Rotary clubs raise $304 million in one year to strengthen communities and improve lives around the world
EVANSTON, IL (August 10, 2017) — As part of Rotary’s year-long centennial celebration of The Rotary Foundation – the global membership organization’s charitable arm, Rotary clubs raised $304 million to support positive, lasting change in communities around the world.
Since its inception in 1917 with its first donation of $26.50, The Rotary Foundation is today a leading humanitarian foundation that has spent nearly $4 billion to help countless people live better. Each year, The Rotary Foundation provides more than $200 million to end polio and support sustainable projects and scholarships that promote peace, fight disease, provide clean water, support education, save mothers and children, and grow local economies
Rotary’s top humanitarian goal is to eradicate the paralyzing disease, polio. Rotary launched its polio immunization program PolioPlus in 1985, and in 1988 became a spearheading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Since the initiative launched, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.9 percent, from about 350,000 cases a year to 37 confirmed in 2016. Rotary has contributed more than US $1.7 billion and countless volunteer hours to immunize more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries.
“When we say that our Rotary Foundation is saving and transforming lives, we are not exaggerating,” said Kalyan Banerjee, Trustee Chair, The Rotary Foundation – 2016-17. “With the continued strong support of our members, we will keep our promise of a polio-free world for all children, and enable the Foundation to carry out its mission of advancing world understanding, goodwill and peace. We look forward to another 100 years of Rotary members taking action to make communities better around the world.”
About Rotary
Rotary brings together a global network of volunteer leaders dedicated to tackling the world’s most pressing humanitarian challenges. Rotary connects 1.2 million members of more than 35,000 Rotary clubs in over 200 countries and geographical areas. Their work improves lives at both the local and international levels, from helping families in need in their own communities to working toward a polio-free world.
The road to eradicating polio has been a long and difficult one, with Rotary leading the fight since 1985. Going from nearly 350,000 cases in 1988 to just 10 so far this year has required time, money, dedication, and innovation from thousands of people who are working to end the disease.
Here are five things you may not know about the fight to end polio:
1. Ice cream factories in Syria are helping by freezing the ice packs that health workers use to keep the polio vaccine cold during immunization campaigns.
John Cena
2. Celebrities have become ambassadors in our fight to end the disease.
They include WWE wrestling superstar John Cena, actress Kristen Bell, action-movie star Jackie Chan, golf legend Jack Nicklaus, Grammy Award-winning singers Angelique Kidjo and Ziggy Marley, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu, anthropologist Dr. Jane Goodall, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Bill Gates, and world-renowned violinist and polio survivor Itzhak Perlman.
3. Health workers and Rotary volunteers have climbed mountains, crossed deserts, and sailed to remote islands, risking their lives to vaccinate children against this disease. Rotary has funded more than 1,500 motorbikes and 6,700 other vehicles, as well as 17 boats, to make those journeys. Vaccinators have even traveled on the backs of elephants, donkeys, and camels to immunize children in remote areas.
4. In Pakistan, the polio program emphasizes hiring local female vaccinators and monitors. More than 21,000 vaccinators, 83 percent of whom are women, are achieving the highest immunization coverage rates in the country’s history.
5. Thanks to the efforts of Rotary and its partners, more than 16 million people who otherwise might have been paralyzed are walking today. In all, more than 2.5 billion children have been vaccinated since 1988.
For many years, one idea has stood at the heart of all our service: sustainability. Sustainable service means our work continues to have a positive impact long after Rotary’s direct involvement has ended. We don’t dig wells and walk away; we make sure communities can maintain and repair those wells. If we build a clinic, we make sure that clinic has a way to keep running without ongoing support from us.
One way I’d like for you to contribute in our quest for sustainability is through my tree planting initiative. I ask that you have one tree planted for each member of your club sometime between now and Earth Day, 22 April 2018. The Environmental Sustainability Rotarian Action Group is a great resource that can help you get started. Share your progress online by using #pledgetoplant.
I hope that the result of this effort will be far greater than the environmental benefit that those 1.2 million new trees will bring, which is itself most worthwhile. I believe the greater result will be a Rotary that recognizes our responsibility, not only to the people on our planet—but to the planet itself on which we all live and on which we all depend.
During my six presidential conferences this year, environmental sustainability is one of many topics up for discussion. Each conference will focus on how peace relates to one of Rotary’s five other areas of focus. My hope is that attendees are inspired take action after attending a conference and will develop new initiatives. Learn more about each of the conferences and how to register.
As I mentioned to you all earlier this year, Rotary Peace Fellow Marie-Paule Attema has already begun her studies and has shared her first blog post, which you can read here. I’m pleased to report that my home country of Australia has welcomed her with open arms and we all look forward to reading her next post as her journey progresses.
Beginning this Rotary year, the Rotary Friendship Exchange program has been expanded to include both Rotarians and non-Rotarians, with an emphasis on including young professionals on exchanges. These exchanges are a unique chance for cultural immersion and interchange, as well as an opportunity to build global understanding and boost vocational and leadership skills.
The Rotary Clubs from the Western part of our District have developed the Traveling Roadshow for Polio and are featuring at each of the regional shows out west. The object is to promote the Polio Campaign by raising awareness about the plight of polio victims of the past and the Rotary journey to eradicate the disease from the world.
They were very fortunate to be able to borrow an Iron Lung machine from the Chinchilla Museum for their purpose and this forms the centre piece of the display.
Members of Chinchilla Rotary loading the Iron Lung at the Chinchilla Museum onto the trailer lent to us by PDG Chris Wright (Aspinall Trailers), for Terry Salmon (RC St George) to transport it to St George for the start of the Rotary Polio Roadshow to celebrate the centenary of the Rotary Foundation.
The Roadshow also includes a Polio Timeline banner, poster displays, brochures on polio, children’s competitions, video interviews of polio sufferers and various short videos on Rotary’s lead role in the campaign for the eradication of polio. It also includes videos and brochures on other Foundation activities.
Roadshow dates:
St George Show 7th/8th May
Roma Show 12th/13th May
Mitchell Show 15th/16th May
Charleville Show 19th/20th May
Chinchilla Show 26th/27th May
Dalby TBA
Bryan Payne
Assistant Governor 2016/17 Member Rotary Club of Roma
ABOVE ARE OUR 8 BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN Kaingu, James, Duncan, Edna, Mary, Zulpha and twins Alexis and Alare
Having just spent 5 weeks with the children it is amazing to see how settled and happy they all are living at Fleming McLean Children's Home (First house at Umoja Project)
Together we created Umoja - Together we save little lives
HOW ARE OUR 3 LATEST CHILDREN IN FEBRUARY AND MARCH DOING?
Little Zulpha, James and Mary came to us from terrible circumstances. James and Mary were abandoned outside a village. To date no one has come forward to report the children missing, or to come looking for them, which is heartbreaking. We named them James and Mary, and gave them a birth date each based on the age we thought they were approximately. Hard to imagine I know that a mother would abandon her two children, however a sign of abject poverty in being unable to care for them. All 3 children were severely malnourished and traumatised, but we are happy to report they are now very settled and happy in their new home and becoming 'little children with bright eyes.' Zulpha was very developmentally behind for her age, but has now began to crawl. Contact us to sponsor a child.
VOLUNTEERS IN KENYA
In late March return volunteer Rotarian Sharon Kinraid and Sarah Jardin-Smith arrived in Kenya. A lot had changed since Sharon had been at the project in January 2014. Sharon and Sarah spent their time in the children's home working with the House Aunties doing daily chores and cooking as well as playing and interacting with the children. The children and House Aunties just loved having them around each day. We thank them both for their time and work with us, and for the large amount of clothing and donations they brought with them. Also to Sarah for raising funds at her workplace in Western Australia which she presented to Manager Patrick.
We also visited another orphanage north of Mombasa which has been open for 10 years. Over 70 children reside at this wonderful home. Sarah and Sharon also assisted feeding just under 2000 hungry children on one Sunday at a children's feeding station. It was indeed an eye opener for Sarah and was quite overwhelming for her to see so many hungry children who had walked for kilometres with no shoes carrying younger siblings to be fed.
Culmination of our volunteer tours is a well earned safari experience. The volunteers visited 3 safari parks Tsavo East, Tsavo West and Amboseli National Parks on a 6 day 5 night experience, where they were treated to the amazing African wildlife. Somehow I think they will be back. Another 29 volunteers will be heading to work at the project in September and November.
The discovery of the poliovirus in Nigeria last summer shocked eradication efforts. Here’s how Rotary is making sure it doesn’t happen again
By Erin Biba Photos by Andrew Esiebo
An estimated 15,000 people live in the Muna Garage camp, an informal settlement on private land.
The country hadn’t had a case since July 2014 and had been removed from the list of polio-endemic countries. But in August 2016, routine surveillance methods, which include sampling of sewage and wastewater to look for viruses circulating in the wild as well as monitoring and investigating all cases of paralysis in children, discovered two cases of polio in Borno state – one of them the 13-month-old. (Two more cases were subsequently reported.) Polio wasn’t gone from Nigeria after all.
“The new cases devastated us. Even one case is unacceptable. It’s very unfortunate we are in this position, but we are recalibrating our efforts to end this disease,” Nigeria’s health minister, Isaac Adewole, told Rotary leaders during a meeting at Rotary International World Headquarters at the time. “We consider this situation a national emergency.”
The importance of surveillance
The polio surveillance system, carried out mostly by WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), two of Rotary’s partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, consists of several parts. First, doctors and other community health workers such as healers and traditional birth attendants monitor children for paralysis. “Most times cases are not discovered at a medical facility – they’re discovered at home by the volunteer community mobilizers and people who are paying regular visits,” Funsho explains. “They find a child that is limping or unable to use a limb they’ve used before. They’re trained and they know the questions to ask.” If they discover a paralyzed child, the health workers report the case to WHO, which sends a surveillance team to collect stool samples from the child and his or her siblings for testing.
The second part of the surveillance process involves local authorities collecting samples from sewage systems or, in places that don’t have adequate sanitation facilities, rivers and bodies of water near large settlements. The samples are sent to a lab, one of 145 in the Global Polio Laboratory Network, which looks for the poliovirus. If it is found, the samples go on to a more sophisticated lab where scientists perform genetic sequencing to identify the strain and map where and when it has been seen before.
The worldwide scale of these surveillance efforts is massive and costs roughly $100 million every year. For the most part, these activities take place only in countries that don’t have adequate health systems already established. In the U.S., for example, if a child showing signs of paralysis visits the doctor, the necessary tests for polio are already a part of the working health system. But in countries that don’t have such a robust system, WHO takes on that responsibility. That means investigating more than 100,000 cases of paralysis around the world every year to rule out polio.
In Nigeria’s IDP camps, surveillance is more complicated. Before people enter, they are screened by security agencies (there have been several cases of suicide bombers trying to infiltrate the camps). Next, at the camp’s health facility, doctors evaluate the new arrivals’ overall health and screen them for polio. Volunteers then document what villages they have traveled from, using the information to track who is in the camp, where they are within the camp, and who their family members are.
The challenge of mobile populations
Before the new cases were detected, the surveillance teams working in IDP camps were vaccinating and searching for suspected polio cases as usual.
But in the official documents, when they were reporting their findings, the teams weren’t marking the displaced people as being located in their camps: They were being counted by their area of origination. However, surveillance teams and vaccinators weren’t actually traveling to some parts of the state where the displaced people had come from because the presence of the Boko Haram terrorist group made it difficult.
The Nigerian army escorts people traveling through risky areas.
