assurance’ which is very apt as Rotary is known for doing highest quality work.

PDG Mohan Mulherkar RI District 3170 The article ‘Omega 3 Fatty Acids’ in May ’14 issue describing the essential ingredient for good health was excellent.

Rtn. T. Stalin Selvaraj RC Virudhunagar RI District 3212 The highlight of May 2014 issue of Rotary News is the article ‘Polio Free Conclave 2014 India’s Freedom from Polio’ which was held to celebrate the WHO certification of Polio-free India.

It is a glorious achievement of Rotary and all the important speeches with good photographs were interesting, especially the excellent gate-fold photo of the dais.

Rtn. Fr. Vijay Isaac RC Alleppey Coir City RI District 3211 The article ‘Make-over for villages’ in the June 2014 issue gave an insight of Rotary’s enthusiasm to serve in villages. RI District 3131 through their ‘Happy Villages’ initiative has set a very good example. This way if every Rotary club helps in the development of villages, India will definitely prosper. Important and essential information is always given in the Rotary News magazine.

Rtn. Jothi Saravgi RC Amravathi Ambanagar RI District 3030 I would like to congratulate you for the excellent job done by updating the Rotarians of the world with the latest activities of fellow Rotarians and their respective clubs through your esteemed magazine.

Rtn. Rabinderjit S. Panesar RC Dimapur RI District 3240 June 2014 issue of Rotary News has a wealth of information on the various aspects of Rotary.

Rotary Fellowships, TRF’s New Funding Model, inspiring examples for membership growth and getting youth into Rotary, Rotary Club Central,

New Club Invoice, ... the list is endless. This will surely remain as a reference guide for me in my library of Rotary information. Kudos to the Editorial team! We are looking forward to more such interesting Rotary information.

Rtn. J. Ganesh RC Dombivli RI District 3140 It’s amazing to learn about the family where ‘Rotary Blood’ runs through three generations.

The write-up in your June issue with photographs of all the four, though brief, has at the same time, conveyed the emotional bondage existing between generations. It’s indeed an awesome feat for the Singh’s family to have three generations and still more to come, to have themselves dedicated for a noble cause.

Rtn. Col. Gopinathan RC Wadakkanchery RI District 3201 I regularly read the Rotary News magazine and find very knowledgeable articles from different disciplines written by eminent persons or the experts of the subject concerned. I can say that there is no match for Rotary News with any other magazine. So, I also request every Rotarian to give some time for reading the materials appearing in Rotary News.

Rtn. R.K. Kapoor RC Roopnagar RI District 3080

The editor welcomes brief comments on the contents of the magazine, but reserves the right to edit submissions for style and length.

Published letters do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or the R I leadership, nor do the editors take responsibility for errors of fact that may be expressed by the writers.

Only letters that include a verifiable name, address and day and evening phone numbers can be considered for publication.

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Dear Fellow Rotarians, In Rotary, we mark August as Membership and Extension Month.

There is a good reason why we remind ourselves of the importance of membership early in every Rotary year: because the job of growing our membership is one that we can never begin too soon. It is also a job that we can never stop working on. In order to keep serving, Rotary always needs to be growing!

We have talked for many years about the importance of the family of Rotary. In this Rotary year, I want to make not just the family of Rotary, but our own Rotary families, a priority in our membership. After 37 years of following me in Rotary, my wife, Corinna, finally became a Rotarian last year. We attended the chartering of a new club in Taiwan together, and she said, “It’s time for me to become a Rotarian too!” So she joined that club. And soon, so did a lot of other people.

Now that club has 102 members, and it’s the second-largest club in Taiwan.

Inviting our spouses into Rotary isn’t just about getting our numbers up. It addresses the reality that Rotary still has far more men as members than it does women, and that is something we need to work on. When we bring more women into Rotary, our clubs become more appealing to prospective female members — and become more productive as well.

PRESIDENT

SPEAKS

This year we are going to have something new in Rotary: a m membership support team pin. This means that if you invite a new member into Rotary, you get a special pin to wear with your Rotary gearwheel. But we all know that the job of growing membership doesn’t end when a new member joins. It ends only when a new member is enjoying being a Rotarian and never wants to leave! And making sure that our clubs are enjoyable places to be is a key part of growing membership.

People come into Rotary for all kinds of reasons, but they stay because Rotary is fun to be a part of. So I want to remind all of you to have fun in your clubs and your districts. Rotary is based on the idea that our service is more effective when we serve together with our friends. So let’s enjoy our Rotary service, share it with others, and Light Up Rotary together!

Gary C.K. Huang President, Rotary International AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 11

Glittering Installations Heady Celebrations Hectic but Fun Yes! Chapter One is Done!!!

My dear partners in service, It is a great time to be a Rotarian from India because: •

For the year ended June 30, 2014, India is No.1 in the world, in Membership Development.

• With a total contribution of US $12.56 million to TRF, we are No.3 in the world, only behind USA and Japan • And most importantly, since January 13, 2014 India is Polio-free.

Heartiest congratulations to the 2013–14 District and Club leaders for this great achievement.

It is imperative, that we all, together, not only sustain this great success but also try and improve in all aspects.

I call Rotary ‘the 8th wonder’ of the world, because on July st 1 every year, a New President takes over in each of the 30,000 clubs, and a New District Governor assumes office in each of the 547 Districts world over! Compare this with multinationals like PEPSI /IBM /CITI BANK — if you change the CEO of these corporations every July 1… they will wind up in one year!

On the other hand, in Rotary, every year, we do better than the previous year… that is why I call Rotary the 8th wonder of the world!

12 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

The New Rotary year has begun with a big bang! Livewire District Governors, Presidents and district officials are electrifying the Zones with high voltage performances, thereby generating an abundance of enthusiasm and goodwill for Rotary.

Well begun, they say is half done. I was fortunate to witness the grand beginnings of great projects when I participated in the installation functions of several District Governors and Club Presidents. I cannot find adequate words to thank the Rotarians of Zones 4, 5 and 6A who have given a fantastic start to the Rotary Year 2014–15 and, have begun to convert their plans into action, with dedication and determination.

I have some good news to share with you. The Advisory Board and Trustees of the Rotary News Trust have reduced the annual subscription from Rs.480 to Rs.420, with immediate effect. Also you have the option to subscribe to e-Version of Rotary News @ Rs.250!

This e-version is not limited to the 80 pages (print version size) and you will have the advantage of listening to speeches of world leaders at International Assemblies, Conventions etc., at the click of a button!

There is often a complaint that cost of Rotary is going up every year. Here is a possibility to reduce! E-version is Rs. 250 only (Print version is at Rs.420). Please make use of this great opportunity.

This year our RI President Gary Huang has urged us to “Light Up Rotary” with action and vision. To do so, a tantalising range of options beckon us.

August is Membership Development Month and our top priority will be to take up RI President Gary’s membership challenge, to be the No.1 country in membership growth in the world.

To achieve this objective, on July 17 and 20, 2014, I organised two Membership Planning Meets at Chennai and Mumbai. The Chennai Meet, for 14 Districts of Zone 5, on July 17, was amazing and the resultant membership growth target for 2014–15 set by the serving DGs, in consultation with their respective DGE, DGN and OSD (Officer on Special Duty) who were all present at the Planning Meet, was a whopping 20,000 new Rotarians!

I was fortunate to have the presence of RIDE Manoj Desai (both at Chennai and Mumbai), who shared with the Zone leaders, his wisdom and knowledge, gained out of his six years membership on Rotary International’s Membership Development and Retention Committee.

Apart from adding these large numbers of new Rotarians, serious discussions also took place on strengthening weak clubs, with the help of OSDs. It was agreed upon by all the participants that, clubs in metropolitan cities should have a minimum of 45 members and clubs in cityplus areas, 35 members. It was decided to merge clubs below 20 members, in case efforts to increase their strength does not succeed. The participants came to the unanimous decision to meet once every quarter, along with the Rotary Coordinator (RC) and Assistant Rotary Coordinator (ARC) to review the progress made and make necessary course corrections.

If Chennai Meet was super, the Mumbai Meet of Zones 4 and 6A was a mega hit, what with the DGs coming up with a target growth of 23,000 new members, in the 22 districts.

It was a pleasure and privilege to host the Sri Lankan team at Chennai and the Nepal team at Mumbai in the membership meets.

I had the privilege to point out to the DGs that with the possible addition of 43,000 members in 2014–15, we will be adding 1 ½ Zones, to the existing 2 ½ Zones, making it a total of 4 Zones.

If we succeed in our mission, of adding 43,000 Rotarians, in future, every Rotary year, we will have two directors from India on the board of RI! Just imagine the huge benefits of this, as the interests of our 4,000 clubs can be strongly represented at the highest level of RI, continuously!

There can be no better incentive than this, to achieve the membership target set by each of our 36 Districts. This should be our vision for 2014–15.

Let me congratulate Rotary Coordinators Vijay Jalan (Zones 4, 6A) and C. Basker (Zone 5), who had the vision to put us on the road to making history!

Talking of vision, Helen Keller who championed the cause of the blind was once asked, “Is there anything worse than being blind?” “Yes,” she replied, “Having sight but no vision is worse than being blind!”

I am confident, that, the 2014–15 District Governors have the vision, to build the future with concrete action with which we will Light up Rotary!

At this juncture, I would like to share with you a story about a man with no sight but with extraordinary vision, a heart warming and true story, a story of human courage and selfless service, a story of a man with a mission — the story of Durlava Naik.

Fate had dealt Durlava Naik a very bad hand. He was born blind in a poor untouchable family in the village of Gundurapasi in Orissa. This village faced water scarcity and people had to walk over a mile to collect water for their daily needs. Durlava who had spent half his life begging, saw a meaning to his miserable life in the dry and caked earth of the village. Instead of blaming fate, he decided to build a tank on the outskirts of the village. “Sheer madness,” thought his fellow villagers, when they heard of his intention. How could a blind man, that too a beggar, build a tank big enough to meet a whole village’s needs?

Durlava took a shovel and spade and set to work all by himself, on an empty plot. He went on working for 25 years, digging the tank and carrying the soil and pebbles to construct a bund around it. He forgot to marry, illness attacked him and toil took its toll. But Durlava struggled on and saw the mission through to its worthy end. Today, the villagers have started using the tank and their water problem has been solved!

I am sure, this true story will inspire all of us to realise that God has given us sight and vision and it is our duty to Light up Rotary.

Light up Rotary by conducting Rotary Days, a brilliant concept by President Gary, to promote Rotary in your city / town.

Light up Rotary by taking up meaningful and needbased service projects in your communities.

Light up Rotary by supporting your Rotary Foundation and prove that we belong to the ‘Best Class!’

Together let us: Ring out the want, the greed, the spite Ring in the love of truth and the gift of sight Ring out the darkness of the land Ring in the larger heart and Light up Rotary!

Yours in Rotary,

P.T. Prabhakar Director Rotary International (2013–15) AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 13

HOLISTIC THOUGHTS

Life offers you only two paths to peace. Either happily get along or happily get away. There are people who are miserable in the job and there are those who are miserable without a job. There is no point in either way being miserable. There is no intelligence in coming out of a miserable marriage and then living as a miserable divorcée. Don’t keep choosing from one

Get enriched with inspirational thoughts reproduced from renowned new-age life guru and spiritualist, Shri. Mahatria Ra. He is also the founder of Alma Mater, an organisation dedicated to self-mastery and holistic personality. His spiritual foundation, Infinitheism encourages a path that inspires breakthroughs in people by thinking abundance in all spheres of human endeavour.

suffering to another. Choose between some peace and all the peace.

Don’t expect oranges from a mango tree. If you can’t give up your need for oranges, then leave the mango tree and go in search of the orange tree.

If you cannot leave the mango tree, then start liking the mangoes. There isn’t a third alternative.

Confucius put it aptly, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” There is a whole range of things that you can do to earn in life, but only the work that is done as if it is your hobby will give you peace. In fact, the secret is to make your hobby your profession. Ask yourself, “If I have all the money in the world, will I still be doing what I am doing?” If the answer is ‘Yes,’ then you are in the right career. However, if the answer is ‘No,’ then no matter how much you earn, you will never ever find peace. Your competence has made you a chartered accountant, but your heart blossoms in your singing. Find a way to make singing your profession. Social pressure has made you an engineer, but your heart delights when you play snooker. How about the business of a snooker centre? Your education has made you a doctor, but your childlike exuberance comes out in cooking. Let the world not miss a super chef. Your money is from the corporate world. Your soul yearns to teach. Peace is discovered when your yearning gains precedence over earning. Teach and find a way to become rich through teaching.

To give up a process that has succeeded for you, in search of a process that will give you peace is a big decision. But, sometimes that’s what it takes to EH SHDFHIXO௘« D ELJ GHFLVLRQ /LVWHQ WR WKH FU\LQJ RI \RXU VRXO 14 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST JUNE 20142014

RI FACES

TRUSTEES TAKE OFFICE RI President Gary C.K. Huang’s four appointees to the 15-member Rotary Foundation Board of Trustees took office on 1 July. They will serve four-year terms.

