Category Archives: Uncategorized
Rotarians Action Group for Endangered Species (RAGES)
October/November News Bulletin
October/November News Bulletin
It has been a very busy two months for me personally with building work here in Australia.
During December I will be looking at ways we as members of RAGES can work together for those who have no voice.
RAGES will be looking for a new Chair in June at Atlanta. I have to concentrate on my work as a District Governor for my District 9700 in 2018-2019.
Our Board will go through the correct procedures to elect a new Chair.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you can help and want to get involved in RAGES and our work on the ground in South Africa, Borneo and Malaysia.
Talk soon, Yours in Rotary
DGN John Glassford
Chair 2014 -2017
Chair 2014 -2017
Rotarian Action Group for Endangered Species
Rotary Club of Coolamon District 9700
New South Wales, Australia
Rotary Club of Coolamon District 9700
New South Wales, Australia
How a simple school project in India became a global grant
Students sit at their new desks that were provided through a previous grant between the Rotary Club of Bikaner, India, and Kennebunk Portside, Maine, USA.
Photo Credit: Courtesy Cornelia Stockman, Rotary Club of Kennebunk Portside, Maine
Two years ago, U.S. Rotary members in Maine set out to improve the education system in Bikaner, Rajasthan, an Indian city near the border of Pakistan.
The Rotary Club of Kennebunk Portside chose Bikaner because club member Rohit Mehta was originally from the area and had connections there. Mehta put the club in contact with Rotarians in India to provide desks for four government-run schools.
But when community leaders returned with a request for more desks, the Maine Rotarians decided they had to think bigger. The Rotary Foundation had rolled out its new grant model, which required that the club do more than just purchase school furniture to qualify for global grant funding. Club leaders put their heads together and turned a simple project to provide school desks into a global grant project by adding a campaign to recruit new students and professional development for teachers.
“Because the new grant standards required further thought, a superior grant emerged,” notes Peter Johnson, Rotary Foundation chair for District 7780, which covers Maine. “Additional questions were asked, which boil down to, ‘OK, they need benches [desks] and you want to help them get their benches, but what’s going to happen with these benches?’ The standards dramatically improved the project’s scope, tone, and tenor.”
The Rotary clubs worked with School Management Committees — teams of school administrators, community leaders, and Bikaner Rotary members — to determine what each school needed most. They discovered that the children were unschooled and had never sat in a classroom before. So the committees decided it would be easier to get the students to commit to a three-day-a-week lesson plan. That left the other two days for the same benches to be used for teacher training.
“The teachers at the government schools are well qualified, but they provide an education within the framework of their stipulated syllabus only,” says Man Mohan Kalyani, project leader for the Bikaner club. “This does not include many things that are needed for the overall development of the students. So we set about supporting both teachers and students with these additional skills.”
The global grant will provide desks for 1,685 students. The training will target 240 teachers. In addition to instruction in basic subjects, the curriculum aims to improve students’ self-confidence, communication skills, leadership skills, and personality development. The clubs expect the program will have even better results than the earlier shipment of desks, which helped improve grades by 23 percent in the four recipient schools. Those results alone led regional authorities to select two of the schools as sites for annual examinations, meaning local students did not have to travel 15 miles to another city to take the exam.
Cornelia Stockman, a member of the Maine club, traveled to Bikaner early in the grant planning process. She said she was impressed by the level of commitment and professionalism displayed by the School Management Committees.
Stockman said local families who can afford it send their children to private schools with classrooms and desks. By contrast, students at the government-owned schools sit on the ground in an open area surrounded by security walls and gates. There is no compulsory attendance beyond sixth grade. The local education experts insist the students are more likely to stay in school if they have a desk to sit at, Stockman says.
Mehta is thankful the grant was able to help his native country.
“I thought it would be great if we could do something with a region that I had ties to,” Mehta says. “And good education is fundamental to the quality of life.”
Stockman said even though the process of expanding the project’s scope was not without bumps, the Bikaner community responded to every need as the grant application evolved.