“This gave the impression there was good surveillance (in those areas), when in fact there were major blind spots,” says Mark Pallansch, director of the Division of Viral Diseases at the CDC. “We knew this was an area of concern, so we implemented additional measures to try to strengthen surveillance.”
The extra measures included scaling up environmental surveillance and sampling healthy individuals – including adults – for the presence of poliovirus as they exited inaccessible areas. Teams also searched IDP camps and host communities more frequently and reassigned the acute flaccid paralysis cases by place of onset. It was in part thanks to such strengthened activities that additional polio cases were found.
But the surveillance situation remains volatile, Pallansch confirms. “This really underscores the dangers of any low-level residual polio transmission in the face of any subnational surveillance gaps,” he says. “We still don’t have an exact idea of virus transmission in some areas of Borno. Operationally, we have to therefore assume that it remains an infected area and our focus has to be on reaching the children with the vaccine, all the while plugging the surveillance holes.”
A major part of the problem is that in the area where the cases of polio were discovered in Borno, the health system is decimated, impeding the discovery and reporting of the poliovirus. In December, WHO health monitors reported that 35 percent of 743 health facilities in Borno were destroyed and 29 percent were damaged. Sixty percent of the remaining health sites have no access to safe water.
But it’s not just the breakdown of the health system that is causing the problem. Until recent military incursions by the Nigerian government, Boko Haram occupied more than half of Borno. And, unlike the Taliban, which controls areas of Afghanistan (one of only two other countries that have yet to eradicate polio), Boko Haram does not negotiate with vaccinators who want to enter areas they are in.
This five-year-old living in the camp was one of the four children with polio discovered in Nigeria in 2016 and is now receiving medical attention.
Nigeria isn’t the only area of the world that has regions with limited access. The GPEI has begun an extensive analysis of surveillance in other countries to ensure that the Nigerian “blind spot” isn’t a problem elsewhere. “Boko Haram makes many parts of the area virtually inaccessible. Depending on where Boko Haram is, that can be inclusive of bordering countries,” Pallansch says. “It will take some time to gather information and analyze it properly. But at a first pass it’s not quite as worrying as some may think, except in those areas we already know are problems. In places like South Sudan and parts of the Horn of Africa, the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan, we’re intensifying our efforts.
“In a sense, the situation in Borno is a good comparison to the global situation,” Pallansch says. “Ninety-nine percent of Nigeria is polio-free. But unless you eradicate the disease completely, the rest of the country will remain at risk. The same holds true globally: 99 percent of the world is polio-free. But all countries remain at risk until we finish the job everywhere.”
A surge in vaccinations
Through genetic testing of stool samples taken from the new polio patients, the GPEI traced the poliovirus to a strain that emerged in Chad almost five years ago and circulated through Chad and parts of Nigeria. It had been eliminated from accessible areas, but it turns out that it never left parts of northern Nigeria.
The discovery triggered an increase in vaccinations in other countries that have similarly inaccessible areas. In Nigeria alone, more than 850,000 children were vaccinated in the first five days after the cases were discovered, according to the country’s health minister. And Nigerian border countries coordinated efforts to increase protection of their own polio-free status.
The very nature of the GPEI’s system being at once a very large network of worldwide organizations and small groups such as Rotary clubs made up of local residents is what helped the teams respond so quickly to the new information, Pallansch says. “The system itself means there is surge capacity. No one place has to stand on its own. There are always other places within the system that can help,” he says. Because of that, the Polio Eradication Initiative continues on pace – revealing weak points where they may exist and fixing them – but still marching toward that day when polio is gone for good.
After certification, the polio surveillance network is likely to continue providing services. It has already been used to help contain other deadly diseases such as Ebola and measles, and there are ongoing discussions about what the surveillance strategy will be after polio, according to a spokesperson at WHO. The biggest question is how that network can be maintained so that it can go on hunting for other diseases.
• Erin Biba is a science journalist whose work regularly appears in Newsweek, Scientific American, and BBC.com.
On the first of April, a torrent of mud, debris and water tore through the town of Mocoa in Colombia destroying homes and sweeping people away as they slept. Over 250 people have been reported dead.
The landslide was strong enough to completely destroy houses, uproot fully grown trees and wash away vehicles. More than 1/3 of the monthly average rainfall fell on Friday alone. As a result of this landslide, power has been cut off and sanitary conditions are a serious concern as drinking water has been contaminated. Access will also be an issue as 80% of the roads are in poor condition currently. More rainfall is also expected.
ShelterBox already has aid stored in Colombia, and a team is on route now. ShelterBox has responded in Colombia before, and we have been in touch with local Government, Rotary and charity contacts to see how we can assist. We are ready to provide shelter, water purification, solar lights, mosquito nets, cooking equipment and whatever else is needed to ensure families can survive and recover from this devastating disaster.
PERU
Two ShelterBox Response Teams are currently in Peru assessing the need for shelter following extreme flooding. One team is working in the north-west of the country with Rotary International and the government, while the other team is in Lima investigating our logistical and importation options.
Through the next critical days, the teams will gain a clearer understanding of the needs of those displaced, the governmental shelter strategy, gaps in shelter provision and the coping capacities of the affected population.
Globally, in developed as well as in developing countries, child mortality is on the decline and life expectancy on the rise. In 1960, 182 of every 1,000 children born died before turning five; today, that number is down to 43. A child born in 1960 could expect to live an average of just 52 years; by contrast, a child born this year can expect to live to 71.
Then as now, the factors most likely to determine a child's fate are set at birth: where he or she is born, the educational and economic condition of the family, the availability of medical care. Yet one of the most important advances in public health has reached every country and must now reach every child: immunization.
The use of vaccines has, in many parts of the world, nearly eliminated diseases that once were widespread, such as diphtheria, tetanus, and rubella. Thanks to vaccines, 20 million lives have been saved from measles since 2000. Smallpox has been eradicated – and polio is next.
Thirty years ago, there were an estimated 350,000 cases of polio per year worldwide. As this issue of The Rotarian went to press, only 37 cases of polio had been recorded in 2016 – the lowest number in history. All of the other cases, and the paralysis and death they would have brought, were prevented through the widespread use of a safe, reliable, and inexpensive vaccine.
Overall, the World Health Organization estimates that immunization prevents an estimated 2 million to 3 million deaths every year. It also averts a tremendous burden of disability and economic loss. Yet we could be doing so much better: An additional 1.5 million deaths could be avoided by improving vaccine coverage worldwide.
This month, from 24 to 30 April, we join WHO, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in celebrating World Immunization Week, raising awareness of the incredible impact that vaccines have had on global health. This year's theme is "Vaccines Work" – and they do. Increased use of vaccines has broader repercussions for public health: controlling viral hepatitis, reducing both the need for antibiotics and the development of antibiotic-resistant microbes, and reaching more children and adolescents with essential health interventions. In every part of the world, routine immunization is as crucial as ever to ensure that all children have the best chance at a healthy future.
In an uncertain world, vaccines offer something remarkable: a way to protect our children throughout their lives. By working together to safeguard all children against polio and other preventable diseases, Rotary is truly Serving Humanity – now and for generations to come.
A new book in the field of public health highlights Rotary’s role in the global effort to wipe out polio, and places it in the context of humanity’s relentless struggle to contain the world’s epidemics.
In “The Health of Nations: The Campaign to End Polio and Eradicate Epidemic Diseases” (Oneworld Publications), British journalist and Sunday Times best-selling author Karen Bartlett surveys the global landscape of epidemics past, present, and future. Beginning with the 1980 eradication of smallpox, she guides us through more timely threats such as the Ebola and Zika viruses, and looks ahead to a future without malaria, measles, or polio.
“Who decided to rid the world of polio? Not politicians or global health organizations, as you might expect,” she writes, in one of several chapters devoted to polio. “The starting gun was fired by Rotary International, a network of businessmen more used to enjoying convivial dinners, raising money for local good causes, and organizing floats to carry Santa Claus around suburban neighborhoods at Christmas.”
Bartlett offers a comprehensive, readable account of the polio-eradication campaign’s history and Rotary’s unlikely role as its chief advocate. From epidemiologist John Sever’s early suggestion that Rotary adopt ending polio as an organizational mission to the first immunization drives in the Philippines and Central and South America, the world community doubted both the idea of a campaign targeting a single disease and Rotary’s capacity as a volunteer organization to execute it.
The narrative traces Rotary’s mission to reach all the world’s children with Albert Sabin’s polio vaccine, the formation of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), and the struggle to interrupt transmission in the world’s poorest communities, particularly in densely populated countries like India, which has not reported a new case since 2011.
“Polio eradication is a twentieth-century dream, conceived by idealists and driven by big international institutions and mass mobilizations of volunteers, working together to make a better world for all,” Bartlett writes. “It must succeed or fail, however, in a twenty-first century marked by factionalism, religious intolerance, and rising inequality.”
Aziz Memon, chair of Rotary’s National PolioPlus Committee in Pakistan, is interviewed about the challenges facing his country, one of the few where polio remains endemic and conflict has slowed progress. Carol Pandak, director of PolioPlus at Rotary headquarters, weighs in on the contributions of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in both funding and high-profile advocacy. Other prominent voices from Rotary’s GPEI partners chime in throughout.
Based in London, Bartlett has previously worked in politics and written for Newsweek and Wired. She’s produced documentary films and written nonfiction books, including a biography of musician Dusty Springfield and a collaboration with Anne Frank’s stepsister Eva Schloss on Schloss’ memoirs.
By Sallyann Price
New book praises Rotary's role in fight to end polio
Hunted for body parts and isolated by fear, Tanzanians with albinism find safe futures with help of Rotary, Sister Martha
By Jonathan W. Rosen Produced by Miriam Doan
Saada Kaema has two businesses, a fabric shop and a roadside shop selling baskets, mats and cooking pots. “My mom can do anything,” says her daughter Mary, who works with her.
Manitoba honors Rotary Peace Fellow for public achievement
Refugees who come to Winnipeg often end up living in areas that are predominantly inhabited by indigenous people.
“Newcomers do not know much about the indigenous life and heritage and, without that knowledge, the first thing they encounter is people who are poor and stereotyped by the mainstream community,” says Abdikheir “Abdi” Ahmed, a 2011-12 Rotary Peace Fellow and immigration partnership coordinator for the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg. “Indigenous people may see immigrants as encroaching into their neighborhoods. There is tension between both groups.”
Rotarian builds his own iron lung replica to teach a new generation about polio
Roger Frank wants to inspire people to donate to polio eradication.
Dispatched to Ghana with a fellow British Rotarian to scout club service opportunities, Roger Frank hadn’t planned their visit to coincide with National Immunization Days, but the pair – Frank and Dr. Carl Hallam – jumped, unhesitating, into the thick of inoculations. During a four-day stretch in October 2015, nearly 2,000 children in the area were protected from poliomyelitis. The effort galvanized Frank, who brainstormed for a way to do even more at home: How could he promote polio eradication when few of his countrymen gave much thought to the scourge?
Recalling the fear that gripped the UK, the U.S., and elsewhere during the height of the polio epidemic in the early 1950s, Frank, a past president of the Rotary Club of Upper Eden, thought of the iron lung, a device largely relegated to museums and history books. The lifesaving mechanical respirator was a potent, if depressing, symbol of the debilitating disease. An iron lung, Frank reasoned, would educate younger generations who grew up free of the fear created by polio, a virus that is spread easily, during the 20th century.
He hoped to borrow a model to put on tour to serve as a reminder that the polio fight remains unfinished. “I spent the last three months of 2015 looking for an iron lung in hospitals, etc.,” says Frank, 65. “I had hoped to source an original unit, but they have all been scrapped and those that remain are in museums, and they would not part with them. Being fully committed to the project, I had no other option than to build an iron lung myself.