SUSHIL GUPTA Rotary Club of Delhi Midwest, India Sushil is chair and managing director of Asian Hotels (West) Ltd., chair of Edenpark Hotels (Qutab-Clarion), and owner of the Hyatt Regency Mumbai and JW Marriott New Delhi Aerocity. He has served as president of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India and as director on the Board of Tourism Finance Corporation of India. He also has been a member of the executive committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Sushil chairs the Gangotri Conservation Project and is a trustee of the Himalayan Environment Trust and member of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation. In addition, he serves on the Board of Operation Eyesight Universal, India. A Rotarian since 1977, Sushil has served RI as Director; Resource Group Adviser; Committee Member, Vice Chair, and Chair; RI Training Leader; and District Governor.

He has been conferred the prestigious national award of Padma Shri by the President of India for distinguished service to the tourism industry and social work. Sushil and his wife, Vinita, are Major Donors, Paul Harris Fellows, and Benefactors of The Rotary Foundation.

PAUL A. NETZEL Rotary Club of Los Angeles, Calif., USA Paul is founder and chair of Netzel Grigsby Associates Inc., a leading management consulting firm specialising in work with nonprofit organisations and institutions throughout the western United States.

A Rotarian since 1968, Paul has served RI as Director, Task Force Zone Coordinator, Committee Chair, Zone Institute Chair and Co-convener, International Assembly Moderator and Chair, RI Training Leader, and District Governor. He also served on the Finance Committee, chaired the Vocational Service Committee, and was chair of the RI Board Executive Committee and its liaison to the Foundation Trustees. Paul was Founding Chair of and Special Adviser to the Host Organisation Committee for the 2008 RI Convention in Los Angeles. He also has served as Chair of the Rotary Peace Centers Major Gifts Initiative, Permanent Fund national adviser, member of the Nominating Committee for RI President in 2012–13 and 2014–15, and Council on Legislation representative (three times). Paul has received The Rotary Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service. As a Rotarian

with more than 45 years of perfect attendance, Paul was elected into the District 5280 Hall of Fame in 2005. Both Paul and his wife, Diane, are charter members of the Arch C. Klumph Society, Major Donors, and Paul Harris Society and Bequest Society members of The Rotary Foundation.

SAKUJI TANAKA Rotary Club of Yashio, Japan Sakuji is the former chair of the Daika Company and former president of the National Household Papers Distribution Association of Japan. He also has been vice president of the Yashio City Chamber of Commerce.

A member of his Rotary club since its charter in 1975, he has served RI as President, Director, Rotary Foundation Trustee, Committee Member and Chair (including Chair of the 2009 Birmingham Convention Committee), Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator, RI Training Leader, and District Governor. Working with his district, he helped construct a school building in Bangladesh. Sakuji received the RI Service Above Self Award and The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service and Distinguished Service Award. He and his wife, Kyoko, are Paul Harris Fellows, Major Donors, Arch C. Klumph Society members, and Benefactors of The Rotary Foundation. In addition, he has established an endowed Rotary Peace Fellowship.

YOUNG SUK YOON Rotary Club of Seoul Hoehyon, Korea Y.S. Yoon has headed Daewoo Corporation, Daewoo Heavy Industries & Machinery Ltd., Korea Heavy Industries & Machinery, and Doosan Heavy Industries & Machinery. He is founder and chair of Heam Management Consulting. He has held various positions in the field of international relations, including chair of the Republic of Korea and Mongolia Economic Cooperation, chair of the Republic of Korea and Germany Economic Cooperation, and president of Goodwill Association of the Republic of Korea and Russia. A Rotarian since 1990, Y.S. Yoon has served RI as a Committee Member, RI Training Leader, District Rotary Foundation Committee Chair, and District Governor. He also served as a member of the Rotary Peace Centers Major Gifts Initiative. He and his wife, Seung Ja, are Major Donors, Benefactors of The Rotary Foundation, and Paul Harris Society members.

Source: The Rotarian AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 15

District Wise Contribution Totals to The Rotary Foundation as on June 30, 2014 (in US Dollars)

District Number 2980 3000 3010 3020 3030 3040 3051 3052 3053 3060 3070 3080 3090 3100 3110 3120 3131 3132 3140 3150 3160 3170 3180 3190 3201 3202 3211 3212 3230 3240 3250 3261 3262 3291 India India Total

APF

4,25,074 38,023 12,51,113 98,229 2,68,402 79,954 26,837 2,25,376 33,808 2,59,916 61,397 1,24,741 4,787 72,262 1,36,721 49,948 3,67,999 1,05,515 8,03,296 1,22,909 97,012 2,33,044 1,22,536 5,43,028 3,31,389 1,34,434 1,14,883 65,376 3,19,449 1,97,487 75,529 47,981 1,16,122 2,73,320 72,27,898

3220

95,394

3271 3272

75,352 28,204

3281 3282

1,26,160 64,350

3292 South Asia Total World Total

1,84,013 78,01,371 11,84,30,650

PolioPlus*

Other Restricted

India 27,488 1,120 5,711 0 3,885 4,00,028 1,310 60,152 6,353 1,18,356 156 89,634 0 4,824 0 38,979 1,650 0 691 70,491 11,066 45,167 49,304 24,789 13,654 0 0 18,371 2,812 0 0 938 279,385 9,26,033 2,639 10,104 11,545 1,71,995 4,089 56,461 33 0 1,335 2,223 619 17,308 484 3,76,050 43,513 2,74,260 31,198 0 62,129 1,485 2,295 0 8,544 89,922 3,994 0 6,176 100 15 0 0 2,533 912 60,619 10,00,000 15,82,987 28,61,944 Sri Lanka 4,273 25,858 Pakistan 9,400 5,665 2,435 2,379 Bangladesh 14,338 2,531 0 7,500 Nepal 2,850 68,530 16,16,282 29,74,407 3,36,71,776 1,53,73,503

* Excludes Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Endowment Fund 31,560 17,283 86,316 18,833 7,979 50,542 0 90,000 0 1,54,767 0 1,000 0 0 0 0 12,341 9,683 87,525 1,06,853 0 49,698 2,216 24,764 0 0 2,000 408 1,17,537 180 211 0 8,500 16,000

Total Contributions

8,96,195

4,85,242 61,017 17,41,342 1,78,525 4,01,089 2,20,285 31,661 3,54,355 35,458 4,85,866 1,17,630 1,99,834 18,441 90,633 1,39,533 50,886 15,85,758 1,27,942 10,74,361 2,90,312 97,045 2,86,300 1,42,679 9,44,326 6,49,162 1,65,632 1,80,497 68,079 5,35,452 2,01,662 82,017 47,996 1,27,156 3,50,851 10,00,000 1,25,69,023

1,000

1,26,524

3,187 0

93,605 33,017

3,200 100

1,46,230 71,950

0 9,03,682 2,52,19,753

2,55,392 1,32,95,742 19,26,95,683

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Source: RI South Asia Office

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MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

This year, we must finish the job

A

lmost three decades ago, we Rotarians made a choice to give something far more important than money. We chose to give our word — our word that we would eradicate the poliovirus and create a future free of the disease.

But we haven’t yet kept that word.

We haven’t yet made the earth poliofree. And in the words of Henry Ford, “You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.”

In Rotary, we have been saying for many years that we are going to eliminate polio. It is my hope that there will soon come a time when we will be able to say that we’ve done it.

Rotarians throughout the world have been walking this road for many years. Polio eradication has been part of Rotary for decades now. We talk about it, we work toward it, and we’ve raised money for it — a great deal of money, over more than one campaign already. And now we are asking our fellow Rotarians, and being asked ourselves, to do and give more.

We recognise that there will be those who feel they have given enough already to the cause of polio eradication — those who feel we have done enough, and that it is time to move on. To those I say: If we pause, if we slacken now, if we say “almost” is the same as “did,” we risk losing all that we have already given. We risk our own good name and the good name of all the Rotarians who came before us.

This is something that we as Rotarians cannot and will not accept. We must continue until we finish the job.

John Kenny Foundation Trustee Chair

Membership in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives As on July 1, 2014 *

RI RI Rotary No. of Women Rotaract Interact Zone District Clubs Rotarians Rotarians

5 2980 5 3000 4 3010 5 3020 4 3030 4 3040 4 3051 4 3052 4 3053 4 3060 4 3070 4 3080 4 3090 4 3100 6 3110 6 3120 4 3131 4 3132 4 3140 5 3150 5 3160 5 3170 5 3180 5 3190 5 3201 5 3202 5 3211 5 3212 5 3220 5 3230 6 3240 6 3250 6 3261 6 3262 6 3271 6 3272 6 3281 6 3282 6 3291 6 3292 Total

157 89 133 66 88 102 66 66 50 81 115 82 77 88 111 66 110 72 135 93 58 126 135 90 126 102 129 86 61 127 74 91 76 73 85 87 131 83 148 89 3,824

6,443 4,097 5,482 3,202 4,636 2,326 2,625 3,298 1,817 3,578 3,302 3,335 2,142 2,025 3,454 2,513 4,741 3,110 7,181 3,392 2,117 4,828 5,524 3,662 4,799 3,977 3,986 3,595 1,670 5,822 2,641 3,173 2,397 2,685 1,508 2,069 3,926 2,337 4,030 2,890 1,40,335

111 281 561 177 486 216 185 437 145 307 230 167 84 96 155 185 644 213 940 283 77 224 203 255 269 165 156 166 191 352 248 351 273 248 170 370 372 157 585 313 11,048

63 126 51 29 42 22 34 23 13 33 42 39 19 9 42 23 43 26 96 54 8 24 37 48 57 47 6 12 57 97 36 34 14 23 34 12 166 110 41 92 1,784

261 247 177 175 177 85 119 124 30 96 116 145 27 82 37 30 167 82 335 152 37 252 353 102 83 342 59 128 182 352 109 112 94 59 15 36 60 18 93 86 5,236

RCC

185 68 80 258 121 131 328 120 89 100 55 96 122 146 60 48 66 53 137 107 80 153 141 41 43 38 113 117 93 271 109 162 40 65 13 31 172 38 517 85 4,692

*Please note that these are not official starting figures which will be made available in October 2014 after taking into account SARs (July 2014) received by 30 September 2014.)

Source: RI South Asia Office AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 17

MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

BRINGING MORE HANDS TO SERVE 14 Districts Commit 20,000 New Members in 2014–15!

Membership Planning Meet was held at Chennai for Zone 5 on July 17, 2014 Taking up RI President Gary Huang’s membership challenge and to achieve the No.1 spot for our country in membership growth across the world, RI Director P.T. Prabhakar called for Membership Development and Retention Meet for Zones 4 & 6A at Mumbai and for Zone 5 at Chennai. The Planning Meets served as ideal platforms for the District leaders to deliberate and get motivated to improve upon their membership numbers that would provide more hands to serve for Rotary.

R

otary Coordinator C. Basker welcomed the delegates. He explained that the objective of the meeting was to come out with specific action plan for each District. He pointed out that the meet was organised at the beginning of the Rotary year so that ambitious targets can be set which will make Zone 5 the most vibrant Zone in Rotary World.

The purpose of this meet was to take stock of the current situation of the 3 year Regional Membership Plan of Rotary International, which ends on June 30, 2015.

The district leaders were fortunate to learn from the wisdom and knowledge of RI Director P.T. Prabhakar and RI Director Elect Manoj Desai.

RC PDG C. Basker, prime mover behind the Chennai Membership Meet.

18 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

RI Director P.T. Prabhakar with RI Director Elect Dr. Manoj Desai, Rotary Coordinator PDG C. Basker and RPIC PDG Sam Patibandla at the Meet.

RID P.T. Prabhakar wanted the clubs to be Bigger, Bolder and Better.

He set the tone for the meet by saying that it will be totally interactive and the district leaders will set their own targets, without any compulsion of any kind.

He explained about the REGIONAL MEMBERSHIP PLAN and gave the latest update that as of June 30, 2014, India was No.1 in the world in membership development. With a contribution to TRF of USD 12.5 million in 2013– 14, India stood at No. 3 position in the world, after USA and Japan.

During the Rotary year 2014–15, an increase of 30 percent membership is anticipated from India. RI Director Prabhakar also explained how 30 percent net growth in Membership can be achieved — 15 percent from Regular

Recruitment, 10 percent from Couple Membership, 2.5 percent from Retention and 2.5 percent from Young Member Alumni, Past Rotaractors, etc.

Roles and responsibilities of Officer on Special Duty (OSD) were defined, as to identify weak clubs in the District and to strengthen them.

OSD will work along with DG, DGE, DGN and District Membership Chair as one team. It was decided that minimum of four meetings will be held between DG, District Membership Chair and OSD during the year and they will update the progress to the Rotary Coordinator (RC) and Assistant Rotary Coordinator (ARC). It was decided that henceforth all the new clubs will be formed with a minimum of 30 charter members.

RI Director Prabhakar also urged all Governors that clubs below membership of 10 should be given special attention and all clubs should be made active. He explained the role of OSDs in membership retention, making the clubs vibrant and other areas of membership growth. He also explained about Rotary’s brand strengthening efforts.

List of weak clubs, as per the District wise Membership Chart given below, were discussed in detail and the OSDs were asked to do the needful to strengthen them.