“We had to go back to them three or four times, but every time we asked them to do something else, they did it,” she recalls. “They never gave up, and did everything necessary to meet the requirements of the global grant.”
Learn more about global grants
Download a tutorial on using the online application process
Rotary News
10-Apr-2015
The workplace of tomorrow; Are you ripe for disruption?; What business are you REALLY in?
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No child should have to suffer from polio
By Isabeli Fontana
As a Rotary polio ambassador, I’m currently in India, participating in our vaccination program. I think everyone should have the best start in life, so as a mother, I made sure my two sons received the vaccine against polio.
The story of Rotary’s fight against polio is inspiring, and it always gives me hope to see the impact of Rotary’s work when I travel. For me, beauty is anything that makes you happy. The work of Rotary and health workers is certainly beautiful.
I can see the happiness in the faces of 500 schoolchildren when I visited their school in Uttar Pradesh. I also saw happiness in the eyes of the health workers who helped India become polio-free last year. I helped to vaccinate children as part of my visit. It’s so simple really — two drops to prevent a lifetime of suffering.
But I also felt sadness when I toured St. Stephen’s Hospital in New Delhi, the only place in India with a special ward to treat children suffering from the terrible effects of polio, before the disease was controlled.
No child should have to suffer from a preventable disease, and seeing the children in St. Stephen’s reminded me that the fight is not over.
It gives me great pride to know that the next Rotary Convention is in São Paulo where I live. I hope all the Rotary members visiting enjoy my wonderful country. I also hope they’ll join me in doing all they can to end polio. I want every mother to know that her children can have a beautiful, healthy life.
The workplace of tomorrow; Are you ripe for disruption?; What business are you REALLY in? Your March newsletter awaits…
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Highlighting outstanding members this International Women’s Day
Thousands of women across Rotary deserve recognition on International Women’s Day, March 8, and while it isn’t possible to highlight them all, we chose to profile several of them. These are women who work tirelessly on behalf of others, and whose efforts touch lives across the world, often in remote and inhospitable places. With projects focused on child and maternal health, economic development, and other humanitarian concerns, these women are proof of Rotary’s diversity and global reach.
Ola Al-Awamleh Almasri ,Amman, Jordan
Rotary Club of Amman Capital
Almasri helped build a water-catchment system for a public school in Jordan with a large enrollment of underprivileged students. She’s also organized and supported vocational projects that train students to become entrepreneurs. She was recognized by Forbes as one of the top 50 businesswomen in the Arab world.
Fary Moini, San Diego, California, USA
Rotary Club of La Jolla Golden Triangle
Over the last 10 years, Moini has taken 19 trips to Afghanistan to work on projects ranging from school construction to setting up computer labs. Her fellow Rotary members called her “inspirational” in her involvement in the building of a school in Jalalabad, and in helping to provide neonatal and midwife training for medical professionals.
Christina Covotsou-Patroclou, Limassol, Cyprus
Rotary Club of Limassol-Berengaria Cosmopolitan
Covotsou-Patroclou is a charter member of the Interact Club of Limassol, and helped launch the Rotaract Club of Limassol-Amathusia, the first Rotaract club in Cyprus. A former Paul Harris fellow, she worked with ShelterBox in 2006 to provide aid in Lebanon.
Deepa Willingham, Solvang, California, USA
Rotary Club of Santa Ynez Valley
Willingham is founder and chair of PACE Universal (Promise of Assurance to Children Everywhere), a nonprofit organization that educates girls in the world’s poorest areas and works to prevent child trafficking. Working with Rotary clubs around the world, the center she formed provides education, microloans, health care, clean water and sanitation, and community infrastructure. “Together, we have created a site that is affecting the lives of 30,000 to 40,000 people,” Willingham says.
Teodora Alinsod Lucero,Laguna, Philippines
Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Centro
A midwife, Lucero is operating a birthing clinic that delivers an average of 500 babies a year. She also organizes a free medical clinic and workshop for pregnant women in underserved communities. In 2013, the National General Assembly of Midwives presented her the Gaward Agham Special Award for Excellence in clinical care.