“This proved quite a challenge,” even for a retired mechanical engineer and self-described “nut and bolt man,” particularly after he resolved that only a fully functioning machine would do. “I learned many years ago that the dafter the project, the easier it is to get good publicity for the cause,” he quips.
Roger Frank put his engineering background to good use, rolling and welding all the steel components himself.
Using the outline dimensions of a unit in the Thackray Medical Museum in Leeds as a reference, Frank rolled and welded steel for a cylindrical main chamber, fabricated tracks for a mattress that slides into and out of the unit, and cut access doors and windows. “I cajoled various local companies into assisting with the project,” he says, particularly painting the unit and a trailer used to transport it; Upper Eden club members also assisted. “I suppose in some ways people are used to my harebrained ideas, and not one of them declined to support the project,” he adds. Frank, who bore most of the construction costs, concedes that most of the 650 hours he spent over four months on the heavy metal labor of love were devoted to the trailer, itself a showcase worthy of a Rolls-Royce Phantom.
“To finish the job, he then created visual displays to fit into and onto the trailer, including a television program of iron lungs being used ‘for real,’” notes Ben Lyon, the club’s immediate past president. “The finished result is a stunning promotional and educational tool in aid of polio eradication.” Onsite, a computer-controlled sequence activates the lung, in thumps and whooshes, for five minutes before triggering a YouTube video about iron lungs.
For many polio patients, the apparatus was crucial to surviving the disease’s early stages, when their muscles were too weak, or paralyzed, for independent breathing. The lifesaving mechanical respirators were a common sight, lined up in rows at hospitals. The stricken, mostly young children, were confined in the chambers, normally for at least two or three weeks, exposed only from the neck up, with mirrors above their heads providing their only glimpse into the world around them amid the machines’ cacophony.
Most people, especially young ones, are totally dumbfounded by the whole spectacle.
Roger Frank
As a static exhibit the lung is lifeless and really comes alive when the motor starts and the end bellow operates. I think it really helps give people an understanding of how it would be to be locked in it,” Frank says. “Also the drive unit, or mechanism, is quite noisy and adds to the atmosphere, just as the original units did.”
Frank, who notes that his replica has been booked for the Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland conference in April, makes the display available to Rotary clubs that agree to arrange transportation and staff it to raise funds and awareness for End Polio Now. It has been deployed to agricultural shows and schools, with area club members staffing the unit.
“Most people, especially young ones, are totally dumbfounded by the whole spectacle, and after watching the video are mesmerized and stand motionless for quite a few seconds,” says Frank, “I suppose in awe, or taking in how somebody could spend [nearly] their entire life in such a machine.”
On occasion, a “lucky” visitor might be invited inside the lung.
Roger Frank shows this video during his iron lung presentation.
Sara Dumbell, a journalist with BBC Radio Cumbria who reported on the project, says: “I get sent on many exciting jobs, but getting to see a real life-size replica iron lung was a first for me. The iron lung itself was hugely impressive. I’m 28, and so the major UK outbreaks of polio were a little before my time, but it was deeply moving to learn about how so many children across the world were forced to live in these machines.
“I couldn’t leave without trying out the iron lung for myself, but having the metal lung separating your head and body at the neck I found to be the most uncomfortable feeling,” she adds. “I must admit I was quite relieved when I was allowed out.”
With a nod to the red End Polio Now donation buckets at the ready, Frank says, “I kid people that it is £1 to get into the unit and £50 for me to let you out.”
– Brad Webber
Roger Frank crafted the trailer to give his iron lung a setting that would educate people about polio past and present.
Rotarian builds his own iron lung replica to teach a new generation about polio
Through academic training, practice, and global networking opportunities, the Rotary Peace Centers program develops leaders who become catalysts for peace and conflict prevention and resolution. These fellowships cover tuition and fees, room and board, round-trip transportation, and all internship and field-study expenses.
In just over a decade, the Rotary Peace Centers have trained more than 1,000 fellows for careers in peacebuilding. Many of them are serving as leaders at international organizations or have started their own foundations.
Check out the Rotary Peace Map to see where our alumni are creating positive change.
Our fellowships
Each year, Rotary awards up to 50 fellowships for master’s degrees and 50 for certificate studies at premier universities around the world.
Master’s degree programs: Last 15 to 24 months and require a practical internship of two to three months during the academic break.
Professional development certificate program: For experienced professionals and lasts three months with two to three weeks of field study.
More than 1,000 peace fellowship alumni are working in over 100 countries.
Is a peace fellowship right for me?
Peace fellowship applicants must meet these requirements:
Proficiency in English; a second language is strongly recommended
Demonstrated commitment to international understanding and peace
Excellent leadership skills
Master’s degree applicants: minimum three years of related full-time work or volunteer experience, bachelor’s degree
Certificate applicants: minimum five years of related full-time work or volunteer experience, strong academic background
Each year, Rotary selects up to 100 professionals from around the world to receive fellowships to study at one of our peace centers.
Gary Haugen, leader of the International Justice Mission, contends that humanitarian work means little if basic safety is threatened
In 1994 Rwanda was reeling from the genocide of as many as 1 million people over 100 days, the apex of decades of civil conflict in the East African nation.
Gary Haugen, then a young human rights attorney working for the U.S. Department of Justice, landed in Kigali to head a United Nations unit investigating the genocide and gathering evidence needed to prosecute the perpetrators for war crimes.
“There was basically no functioning government, Haugen recalls. “So much chaos is unleashed when there isn’t a civil authority exercising control. A lot of people tried to help, sending food and medicine and providing housing and education, but when it came to the problem of violence, very few people stepped up to that challenge.
Haugen established the International Justice Mission (IJM) in 1997 to address violence in developing countries. The organization has 17 field offices and works with local investigators to rescue victims of violence, support survivors, strengthen law enforcement, and bring violent criminals to justice. In his 2014 book, The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence, Haugen argues that the progress made in the global fight against poverty means little when citizens’ basic safety is threatened.
At the 2016 Rotary International Convention in Korea, Haugen talked to Rotarians about one of the most harmful forms of what he calls the “everyday violence affecting the world’s poorest people – forced labor, or slavery. “Slavery is not a relic of history," he said, noting that an estimated 35 million enslaved people are hidden in plain sight, all over the world, generating $150 billion in profits for traffickers who seldom face prosecution. “It’s vaster and more brutal than ever. And it’s more stoppable than ever.
Haugen sat down with contributor Sallyann Price in Seoul to talk about the importance of addressing violence and safety in development work.
The Rotarian: How are poverty and violence related?
Haugen: When people think about the world’s poorest people, they don’t usually think about violence. They think of hunger, disease, and a lack of education and job opportunities. But just as important is daily vulnerability to violence, and not necessarily the violence that makes headlines: war, genocide, mass atrocities.
The form of violence that is far more destructive is what we call everyday violence – that’s sexual violence, police abuse, land theft, and forced labor. On a daily basis, these types of violence make it very difficult for the common poor person to improve his or her situation. You can give all kinds of goods and services to alleviate poverty, but if you’re not able to restrain the hands of the bullies that have the power to take it all away, you won’t see the kind of progress you want.
The world is now divided between those who can afford to pay for their own protection and the billions who are left in lawless chaos.
Gary Haugen,
International Justice Mission
Abuse of power is a very simple human dynamic. It’s what a kid will understand in the schoolyard: There’s the kid who’s stronger and bigger than everybody else, and he’s abusing that power to take something from the victim, whether it’s lunch money or possessions or just their dignity. You see the same dynamic in the adult world; it just manifests itself in more adult, violent ways over time and on a bigger scale.
TR: Your address to the Rotary Convention focused specifically on the issue of slavery. Why this message for this audience?
Haugen: We are in a moment in history when forces are coming together to make it possible to end slavery in our lifetime. For the first time, enslavement is completely against the law everywhere. It’s an ancient evil that still exists, but it’s no longer the center of the global economy.
Rotary has demonstrated a unique capacity to focus effort on a global problem that simply shouldn’t exist anymore. Look at the example of polio: We have a vaccine that works perfectly well and we agree that everyone should be safe from this disease, but there’s an access gap. Similarly, everyone should be safe from slavery, and no parent should have to worry about a child being enslaved. We know that a combination of effective law enforcement and excellent survivor support can measurably reduce slavery, and violence overall. Rotarians, in their work to end polio, have shown the kind of focus and determination we need to succeed in that struggle.
TR: How do you respond to scientist Steven Pinker? In his book The Better Angels of Our Nature, he argues that this is actually the least violent time in history.
Haugen: If you look at the broad scope of history, there is, on average, much less violence in our world today. That’s good news because it shows progress is possible. But think of the comparison with polio – fewer people are vulnerable to the disease, but does that mean we don’t finish the job? Like polio, the violence that remains in our world is more concentrated in the lives of the world’s poorest people.
Wealthier countries provide a measure of security and law enforcement on a public basis, but in the developing world, personal safety often means hiring private security. The world is now divided between those who can afford to pay for their own protection and the billions who are left in lawless chaos, experiencing extreme levels of violence.
TR: What role can more powerful members of society, like Rotarians, play in improving the situation?
Haugen: In much of the developing world, the public systems of justice are so broken that those with wealth and resources do not depend on them. Every culture debates the role of government and the range of services it should provide, but there should be no doubt that the most basic of those services is seeing to the security of its citizens. Those with the opportunity to lead must invest in public security so all citizens can enjoy that same safety.
It’s fascinating that the most common forms of violence in the developing world are almost always against the law already. The problem is not the absence of law, but the absence of law enforcement that protects everyone. That’s our focus at IJM.
TR: When did you first see this pattern?
Haugen: After I graduated from college, I lived in South Africa. The big issue at the time was the apartheid crisis. That’s where I started to see what it was like to live in a society of violent oppression and abuse. After law school, I went to work for the U.S. Department of Justice, where I worked specifically on the problem of police abuse in the United States. I started to see that no matter where you are in the world, no matter which country you’re in, people with power – whether political or police – tend to abuse it if they are not held accountable. I saw the particular problem of violence against the poor when I was sent to Rwanda in 1994 to direct the UN’s investigation into the genocide there. A lot of people tried to help, sending food and medicine and providing housing and education, but when it came to the problem of violence, very few people stepped up to that challenge. Slavery in this era strikes me as a similar issue: We are aware of it, we can stop it, and it is up to us to take that responsibility.
TR: How does IJM help a community plagued by violence?
Haugen: In many parts of the developing world, people have given up hope that law enforcement will ever protect the poor from violence. Our work demonstrates that it’s possible to change. The recovery of that hope is a game-changer.
We begin with what we call collaborative casework with the local authorities. We recruit a local team of lawyers, investigators, and social workers and start working on individual cases. As we try to bring the criminals to justice, we start to see the broken points in the criminal justice system.
When we begin working on a case, we pursue a baseline study to measure the prevalence of different types of violence and the performance of the police and the courts. Working from those two baselines, we can measure when the criminal justice system starts working better and violence decreases. Over hundreds of cases over many years, we’ve documented that it is possible to transform a broken law enforcement system into one that protects poor people effectively.
21 million people are being helped by International Justice Mission
17 countries have people being helped by IJM
28,000+ people have been relieved from oppression by IJM
37,000+ officers and officials trained in investigtaions since 2012 by IJM
TR: How is that progress measured?