District Wise Membership Chart - Zone 5 District 2980 3000 3020 3150 3160 3170 3180 3190 3201 3202 3211 3212 3220 3230

Clubs with members strength < 10 11–20 21–30 31 30 14 15 4 12 14 3 23 21 1 7 23 26 29 15 39 2 15 24 15 38 2 17 29 4 32 44 7 23 1 21 22 1 6 32

OSDs were given responsibility to convert the above weak clubs into strong and vibrant clubs before end of this Rotary year and a club-wise problem finding exercise done by PDG Subramaniam of District 3230 was shared with others to follow. The sample format is given on the right (Membership Analysis Chart).

At the end of the presentation it was decided and agreed by all that all the clubs in rural areas to have minimum strength of 30 and city clubs to have 45 for effective functioning and sustainability.

RID P.T. Prabhakar shared the details of SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat) analysis of all districts, made keeping membership

RIDE Dr. Manoj Desai addressing the delegates.

RIDE Dr. Manoj Desai advised leaders to ASPIRE, PERSPIRE AND INSPIRE for achieving the goals. in mind. He urged the leaders to support RI President Gary’s most important goal of increasing members.

He also emphasised on RI President Gary’s strong suggestion for ‘spouse membership.’

RIDE Dr. Manoj Desai in his remarks emphasised on CHANGE. He advised district leaders to focus on lowering the age of the club by inducting younger members, inducting more female members, spouses, concentrating

Example of Membership Analysis Chart to be prepared

by OSDs of each District for suitable action Club Name Jul 2014

Category

Health analysis

RC ............

10

4 to 10

Started in haste. Poor fundamentals.

Recommend de-charter.

RC ............

14

11 to 20

Has a history. Merger with ....or......?

RC ............

15

11 to 20

Break away from ............. Fighting in limited space.

Merger with ............./...................?

RC ............

16

11 to 20

Still born - break away from ............................ Not functional. Try once more and then Recommend decharter

RC ............

17

11 to 20

Break away from ......... Proprietorship. Hard nut to crack.

Need to merge ..............?

RC ............

20

11 to 20

Good club. Can pick-up.

RC ............

20

11 to 20

Good club. Was a predominantly lawyers club.

RC ............

21

21 to 30

Tottering for many years. In and out of ICU. DG election affected recently adding to the misery of the club.

RC ............

21

21 to 30

Works in fits and starts. Got into problems over election issue.

RC ............

22

21 to 30

Good club. One recent President became too militant on election affairs for the club’s good.

RC ............

23

21 to 30

Small geography. An RCC at best. Will continue at this level. Can try for merger with .................. or ...................

RC ............

23

21 to 30

Owner driven. No hope till that situation changes.

AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 19

on Jaycees, Round Tablers and other service organisations, identifying virgin areas for starting new clubs etc.

He gave the membership figures of the Zones in India and highlighted on the issue of low number of lady members in Zone 5.

RISAO CDS Manager Jatinder Singh speaks on Rotary Club Central and new invoicing.

RPIC Sam Patibandla speaks on PR.

He expressed his concern on losing 1,187 clubs in Zones 4,5 & 6A in 2013-14. He further said that India has the potential to have 75 Districts in the coming years. He urged clubs to concentrate on internal growth. To achieve 30 percent growth — bigger clubs to give 5 percent growth, all small and weak clubs to reach 25 in strength, to focus on retention, lower the age and induct more women. He advised leaders to ASPIRE, PERSPIRE AND INSPIRE for achieving the goals.

RI Director P.T.Prabhakar advised leaders to follow the model adopted

by District 3131 during 2013–14, which resulted in addition of 1,100 new members. It was decided that all the clubs in rural areas and city-plus to have minimum strength of 30 and clubs in cities to have 45.

RC Basker presented facts and figures of each District. He requested the DGs to furnish contact details of Club Membership Chairs of all the Districts.

It was decided unanimously that all the Districts will impart training of minimum two hours to Club Membership Chairs before 31st August. Fourteen Districts came up with a total target figure of 20,000 new members for 2014–15.

20 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

ARCs and ARPICs of Zone 5 with RID P.T. Prabhakar and RIDE Dr. Manoj Desai.

PDG Krish Rajendran, DG Gowri Rajan RI District 3220 with the Sri Lankan team at the Meet.

It was the first time that DGs/DGEs/ DGNs/OSDs of all the Districts were sitting side by side and arriving at district commitments based totally on mutual discussions!

This is exactly the expectations of RI Board vis-Ă -vis strategic planning for strengthening the future of RI.

D 2980

D 3000

D 3020

D 3150

D 3160

D 3170

D 3180

D 3190

D 3201

D 3202

D 3211

D 3212 AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 21

RID P.T. Prabhakar urged all Governors to give special attention to clubs below membership of 10 and revive them with the help of OSDs.

RID P.T. Prabhakar addressing the Meet.

Rotary leaders with Zone 5 DGs.

DG ISAK Nazar, RI District 3230 presenting his membership development plans.

22 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

RI South Asia Office Club and District Support Manager Mr. Jatinder Singh spoke on ROTARY CLUB CENTRAL and explained the proposed NEW BILLING CYCLE that will come into effect from 1st January 2015, about Project funding by RI (www.ideas.rotary.org), about Sponsor Pin and about the recent changes in Election Pilot Scheme etc. He clarified various doubts raised by the delegates.

In view of the basic knowledge of computers required, for uploading information in Club Central and for using new invoicing system from January 1, 2015, the DGs were requested to consider appointing technology officers at District/Club level.

Rotary Public Image Coordinator Sam Patibandla gave an excellent presentation on the importance of Public Relations.

All in all, it was a highly productive meeting and the district leaders went away totally charged towards their commitment to achieving the target of 20,000 new members in Zone 5. Kudos to RC C. Basker who organised the seminar in a wonderful manner! He not only helped the districts with their current and last 5 years membership statistics club-wise, but also very efficiently took care of all the logistics of the meeting. He was ably assisted by ARCs PDG Olivannan, PDG Surendra, PDG Kishore, PDG Udaya Kumar, PDG Mahesh Raikar, RPIC Sam Patibandla and ARPICs PDG Bansali, PDG Nayanar, PDG Dr. Patabi and PDG A.P. Kanna.

RPIC PDG Sam Patibandla RI District 3150

BRINGING MORE HANDS TO SERVE 22 Districts Commit 23,000 New Members in 2014–15!

Membership Planning Meet for Zones 4 & 6A at Mumbai on July 20, 2014

T

he first Membership Planning Meet for Zones 4 and 6A for the Rotary year 2014–2015 took place on Sunday, July 20, 2014 at Hotel Orchid, Mumbai.

The meet was the brain-child of RID P.T. Prabhakar and RIDE Dr. Manoj Desai.They were ably supported

by RC PDG Vijay Jalan and ARCs PDG Dr. Bal Inamdar, IPDG Deepak Shikarpur, IPDG Vinod Bansal, IPDG Anil Agarwal and IPDG Rabi Nanda.

The meet was organised to take stock of the current situation of the 3-year Regional Membership Plan of Rotary International which ends on June 30, 2015.

To say the least, the meet was an outstanding success! DGs, DGEs, DGNs and OSDs (Officer on Special Duty) of all the 22 Districts (barring one DG due to his ill health) attended the meet. The 99.9 percent attendance at the meet set the tone for the deliberations. ‘The full house’ was an indication of the great importance attached to the membership development efforts by the leadership of all the districts.

Thanks to the concerted efforts of RC PDG Vijay Jalan and other ARCs, backed strongly by RID P.T. Prabhakar, the meeting was a grand success. It was the first time that the District leadership of all the Districts were sitting side by side and arriving at district commitments based totally on mutual discussions! This was the perfect example of strategic planning, as envisaged by the RI Board and the dynamism of RID P.T. Prabhakar was clearly evident in its execution.

In his opening remarks, RID P.T. Prabhakar explained the purpose of the meet. He urged seriousness from the delegates and clearly pointed

RI Director P.T. Prabhakar addresses the Planning Meet at Mumbai.

RID P.T. Prabhakar wanted the clubs to be Bigger, Bolder and Better. out a no-nonsense approach towards this extremely crucial need of RI to increase membership. He was firm, direct and effective. He pointed out that the purpose of the meet was to exchange ideas, understand the best practices employed by successful Districts last year, learn from plans made by all the Districts for this year and decide goals for each and every District.

Making a significant point, the RI Director remarked that India has a population of 1.2 billion; if you consider 1 percent of the population as leaders, India has 1.2 crore leaders who are making important decisions for Indians and are all potential Rotarians.

The present Indian Rotarian membership of 1.2 Lakhs is just 0.01 percent of the total leadership

RI Director Elect Dr. Manoj Desai addressing the gathering.

AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 23

GLIMPSES FROM THE MUMBAI MEMBERSHIP MEET D 3010

D 3030

D 3051

D 3052

D 3053

D 3060

D 3080

D 3090

D 3100

D 3110

D 3120

D 3131

D 3140

D 3240

D 3250

D 3261

D 3262

D 3291

24 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

ARCs and ARPICs of Zone 4 & 6A with Rotary leaders.

potential available — a huge gap to be bridged! He suggested that if we were to tap even a part of this potential, we could easily have 4 Zones in India (instead of 2 and 1/2 Zones at present), which will give us two Directors on the RI Board at any given time … clearly an objective worth striving for!

RIDE Dr. Manoj Desai who was member of RI Membership Development Committee for 6 long years, shared his wealth of experience and his vision for the future. In his ‘nowusual’ impressive address, RIDE Manoj underlined a ‘uni-directional’ approach towards membership and lent

It was the first time that the District leadership of all the Districts were sitting side by side and arriving at district commitments based totally on mutual discussions!

DG Vyankatesh Metan, RI District 3132 with the team at the Seminar.

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Current Status & Target

Clubs Cl b

Current Members

Agreed Target T t for f 30-06-2015

Net N t Addition Additi

30th June'2014

135

7181

10181

3000

Target for 2014-15 (given in the planning sheet)

Powerpoint Presentation of DG Ajay Gupta.

full support to RID P.T. Prabhakar. He informed the delegates comprising of DGs/DGEs/DGNs and OSDs that he is watching the efforts of every District!

He set the ball rolling by informing the delegates that in a recently concluded Membership Development Meet of Zone 5 in South India, 14 Districts decided on a strong target of 20,000 new members in 2014–15!

With 22 Districts in Zones 4 and 6 A, he urged the leaders to come up with a target of around 150 percent of Zone 5! The motivating addresses of both these dignitaries had an electrifying effect on the delegates. After this, the goal setting exercise for every District started.

DG Ajay Gupta of RI District 3140 was the first off the block! RID P.T. Prabhakar called him the “Virendra Sehwag (in his hay days) of the meet” and asked him to open the “Innings” with a bang!

AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 25

CDS Manager, RISAO, Jatinder Singh at the Meet.

DG Gurjeet Singh Sekhon, RI District 3070 makes his presentation.

Delegates from Nepal, RI District 3292, deliberate at the Meet.

26 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

Ajay did not disappoint! Making his presentation with a detailed slide, he announced a target of 3,000 new members for 2014–15, for District 3140. He unfolded his plans and exuded confidence that he may surpass his goals!

District after District then came forward to announce their goals and the reasons thereof. In many instances, there were healthy discussions led by RI Director Prabhakar and RIDE Dr. Manoj underlining their deep knowledge about every District. The prelunch and post-lunch sessions saw all the Districts coming forward enthusiastically by finalising their respective goals with inputs from both the Directors and the RC /ARC team. The

Kudos to PDG Vijay Jalan and OSD B.M Sivarraj (both from D 3140) and all the ARCS from Zones 4 & 6A for organising the super success Mumbai Membership Meet! minimum membership for sustenance of the clubs was agreed upon as 35 in city-plus clubs and 45 in city based clubs. Every District committed to ensure that all the clubs will reach this membership figure during 2014–15.

Roles and responsibilities of “Officer on Special Duty” (OSD) were then discussed. OSDs are appointed for the first time in Zones 4, 5 and 6A. They are PDGs or senior Rotarians with extensive experience

in membership development and thorough knowledge of their respective Districts. They are appointed to strengthen weak clubs in the District (membership less than 25). They are empowered to plan and assist DG, ARC and District Membership Chairs in reaching the goal of “No weak Clubs” in the District — undoubtedly a specific and much-needed role.

Some DGs expressed their apprehension about non-performing clubs.

They felt that in spite of recommending the names of such clubs for termination, nothing was done in the past.

RISAO CDS Manager Jatinder spelt out the criteria for nonperforming clubs (Failure to Function).

Both RID P.T. Prabhakar and RIDE Dr. Manoj Desai assured the delegates that if proper procedures were followed and the clubs still did not improve, all such clubs will be served termination notice on the basis of recommendation

by DGs. IPDG Deepak Shikarpur then outlined his success story in 2013–14 for District 3131. He emphasised the importance of PR, utilising the database of those who have left Rotary in the last 5 years, to bring them back. He suggested targeting University middle level professors and middle level managers, past Rotaractors and Alumni.

He could increase the membership by more than 1,000 by concentrating on all these!