Carolyn Jones, Anchorage, Alaska, USA
Rotary Club of Anchorage East
The first woman to serve as a Rotary Foundation trustee, Jones has traveled to Russia as a Rotary volunteer five times, three of them as a preschool teacher for developmentally delayed children in orphanages. But her volunteer efforts have taken her elsewhere as well: “In the 27 years that I’ve been a Rotarian, I’ve administered polio drops in India, planted trees in Brazil, promoted microcredit in Costa Rica, and delivered baby formula in Uganda,” Jones says.
Bernadette Blackstock, Franklinville, New Jersey, USA
Rotary Club of Glassboro Sunrise
The CEO of People for People Foundation, Blackstock helps normally self-sufficient people who have fallen on hard times to afford food, clothing, rent, utilities, medications, and other life necessities. “Since 2003, our foundation has served over 10,000 families,” Blackstock says.
Ginger Vann, Baker, Louisiana, USA
Rotary Club of Baker
Vann coordinates a tutoring program for at-risk students. With the help of her club, she renovated a derelict school building and worked with tutors to reach 50 students a day. She’s also passionate about workforce development in Baker, where well-paying craftsman jobs often go unfilled. “We’re not going out there and finding just anybody; we’re targeting the unemployed, underemployed, and veterans,” Vann says.
Read more about the history of women in Rotary
Read more about Rotary’s 2014 women of action 
How healthy is your club?
This week's Illuminator 16th January 2015
Important Dates for your Calendar in 2015
- District Leaders Training – Taree – 14th-15th February 2015
- District Management and District Finance meetings – 15th February 2015
- Port Macquarie Sunrise – Amazing Mystery Tour – 22nd February 2015
- Cluster 5 Celebration Dinner – Armidale February 25th 2015
- Polio Plus Movie Night February 26 2015 – Tamworth 26th February 2015 Forum 6 Cinema – Sawtell 26th February 2015 Birch Carroll and Coyle Coffs Harbour Tickets $20 – Laurieton 26th February 2015 Laurieton Plaza Theatre
- New England Tech Fest Armidale – 4th- 6th March 2015
- District Conference Inverell 13-15th March 2015
- RYLA – Yarrahapinni 21st-28th March 2015 (Rotary Youth Leadership Award)
- RYAG Sheep – Walcha 25th- 29th March 2015 (Rotary Youth in Agriculture)
- MUNA – Inverell 16-17th April 2015 (Model United Nations Assembly)
- PETS – Tamworth 18th-19th April 2015 (President Elect Training)
- District Assembly – Port Macquarie 3rd May 2015
- District Assembly – Gunnedah 24th May 2015
- Rotary International Convention Sao Paulo Brazil – 6th-9th June 2015
DG Jottings
DISTRICT CONFERENCE
Preparations are going very well for the District conference to be held in Inverell from 13th to 15th March 2015 with the Conference committee under Phil Goddard’s able captaincy putting the final touches to the program, they have worked hard and done a great job . All of the speakers and arrangements have been made as well as a great selection of meals and lunches/morning teas so I am sure we will be catering to everyone’s requirements.
Registrations have started to roll in and I would like to thank those who have done so already. Be sure to register early so as to avail yourself of the early bird discount. Many clubs and members have told me they have booked accommodation already so well done. If you are thinking of coming to this conference, slip onto the website and take a tour through the extensive program , I am sure you will be impressed. Max Walker and others will keep us very entertained. Hope to see you there.
YOUTH ACTIVITIES
Over the next few months, our District has an impressive array of youth activities which will be a benefit to the candidates and clubs involved. Long Term Youth Exchange Program is happening now with Outbounders heading off on their exciting journey and inbounders arriving as well as students returning home. Make sure if you have a student that you have them along to the club and other clubs to hear their story.