Haugen: One measure of success is the relative ease or difficulty of committing a particular crime. Cambodia is a great example. When we started working there 15 years ago, you could arrive in Phnom Penh and within an hour you could easily purchase a child for sex. That’s much harder to do now. Our project there focused on enhancing the criminal justice system’s capacity to send sex traffickers to jail, and we’ve seen hundreds of convictions since then. Our baseline study found that as many as 30 percent of commercial sex workers there were children. That figure is closer to 1 percent now. Also, because the Cambodian authorities are effectively enforcing the law, IJM is no longer needed. That’s our ultimate objective.
TR: How does IJM determine where to intervene?
HAUGEN: IJM uses a variety of criteria for assessing the location of a future project, including prevalence of crime and the political will of the government and local law enforcement to address crime. Because our model of justice system transformation centers on building capacity in the public justice systems of the countries and communities we’re working in, it is imperative that there be at least some desire to address the problem from within law enforcement.
TR: How can Rotary members help keep communities safe as they plan humanitarian aid projects in the developing world?
Haugen: Ask people what they need and connect with local groups addressing those needs. Since people are less likely to talk about violence, Rotary members should be very intentional about facilitating conversations to explore specific problems. Once you start the conversation and sharpen your focus on this issue, you start to see it over and over again.
Rotary is already raising the bar of excellence in terms of sustainability and accountability in its projects. But violence fights back in a way that is different from hunger or homelessness. If you take on violence, you may end up putting yourself on the line in some manner. The willingness to take on this challenge is a powerful message.
EVANSTON, Ill. (17 January 2017) — Rotary today announced $35 million in grants to support the global effort to end polio, bringing the humanitarian service organization’s contribution to $140 million since January 2016.
Nearly half of the funds Rotary announced today ($16.15 million) will support the emergency response campaigns in Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin (Chad, northern Cameroon, southern Niger and Central African Republic). Four cases of polio were detected in Nigeria in 2016, which had previously not seen a case since July 2014.
With these cases, funding is needed to support rapid response plans in Nigeria and surrounding countries to stop the outbreak.
While significant strides have been made against the paralyzing disease, with just 35 cases reported in 2016, polio remains a threat in hard-to-reach and underserved areas, and conflict zones. To sustain this progress, and protect all children from polio, experts say $1.5 billion is needed.
In addition to supporting the response in the Lake Chad Basin region, funding has been allocated to support polio eradication efforts in Afghanistan ($7.15 million), Pakistan ($4.2 million), Somalia ($4.64 million), and South Sudan ($2.19 million). A final grant in the amount of $666,845 will support technical assistance in UNICEF’s West and Central Africa Regional Office.
Rotary has contributed more than $1.6 billion, including matching funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and countless volunteer hours since launching its polio immunization program, PolioPlus, in 1985. In 1988, Rotary became a spearheading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative with the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and was later joined by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Since the initiative launched, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.9 percent, from about 350,000 cases a year to 35 confirmed in 2016, and no cases in 2017.
About Rotary
Rotary brings together a global network of volunteer leaders dedicated to tackling the world's most pressing humanitarian challenges. Rotary connects 1.2 million members of more than 35,000 Rotary clubs in over 200 countries and geographical areas. Their work improves lives at both the local and international levels, from helping families in need in their own communities to working toward a polio-free world.
Rotary announces $35 million to support a polio-free world
Associate Conductor Brett Mitchell leads The Cleveland Orchestra at the benefit concert in Severance Hall, which was completed in 1931 and has been called one of the world’s most beautiful concert halls.
Rotary members in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, celebrated 100 years of The Rotary Foundation on 23 October with a banquet and a concert by The Cleveland Orchestra that have so far raised more than $2.1 million for the Foundation's next century of good work.
Arch Klumph, a Cleveland Rotarian, planted the seed for The Rotary Foundation in 1917, with his idea of having an endowment fund dedicated to "doing good in the world." Today's District 6630 leaders thought that a concert was a fitting way to honor Klumph and mark the centennial because of Klumph's love of music. Klumph performed in several predecessors of The Cleveland Orchestra.
"We felt very strongly that here in the home of Arch Klumph we needed to take stock of what the Foundation has accomplished this past 100 years. It's almost impossible to quantify," says Mike Johns, an event organizer and past RI director. "If you look at where we are and where we are going, we've just scratched the surface on what we can do."
The banquet inducted four couples into the Arch Klumph Society for giving $250,000 or more to the Foundation over their lifetimes: Geoff and Kim Goll, Rotary Club of Salem, Ohio; Frank H. and Nancy Lyon Porter, Rotary Club of Cleveland, Ohio; Edna and Martin Sutter, Rotary Club of Fort Bonifacio Global City, Makati City, Philippines; and Norman R. and Marjory A. Veliquette, Rotary Club of Elk Rapids, Michigan, USA.
The Porters, who were inducted posthumously, contributed $500,000 toward polio eradication, Rotary's top priority. The Golls have also directed $200,000 of their contributions to PolioPlus.
Johns says the event was designed to educate the community about The Rotary Foundation. Videos interspersed between musical pieces highlighted Rotary's work and the fight to end polio.
"We had a lot of people there who didn't know what Rotary was, and they made a great discovery," he says. "I think Rotary members around the world should really reach out to the public this year and show them what our Foundation does."
VIRTUAL REALITY FILMS BRING NEW DIMENSION TO POLIO FIGHT
Behind the scenes of Rotary's virtual reality film about a polio survivor, a specially outfitted camera captures a 360-view of a classroom in India.
At this year’s World Polio Day celebration in Atlanta, Rotary is harnessing the power of virtual reality technology to build empathy and inspire action in our fight to eradicate polio.
Dressed in a black burqa under a blazing sun with temperatures topping 100 degrees, Hina is going from house to house, knocking on doors. Plastered against the walls of the mud-brick homes, neat rows of hand-patted dung cakes dry in the sun to be used for cooking fuel. Open sewers stagnate beside the uneven dirt roads where children play.
At each home, Hina gives drops of the polio vaccine to any children age five and under and records the doses in her log and with chalk outside the home.
The Rotary Responsible Business honorees are, from left: Jean-Paul Faure, Stephanie Woollard, Mercantil Banco Universal representative Luis Calvo Blesa, Larry Wright, Annemarie Mostert, Suresh Goklaney, and Coca-Cola Pakistan representative Fahad Qadir. (Not pictured: Juan Silva Beauperthuy.)
Photo Credit: Rotary International
Outside the United Nations building in midtown Manhattan stands an imposing sculpture of a man wielding a sword in one hand and raising a hammer with the other. It reflects a shared goal that Rotary and the United Nations celebrated at the organizations' annual meeting on Saturday, 12 November: to use our strengths and tools to build a more peaceful and just world.
Clem Renouf, RI president-elect, introduced the 3-H program to an enthusiastic audience at the 1978 convention in Tokyo.
In 2016-17, The Rotary Foundation turns 100. That's a century of helping Rotary members change lives and improve communities all over the world.
Throughout the year we're posting excerpts from "Doing Good in the World: The Inspiring Story of The Rotary Foundation's First 100 Years." You can purchase the book at shop.rotary.org.
To learn more about the Foundation's centennial and find tips and resources for celebrating, visit www.rotary.org/foundation100.
Dennis Ogbe, Paralympian and polio survivor, tells his personal story of the disease at Rotary’s World Polio Day event on 24 October 2016 at the headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Photo Credit: Rotary International/Alyce Henson
While the fight to eradicate polio suffered a blow this year when the virus re-emerged in Nigeria, Rotary leaders and top health experts focused Monday on the big picture: the global presence of the paralyzing disease has never been smaller.
ShelterBox and its partner, ACTED, a French nongovernmental aid agency, have been preparing for weeks to get aid supplies ready so they can respond quickly as the battle unfolds in Mosul.
Photo Credit: Rotary International
Today marked the start of the battle to take control of Mosul back from the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS. The city is the group's last major stronghold in Iraq. But humanitarian aid agencies have known about the military offensive, giving them an unusual opportunity to prepare for the crisis.
What a huge week we have had culminating in the 2016 Rum Rump and Rhythm festival yesterday.
A week full of last minute checking up to make sure that all would go well, and the planning and preparation was perfectly executed yesterday.
Late afternoon and the crowd was beginning to arrive and enjoy the food, music and dancing.
Rhumba dancers pose with some Club members and 2 Brazillian Rotary Youth Exchange students.
Even our District 9630 Governor Doug got in on the photo action.
It was great to see the Beenleigh Town Square precinct filled with people enjoying the music and food, with some even sampling the Beenleigh Rum.
A HUGE thank you to all our sponsors, who are acknowledged each week in our bulletin, and the volunteers including Rotarians from Logan, Loganholme and the Rotary Nomads Clubs. Without all this support, we would not be able to stage this free event for the local Beenleigh community to enjoy.
Staff from ShelterBox and the United Nation’s World Food Programme help unload a delivery of ShelterBox supplies at Les Cayes harbor in Haiti, where tents are likely to be used to help health professionals screen and treat cholera victims.
Photo Credit: Alexis Masciarelli
Even as parts of Haiti were still recovering from a catastrophic 2010 earthquake, Hurricane Matthew tore through the impoverished island country 4 October, leaving hundreds dead and many more homeless.
The Category 4 storm affected an estimated 330,000 people in Haiti, including 6,400 who were moved to temporary shelters. Extensive damage to main bridges and other transportation networks have left some areas cut off and vulnerable. Torrential rains have resulted in flooding and landslides. And contaminated water supplies threaten to lead to a surge in cholera cases and other waterborne illnesses.
Nigeria’s health minister, Isaac Adewole, said on Friday that his government is determined to rid the country of polio again. New cases recently landed Nigeria back on the list of countries where the disease is endemic.
Adewole met with Rotary leaders at Rotary International World Headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, USA, to discuss Nigeria’s recent efforts to stem the outbreak.
All three of the country’s cases were detected in the northern state of Borno, which was under the control of Boko Haram militants until recently. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the virus has been circulating in the region for five years.
“The new cases devastated us. Even one case is unacceptable. It’s very unfortunate we are in this position, but we are recalibrating our efforts to end this disease,” Adewole said. “We consider this situation a national emergency.”
Shortly after the outbreak, the minister sent an emergency response team to Borno for an immediate and robust vaccination campaign targeting about 1 million children. More than 850,000 were immunized in the first five days of the campaign, according to Adewole. To reinforce the effort, the country is using both oral and inactivated polio vaccines.
Moreover, Nigeria established a task force to tackle other issues in Borno, including lack of clean water, sanitation, health, nutrition, and psychosocial disorder stemming from Boko Haram’s occupation. “Rebuilding Borno is a national priority,” he added.
Nigeria, with the help of Rotary and its polio partners, has already begun additional large-scale immunizations aimed at reaching 60 million children by December. Rotary released $8.5 million to support the response in high-risk areas and parts of the Lake Chad Basin.
Nearby countries including Cameroun, Central African Republic, Chad, and Niger are also coordinating vaccinations to protect their polio-free status.
Together, the five countries are conducting what Adewole called a “ringed fence” immunization. Inoculations take place along the countries’ borders.
“We can’t do this alone. Working with the other countries is crucial to the overall polio eradication in Africa,” he added.
In 2015, after Nigeria passed more than a year without any cases detected, WHO announced that it was polio-free and removed it from the list of countries where polio is endemic. Adewole admitted that the country stopped focusing on polio after the achievement. “We started the celebration too early. But these cases have awakened us, and we are now redoubling our efforts so this doesn’t happen again,” he said.
Adewole added that it will take sustained effort to be removed from the list again, including domestic and international financing, the commitment of thousands of health workers, and strategies that reach missed children. The government has allocated $300 million for the emergency response.
“Polio eradication is about national pride and honor,” he says. “We will not let our citizens or the world down.”