DG Vivek Aranha of District 3131 has come up with a novel idea of ‘Hybrid E-Clubs’ and his intention of chartering 30 e-clubs during 2014–15.

Hybrid E-clubs are nothing but regular e-clubs who meet once a month in person and 3 times a month on the web. This eliminates the lacuna of the e-clubs being totally impersonal! RID P.T. Prabhakar and RIDE Dr. Manoj were of the view, that this was an idea worthy of emulation by all districts.

RISAO CDS Manager Jatinder made a detailed presentation on Club Central. RI’s new invoicing system which will come into effect from

Zone 4 and 6A DGs with RI Director P.T. Prabhakar and RI Director Elect Manoj Desai.

L to R: ARCs Rabi Nanda, Anil Agarwal, Bal Inamdar, Vinod Bansal, Deepak Shikarpur, Ulhas Kolhatkar.

January 1, 2015, and changes in DGN Pilot D5. There was a healthy discussion about all these presentations and Mr. Jatinder Singh clarified the queries of the participants, to their satisfaction.

In view of the computer knowledge required, to update club data on the web and use Club Central, it was decided that each club will appoint a technology officer who will be trained by the District so that he/she can be effective. Mr. Jatinder Singh also offered to conduct webinars on week days, and train the district teams on new invoicing system and Club Central.

Finally, it was decided that DGs, DGEs, DGNs and OSDs will meet every quarter along with ARC to review membership targets and take necessary action. They also decided to use the membership seminars coming up in each district, in August 2014, to impart training to club officers on the new club invoicing system and Club Central.

When RI Director Elect Manoj Desai announced 23,000 as the total membership target set by all districts, it was received with thunderous applause! The meeting ended with a formal vote of thanks by ARC Vinod Bansal. ARPIC and past RC Dr. Ulhas Kolhatkar was also present and assisted the discussions with his valuable inputs.The path-breaking meeting underlined a firm resolve by every District of Zones 4 & 6A to grow significantly in 2014–15!

The credit for conceptualising and undertaking such a significant step must go to our dynamic RID P.T. Prabhakar ably supported by the knowledgeable RIDE Dr. Manoj Desai. Kudos to both of them for writing a new chapter in the history of Membership Development in Zones 4, 5 & 6A! As RI Director P.T. Prabhakar remarked, undoubtedly this is a great time to be a Rotary leader from India!

ARC PDG Dr. Bal Inamdar RI District 3140 AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 27

M

adurai, the land of Goddess Meenakshi is a much celebrated temple town of South India, rich in cultural heritage passed on from the great Tamil era, called the Sangam period dating back to more than 2,500 years ago. Madurai was the seat of the Tamil Sangam or the Academy of Learning then. Situated on the banks of River Vaigai, the town is associated with the Thiruvilayaadal episodes of Lord Shiva which are enacted as part of the temple festivals even to this day. The land also boasts of feminine power and wisdom in the form of the brave queen Rani Mangammal (she fought Aurangazeb’s general, Zulfikar Ali Khan and got back the parts of the kingdom lost by the earlier rulers) and several famous poetesses. Any description about Madurai is incomplete without the mention of the town’s famed fragrant jasmine flowers.

This glorious, grand, ancient land that enjoys a unique niche in the map of Tamil Nadu, its global renown drawing tourists in droves, is home to Rotary Club of Madurai West, RI District 3000 which is on the threshold of its fiftieth year of the supreme service to humanity.

Perched on the threshold of the Golden Jubilee year (2014–15), RC Madurai West, RI District 3000 has reason to be proud and with its head held high, the club along with members ushers in the 50th year of their glorious service to the community and fellowship. Let us congratulate the club on this momentous occasion and shower them with good wishes to keep the Rotary flag flying high and live up to the expectations of their founding fathers all through the future.

RC Madurai West is the second oldest Rotary club in Madurai, after Rotary Club of Madurai which was chartered in 1938. Incidentally RC Madurai sponsored RC Madurai West in 1965 and also provided five seed members — Rotarians Ahmed Tayub, S.M. Diaz, Dr. K.A. Ramalingam, P.V. Rajendran and P.C.M. Sundarapandian — from its club roster.

PHF members being felicitated.

28 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

Rotary Club of Madurai West was chartered on June 19, 1965; Rtn. S.M. Diaz served as the Charter President of the club and Rtn. Dr. K.A. Ramalingam, its Charter Secretary. The club has given four Governors to the District — Rotarians P.C.M Sundarapandian, M. Shanmugam, P.V. Parthasarathy and M.N. Nayagam.

In these 49 years since its inception, the club boasts of a long list of illustrious projects that have transformed the life of many in the society.

These projects testify the spirit and passion of RC Madurai West and their unified and committed approach to the needs of the community.

Providing infrastructure to schools, promoting a greener earth through planting of saplings all over the town, promoting healthcare through periodic medical camps, equipping hospitals with life-saving machineries, facilitating clean drinking water to communities are some of the significant projects performed by the club that has brought immense relief to people of Madurai. Besides, the two Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) programmes hosted by the club apart from the District RYLAs have empowered several youngsters to be self-confident and successful. The enthusiasm of the Rotarians of the club particularly is noteworthy in this aspect and they are keen on developing the inter-personal skills and leadership qualities of the younger generation.

The extension activities of the club depict a remarkable feat of having sponsored seven new Rotary clubs, an equal number of Rotaract clubs and nine Interact clubs at Madurai.

Presently the club has on its roster 120 members and its current President Rtn. T. Ravee and the Secretary Rtn. L. Ramanathan are keen on increasing the membership to 150 by the year end.

Heralding the Golden Jubilee Year, club President T. Ravee and his team of Rotarians had organised the inauguration of the celebrations on July 4, 2014 at Lakshmi Sundaram Hall, Madurai.

RI President Elect K.R. Ravindran was the Chief Guest; RI Director P.T. Prabhakar, Zone Co-ordinator C. Basker and DG P. Jagannathan were the special guests for the occasion.

Earlier during the day, RI President Elect K.R. Ravindran was taken on a visit to Government Girls Higher Secondary School on the Melur Highway, which the

RI Director P.T. Prabhakar addressing the gathering.

Major Donor Dr. G. Vasudevan being honoured by RIPE K.R. Ravindran and RI Director P.T. Prabhakar.

RI President Elect K.R. Ravindran delivers his address.

AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 29

club has adopted under the Rotary India Literacy Mission’s ‘Happy Schools’ initiative, as part of their Golden Jubilee Year projects. The club had brought in several benefits to the school which has a student strength of 1,240 — installation of RO plants so that the children can have access to clean and safe drinking water; renovation of school building and improving the sanitation environment by constructing toilets there; providing classroom furniture (“this is the first time the students are sitting on benches since the school started in 1997,” said the school headmaster) and construction of a concrete bridge for children to safely access the school without using the highway — all these were done by the club at a total cost of Rs.15,00,000.

The New Generations seminar, ‘Foresee – 4C,’ which was a part of the celebrations, was a huge hit and it had an attendance of 1,125 Rotaractors. DGN M. Muruganandam inaugurated the seminar; DRR Ramkumar Raju of District 3230 and Rtn. Chitra Ganapathy, a member of the club spoke on the importance of the four Cs — Commitment, Competence, Character and Career. The Rotaractors were excited and had their ears tuned to listen to the wise words of RI President Elect K.R. Ravindran who elaborated on the lessons he learnt from his life. “Nothing in life is free. You are not entitled to anything. Parents can only give education and values, anything else is a bonus; don’t wait for someone to tell you what to do; Never, never, never give up,” were few of the wise words that the RI President Elect shared with the new generation audience.

Later in the evening, a Special Postal Cover and Stamp commemorating the Golden Jubilee Year of RC Madurai West was released by Post Master General, Chennai City Region, Mr. Mervin Alexander and it was received by PDG C. Basker.

RIPE K.R. Ravindran and RI Director P.T. Prabhakar honoured the 14 PHF members and Major Donor Rtn. Dr. G. Vasudevan. RC Madurai West sponsored a new club, RC Madurai Sangamam 30 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

RIPE K.R. Ravindran and RI Director P.T. Prabhakar present the Charter to new club President Rtn. Rajesh Kanna.

and the charter for the new club was presented by the RI President Elect and RI Director to the new club President Rtn. Rajesh Kanna at the occasion. The club launched its valuable service project, rain water harvesting to fill a temple tank, commemorating the Golden Jubilee year, at the hands of RI Director P.T. Prabhakar.

Speaking at the celebrations, RI Director P.T. Prabhakar congratulated all the Rotarians of India for making India No.1 in the world, in Membership Development; add to this, the fact that we are No.3 in the world in TRF contributions, makes India, one of the prime movers of RI. Talking about the polio-free status of India, RID P.T. Prabhakar said, “Indian Rotarians have made the impossible, possible.”

RID P.T. Prabhakar congratulated RC Madurai West for their 50 yrs of yeomen service to the society.

While speaking about the major role played by Rotary clubs, RI President Elect K.R. Ravindran said that the organisation Rotary combined commerce with cause and friendship with service. At the end of the day, it is the individual Rotary club which is the fulcrum on which the Rotary organisation is suspended on. The magic of Rotary originates here. Rotary has 34,282 clubs spread over 200 geographical regions spreading the glow and warmth of Rotary care, compassion and contribution to the community. The clubs in

Madurai are just one filament of this light. The input from these clubs and the output generated from them is what makes Rotary what it is; and not the boardrooms of RI, he elaborated.

Lauding the Happy Schools project of the club, the RIPE said that every single person that gets touched by the literacy programme becomes a valuable asset. He concluded by wishing that Rotary Club of Madurai West should, in the next 50 years, Light Up Rotary in many and better ways.

“Starting a club is not difficult but sustaining a club for 50 years is very difficult and sustaining one of the best Rotary Clubs for 50 years is a Himalayan task for which the 50 Presidents of the club have to be appreciated,” said PDG C. Basker.

A special souvenir was released by DG P. Jegannanthan to mark the Golden Jubilee year and the first copy of the same was received by the club’s member, PDG P.V. Parthasarathy.

With such a rich background on service to humanity, RC Madurai West is all set to march ahead and take its projects to fruition on a sincere and dedicated commitment, bringing about a visible and a viable change, a change for a brighter future where the marginalised community can dare dream.

Jaishree with inputs from RC Madurai West RI District 3000

XXXXXXXXX

President’s

Travels

I

n a single year, the RI President visits an average of 51 countries, flies nearly 250,000 miles, and delivers more than 190 speeches.

Whether attending a festival in a small town or the Rotary International Convention, the President serves as the face of the organisation and represents it on the world stage. For up-to-date coverage, visit www. facebook.com/rotarypresident, or Rotary’s Twitter and Instagram feeds.

Reproduced from The Rotarian

Rotary International SERVICE ABOVE SELF Award Winners The 2013–14 recipients of the RI Service Above Self Award, Rotary International’s highest honour for individual Rotarians, have been announced. This award recognises Rotarians who have demonstrated exemplary humanitarian service, especially those who have helped others through personal volunteer work and active involvement in Rotary.

DISTRICT

NAME

DISTRICT

NAME

3020

Kishore Kumar Cherukumalli

3132

Uma Rajiv Pradhan

3030

Manik L. Kaswa

3140

Mayuresh Warke

3040

Ashok Kumar Tanted

3150

Rajyalakshmi Vadlamani

3051

Mohan N. Shah

3190

Somasekharappa Nagendra

3052

Suresh Kumar Poddar

3211

Giju A. George

3053

Satish Ajmera

3250

Jogesh Gambhir

3070

Sunil Kapur

3291

Anirudha Roy Chowdhury

3120

Govind Prasad Lath

Source: The Rotarian AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 31

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34

HYBRID E-CLUBS OF D-3131 BEST OF BOTH WORLDS!

P

aul Harris famously wrote, “This is a changing world: we must be prepared to change with it. The story of Rotary will have to be written again and again.” Hybrid e-clubs are a part of change. But how will it change the way Rotary clubs function and what does it really mean to a Rotarian?

One of the key challenges of Rotary International is membership — both retention and addition. It's a long haul of 15 years and the challenge still remains. Here is my take on value that Blended or Hybrid e-clubs can add to our organisation.

One of the reasons why people leave Rotary is lack of time, which is also the reason why attendance at weekly club meetings is reducing alarmingly. Time is also one of the reasons why attendance in clubs is

less. The downside of an e-club is, that, people meet only in cyber space which takes away the fundamental building block of Rotary, which is to meet and great each other in person every week.

Blended e-clubs can be the solution as members meet online three times a month and then, to enjoy the real Rotary fellowship they meet at least once a month to shake hands, enjoy fellowship and friendship and discuss further on ideas that had popped up during the online meetings. This idea of blended e-clubs is the perfect blend of what Rotary expects while still adapting new Rotary initiative of starting an e-club. Using Synergy model, these e-clubs can partner with regular clubs for joint meetings/programmes/ fellowships/service projects. I feel that every e-club member must attend important Rotary events such as PETS, District Assembly, District Conference

L to R: Mrs. Nalini Prabhakar, Dipti Aranha, DG Vivek Aranha, RI Director P.T. Prabhakar, PDG Deepak Shikarpur and e-club presidents Rtn. Dimakh Sahastrabudhe and Rtn. Santosh Marathe during an interaction session with a Hybrid e-club in RI District 3131.

36 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

and Avenue seminars. Ideally members away from geographic locations (NRIs) usually visit the geographical area, where majority of the members reside, once a year. These visits are for longer duration. This time should be used to have face to face meetings.

This will be an ideal platform for past Rotarians to connect to Rotary again and for seniors who have travel issues. A great opportunity for 2.5 million IT/BPO professionals working in India, who are looking for a social life and giving back to society in the form of donations or time; and for anyone who is on the internet today and would love to get engaged with Rotary. Well, there are 205 million Indians already on the internet and the figure is growing rapidly. Imagine a society where at least 5 percent of citizens in every city is a Rotarian, imagine the number of members and the assistance to

Foundation for service projects which will also be sustainable and measurable. E-members are a great resource for connecting with foreign partners for Grants.

The members of Hybrid e-club will enjoy attending and learning from District events and going to other Rotary clubs. Likewise current Rotarians can visit online to Hybrid e-club and make up his attendance, a key factor in Rotary which was taken seriously a few years back. There are still many Rotarians who are dedicated towards 100 percent attendance throughout the year. This is also an opportunity for those joining back Rotary, as Hybrid e-club members to again get motivated by Rotary ideals and join a regular club in future which they used to be part of.

But there will be challenges at the beginning in adaptability. A single platform for web-based meetings needs to be identified at a common level throughout the District. Hands-on and a bit of hand holding is required at the start for those who are not super techsavvy. Even if you are aware of the basics of internet and spend two hours every day you will adapt to these platforms easily. Internet speeds at some locations in India might be a hindrance but with the way Government is planning I think we should get acceptable speeds to conduct these meetings.

There should be no issues with Tier I and Tier II cities at the moment. E-clubs is a good idea but Hybrid e-clubs is a ground reality, already existing in RI District 3131.

DG Vivek Aranha has ambitious plans to have many such Hybrid e-clubs.

At the end there's nothing better to endorse friendship and fellowship, the core values of Rotary, with a nice handshake and a warm hug, hey that's at least once a month in Hybrid e-clubs.

Let's get blended in this new magic of Rotary.

ARC PDG Dr. Deepak Shikarpur along with AG Amit Jadhav RI District 3131 AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 37

Compiled by Kiran Zehra

RC NEYVELI RI District 2980 The club in association with Inner Wheel Club of Neyveli distributed sewing machines to women who are HIV+. This will help them to earn a living.

RC PUDUKKOTTAI RI District 3000 The Rotarians distributed saris to poor and needy women. These saris would serve as robes of dignity for these women who survive on a very low income.

RC DELHI VASANT KUNJ RI District 3010 The club organised a relief camp at Masoodpur for 300 families who were victimised by a massive fire accident. Food material, clothes and medicines were provided to all the families.

38 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

RC KAKINADA CENTRAL RI District 3020 Over 100 students from the Municipal School, Chollangi Peta were briefed on oral health at a camp conducted by the club. Dental kits were also given out to the students.

RC ACHALPUR RI District 3030 The Rotarians helped to provide Jaipur foot for around 50 physically challenged people. This would help them move around with ease and strengthen them with self-confidence.

RC GODHRA MIDTOWN RI District 3040 The club conducted diabetes, obesity and neuropathy tests for the people through a health camp at Sabandh, a social organisation. Around 300 poor and needy patients benefitted from this camp.

RC AHMEDABAD MIDTOWN RI District 3051 The club donated around 100 sewing machines to the underprivileged women associated with various womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s institutes, with help from TRF through a global grant. These women can now earn a decent living pursuing the vocation.

AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 39

RC UDAIPUR ELITE RI District 3052 The club distributed 1,000 notebooks among needy tribal students of the Government Higher Secondary School. This would assist the students in better learning.

RC GWALIOR VEERANGANA RI District 3053 To bring awareness among the public on the illeffects of using plastics and polythene bags, the Rotarians distributed cloth bags to the people and street vendors besides educating them on the issue.

RC VAPI RIVERSIDE RI District 3060 The club conducted an eye check up camp at Vapi Transporters Association. Road safety and AIDS awareness information were also imparted to the transporters at the camp.

RC DHARAMSHALA RI District 3070 The club presented scholarships to meritorious students hailing from economically weak families at Dharamshala. This gesture would help in motivating them to pursue higher studies and enable them to continue their education effectively.

40 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

RC ROOPNAGAR RI District 3080 The club in association with Red Cross Society conducted a seven day training programme on first-aid for its Interactors from four different schools.

RC RAJPURA RI District 3090 A medical camp hosted by the club witnessed the testing and treatment of close to 150 patients at Rotary Bhavan. Free medicines were also provided to the poor and needy patients.

RC MORADABAD GREATER RI District 3100 Over 100 patients were tested and treated at an eye camp organised by the club. Patients were also referred to hospitals for further treatment.

RC BAREILLY CENTRAL RI District 3110 The club in association with RC Bareilly distributed tricycles to physically challenged individuals. This would assist them in moving around easily.

AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 41

RC MIRZAPUR GAURAV RI District 3120 The club conducted a drawing and painting competition under the topic â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Colour of Dreamsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; at S.N Public School. Close to 150 students participated in this event. Winners were awarded prizes and certificates.

RC CHAKAN RI District 3131 Haemoglobin check up camp was organised by the club at NTB Hi-tech Ceramics, Chakkan. The women employees of the company were tested and given medical advice.

RC AHMEDNAGAR RI District 3132 After conducting a blood donation camp at the premises of Green Air Corporation, the club donated 32 units of blood to Jankalyan Rakt Pedi Institute.

RC BOMBAY UPTOWN RI District 3140 Over 750 students from 30 special schools participated in a mega cultural programme organised by the club. Encouragement came in form of food, health drinks and gifts for these children.

42 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

RC HANAMKONDA RI District 3150 The club along with RC Farmingdale,RI District 7250, USA and TRF installed a RO water treatment plant at Sripathipally village, Warangal.

This would provide safe and healthy drinking water to the villagers.

RC JAMMALAMADUGU RI District 3160 The Rotarians distributed saris to 500 poor and needy women. This was done with a view to provide them with better clothes and enhance their dignity.

RC ANKOLA RI District 3170 The club donated sewing machines to poor women in and around Ankola Taluk. This thoughtful gift would improve their financial status as they take up a vocation in tailoring.

RC MANGALORE NORTH RI District 3180 The club in association with RC Kendal, RI District 1190, UK and TRF donated a school bus costing Rs.13.34 lakhs to Saanidhya Residential School and Training Centre for Mentally Challenged.

AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 43

A Tribute Extraordinaire As Rotary Club of Madras celebrated its 85th birthday, the Rotarians also re-lived and honoured the passion of the club’s founder Rtn. James Wheeler Davidson, for Rotary and service, by conferring the JWD Award on a distinguished Rotarian for his significant service to Rotary’s ideals.

B

eing a Rotarian is indeed remarkable and fulfilling; but breathing and living Rotary is something much beyond. It calls for unimaginable passion, perseverance and deep concern for humanity. Rotarian James Wheeler Davidson was one such person with extraordinary zeal and exceptional generosity whose untiring efforts had taken Rotary to several countries. He was celebrated as ‘Marco Polo of Rotary’ and ‘World Citizen’ by none other than the founder of the Rotary movement, Paul Harris himself. He was one of the three ‘Men of Rotary’ identified by Paul Harris when he wrote his last article for The Rotarian in 1947.

Rtn. James Wheeler Davidson, Jim Davidson as he was known, was no ordinary person. Born in 1872 in Austin, Minnesota, Rtn. Jim Davidson enjoyed international reputation as an explorer to the North Pole, a war correspondent, a syndicated Far East journalist and a US Consul General in Shanghai before he came to Calgary in 1907. He joined Rotary Club of Calgary in 1914.

An ardent traveller, roads and Rotary were inseparable for Rtn. Davidson. As the man at the centre of Rotary Extension Programme, he played a spectacular role in taking Rotary to several countries across the globe and chartering many Rotary clubs wherever he went. This also included a thirty-two month odyssey, chartering 23 Rotary clubs in 12 countries, linking Rotary clubs from

44 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

TRF Trustee Sushil Gupta and PDG S. Krishnaswami presenting the JWD Award to Rtn. K.C. Vijayan.

The first recipient of JWD Award - Rtn. Jagannatha Rao.

Europe to Japan, he took his family along and spent considerable amount of money from his own resources, thus exemplifying Rotary’s high motto of Service above Self.

A blue spruce tree with the marker, “To the memory of James Wheeler Davidson, World Citizen” in the Harris’ Garden of Friendship, serves as a tribute eulogising the spectacular work of this great man of Rotary.

His name is further immortalised by the naming of one of the mountain peaks of Alberta as Mt. Davidson by the Geographic Names Board. Mt. Davidson is located nine km north of Lake Minnewanka in Alberta. Rtn. James Wheeler Davidson died in July 1933 at the age of 61. He is perhaps one of the best known and most celebrated members in the Rotary Hall of Fame.

Now what connects this outstanding Rotarian with RC Madras? Rotary Club of Madras was founded by Rtn. James Wheeler Davidson on May 10, 1929. To honour the legacy of the club’s founder, the James Wheeler Davidson Award was instituted by the club during the club’s birth anniversary in 2013 by the then President of RC Madras, Rtn. Rajendran Sabanayagam, who sponsored the specially commissioned silver trophy. The James Wheeler Davidson Committee was formed under the chairmanship of PDG S. Krishnaswami and the committee has formulated the basic criteria for conferring the prestigious award on Rotarians.

To be honoured with the Award, a Rotarian: • Shall have at least 15 years in Rotary and belong to a club that traces its lineage to RC Madras • Shall not be a present or past officer of RI or member of RC Madras • Should have a consistent track record of involvement in Rotary programmes and projects at club and District level • Should have been engaged in Rotary Extension work, either

Rtn. James Wheeler Davidson directly in formation of new clubs, or by actively assisting a Rotary Club or District Governor in extension work and has so contributed to the formation of not less than five Rotary clubs.

Rtn. K. Jagannadha Rao of RC Visakhapatnam, RI District 3020, was the first recipient of the JWD Award and he was bestowed with this esteemed award on May 10, 2013.

Celebrated as ‘the grand old hero of Vizag,’ 91-year old Rtn. Rao has striven to share the gift of Rotary and has extended himself towards introducing new members and creating new clubs, thus taking forward the ideals of James Wheeler Davidson.

This year while the club celebrated its 85 th birthday, the JWD Awards Committee conferred the James Wheeler Davidson Award on Rtn. K.C. Vijayan of RC Madras Northwest. In an exceptional ceremony at the hotel Vivanta by Taj Connemara (the same location where the club was born on the same day 85 years ago), TRF Trustee Padma Shri Sushil Gupta who was the Chief Guest for the evening along with the then Club President Vivek Harinarain, honoured Rtn. Vijayan with the James Wheeler Davidson Award and a Citation, for his significant influence

on the extension and the adaptation of Rotary movement, and for dedicatedly living up to JWD’s convictions for the cause of Rotary. The momentous occasion was also graced by the presence of the then DG A.P. Kanna, PDG S. Krishnaswami and District Secretary Durairaj Kandiar and several other Rotarians of District 3230.

Rotary Club of Madras is the first Rotary club to be started in South India and it is India’s third oldest Rotary club, after Rotary Calcutta and RC Bombay. Observing the birth anniversary of the club, TRF Trustee Sushil Gupta commended the Rotarians for their vital role in Tsunami rehabilitation efforts and for the various other projects that they perform for the welfare of the underprivileged. He emphasised on the three factors that Rotary clubs should consider seriously — strengthen clubs with more members and take Rotary to the younger generation; focus on humanitarian services and enhance the public image and awareness of Rotary.

More recently, the current Club President Rtn. S.N. Srikanth has announced the club’s plans to make Tamil Nadu open defacation-free by the end of the decade on a phased manner, through various sanitation projects and by focusing on behavioural change brought about through community involvement.

No matter what, no matter how many years have gone under the bridge, what is worthwhile is the fact that RCM sails steadily with poise, building goodwill and friendship, bettering lives of thousands of downtrodden, with each of its 240plus members celebrating each glorious service to humanity and being proud of their status as a ‘Rotarian.’

The dedication of the Rotarians and the success of the club are indeed the fitting tribute to its founder and his high thoughts.

Jaishree AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 45

GET MORE

OUT OF MEMBERSHIP.

CONNECT FOR GOOD.

JOIN LEADERS | EXCHANGE IDEAS | TAKE ACTION www.rotary.org

48 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

Your Rotary membership starts in your club. Getting involved will develop your leadership skills and knowledge and build lifelong friendships.

Rotary brings together people like you who want to make a difference.

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re here to provide you with the resources and opportunities to improve your community and create change in the world.

AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 49

CONNECTING FOR COMMUNITY The top two reasons people join Rotary are to give back to their communities and to connect with like-minded leaders and friends. Our members stay with Rotary year after year for the same reasons. What motivated you to join Rotary?

What have you set out to accomplish with your club and as a Rotarian?