By Ryan Hyland
Rotary News
7-Oct-2016
NIGERIA’S TOP HEALTH OFFICIAL VISITS ROTARY TO DISCUSS COUNTRY’S RESPONSE TO POLIO OUTBREAK
Hundreds of people gather in an open-air courtyard at University Central Hospital in Kigali, Rwanda. Men in suits, women in flowered dresses, even prisoners in pink and orange gowns are waiting to find out if they will receive medical care. Some have no visible signs of injury. Others arrived on crutches, with arms in slings, or with catheters protruding from their clothing. Several have swollen, broken limbs: injuries that should have been mended long ago but were neglected because of the country’s long surgical-ward backlog, or simply poverty.
Samuel Frobisher Owori, a Ugandan businessman and a member of the Rotary Club of Kampala, will become president-nominee on 1 October.
The 2016-17 Nominating Committee for President of Rotary International has unanimously nominated Samuel Frobisher Owori, of the Rotary Club of Kampala, Uganda, to be the president of Rotary International in 2018-19. He will be declared the president-nominee on 1 October if no challenging candidates have been suggested.
Minda Dentler becomes the first woman hand cyclist to complete the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile cycle, and 26.2-mile marathon of the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, USA.
I was born in 1978 in Mumbai to a domestic worker and single mother. At six months old, I was paralyzed from the hips down by polio. The chances of surviving in India until your 18th birthday with a disability are very slim. My mother was unable to care for me and left me at an orphanage. I don't remember much about my time there because I was so young, but I know the conditions were primitive. I had no real hope that my life would become anything of note or that I would have the opportunity to be independent and overcome the burden of a very preventable disease.
Hall of Fame folk singer and polio survivor Donovan recently became a Rotary polio ambassador.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Planet Earth Publicity
Legendary singer and polio survivor Donovan Leitch, better known simply as Donovan, has joined Rotary in its fight to eradicate the paralyzing disease that afflicted him during much of his childhood.
SHELTERBOX AND ROTARY CLUBS TAKE ACTION FOLLOWING EARTHQUAKE IN ITALY
Buildings lie in ruins Wednesday, after a magnitude 6.2 earthquake leveled towns in central Italy. The quake killed at least 241 and left thousands homeless.
Photo Credit: Massimo Percossi/ANSA via AP
A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck central Italy early Wednesday, killing more than 240 people and trapping an unknown number beneath rubble. Tremors were felt as far away as Rome, 100 km (65 miles) southwest of the quake's epicenter.
Four hundred years ago, the invention of the microscope gave us a glimpse into an aspect of the world too tiny to be seen by the human eye. The microscope works by capturing light shone on or through an object observed through lenses, which magnify the resulting image so we can see it. But a microscope has its limits. In 1873, German physicist Ernst Abbe discovered that the ability of a microscope to see past a certain size was limited not by the quality of its lens, but by the wavelength of light shining into it. And since the wavelength of visible light falls within a specific range – and can’t be altered – then it was believed the ability of a microscope was limited. It’s a concept called the diffraction barrier.
WELCOME to Isadora who finally arrived on Saturday morning after a long journey fromher home in Brazil.
She is joining us for a year as Exchange Student, and we are looking forward to her time with us.
After missing her connection in Auckland, Isadora arrived at 10.50am on Saturday and was then whisked to the Soroptomists Fashion Parade - no time for rest when on Exchange.
Isadora with District 9630 YEP Chair Wendy Howitt, Secretary John Mulraney and her counsellor Rachelle Mulraney
A cold early start - 3.00am - today saw many Rotarians and members of the Tour de Logan committee at Berrinba wetlands setting up for this year's event.
Registrations commenced at 5.00am for a 6.30am departure of the 40km and 100km riders. Those on the 20km ride left 15 minutes later.
The 40km and 100km riders ready to leave.
Before the first riders were gone the Club BBQ trailer was set up and in action preparing Bacon and Egg rolls and also sausages and onions for those who needed to fuel up before - or refuel after - the ride.
A great effort from the Committee and all the volunteers today. The proceeds go to Diabetes Queensland and the Rotary Foundation.
It’s 3 a.m. on a Sunday, and Katheryne Rosa Barazorda Cuellar is up, preparing to work in her mother’s soup stall in the small Peruvian town of Anta, near the Inca capital of Cusco. Smart and seemingly indefatigable, she has a quick smile and infectious laugh.
Twelve Rotary Peace Fellows are about to get even more guidance in their area of focus. They are not just peace fellowsbut also a select group of Global Peace Index Ambassadors who were recognized for their innovative ideas on working with Rotary clubs in spreading the messages of peace.
Through the program, a collaboration between Rotary and the Institute for Economics and Peace, over 100 former and current peace fellows spent two months receiving training on the methodology the institute uses to create the Global Peace Index, the world’s leading tool for quantifying peace. Ambassadors learned about research behind the Positive Peace and Rotary’s increasing involvement in peace and conflict prevention and resolution.
For the "10 for the 10th" competition, which celebrated the tenth annual release of the index, ambassadors submitted creative ideas for communicating the findings of the report and working with clubs around the globe. The winners will be trained to give Global Peace Index presentations in 10 cities around the world and will receive up to $1,000 to conduct the events.
The institute announced the winners at the Future of Peace Summit on 15 June in Washington, D.C. The 10 winning proposals were submitted by 12 current and former peace fellows:
Maria Aseneta (Chulalongkorn University, January 2015)
Eduardo da Costa (Duke University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2010-12)
Phil Gittins (Chulalongkorn University, June 2012)
Umar Hayat (Chulalongkorn University, June 2015)
Manisha Javeri (Chulalongkorn University, June 2010)
Sellah King’oro (Chulalongkorn University, January 2016)
Summer Lewis (University of Queensland, 2010-12) and Jorge Meruvia (International Christian University, 2008-10)
Philip Mwesigwa (International Christian University, 2007-09)
Ian Saini (Chulalongkorn University, January 2014)
Sarah Sanderson and Joshua Campbell (International Christian University, 2015-17)
Rotary General Secretary John Hewko spoke at a peace summit on 15 June in Washington D.C., calling Rotary’s collaboration with the institute “very promising.” The two organizations have begun a peacebuilding project in Uganda, Hewko said. With a Rotary global grant, Rotary members will use the institute’s findings to educate 100 Rotaractors on how they can become pillars of peace.
These principles have been developed over the years to provide Rotarians with a strong, common purpose and direction. They serve as a foundation for our relationships with each other and the action we take in the world.
OBJECT OF ROTARY
The Object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and foster:
FIRST: The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service;
SECOND: High ethical standards in business and professions; the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations; and the dignifying of each Rotarian’s occupation as an opportunity to serve society;
THIRD: The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian’s personal, business, and community life;
FOURTH: The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.
THE FOUR-WAY TEST
The Four-Way Test is a nonpartisan and nonsectarian ethical guide for Rotarians to use for their personal and professional relationships. The test has been translated into more than 100 languages, and Rotarians recite it at club meetings:
Of the things we think, say or do
Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
AVENUES OF SERVICE
We channel our commitment to service at home and abroad through five Avenues of Service, which are the foundation of club activity.
Club Service focuses on making clubs strong. A thriving club is anchored by strong relationships and an active membership development plan.
Vocational Service calls on every Rotarian to work with integrity and contribute their expertise to the problems and needs of society. Learn more in An Introduction to Vocational Service and the Code of Conduct.
International Service exemplifies our global reach in promoting peace and understanding. We support this service avenue by sponsoring or volunteering on international projects, seeking partners abroad, and more.
This week I received this letter from Kelly Heck. Kelly was nominated by our Club to attend the National Youth Science Forum last year. Earlier this year he gave us a glowing report on his experience and said he hoped to be chosen for an overseas component that is offered to only a handful of the attendees.
"Earlier this year I came and spoke about my experience at the National Youth Science Forum which was made possible by the endorsement of The Rotary Club of Beenleigh. As a result of this program I have recently been accepted to attend the International Science Summer School in Heidelberg.
This program is a 4 week research based internship in Germany where I'll join 2 other Australian students along with 24 other like minded students from across Europe, Asia and North America. I have been fortunate enough to be placed in a team of 6 to conduct research in the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics under the Quantum Dynamics department which is an area which I am very passionate about. During time I will get to explore German culture while getting great experience with the processes of science based research in quantum systems. I will leave for the program this coming Friday, the 15th.
None of this would have been possible without the support of The Rotary Club of Beenleigh and so I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for endorsing me throughout my journey.
Saturday evening was the annual District 9630 Changeover night, where now Past District Governor, and former member of our Club, John Crawford passed the Governorship to Doug St Clair.
This year it was held at Ipswich, and a great evening was had by all attendees.
Our Club was awarded the District Governor's Award 2015/16 for our growth, innovation & success within the Rotary District this year. Congratulations to PP Janine, the 2015/16 Board and the Club members for the successes that led to this achievement.
PP John Mulraney was also awarded the PDG Dave & Pat Mayo Commendable Service Award for work within the District this year. Congratulations and WELL DONE John.
PP John with his shield
Wendy Howitt, PP John Mulraney & PP Rachelle Mulraney showing the trophies and plaques.
The second meeting of the Beenleigh District Mens Shed was held on Saturday 2 July at their newly cleaned out shed at Beenleigh State High School.
Over 20 people were present for the bbq lunch and meeting. The work that has been done by the committee getting the shed to its present state of cleanliness is to be commended. It is all neat and tidy - just waiting for some machinery to be installed so that others can make a mess - but only if they clean it up.
Several members are keen to start and it appears that this Tuesday morning will see the shed up and running.
Some of the attendees
Secretary PP Gary Hollindale, David Look and President Don Petersen address the group on a BDMS logo and bib.
When was the last time there was polio in Europe? If you guessed 2002, the year the region was certified polio-free, you were wrong. The last time polio affected a child in Europe was last summer. In 2015, two Ukrainian children were diagnosed with paralytic polio, and, given the way the disease manifests itself, that means many more were likely infected and didn’t show symptoms. At least one Western news outlet deemed the outbreak “crazy” – but the reality is that no place on earth is safe from polio until the disease is eradicated everywhere.
The sun rises on a new school day. In rural Ganguli, India, 450 students climb aboard school buses. Five years ago they couldn’t have gone to school because the distance from their village was too far to walk.
Wednesday saw a number of members of our Club attend the changeover for the Logan Rotaract Club. The Rotaract Club is sponsored by Beenleigh, Logan and Loganholme Rotary Clubs.
The event was held at the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland at St Lucia.
Recipients of numerous awards proudly display their certificates.
Thursday 9 June we held our annual changeover function.
This year it was held at the Beenleigh Distillery and a great crowd turned up to celebrate the achievements of this year and welcome the incoming President and Board.
President Janine handing over to Brian.
Some of the attendees enjoying the great venue at the Distillery.
FOUNDATION’S ACHIEVEMENTS AND FUTURE SPOTLIGHTED AT KOREA CONVENTION
The Rotary Foundation has been improving lives since 1917. Learn about our work and help us celebrate 100 years of doing good in the world.
In his address to convention attendees on Tuesday, 31 May, Trustee Chair Ray Klinginsmith proclaimed that The Rotary Foundation has never been stronger than it is today.
Bolstered by generous contributions from members and robust programs like PolioPlus and the Rotary Peace Centers, the Foundation's good work is drawing public notice, Klinginsmith said: CNBC, a leading consumer and business news outlet in the U.S., ranked Rotary No. 5 among the top 10 charities changing the world in 2015.
"Isn't it clear that our Foundation is truly better than ever before?" said Klinginsmith, who reported more than $269 million in contributions last year.