OUR COLLECTIVE IMPACT

Haiti The Rotary Club of Tallahassee Sunset, Fla., USA, partnered with the Rotary Club of Port-au-Prince/Champ de Mars, Haiti, in August 2013, to deliver 60 water filtration systems to Dumay.

The team helped develop and train a community water council composed of local leaders to promote the use of the filters and provide education on water, sanitation and hygiene.

Total volunteer hours: 700 Number of volunteers: 28 Total cash contributions: US $800 Total in-kind contributions: US $2,800

Rotary connects leaders from all cultures and occupations who want to use their distinct expertise for good. People whose sense of responsibility inspires them to give back to their communities. Who step forward to tackle the toughest challenges — and persevere to create lasting change in communities around the world.

Together, we empower youth, improve health, promote peace, and advance our communities in all corners of the globe.

With 1.2 million members worldwide, our global community’s impact has never been greater — and it continues to grow.

When Rotarians come together and commit to a cause, like our PolioPlus initiative, the magnitude of our impact is clear.

And with the ongoing support of Rotarians like you, we will continue the fight to End Polio Now. You joined Rotary because you want to make a difference.

Because you believe in our motto: Service Above Self.

Because you’re committed to integrity and making change happen, and because the areas that we focus on are important to you.

HERE ARE JUST A FEW OF THE LATEST PROJECTS POSTED ON ROTARY SHOWCASE Have a success story to tell? Share it with the world on Rotary Showcase (www.rotary.org /showcase). Upload photos and video, and track your project’s impact. Need resources?

Rotary Ideas (ideas.rotary.org) is a new online tool that helps Rotary clubs find support for service projects. Use it to seek partners, volunteers, in-kind contributions, and individual contributions. Need help? Email social@rotary. org for more information about these tools.

THE FOUR-WAY TEST Of the things we think, say or do:

1

Is it the TRUTH?

3

Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?

2

Is it FAIR to all concerned?

4

Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

50 ROTARY NEWS SEPTEMBER AUGUST 2014 2013

Peace and conflict prevention/resolution

Disease prevention and treatment

Philippines

The Rotary clubs of Bacolod West, Philippines, and Maroubra, Australia, partnered to provide a daily lunch to 50 children attending Kabugwason Elementary School in Bacolod City. The project aimed to improve studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; health and well-being by addressing their nutritional needs.

Mauritius

Since 2009, the Club of Beau Bassin-Rose Hill has held a two-year adult literacy programme to benefit the community of Mont Roches and the surrounding area. Nineteen students graduated from the most recent course, in December 2013.

Total volunteer hours: 215 Number of volunteers: 8 Total cash contributions: US $2,000 Total in-kind contributions: N/A

Total volunteer hours: 280 Number of volunteers: 5 Total cash contributions: US $3,500 Total in-kind contributions: N/A

England

Australia

To encourage children to become interested in science and technology, the Rotary Club of Westminster East and the Rotaract Club of Westminster partnered on a model-boat building project at Churchill Gardens Primary School. Thirtyfour students spent two afternoons making the boats, then sailed them on a pond in Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hyde Park.

For the past four years, the Rotary Club of Bowral-Mittagong has staged an annual DreamCricket festival in Bowral, the childhood home of cricketer and national sports icon Don Bradman. Hundreds of children with special needs, along with Rotarians and community volunteers, participate in the cricketrelated activities. The idea has spread to clubs and districts all over Australia, India and Sri Lanka.

Total volunteer hours: 200 Number of volunteers: 18 Total cash contributions: US $600 Total in-kind contributions: N/A

Total volunteer hours: 28,061 Number of volunteers: 5,759 Total cash contributions: US $193,092 Total in-kind contributions: US $701,525

Water and sanitation

Maternal and child health

Basic education and literacy

Economic and community development SEPTEMBER AUGUST 2014 2013 ROTARY NEWS 51

GET INVOLVED When you get involved, it’s not just your community, club and projects that benefit — you benefit, too. As an active Rotarian, you’ll develop skills like public speaking, project management and event planning. You’ll meet interesting people from your community and from around the world.

You’ll tackle local issues that are important to you and your fellow club members. You’ll feel the shared sense of purpose that comes from working together to better your community.

When it comes to being an active Rotarian, the opportunities are endless. Here are some ways to get involved.

START LOCAL AND HELP YOUR COMMUNITY Volunteer to help with your club’s signature service project.

Get involved with one of the programmes sponsored by your club.

Identify a need in your community and design a hands-on project that addresses it.

Collaborate with other clubs in your area, including Interact and Rotaract clubs, on a joint service project or event.

52 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

Share your ideas about how to achieve club and project goals with club leaders, and take the lead on carrying them out. Your suggestions could become the next big initiative in your community.

GO GLOBAL THROUGH ROTARY Participate in Rotary’s international service projects.

Browse others’ projects on Rotary Showcase at www.rotary.orgľľto inspire local initiatives.

Support The Rotary Foundation, which provides millions of dollars in grants for Rotary’s humanitarian service efforts around the world.

Attend Rotary events to exchange ideas and celebrate with members around the globe.

Host a Rotary Youth Exchange student visiting your district, and learn about another culture.

Learn with other Rotarians by attending the Rotary International Convention.

Give to PolioPlus and join the movement to End Polio Now. For only 60 cents, you can vaccinate a child against polio.

GET CONNECTED Rotary is all about building lifelong friendships — connecting with fellow Rotarians across communities, cities, countries and cultures. Just one connection can lead to a great partnership.

ONLINE Update your Rotary profile at www.rotary.org to receive information tailored to your interests and connect with members who share those interests.

Use your Rotary profile to connect with club leaders and get the information you need to participate in projects and your community.

Explore Rotary grants at www.rotary.org/grants to learn how to apply for global grants for international humanitarian projects.

Go to meetings at other Rotary clubs anywhere in the world to find international service partners and form new friendships.

Use social media to reach out and start conversations. Inspire others to follow your lead and spread the word about Rotary.

Learn about another culture.

Spend time abroad in a Rotarian’s home through a Rotary Friendship Exchange.

OFFLINE AND IN-PERSON

Join a Rotary Fellowship or Rotarian Action Group. Meet other members who share your interests and passions.

You don’t have to use a computer to make a connection. Outside of your club meetings, there are lots of opportunities to meet with other Rotarians in person. Here are a number of ways to get started.

Discover inspiring stories of fellow Rotarians at Rotary Voices, the official Rotarian blog.

Make Rotary a family affair.

Explore Interact, RYLA, and Rotary Youth Exchange opportunities for your kids and invite your spouse to your club’s meetings.

Learn about service projects worldwide at Rotary Showcase and put your club’s projects on display, too.

Attend the RI Convention. Meet and celebrate with other members from around the world and learn how to expand our impact.

OTHER RESOURCES Read your Rotary magazine, Rotary news, and newsletters for stories about remarkable projects, helpful tips, and inspirational ideas.

Explore special-interest publications available at shop.rotary.org.

START MAKING YOUR CONNECTIONS TODAY!

JOIN THE CONVERSATION!

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AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 53

BEYOND CLUBS — THE ROTARY FAMILY Rotary is made up of more than just our clubs. Service can start at any age, so we offer programmes for teenagers and young adults who want to discover new cultures, develop leadership skills, and give back. We also provide opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds who want to help in their communities. Through clubs like yours, Rotarians organise and sponsor all of the following.

Interact is a leadership programme sponsored

by Rotary clubs for anyone ages 12–18.

With more than 16,740 Interact clubs in 151 countries, Rotary is inspiring the next generation of socially responsible and globally conscious leaders.

Rotaract is organised by Rotary clubs to promote leadership, professional development, and service among adults ages 18–30. With more than 6,880 clubs in 166 countries, Rotaract members are helping to lead change in communities around the globe.

Rotary Community Corps (RCCs) are groups of non-Rotarians who work with Rotary to improve their communities through a variety of service projects. There are more than 7,900 RCCs in 85 countries, all organised and sponsored by Rotary clubs.

Rotary Youth Exchange offers students ages 15–19 the chance to travel abroad for cultural exchanges. More than 8,000 students participate in this immersive programme every year. Through these experiences, which last from a week to a full academic year, students learn about new cultures, gain an appreciation for diverse perspectives, and foster global understanding.

Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) is Rotary’s leadership training programme for teens and young adults that emphasises social responsibility, global citizenship and personal development.

Rotary Peace Fellowships offer students the opportunity to earn advanced degrees or professional certificates from universities that host Rotary Peace Centers. Rotary Peace Fellows focus on international studies and conflict resolution so they can advance their careers as promoters of peace.

595-EN—(614)

54 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

LITERACY XXXXXXXXX

Dear Fellow Rotarians, My heartfelt thanks to each of you, for your wholehearted participation in our first literacy initiative - A Million Books, A Million Smiles.

Our target was a million books, but you have collected/donated far more than that.

With these books, now we will be able to create more than 1,500 libraries across India. These libraries will be created by you in the schools that your club is about to take up as ‘Happy Schools.’ So do not send the books anywhere. Soon we will let you know the ten steps you have to take to create libraries, by sorting the books, indexing them etc. Imagine what a great thing it will be that in the next couple of months you would have created 1,500 libraries!

T

he Rotary clubs across India have a key role to play in the implementation of the Rotary India Literacy Mission’s T-E-A-C-H programme. Given below are some pointers to help clubs start work on the literacy mission.

•

•

•

August, my friends, is the month for registering volunteers for the Literacy Mission. The T-E-A-C-H programme is a mammoth programme and we will need thousands and thousands of people to implement the programme in every corner of India. While we Rotarians ourselves will volunteer, let us request our spouse, our family members, colleagues, friends, relatives, Rotaractors, Inner Wheel members and their friends to register as volunteers on the website, www.rotaryteach.org. How to do this is explained in the later section of this article. All it takes is two minutes of your time and you could add either yourselves as a volunteer or help others volunteer for making India totally literate.

•

The goal is to have 5,000 volunteers in the month of August, spread across India. I am sure all of us will be able to do it.

•

Even as you are doing this, do visit the website and see what the future programmes of literacy for each month are. Plan your goals and start preparing for these activities like converting schools into happy schools, setting up vocational centres, starting adult literacy centres etc.

Together let us make India Totally Literate!

•

•

Appoint a Club Literacy Committee Chair (CLCC) for a three year period. A passionate, resourceful person is ideal for this position.

Upload the name and details of the CLCC on the www.rotaryteach. org website.

Plan the work for Literacy Mission. Set goals, for example, (i) the number of volunteers the club will get registered on the website (ii) the number of E-Learning Centre that will be set up this Rotary Year (iii) the number of schools that the club wants to convert into Happy Schools, to name a few.

The goals set by the club for every project of T-E-A-C-H programme must be communicated to the respective District Literacy Committee Chair.

Attend Level II training programme for the Club Presidents and CLCC. Organise and conduct the Level III training seminar along with the CLCC for all the club members.

Participate in the Literacy Initiative Days (LIDs) and Literacy Initiative Months (LIMs). Each month is designated to promoting a project/scheme of the T-E-AC-H programme.

AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 61

•

•

•

•

The www.rotaryteach.org website is the lifeline of this programme.

Visit the site regularly for updates on the programme.

Upload project details on literacy for the website. Projects become eligible for awards and recognitions only when they are uploaded.

Share your ideas, success stories and challenges faced in implementing the projects on literacy.

Spread the word around about Rotary India Literacy Mission’s and the club’s work on the T-E-AC-H programme. Arrange for media coverage through newspapers.

RILM is already present on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Visit the Rotary India Literacy Mission page on Facebook https://www.facebook. com/RotaryIndiaLiteracyMission and invite your friends to like the page and share its content. Follow #rotaryteach on Twitter. Create groups to spread the word on WhatsApp, write e-mails and make it into a public movement. Let the movement begin with you!

August: Literacy Initiative Month for Volunteer Registration The task of bringing Total Literacy to India is huge. It involves different projects of the T-E-A-C-H programme getting implemented simultaneously all across the nation. This task will only be possible with the help of volunteers and by making Total Literacy into a people’s movement. The Rotary India Literacy Mission has designated August as Literacy Initiative Month for registering 5,000 volunteers.

The Rotarians, their families and friends need to lead from the front.

Let each one of you visit the www. rotaryteach.org website and register yourself as a volunteer. Read the programme carefully to understand the work that a volunteer needs to do in each of the project areas. Select your area of work keeping in mind your area 62 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

Books, A Million Smiles’ campaign.

With your support we have been able to surpass our target of a million books.

What do the clubs do with the collected books?

The clubs will do the preliminary sorting of all books received by them according to the categories mentioned below and store them category-wise in separate boxes/bins marked suitably.

Rotary leaders display a section of the books collected.

Books collected by RC Jalpaiguri, RI District 3240.

of competency and the amount of time you can devote to this.

Volunteers will be required and trained to act as supplemental teachers in elementary schools. Volunteers are needed to train teachers to use e-learning modules for the E-Learning project. Adult Literacy projects in both urban and rural areas will depend entirely on volunteers acting as trainers. In Child Development the training to children of special groups like migrant workers, sex workers, prisoners, etc. will be done through volunteers.