Urchick, chair of The Rotary Foundation Centennial Celebration Committee, described the centennial's four broad goals:
Educate members and the public about Rotary and its Foundation.
Recognize major achievements and accomplishments.
Organize celebrations in our communities and at Rotary events.
Inspire further support.
"It's that once-in-a-lifetime concept that makes the centennial celebration so exciting," she said.
POLIO UPDATE
Rebecca Martin, director of the Center for Global Health at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, described the Foundation's most significant achievement this past year: the historic gains toward worldwide polio eradication.
Last year, the World Health Organization declared Nigeria – which was the last polio-endemic country in Africa – polio-free, and Martin noted that the African continent is expected to reach two full years without any new cases on 11 August.
Despite recent advances, challenges persist. "The world remains at risk with wild poliovirus circulating in Pakistan and Afghanistan," Martin said. "We need to strengthen our ability to detect all viruses and reduce the risk of outbreaks through vaccination, sustain the strong advocacy with leaders and key stakeholders, and ensure credible oversight of the program while leveraging and building the polio assets."
The world's two remaining polio-endemic countries have already seen some progress this year. Martin cited 16 cases caused by the wild poliovirus in Afghanistan and Pakistan, down from 25 at this time last year.
"We have seen stronger cooperation between the two governments at all levels," she added. "Children crossing the borders are vaccinated, and surveillance data are being shared. This is the only way we will see these two countries achieve polio-free status."
Gary White, chief executive and co-founder of Water.org, explains his organization’s microfinance program to attendees at the World Water Summit in Seoul on Friday, 27 May.
This year's World Water Summit on 27 May in Seoul highlighted the progress being made:
Over the last 25 years, more than 2.5 billion people gained access to improved drinking water, and 2 billion who didn't have adequate sanitation now do.
Child deaths from water-related diseases dropped from 1.5 million to just over 600,000.
The UN Millennium Development Goals' target for clean drinking water was met five years ahead of schedule.
Most multi-cultural, non-profit gathering in Korea will bring KRW 292.5 billion
GOYANG CITY, Korea (11 May 2016) – From Belize to Zimbabwe, Rotary's 107th annual international convention 28 May–1 June 2016 is expected to attract more than 50,000 Rotary club members from over 160 countries – making it the most multi-cultural (non-profit) gathering in Korea.
As of 2 May, the top countries where most attendees will travel from include Japan (7,000), the United States (2,500), Taiwan (2,300), the Philippines (1,100), India (730), Bangladesh (540), Nepal (390), Australia (370), and Canada (280). More than 23,698 Korean Rotary members will attend.
The Korea Tourism Organization estimates that the Rotary convention will bring KRW 292.5 (₩292,492,284,583) to the local economy and create 1,800 jobs. In connection with the Rotary convention, the restaurant, hotel and lodging, service, wholesale and retail sectors are expected to add nearly 1,200 new jobs. Often described as a "mini-United Nations" because of its global scope and cultural diversity, the Rotary convention will transform KINTEX into a kaleidoscope of energy, color and excitement where Rotary members will exchange ideas for how to improve lives and bring positive, lasting change to communities around the world.
At KINTEX, Rotary members will engage in a full agenda of workshops and hear from world class speakers, including:
Dr. Rebecca Martin, PhD, Director of the Center for Global Health at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the effort to end polio worldwide.
Organized by Rotary International in conjunction with the Seoul Host Organization Committee comprised of local Rotary members, and with significant support from the Central Government as well as local governments, the convention will provide registrants with ample opportunities to savor Korea's myriad attractions, including an expansive number of parks, museums, shopping centers, restaurants, and the now-famous Gangnam district. Most popular tourist attractions to be visited by the Rotary convention participants include DMZ, World Heritage Palace, and Gangnam Fashion Street.
"With up to 50,000 Rotary members from over 160 countries expected to register for the 2016 Rotary international convention, Korea can expect to witness the impact of a global village gathered under the banner of service to humanity with a vision for a peaceful world," said Sangkoo Yun, Host Organizing Committee chair.
In Seoul, Rotary members in their traditional cultural attire – from Indian Saris to West African Kente – will walk in solidarity for world peace. The Rotary 3K Walk for Peace will start at 8:30 a.m. on 28 May at City Hall Plazawith entertainment and remarks at City Hall Plaza, then proceed along the main thoroughfare to Gwanghwamun Square – where the Rotary Way Photo Exhibit will provide a visual representation of Rotary's humanitaran work in Korea and around the world. Following the 3K walk, the photo exhibit will be moved to Co-Ex East Plaza until 1 June.
Meanwhile, in light of the Rotary International Convention, Chang Soo Jung, Korea Tourism Organization's CEO, stated that, "The government administration considers tourism and the MICE industry (MICE: Meeting, Incentive, Convention, Exhibition) as one of its major projects and is pushing to develop this high-value convergence type of tourism." He further emphasized that, "Through this event, KTO will exert its best to showcase Korea's beauty and charm to Rotarians from all over the world."
Seoul is home to the first Rotary club established in Korea, chartered in 1927. Today, Korea is the fourth largest Rotary club country with 1,625 clubs and 64,149 members who support an array of local and international service initiatives, including; health programs for infants and toddlers with critical illness and chronic conditions, a multilingual library for children to help bridge local cultures, and environmental projects to help reduce the adverse health effects of Yellow Wind dust storms.
Rotary clubs in Korea also continue to support the organization's top philanthropic goal of eradicating polio. Since 1985, Rotary has contributed more than KRW 1.4 trillion (US$1.5 billion) and countless volunteer hours, with Korean Rotary clubs donating more than KRW 146 million (US$ 14.6 million) to polio eradication. In addition to contributing funds, Korean Rotary members have traveled at their own expense to immunize children against polio in India.
About Rotary Rotary brings together a global network of volunteer leaders dedicated to tackling the world's most pressing humanitarian challenges. Rotary connects 1.2 million members of more than 35,000 Rotary clubs in over 200 countries and geographical areas. Their work improves lives at both the local and international levels, from helping families in need in their own communities to working toward a polio-free world. To access broadcast quality video footage and still photos go to: The Newsmarket.
Most multi-cultural, non-profit gathering in Korea
ROTARACT OUTSTANDING PROJECT AWARD RECOGNIZES INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS
Members of the Rotaract Club of Bugolobi, Uganda, participate in their annual 1000 Smiles project, which has been recognized as the 2016 Rotaract Outstanding Project Award winner.
Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of The Rotaract Club of Bugolobi
Though they were a long way from home, members of the Rotaract Club of Bugolobi, Uganda, felt confident they could tackle problems in rural Kanabulemu during their annual 1000 Smiles project.
The Rotary Club of Beenleigh is seeking expressions of interest from local community groups and organisations whom wish to be considered as beneficiaries of the 2016 Rum, Rump & Rhythm Festival.
Pope Francis greets Rotary International President K.R. Ravindran at a Jubilee audience at the Vatican on 30 April, where 9,000 Rotary members were special guests of the pontiff.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Vatican
Thousands of Rotary members, motivated by a special invitation from Pope Francis, gathered at the Vatican in Rome on Saturday to celebrate a message of compassion, inclusiveness, and service to humanity.
More than a million refugees from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan streamed into the European Union last year. Most entered via Greece after a harrowing raft trip across the Aegean Sea from Turkey. Once there, they made their way north, often on foot, traveling more than 1,000 miles through the rugged mountains of the Balkan countries toward Germany.
This week 17 August, we are having an RRR sponsor night with the venue being Club Beenleigh.
Next week, 22 August (Monday) is our meeting night at Calvary Christina College so we can all observe the Rotary Debating competition as it hots up towards the finals. Arrangements will be made to gather at Pizza Hut afterwards for a meal and socialising, with a very short meeting to be held. The debates commence at 6.30pm.
COUNCIL GRANTS CLUBS GREATER FLEXIBILITY IN MEETING, MEMBERSHIP
Council member Dominque Dubois holds up a green card to indicate support of a motion while Sandeep Nurang ponders his response during the 2016 Council on Legislation.
Photo Credit: Monika Lozinska.
The 2016 Council on Legislation may well be remembered as one of the most progressive in Rotary history.
Another crew from Ormeau were at it again this afternoon cleaning Peachey Road from the Pascoe Road roundabout to the big roundabout leading onto the M1.
Rotarian Heather Kucks led the way with our Youth Exchange student from Belgium, Helene, and rebound student Rebecca Kucks. They gathered 4 bags of rubbish for their 2 hour effort.
We are looking for a very reliable, mature good communicator who is available for one day on weekends to help set up, and oversee a weekend community market located in the newly developed Beenleigh town square.
Experience in similar role is not required.
Full training provided.
Physically fit - lifting of equipment and seating.
Must enjoy working outdoors and in any conditions.
Required to be highly organised and confident - providing directions to many vendors who set up very early each Sunday morning.
Early morning starts (3am)
Must be available for the one day each weekend.
Suits mature age individual and younger - age is NO barrier.
Ideally suited to Beenleigh/Logan local.
Potential for ongoing and part-time/full-time position. Mon- Fri.
COUNCIL ON LEGISLATION TO MEET IN CHICAGO 10-15 APRIL
Representatives at the 2013 Council on Legislation hold up green cards to demonstrate a yes vote on a motion.
Photo Credit: Rotary Images
Representatives from Rotary clubs worldwide will gather in Chicago 10-15 April to consider changes to the policies that guide Rotary International and its member clubs.
The Council on Legislation meets every three years and is an essential part of Rotary's governance. The representatives -- one from each Rotary district -- review and vote on proposals that seek to change Rotary's constitutional documents and on resolutions that express an opinion or make a recommendation to the Rotary International Board of Directors.
Many of this year's proposed changes are designed to increase membership by giving clubs greater flexibility in the timing and the nature of their meetings. Other proposals would amend membership requirements.
Over the decades, Council representatives have debated virtually every nuance of Rotary policy and membership and attendance rules. The five-day meeting is one of Rotary's primary agents for change, allowing the organization to evaluate and enhance its relevance in a rapidly changing world.
What Kerstin Jeska-Thorwart remembers is the silence. No birds chirping, no dogs barking, no car engines revving. Nothing. “I’ve never heard such a silence before, and never since,” she says. “I knew something must have happened.”
Worldwide, more than 748 million people live without access to clean water and at least 3,000 children die each day from diarrheal diseases caused by unsafe water. Rotary is working to change that. For example, members used a Rotary grant to drill more than 20 clean-water wells and to repair another 30 in villages across Ghana. The project also included education about and treatment of Buruli ulcer, a debilitating infection that if untreated can lead to disability and death. Nearly 70,000 people will benefit from this initiative.
The Rotary Foundation and UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education are offering up to 10 scholarships for graduate study at UNESCO-IHE's Delft campus in the Netherlands. The aim is to increase the number of trained professionals who can devise, plan, and implement water and sanitation solutions in developing areas. The scholarships also are designed to promote long-term relationships between Rotary members and skilled water and sanitation professionals.
Scholars will receive a Master of Science degree in urban water and sanitation, water management, or water science and engineering. The application deadline is 15 June.
Clara Montanez attends a reception in 2013 for the Champions of Change honorees at the White House in Washington D.C.
Photo Credit: Rotary Images
When Clara Montanez was a student, she never heard the word mentoring. The idea of having a role model help you pursue your ambitions was unfamiliar to her.
The team at Interplast were thrilled to receive updates from several happy parents via Facebook this month, years after their children were treated by our volunteers in the Philippines.
The little boy in the picture above is Diandrei. He had his cleft palate repaired in 2010 when Interplast visited Benguet General Hospital in Baguio City in the Philippines. He is now seven years old.