The first Literacy Initiative Month was dedicated to collecting a million

books to create libraries. These books now need to be sorted and scanned to find how many are suitable for sending to libraries. This will involve a huge amount of work that cannot happen without volunteers. Thus to take the programme forward and also to do fund raising and organisational work Rotary India Literacy Mission is in need of volunteers.

Let us move one more step towards total literacy by registering as a volunteer.

A Million Books, A Million Smiles Thank you Rotarians for your overwhelming response to: ‘A Million

• Picture books with up to five to six lines of written matter per page • Comic books • Amar Chitra Kathas • Illustrated reference books on Science, History, Geography • Drawing books, set of crayons/ colour pencils • Atlas/globes, and • Other books with very simple content in English and regional languages However, the club may need members to volunteer and assist in sorting/ storage-related work. Keeping in mind the purpose of the book collection drive, the clubs will appreciate the need to hold the collected books so that they can be used for libraries of schools where the Happy School project is taken up. Each club will prepare an inventory of the books collected, after sorting them category-wise.

The Akshara Foundation and the Hippocampus Learning Centres, both Bangalore-based organisations wellknown for their pioneering work in creating modern, scientific libraries for school children, have graciously agreed to be our Knowledge Partners in this regard. In consultation with them, we will circulate, through the www.rotaryteach.org website, detailed operating procedures for use of all Clubs in the first week of August.

PRID Shekhar Mehta Chairman Rotary India Literacy Mission AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 63

iRYLA 2014 SYDNEY A Rewarding Experience The writer is the daughter of Rtn. Shankar Ramalingam of RC Belur, RI District 3291. She was the only candidate from India to attend the iRYLA amongst 62 countries.

T

he International Rotary Yo u t h L e a d e r s h i p Awards Conference, popularly known as iRYLA, was held in Sydney at the ANZ Stadium, Olympic Park from 26th to 29th May 2014. As part of RI President Ron Burton’s New Generations Programme, iRYLA saw the coming together of 65 young leaders from across the world for four days of idea sharing, leadership training sessions, cultural exchange, new friendships, service project implementation and much more. Participants from across the globe — Ghana, Hong Kong, USA, Brazil, Russia, Slovakia, Germany,

France, Mozambique, Japan, Canada, Samoa, Philippines, Australia and India — transcended all boundaries to learn, grow and become stronger leaders.

Each day of iRYLA had something new and exciting to offer. iRYLA 2014 started with an inspiring opening address by the iRYLA Committee Chair, Michiko Mitarai, encouraging one and all to participate enthusiastically followed by an introduction and ice-breaker conducted by Rtn. Jenny Simms.

We were then divided into ‘Family Groups,’ with whom we would share and discuss most of our experiences

Outdoors with iRYLA Family Group.

64 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

with in the coming days. One of the main objectives of this iRYLA was to develop Service Projects based on Rotary’s six areas of focus — Basic Education and Literacy, Maternal and Child Care, Disease Treatment and Prevention, Peace and Conflict Resolution, Water and Sanitation and Economic and Community Development. As per a pre-conducted survey we were divided into Service Groups to design projects which could be implemented in our community. Each day saw a step-by-step growth of the project starting with Community Assessment on the first day. This was followed by a session on Personal Leadership which taught us that leadership was, in fact, an act of service.

The second day witnessed a motivating and engaging address by keynote speaker, Dr. Mark Storm on ‘Leading with Wisdom.’ He emphasised on the importance of introspection and indwelling and realising one’s ‘brokenness’ i.e., extracting the good out of one’s imperfections and using it to build dignity and selfesteem. One of his most poignant remarks was that “Communication is the art of sharing creative meaning whereas conversation is the art of creating shared meanings.”

One of the best parts about iRYLA was that the activities were not restricted indoors but involved outdoor games and fun sports which helped us apply leadership practically. The experiential outdoor learning module helped us understand ourselves and others in our team better, underscoring the importance of strategy, planning, conflict resolution, efficiency and respecting each member’s opinion. This was followed by an enriching session on communication, collaboration and cultural understanding, opening us up to the diverse traditions of all the participants.

The third day gave us a chance to further build on our projects and

also contained an interesting session on ‘What type of leaders we are — Friendly Koalas or Expressive Peacocks? Analytical Owls or Driver Lions?’ This activity helped us introspect about our leadership abilities.

The next session was on mobilising others for implementing our project.

We discussed how existing Rotary networks, connections and fundraising campaigns could be used as resources for our idea.

The fourth and final day started with a wonderful session conducted by former Rotary Scholar and Emmy award winning medical journalist, Dr. Mona Khanna. Her very opening comment was, “I was not born for one corner; the whole world is my native land.” With a very different and creative approach, she used various cartoons to get the message across to youngsters like us. A very enthusiastic individual, her medical aid work after the Haiti earthquake and Superstorm Sandy are examples of ‘leading by example.’

The remaining afternoon was spent on further developing our service projects by using ‘Smart Goals.’

Interestingly, SMART can be used as an acronym for: Specific-MeasurableAchievable-Realistic-Time-bound goals. The session was concluded with emphasis on tracking progress and project evaluation. The wonderful inputs given throughout the four days thus aided us in mind-mapping a full grown project.

The various groups made presentations of their projects. Ours was called ‘BE MAD’ which stands for Basic Education with Make A Difference. Make A Difference is a platform which empowers the youth in India to be change makers by volunteering to impart basic English education and a holistic growth opportunity for children at risk. MAD currently functions across 23 cities in India and impacts around 5,000 children.

Our project consists of three stages: the first step is to conduct fundraising

Basic Education and Literacy: Project Presentation.

activities around the globe and raise US $9,000 in a period of one year to aid the education of the children. The second step is to ship re-usable stationery items such as books, notebooks, pens, pencils, lesson plans etc., from around the world which could then be put to use here. The third stage is to organise Skype sessions with some of the team members who are already teachers to facilitate idea exchange One of our dreams is to also have some of the group members fly down to India and interact and conduct workshops for the kids, not only in English but also in music and movement to ensure further integration. Some of the other projects included HIV-E or HIV Education, the Know Your Neighbour Project, a Somali-Japanese partnership to ease the rebel situation in Somalia, a health education programme from regional tribes and many more. Each project brought out the passion and dream that each one of us stood for and time will tell, how many of these will actually become full time Rotary projects.

The iRYLA experience, however, can never come to an end because it’s something which we can revisit in our minds, learn, unlearn and relearn from. The impeccable organisation and ready facilities, the communication, conversations and friendships, the networking and contacts, the exposure to speaking in public and working in a team, the instilling of Rotary’s values of service and love, the freedom to be one’s own self, the joy of knowing that you have someone you know in 65 different parts of the world, the contentment of knowing oneself and last but not the least, the power, knowledge and resources needed to impact the world — are things which will remain with us forever.

Rotary can be assured that it has bright, inspired and motivated youngsters who will carry forward its services. iRYLA 2014 was thus, not an experience in life but a lifetime in an experience.

R. Kavya Iyer AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 65

ROTARY ACTS

The Outlet Nature’s call might not mean anything to the roadside. But it means a lot to a healthy and hygienic environment and RC Silchar, RI District 3240 has directed nature’s call in the right direction in form of the outlet.

O

pen defecation is a serious community health problem. It can expose people to diseases such as polio, hepatitis-A and infectious diarrhoea. In 2012, nearly a quarter of all young children who died of diarrhoea worldwide were Indians.

Human waste (faeces and urine) can pollute water, food and soil with germs and worms, leading to serious health problems. The safe disposal of human waste by building and maintaining toilets and washing hands prevents the spread of germs in human waste and is necessary for good health.

Poor sanitation has often been described as India’s biggest failure.

An estimated one billion people across the world defecate in the open and India is home to 638 million of these — over 50 percent of the population. Also, 60 percent of the world’s population without access to a toilet are in India. This is of greater concern as 88 percent of deaths from diarrhoea occur because of unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. Census results showed that less than half of Indian households had a toilet at home; there were more households with a mobile phone than with a toilet. The woefully inadequate progress in sanitation makes India an outlier even among developing countries. Poor hygiene impairs the health of Indians, leading to high rates of malnutrition and productivity losses. Children are affected more than adults. A recent UNICEF report showed that poor sanitation is responsible for rampant spread of

66 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

diseases inhibiting children’s ability to absorb nutrients thereby stunting their growth, a condition afflicting some 62 million children under the age of five in India.

The misery of poverty denies the underprivileged people of basic sanitation which leads to many health hazards. According to the World Bank, all this adds up to billions and costs India a loss of 54 billion dollars a year. Both national and state governments have undertaken numerous health initiatives and subsidies are announced for building toilets in rural areas. Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi has said, “Build toilets first, and temples later.” The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

programme focuses on developing pioneering approaches and technologies that can lead to far-reaching and sustainable growth in sanitation in the developing world.

RC Silchar, RI District 3240, have taken initiatives to curb this issue of open defecation by building pay and use toilets in strategic locations thereby safeguarding the surroundings and also helping people to relieve themselves hygienically.

Silchar is the headquarters of Cachar district in the state of Assam in India.

It is the second largest town of the state in terms of population and municipal area. The public pay and use toilet facility constructed by the Rotary club under the District Grant project is situated next to a children’s

park and a mini auditorium of about 200 seating capacity. This area was without any such hygienic facility and therefore the construction of the pay and use toilet by RC Silchar has been commended by one and all.

Cost of the project was Rs.1,38,000 and the contribution from the District was Rs.54,000.

This is the first of its kind initiative taken up by RC Silchar and inspired by the response from the public, the club intends to undertake more such project in future in a bigger way.

RC Silchar with a strength of 60 members, was chartered in the year 1995. The club was adjudged best club in the District during the Rotary year 2002–03 and 2004–05 and again in 2006–07 and 2009–10. The club’s own three-storied RCC building with 2,200 sq. ft. in each floor is at present housing a Vocational Training Centre that imparts tailoring classes for underprivileged women, a functional literacy centre and a dispensary for weekly heart and general medical

Hearse van donated by the club.

check-up camps. Apart from various service projects, the Rotarians of this club have also donated a hearse van for the community at a cost of Rs.5,00,000.

Creating sanitation infrastructure and public services that work for everyone and keeps waste out of the

environment is a major challenge.

But these untiring Rotarians have time and again proved their service mindedness. The pay and use toilets built by them is surely an outlet that enhances hygiene in the society.

S. Selvi

“Leaders aren’t born; they are made.”

— Vince Lombardi

LEADERSHIP

D E V E L O P M E N T

Your Guide to Starting a Program

Help members become leaders in your club. shop.rotary.org

AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 67

ROTARY ACTS

1RXULVKLQJ

75($76 As she looked down from the heavens, Goddess Annapurna could see herself personified in each of the several Rotarians who took to feed the poor and needy across India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal on Rotaryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Annapurna Day.

H

ell broke loose on humanity when Maya the manifestation of earthly hankering in order to substantiate her importance to Lord Shiva who accounted hunger as an illusion vanished and left the human race to suffer at the hands of hunger.

Goddess Parvati in her compassion for mankind transformed herself into Goddess Annapurna, the Goddess of food and nourishment and fed the many hungry mouths. Goddess Annapurna who manifests nourishment is the new epitome of service

68 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

and Rotary is beginning to spark her reflection.

While we hit the sack after devouring our various-course meal and still irate by the fact that dessert wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t as expected, there are those who hardly have a piece of bread to eat. Forget about choices, the very fact that food is a fundamental right is a blasphemy for the downtrodden of our society who have no ways or means to feed themselves with a single decent meal.

Many survive on leftover and garbage or sleep on an empty stomach. Little

do we care about the foodless when we waste food or water. To add to the sarcasm, weddings get cancelled last minute because of the difference of opinion over the food served at the wedding reception.

According to the Global Hunger Index in the year 2013, 21.3 percent in India, 19.4 percent in Bangladesh, 19.3 percent in Pakistan, 17.3 percent in Nepal and 15.6 percent in Sri Lanka are hunger stricken. These percentages appear petite but shockingly are part of the 842 million food deprived

The Human Right To Food

people across the world. Many talk about it, many ignore this fact, many are unaware but action is Rotary’s cup of tea. Rotarians from across India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan took a stand to fight against hunger. Rotary — the manifestation of service, cares for the needy and is the hope of hopes of the downtrodden.

Rotary in India and its neighbouring countries came together on 1st of July 2014 to feed thousands of hungry people. Rotarians at different counters by feeding hungry

children, women and men, have lighted the first candle of hope. Many clubs across the region are determined to host an Annapurna Day every year. Rotary in the Annapurna Devi Avatar has left thousands smiling in satisfaction. Rotarians have taken the oath to make food available and accessible for every single human soul. With hunger being shown the door by Rotary, someday our world will be free of guns and war and will truly become the reflection of heaven.

Kiran Zehra

The Special Rapporteur is an independent expert appointed by the Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme.

For the Special Rapporteur, the right to food is the right to have regular, permanent and unrestricted access, either directly or by means of financial purchases, to quantitatively and qualitatively adequate and sufficient food corresponding to the cultural traditions of the people to which the consumer belongs, and which ensure a physical and mental, individual and collective, fulfilling and dignified life free of fear.