If he had not had his palate repaired, Diandrei would not have been able to eat anything comfortably. He would also have been susceptible to middle ear infections that can cause hearing loss, which in turn would have made it hard for him to learn to speak.
Diandrei's mother, Hannah, shared this picture of him enjoying some pizza after seeing an update from a recent Interplast program in Masbate. The update featured a photo of Junrel, who is 4, and his mother, sitting on a hospital bed after Junrel received surgery for a cleft lip.
The post struck a chord with Diandrei's mother Hannah.
“You're all amazing and it's quite a team! Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart. Interplast has played a very important role on my son's life,” Hannah wrote.
from Interplast E-News February 2016 Edition
Kharla, from Cagayan de Oro, was also touched by the post from Masbate and shared her daughter's story.
“Congrats to Interplast and to Junrel. You have same case with my daughter, last August in Cagayan de Oro. Now she’s ok and very beautiful, thanks to the team of Interplast!” wrote Kharla.
Interplast would like to thank our amazing volunteers and local partners for all the work they do to help change futures for patients like Junrel and for families like Hannah's and Kharla's.
The fierce July sun beat down on us as we approached the field where the match was to take place. It wasn’t much of a soccer pitch, with its uneven terrain and rusty poles for goalposts, but the local teens we had met came ready to play. They guided us over the piles of bricks and broken tiles that separate their neighborhood community center from the field behind it and took their positions.
Marnie from Ozcare, President Janine, and Paul from Ray White Ormeau.
Last week we welcomed Paul from Ray White Ormeau and Marnie from Ozcare to our meeting.
They spoke to us about the 2015 "Little Ray of Giving". This is something organised through Ray White where Christmas gifts are dropped off at their store.
Our Club was asked to assist with the process and Ozcare was the main beneficiary.
Shortly before Christmas the donated gifts were distributed to needy families, including many who were in Domestic Violence Crisis accommodation.
Actress and humanitarian Sharon Stone gives the peace sign after speaking at the Rotary World Peace Conference on 15 January in Ontario, California, USA.
Photo Credit: Rotary International/Ryan Hyland
EVANSTON, Ill. (13 January 2016) — Rotary announces $35 million in grants to support the global effort to end polio. In 2015, the world saw historic progress against the paralyzing disease, with just two countries – Afghanistan and Pakistan – reporting a single strain of the wild virus. If the current momentum is strengthened, this year may mark the last case of wild poliovirus.
"We are closer than ever to achieving a polio-free world," said Michael K. McGovern, chair of Rotary's International PolioPlus Committee. "To ensure that no child ever again suffer the devastating effects of this disease, we must all ensure that the necessary funds and political will are firmly in place in 2016."
2015 MILESTONES
Nigeria – the last polio-endemic country in Africa – was removed from the World Health Organization's list of endemic countries in September, following one year without a new case of the wild virus. The last wild polio case anywhere on the African continent was in August 2014.
In September 2015, one of the three strains of the wild poliovirus – Type 2 – was certified as eradicated, with no cases since 1999. Type 3 has not been seen anywhere in the world since November 2012.
Pakistan, which continues to report the majority of the world's polio cases, reduced its caseload by 82 percent in 2015 over the previous year.
FUNDS NEEDED
To sustain this progress, and protect all children from polio, experts say $1.5 billion is urgently needed. Without full funding and political commitment, the disease could return to previously polio-free countries, putting children everywhere at risk.
Rotary's funds will support efforts to end polio in Pakistan ($11.4 million) and Afghanistan ($6 million).
Additional funds will support efforts to keep other at-risk countries polio-free: Nigeria ($5.5), Cameroon ($1.6 million), Chad ($2 million); Ethiopia ($4.1 million), Somalia ($1.8 million), Iraq ($1.6 million) and India ($618,000). Finally, $355,000 in funds will be dedicated to polio research.
Rotary launched its polio immunization program PolioPlus in 1985 and in 1988 became a spearheading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative with the WHO, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was later joined by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Since the initiative launched, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.9 percent, from about 350,000 cases a year to 70 confirmed to date in 2015.
Rotary has contributed more than $1.5 billion and countless volunteer hours to fight polio. Through 2018, every dollar Rotary commits to polio eradication will be matched two-to-one by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation up to $35 million a year.
About Rotary
Rotary brings together a global network of volunteer leaders dedicated to tackling the world's most pressing humanitarian challenges. Rotary connects 1.2 million members of more than 34,000 Rotary clubs in over 200 countries and geographical areas. Their work improves lives at both the local and international levels, from helping families in need in their own communities to working toward a polio-free world. Visit rotary.org and endpolio.org for more about Rotary and its efforts to eradicate polio. Video and still images are available on the Rotary Media Center
WATER SUMMIT URGES ROTARY MEMBERS TO INVEST IN YOUTH
This year's World Water Summit focused on water, sanitation, and hygiene in schools.
Almost 200 million days of school attendance are lost every year because of the lack of proper sanitation. Many diarrhea cases in children result from transmission of disease in schools rather than at home.
BRINGING SOCIAL CHANGE AND MOBILITY THROUGH WHEELCHAIR PROJECT
Workers with Autonomy, Liberation Through Movement (ALEM) Rosy Roman Sánchez, Maria Isabel Nava Gómez, and Irene Martinez Duran arrive at their workshop in Cuernavaca.
Rotary International/Monika Lozinska
The common perception of the physically disabled throughout Mexico was that they are incapable of being productive members of society. Unable to work or provide for their families, they face discrimination, must be taken care of, and are kept at home.
A small party was held at her host parents house - thanks PP Wendy and Nigel. Several other exchange students, Windaroo Valley State High School classmates, and Rotarians attended. Helene was introduced to water fights using balloons, pump action water pistols, and of course........... ice - just to keep everything cool.
Meanwhile in Hungary.......
Rebecca is trying out ice skating, and I believe that she has discovered it can be harmful to your coccyx.
Rebecca will be returning to Australia on 16 January 2016. She will be getting in to the Brisbane DOMESTIC Terminal around 11.00am so anybody who is available is more than welcome to greet her.
A wheel has been the symbol of Rotary since our earliest days. The first design was made by Chicago Rotarian Montague Bear, an engraver who drew a simple wagon wheel, with a few lines to show dust and motion. The wheel was said to illustrate "Civilization and Movement." Most of the early clubs had some form of wagon wheel on their publications and letterheads. Finally, in 1922, it was decided that all Rotary clubs should adopt a single design as the exclusive emblem of Rotarians. Thus, in 1923, the present gear wheel with 24 cogs and six spokes was adopted by the "Rotary International Association." A group of engineers advised that the gear wheel was mechanically unsound and would not work without a "keyway" in the centre of the gear to attach it to a power shaft. So, in 1923 the keyway was added and the design which we now know was formally adopted as the official Rotary International emblem.
CHULALONGKORN CELEBRATES 10 YEARS OF EQUIPPING LEADERS TO BUILD PEACE
Rotary Peace Fellows at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok discuss peacebuilding strategies during a field study.
Photo by Stephanie van Pelt
Bobby Anderson was helping former freedom fighters in Aceh, Indonesia, adjust to life after combat when he heard about the Rotary Peace Center at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.
On the First page of the Rotator there is usually noted a Duty Roster - which rotates weekly.
There are at the moment 3 possible positions you will be asked to perform.
1. Welcoming. This is an important duty that allows you to meet all the members and guests. You will need to be a bit early to be in a position to greet all comers as they enter the room. You should have the Badge box at hand so that you can give members their badge as you welcome them. You will also be there to greet any visiting Rotarians or Club Guests. You may also be asked by the Treasurer to collect the fees and tick the attendance sheet as well.
2. Rotary Information. This session is not held every week depending on the program. When you get your Rotator on Sunday night, if you are nominated for this, you then have a couple of days to do some research. All that is being looked for is a 2-3 minute talk about something interesting you have discovered about Rotary. The idea of the segment is to improve Rotary awareness amongst all members.
3. Sergeant. This is an important position that allows you to bang the gong. The sergeant is the person to ensure that the meeting starts on time and keeps the meeting in order.
NEW YORK, (Oct. 23, 2015) — On the heels of historic success against polio in Nigeria and across the continent of Africa, the global effort to end polio is receiving an additional US$40.4 million boost from Rotary to support immunization activities and surveillance spearheaded by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
Polio is on track to become the second human disease ever to be eliminated from the world (smallpox is the first). To date, Rotary has helped 194 countries stop the transmission of polio through the mass immunization of children. Rotary's new funding commitment, announced in advance of the Oct. 24 observance of World Polio Day 2015, targets countries where children remain at risk of contracting this incurable, but vaccine-preventable, disease.
"We are in the final push to end polio, but as long as the disease exists anywhere in the world, all children are at risk," said Rotary's International PolioPlus Committee Chair Michael McGovern. "With just two endemic countries remaining – Pakistan and Afghanistan –we must continue to raise awareness and funds needed to end this paralyzing disease. Our grants show Rotary's commitment to staying the course until we wipe out polio forever."
Following Nigeria's polio-free milestone, and no cases of wild polio in all of Africa in more than a year, Rotary is contributing $26.8 million to African countries to ensure the disease never returns to the continent: Burkina Faso ($1.6 million), Cameroon ($2.7 million), Chad ($2.6 million), Democratic Republic of Congo ($499,579), Equatorial Guinea ($685,000), Kenya ($750,102), Madagascar ($562,820), Mali ($1.5 million), Niger ($3 million), Nigeria ($6.9 million), Somalia ($4.9 million) and South Sudan ($1.5 million).
Rotary has earmarked $6.7 million to polio-endemic Pakistan, $400,000 to Iraq and $5.3 million to India. The remaining $990,542 will support immunization activities and surveillance.
Rotary provides grant funding to polio eradication initiative partners UNICEF and the World Health Organization, which work with the governments and Rotary members in polio-affected and high-risk countries to plan and carry out immunization activities.
To date, Rotary has contributed more than $1.5 billion to fight polio. Through 2018, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will match two-to-one every dollar Rotary commits to polio eradication (up to $35 million a year). Currently, there have been only 51 cases of polio reported in the world in 2015, down from about 350,000 a year when the initiative launched in 1988.
ROTARY GIVES US$40.4 MILLION TO END POLIO WORLDWIDE
Last Wednesday night saw the final for this year's annual Rotary High School Debating Competition.
This year Canterbury College debated the Calvary Christian College for the trophy. The topic for the debate was "That television affects intelligence", which provided both teams an ample opportunity to develop and present their arguments. Ultimately Canterbury College triumphed.
A big congratulations to both teams for making the finals, and the other teams that made up the competition, including Trinity College whose team attended as spectators.
The competition has now been running for 10 years. It is capably coordinated and run by Past President Gary Hollindale who is ably assisted by a great team of judges.
An enjoyable night was had by all.
PP Gary introducing the 2 teams
The team of judges without whom there would be no competition.
Heather, Kim and Frank setting up to feed the crowd.
Last Friday saw 4 members of the Club rolling sausages to feed people who attended a free Halloween movie and fun night at Valley View Park. It was a great couple of hours trying to keep up with the demand for sausages on bread. The catering was perfect with all supplies exhausting at the same time as the movie started and appetites were sated.
All being well a couple of new members may be the side benefit for th Club.
ROTARY'S REPRESENTATIVE NETWORK PUTS BOOKS INTO THE HANDS OF CHILDREN IN ECUADOR
Students in Ecuador read books they received through an international project sponsored by the Rotary clubs of Annapolis, Maryland, and Quito Occidente, Ecuador. The project is part of an ongoing collaboration between Rotary and the Organization of American States.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Rotary Club of Annapolis, Maryland, USA
A refugee family from Syria seeks shelter in cramped conditions on the Greek island of Lesbos.
Photo Credit: Rachel Harvey/ShelterBox
In Syria, where a civil war has been raging since 2011, more than 6,000 people flee the country every day. As of September, more than 4.1 million people have become refugees, and 7.6 million more have been internally displaced.
The Rollin' With Rotary team, clockwise from top left, Adam Barth, Kathy Fahy, Jason Browne, RI Director Jennifer Jones, and Marie Fallon, stop off at Rotary International Headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, USA, on 6 August.
GLOBAL GRANT PARTNERSHIP TURNS GOOD IDEA INTO BIGGER, SUSTAINABLE PROJECT
A microloan recipient shows off one of the items she made in her sewing shop.
Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of Rotary Club of Marin Evening, California, USA
In the Esmeraldas Province of Ecuador, Rotary members have teamed up with a microfinance organization to provide small loans to poor women, teaching them to sew and bake so they can start or expand businesses.
WORLD IMMUNIZATION WEEK: PROTECTING CHILDREN THROUGH LIFESAVING VACCINES
The extensive polio-eradication infrastructure created by Rotary, its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), and governments and health ministries provides a model for saving millions of people from vaccine-preventable deaths.
Photo Credit: Rotary International/Alyce Henson
This year's observance of World Immunization Week, 24-30 April, signals a renewed effort to prevent an estimated 2 to 3 million deaths worldwide from vaccine-preventable diseases, including polio, by closing immunization gaps. The extensive polio-eradication infrastructure created by Rotary, its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), and governments and health ministries provides a model for this effort.
For ANZAC Day, he participated in a re-enactment Dungaree March. The marchers left Windaroo Valley State High School (representing Warwick) just after 7.00am and travelled via Windaroo State School, Mt Warren State School and the Beenleigh Historical Village (representing other towns passed through by the original marchers) to Beenleigh (representing Brisbane). The students then led the parade through Beenleigh.
Rotarian Heather marched from the start, and President Gary joined up at the Historical Village. PP Brian drove the Salvation Army bus to pick up any stragglers. None eventuated, but all were happy that the bus carried the water and apples. Thanks to Rotarian Lyn, and the Salvation Army, for the use of the bus.
The starting marchers, led by the Windaroo Valley State High School drummers, head towards their first stop at Windaroo State School.
Timo enjoying a a drink at Mt Warren State School.
On Sunday Timo got to demonstrate his cooking skills at the annual "Tastes of the World" at Wacol. This was conducted by the District Rotex group in conjunction with the District YEP committee. Each of the inbound students had a small stall about their country and had also cooked a traditional meal from their home country. This gave prospective outbound students an opportunity to learn a bit about countries they may be interested in exchanging to, including their food. Approximately 60 attended, including past exchange students, host parents and prospective students.
The students have put together a recipe book for all the dishes served. At $5.00 each they are a bargain as they also have a short introduction to each of the students. The money raised from the sale of the books goes towards Shelterbox. See Brian on Wednesday night if you want to order a book.
Sunday, 12 April, marks 60 years since the Salk polio vaccine was declared safe, effective, and potent. In that time, the number of polio cases has dropped by 99 percent worldwide. With just three countries remaining polio-endemic, we are closer than ever to eradicating this crippling disease.
DETERMINED TO DELIVER CLEAN WATER AMID BLOODY CIVIL WAR IN SOUTH SUDAN
Nearly 14,000 people in remote mountain villages in Eastern Equatoria, South Sudan, will have clean water thanks to a $47,000 Rotary Foundation global grant sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of Wausau, Wisconsin, USA, and Juba, South Sudan.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Sudan Community Development Fund
Despite almost impassable terrain and the outbreak of a violent civil war, Rotary clubs in South Sudan and Wisconsin, USA, are determined to bring clean water to one of the most remote areas of the East African country.
BOND WITH THE UNITED NATIONS ENHANCES ROTARY’S VISIBILITY AND RESOURCES
A member of the youth panel speaks during the annual Rotary Day at the United Nations last year.
Photo Credit: Rotary International/Alyce Henson
Ask almost anyone at the United Nations and they will know that Rotary, having helped to spearhead the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, has contributed to the 99 percent worldwide reduction in polio cases since the initiative began.
Every 10 minutes, a baby is born without a state – without citizenship in any country. The crisis in Syria and conflicts in South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and many other nations are producing new generations of refugees, internally displaced persons, and asylum seekers. Increasingly, they are long-term exiles who are spending years, even decades, in makeshift refugee cities with their families, unable to return home.
The venue, The Empire Theatre, early on Saturday morning.
Timo and some of the other YEP students eagerly waiting to enter.
The opening on Friday night.
YEP students performing their song, written and first performed at their September camp.
President Gary accepting one of the two awards the Club received.
Mac Miller - the youngest of the presenters at 11 years. He is definitely not shy in front of a crowd.
Former Governor-General, Major General The Honourable Michael Jeffrey AC AO(Mil) CVO MC(retd) concluded his presentation with a moving Anzac Memorial service.
Members of the Rotaract Club of Monrovia conduct a door-to-door outreach campaign aimed at raising awareness about Ebola prevention.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Rotary Club of Monrovia, Liberia
After the first cases of Ebola reached Liberia's capital, Monrovia, last June, local Rotary members feared that the city's limited health care system wouldn't be able to contain the highly infectious, often-deadly disease.
Friday 29 May 2015 - Get together drinks and nibbles and BYO BBQ at the Kucks residence. 6.00pm until eviction. Numbers 27/5/15.
Friday 4 March 2016 - Sunday 6 March 2016 - District Conference at Roma. Indicative numbers will be called for 29/4/15 for a group accommodation booking to be made.
Tuesday 3 March saw the Club celebrate 62 years of service to the Beenleigh community. Past and present members, and representatives from other local community service Clubs attended a celebratory dinner held at Luv a Coffee
ROTARY CLUB OF BEENLEIGH – 62 YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY STAND-OUTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
· Volunteered six decades of service to the community (local, domestic and international)
· Promoted world understanding and peace by enriching the lives of others
· Sponsored the Rotary Club of Loganholme: charted on the 26th January 1981
· Held re-enactment of the landing of Captain Logan on the banks of the Logan River (1958): raised funds to donate a radio to the local Ambulance Branch
· Held power boat demonstrations on the Alberton Reach of the Albert River (1960): raised funds to start the Albert Rotary Park
· Involved with the opening of the band rotunda in Centenary Park, Beenleigh (1964)
· Participated in the Rotary Youth Exchange Program (12 month exchange)
· Assisted the homeless affected by the Brisbane and South Coast floods and cyclone Tracey (Darwin) (1974) and Brisbane floods 2011
· Successfully ran first Beenleigh Rotary Arts Festival which ran for several years (1975)
· Crown land given to extend Albert Rotary Park – proceeds from last cane harvest on the site were used for park improvements (1975): boat ramp and brick toilet block
· Was a major force in the establishment of the Beenleigh Police Citizens Youth Club and donating $5,000 towards the project (1978-79)
· Ran Mayfest, under the stewardship of President Geoff Kempe, a major fundraiser at the Beenleigh Rum Distillery: one year featured a young lady living in a caravan for a week on a high platform supported by four power poles
· Ran the Beenleigh Rotary Arts, Crafts, and Quilt Festival successfully held 1997-2003
· Organised the annual Cane Queen Quest, Street Parade, and Showground Festival: total funds raised and donated back to local charities and like not-for-profit organisations of $500,000+
· Donated $10,000 to have a rock climbing wall erected at the Beenleigh PCYC
· Donated funds to: Volunteer Marine Rescue; Senior Citizens; Beenleigh Sports Club; Ambulance (Jaws of Life; Defibrillator); Blue Nursing Service (for change-over vehicles); Canefields Clubhouse; Beenleigh Brass Band; St Judes School, Tanzania, Africa
· Erected a clock and fountain in the centre of Beenleigh (later dismantled to make way for the railway tunnel construction)
· Erected playground equipment at Mt Warren Park
· Erected a footbridge at Trinity College
· Stripped and painted the Red Cross house in the Show Ground
· Participated in the Rotary Australia World Community Service projects
· Brought children from the “outback” to the coast: some had never seen the ocean
· Donated and distributed Christmas hampers
· Supported the Health, Hunger, and Humanity programs of Rotary International
· Participated in Rotary Youth programs
· Sponsored the Probus Club of Beenleigh (1990)
· Constructed a covered deck on the old Beenleigh Railway Station at the Beenleigh Historical Village and Museum, sponsored by past Rotarian John Latham and Stratco
· Donated a 4-Wheel drive vehicle to Hope Vale Mission North QLD
· Contributed to the eradication of Polio from the globe – through the Polio Plus campaign
· Contributed funds to Rotarians Against Malaria program
· Erected combined community service club signs at the entry roads into Beenleigh
· Organised the Tour de Logan Bike Ride in partnership with the Rotary Club of Loganholme (2011 - 2014)
· Participated in the Lion’s Ormeau Fair
The Rotary Club of Beenleigh thanks all the sponsors who have made these stand-outs and achievements possible: from all levels of government, businesses small and large, other service clubs and organisations, and the community. Thank you.
Projects under consideration: Starting a Rotary Club in Ormeau and starting a Men’s Shed in the Beenleigh area
This year marks 30 years since Rotary launched PolioPlus, its campaign to rid the world of polio. Beginning on Rotary's anniversary, 23 February, Rotary members worldwide will be holding events to celebrate three decades of polio eradication progress.
Since 1985 Rotary and its partners have helped reduce the number of cases from 350,000 annually to fewer than 400 in 2014, and they remain committed until the disease is eradicated. Rotary has contributed more than $1.3 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect more than 2 billion children worldwide. In addition, Rotary's advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by donor governments to contribute over $10 billion to the effort.
Before the global scope of PolioPlus, individual clubs with Rotary funding were attacking the disease closer to home.
In 1979 Rotary members and delegates of the Philippine Ministry of Health looked on as volunteers administered drops of the oral polio vaccine to children in the Manila barrio of Guadalupe Viejo.
When James L. Bomar Jr., then Rotary president, put the first drops of vaccine into a child's mouth, he ceremonially launched the Philippine poliomyelitis immunization effort. Bomar joined Enrique M. Garcia, the country's minister of health, in signing the contract committing Rotary International and the government of the Philippines to a joint five-year effort to immunize around 6 million children against polio at a cost of about $760,000.
In a 1993 interview, Bomar recalled how the brother of one of the children he'd immunized tugged on his pant leg to get his attention and said, "Thank you, thank you, Rotary."
The success of this project set the stage for Rotary's top priority to rid the world of polio. Since Rotary introduced its PolioPlus campaign, the number of polio cases worldwide has dropped 99 percent, and the virus remains endemic in just three countries -- Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan.
While we have been having a break over Christmas, our 2 students - Timo and Rebecca - have been having a great time. Here is a photo essay of their time.
Bull Ed has had a quiet week at home this week with host son Timo and real daughter Rebecca both away on the Roundabout tour with the other Youth Exchange students.
Here are their versions of the week they have had, with some minor editing having been done.
A Board meeting, presentation of Rotary Allrounder Awards at School graduations, 2 fundraising BBQs and 2 members graduating from the Rotary Leadership Institute.
29 October 2014 saw over 50 attend the culmination of the 2014 Bendigo Community Bank Beenleigh Branch, Rotary High School Debate competition. A debate between Calvary Christian College Team B and Upper Coomera State College Team A.
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