This definition is in line with the core elements of the right to food as defined by General Comment No. 12 of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (the body in charge of monitoring the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in those states which are party to it). The Committee declared that “The right to adequate food is realised when every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, has physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement. The right to adequate food shall therefore not be interpreted in a narrow or restrictive sense which equates it with a minimum package of calories, proteins and other specific nutrients. The right to adequate food will have to be realised progressively.” However, States have a core obligation to take the necessary action to mitigate and alleviate hunger even in times of natural or other disasters.

Source: The Internet AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 69

RETREAT We revisit the last generation of victims in Southeast Asia

A

s photojournalist Allison Kwesell walks through the narrow streets of an Indian village, familiarity sets in.

She visited here four years ago, when she first met Samir and his family. He was two years old then and had recently contracted polio.

Kwesell approaches the front porch of a home when she hears an older woman yelling “Samir! Samir!” She runs toward the voice, wondering if she’ll recognise the boy. She sees six children playing chase on the dry earth, the dirt forming clouds around their feet. From afar she notices a young boy, not unlike the other barefoot children in the backyard overlooking patches of farmland, except for his slight limp. She moves closer and the children pause, half encircled around the boy. Kwesell recognises him by his eyes. Samir is six years old now, and with the help of 70 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

Samir was two years old when Allison Kwesell first photographed him. He contracted polio when he was a year old.

Below left: Kwesell began documenting the PolioPlus effort four years ago.

Her sponsor club, the Rotary Club of Chattanooga Breakfast, Tenn., flew her to India, where she met Monis, who became infected with polio when he was two. His case was the last one reported in Moradabad.

Below right: Kwesell followed up with Monis four years later. At age six, his walking has improved with the help of physical therapy, which Rotarians are funding.

AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 71

Months of physical therapy have allowed Samir to keep active with his siblings. He loves to play outside, and his favourite game is chase.

Since 1995, when India held its first national polio immunisation campaign, 2.3 million vaccinators have visited 209 million households to immunise 170 million children every year. Their efforts will help provide a polio-free future for generations to come throughout Southeast Asia.

72 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

physical therapy, he can run and play with the rest of the kids in his village on the outskirts of Moradabad.

Samir is one of the last children in India to contract polio. In March, the World Health Organisation announced that its Southeast Asia region is officially polio-free. The certification came on the heels of India’s successful fight against the disease: It celebrated three years without polio in January.

The nation’s achievement is the result of a gruelling 36-year battle that sent millions of health workers down alleys, up mountains, and across deserts to reach every child in this sprawling country. Not long ago, India had more cases of polio than any other nation in the world. This milestone in Southeast Asia means that 80 percent of the population worldwide lives without fear of the paralysing disease.

Samir’s mother, Fahmida, has seven children now. She worries about Samir, who will have to cross a busy road on his way to school when he starts later this year. He sometimes falls down when running too fast, but he always gets right back up. Samir’s doctor believes that his case was less severe than it could have been because earlier vaccinations against polio helped him build partial immunity. Fahmida is hopeful for his future; Samir wants to be a doctor when he grows up.

“For mothers, all of this hard work will mean fewer worries about crippling disease,” says Kwesell, a former Rotary Peace Fellow.

Megan Ferringer Reproduced from The Rotarian Photos courtesy: Allison Kwesell

C

ommemorating India’s Polio-free Certification and recognising Rotary’s role in this spectacular achievement, Rotary Club of SPIC Nagar, RI District 3212 conducted a National level poster drawing and essay competition for Rotarians on the topic, ‘Thanks Rotary – Polio Eradicated.’

The above pencil sketch won the first prize out of 30 entries; it is a creation of Rtn. Dr. S. Suresh Babu, RC Ootacamund, RI District 3202.

The poster shows a child affected by polio, crawling on all fours; a boy using crutches for ambulation and a person joyful at the fact that polio has been finally conquered. The backdrop depicting a child receiving two drops of polio vaccination reminds one of the significance of administering the polio drops to children less than five years of age to keep polio at bay. The Rotary Wheel at the top left implies Rotary’s momentous contribution both financial and volunteer participation.

Rtn. Rathakrishnan, RC SPIC Nagar, RI District 3212

“Your x-ray showed a broken rib, but we fixed it with Photoshop.”

AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 73

RC BANGALORE JEEVANBIMANAGAR RI District 3190 The Rotarians installed drinking water units at the various platforms of the railway station. This would help to provide the passengers with safe and hygienic drinking water.

RC PERUMBAVOOR RI District 3201 The club in association with RC Sierra Marde, RI District 5300, USA and TRF installed a water supply unit at Abhaya Bhavan, a home for senior citizens and mentally challenged people at Perumbavoor.

RC OOTY TOWN RI District 3202 In order to lay emphasis on oral health amongst school children the club organised a dental check up at Guruculam School, Agalar. Advice on oral care along with tongue cleaners were given to all the children.

74 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

RC TRIVANDRUM SUBURBAN RI District 3211 Rotarians from the club took to a walkathon in order to celebrate the clubs 10th anniversary. The event also helped to promote the public image of Rotary.

RC TINNEVELLY RI District 3212 The club organised a National level RYLA programme under the title ‘Green RYLA’ in Yercaud.

This was done to train the youngsters to be future ready and brim with self-confidence.

RC MADRAS CENTRAL RI District 3230 The club distributed hearing aids to students of the Little Flower Convent for Hearing Impaired. This has been a regular support by the club to the school.

RC GAUHATI SOUTH RI District 3240 The club in association with Rotaract Club of Midtown distributed stationery items, wall clocks and new clothes to the inmates at the orphanage, Assam Sishu Kalyan Sadan.

AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 75

RC JAMSHEDPUR EAST RI District 3250 The club conducted a rural RYLA programme at Vikas Bharathi, Sundernagar. Students were trained on team work, time management, healthcare and many other topics in this two-day programme.

RC NAYAGARH RI District 3262 The club received a well-equipped ambulance from The Rotary Foundation, for assisting poor people to access medical help easily.

RI District 3291 Clubs from RI District 3291 in association with IMA, South Kolkata conducted a health awareness rally. Over 2,000 people participated in this rally.

RC BUTWAL RI District 3292 The club in association with RC Kapilvastu, Rotaract Club of Butwal, Lumbini Medical College and Bhim Hospital conducted a medical camp at Buddhabhumi College. Over 1,000 patients benefitted from the camp.

76 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

RC SALEM GALAXY RI District 2980 The club conducted a comprehensive medical camp.

Patients were checked for various health ailments and were given medicine and the needy were referred for further treatment.

RC PUDUKKOTTAI PALACE CITY RI District 3000 The club in association with NSS Unit of H.H. Rajah College and Vasan Eye Hospital conducted an eye camp at the Panchayat Primary School, Sembattur. Over 500 patients were screened at the camp.

RC AKOLA MIDTOWN RI District 3030 Over 300 cataract surgeries after the screening of 700 patients were undertaken by the club in association with Mansingha Group, Bhilwada.

RC INDORE GREATER RI District 3040 The club constructed a toilet block at the Deaf and Dumb School, Mhow Naka. This would provide a hygienic and healthy schooling atmosphere for over 100 students of the school.

AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 77

RC JAIPUR BAPUNAGAR RI District 3052 The club in association with the Rotaract Club of SKIT Gramothan and Swaraj Foundation organised an anti-drug-addiction rally under the banner â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Youth against Drug Addiction.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

RC BIKANER RI District 3053 To ensure that the inmates of Apna Ghar Ashram for the mentally challenged were in pink of health, the club conducted a general health camp. Vitamin tablets and nutritious meal advice were prescribed for the inmates.

RC KHARACH KOSAMBA RI District 3060 The club in association with Divya Jyoti Trust organised an eye camp at Ucchatar Primary School, Pimpari village. Distribution of medicines, spectacles and cataract surgeries were advised to the patients post the screening.

RC GORAYA MIDTOWN RI District 3070 The club conducted a medical camp for poor and underprivileged people. Medicines along with reference for further treatment were provided to the patients.

78 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

RC BHAKRA NANGAL RI District 3080 In support of literacy the club along with RC Roopnagar, RC Las Vegas, RI District 5300, USA and TRF distributed dictionaries to 8,500 students of various government schools in the region.

RC UKLANA MANDI RI District 3090 Close to 700 patients were tested and treated for various health ailments at a camp organised by the club at Shri Vishan Ayurvedic Hospital, Uklana Mandi.

RC KHATAULI RI District 3100 A cataract surgery camp was conducted at Devi Mandir Kanya Inter College. Over 500 patients were screened and close to 250 patients were operated for cataract at Nirmal Ashram Eye Hospital.

RC HALDWANI RI District 3110 The club felicitated meritorious students at BVM School, Nainital. Scholarships were awarded to the students to assist them for further education.

AUGUST 2014

ROTARY NEWS 79

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

1554 Year Jesuits founded the village that became SĂŁo Paulo 11 million Residents of SĂŁo Paulo proper

1947 Year the SĂŁo Paulo Art Museum was founded 6 Rank of SĂŁo Paulo in the 2013 Forbes list of Top 10 Billionaire Cities 1.5 million Ethnic Japanese living in SĂŁo Paulo 70 Average high temperature in degrees Fahrenheit on 7 June in SĂŁo Paulo 45 Miles to the nearest beach, in Santos 2,690 Elevation of SĂŁo Pauloâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plateau, in feet Register for the 2015 RI Convention in SĂŁo Paulo at www.riconvention.org.

80 ROTARY NEWS AUGUST 2014

1974 Year SĂŁo Pauloâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s subway opened 3 SĂŁo Paulo soccer teams in the first division of Brazilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s national league: Palmeiras, SĂŁo Paulo, and Corinthians

Residents of SĂŁo Paulo, Brazil, are known as paulistanos, and they call their city â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sampa.â&#x20AC;? Here are a few other quick facts about the place where Rotarians will converge for the 2015 RI Convention in June.

Sampa facts

CONVENTION

LOOK AROUND Across 1 Con artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s game 5 â&#x20AC;&#x153;How ___ to know?â&#x20AC;?

9 Baseball feature 13 In ___ land 14 Dated rooftop sight 16 Fellow Rotarians, perhaps 18 Hajjiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goal 19 Unevenly notched 20 ___-deucey 23 Justice Antonin 27 Fellow Rotarians, perhaps 31 What a cryptographer cracks 32 Cheese server 33 Word of disbelief 34 Singer DiFranco 35 Three-point ___ 37 Cell substance letters 38 One depicted with a pointed tail, often 40 Nathan or Lois 41 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Count ___!â&#x20AC;?

42 Fellow Rotarians, perhaps 45 Commercial cost 46 ___ Fein (Irish political movement) 47 Rizzo of Midnight Cowboy

50 54 58 59 60 61 62

Kiplingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wise wolf Fellow Rotarians, perhaps Hunt, Getty, or Ewing To be, in Brest Pentathlon weapon â&#x20AC;&#x153;___ magnifique!â&#x20AC;?

Six-time Silver Slugger winner Sammy Down 1 Close with force 2 Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s for the birds 3 Guinness or McCowen 4 Basement modeled after a sports bar, say 5 Lbs. and mgs., e.g.

6 Small Macau coin 7 Base call 8 Elevate (abbr.)

9 Winslow Homer subject 10 Groups of nine 11 Life of Pi director Lee 12 West of Hollywood 15 â&#x20AC;&#x153;The things over thereâ&#x20AC;?

17 Mexican dish 21 Caesarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s penultimate words

22 Seuss turtle 24 MacNeilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s longtime news partner 25 Shiraz natives 26 African dam site 27 Kiefer Sutherlandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dad 28 With â&#x20AC;&#x153;in chief,â&#x20AC;?

John Rezek, e.g.

29 ___ Lama 30 ___-in (times spent in bed while giving birth) 31 Conspirator with Brutus 35 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Just a sip?â&#x20AC;?

36 Beverage brand sipped by Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Reilly 39 Generally speaking 41 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a Believerâ&#x20AC;? band, with â&#x20AC;&#x153;theâ&#x20AC;?

43 Like mesh 44 ___ Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;rith 48 Religious faction 49 PepĂŠ Le Pewâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s defense 51 Opposite of â&#x20AC;&#x153;ectoâ&#x20AC;?

52 Ones in charge, briefly 53 Not on land 54 Corn location 55 Van Winkle of literature 56 Friendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opposite 57 Hosp. caregivers Solution in the September issue

Reproduced from The Rotarian

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Chief Minister of Goa, Shri.

Manohar Parrikar (second from left) being inducted as a Honorary member of RC Panaji, RI District 3170, by President of the Club Rtn. Manoj Patil during the 53rd Installation Ceremony.

Rtn. Abhay Gadgil of RC Pune University, RI District 3131, has become an Arch Klumph Society member by contributing USD 2,50,000 to TRF. He was felicitated by RI Director Elect Dr. Manoj Desai and DG Vivek Aranha.

PDG Dr. A. Muruganathan (right) of RC Tirupur, RI District 3202, was conferred with â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Best Doctor Awardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; by Tamilnadu Government for his services in the field of medicine. The award carries a gold plated medal, citation and cash prize of Rs.50,000.

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