Other programs that are happening now include National Youth Science Forum and we have a number of students attending Canberra . These students will return home so invigorated and positive and knowing what they will pursue in life. Great program.
Model United Nations Assembly , Rotary Youth Leadership Award , Rotary Youth in Agriculture SHEEP and other program are being presented over the next couple of months so look for the dates in the Illuminator or on the website calendar and please support these great program that are so beneficial for our kids. Support for these programs is essential so that they can continue to be viable
CLUBS
Presidential citation forms are something that should be dusted off as we come into the final 5 months of our rotary year .See how you are going with your club goals, and I am sure that your members would be delighted to receive this award.
Many club members will be undertaking District and Presidential training over the next few months. Presidents Elect and new club board members attending District Assemblies should be given support from their clubs for the work they will be doing. Good luck to all those becoming involved at club level, especially for the first time, you will really enjoy the ride.
The final six month period will be a full and rewarding time for all clubs, and a time that your club goals will all come together. Check them off and work on your club citation, you will be pleased when you receive your reward.
Greg Moran
Club Invoicing changes
We are aware that there have been, and will continue to be, many changes for clubs to adapt to. One of the largest is the change in the Club Invoicing that comes into effect with the January 2015 invoice.
To assist your clubs through the requirements, our office has prepared a presentation on the New Club Invoice and the changes that will be occurring, together with the inclusion of Rotary Down Under magazine subscription costs on the RI invoice.
The presentation is in the form of PowerPoint with an audio commentary, and can be viewed on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsfCAitGXfQ&feature=youtu.be
If clubs have any questions regarding this process they should contact our office on +61 2 8894 9800 or email to risppo@rotary.org Regards Joy Walker Acting International Office Manager Manager, Club & District Support South Pacific & Philippines Office Direct: +61-2-8894 9820 P.O. Box 1415 Parramatta 2124
Level 2, 60 Phillip Street Parramatta NSW 2150 Australia
ShelterBox Australia update
Current deployments: Gaza, Niger, Iraq, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sierra Leone and Syria. See
details below.
Monitoring:
· There has been flooding in many displacement sites in South Sudan, causing many families to
have to relocate. The team is discussing a potential response with the relevant clusters.
The team has had a request to provide aid in Cameroon to around 45,000 families. Some of these families are refugees from Nigeria, others have been displaced due to conflict within the country. The operations team is currently working through the paperwork and then intends to send an initial 200 tents to Cameroon.
· The operations team has been talking to Plan about the ongoing Ebola crisis. ShelterBox is now looking at the possibility of sending tents to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The intended use for these tents is not currently within ShelterBox’s remit and the legal team is waiting to hear back from the Charity Commission to see if this can be changed to accommodate the request.
· The team has received a request for 400 tents in the northern areas of North Korea to help people affected by flooding and are currently planning to send Flex 3 tents and winterization kits.
· The operations team is monitoring the situation in Sri Lanka, as the country was hit by the same bad weather as Malaysia, but there is no immediate need for aid.
· The team is currently considering a request to provide aid to internally displaced people in Somalia.
Malaysia – flooding
Overview: Extreme monsoon rains have caused severe flooding in the north east of Malaysia and around 200,000 people are reported to have been displaced as a result.
This is ShelterBox’s first deployment in Malaysia, yet within days of the first team’s (Todd and Martin) arrival, they had been welcomed by Najib Razak, Malaysia’s Prime Minister, who has given his full support to ShelterBox.
Current team: Todd Finklestone (US), Martin Strutton (UK), Andrew Clouting (AUS), Jack Bailey (UK), Mike Peachey (NZ), Dave Nichols (USA), Per Dahlstrom (CAN) and Jimmy Griffith (NZ), Sam Hewitt (UK), Andrew Clark (UK), Torstein Nielson (NOR) and Ben Julian (UK)
Team 2 (Andrew Clouting and Jack Bailey) helped to establish a camp of 100 tents in Gua Musang in the north-east of the country.
The majority of the volunteers are now assessing the need for aid in the neighbouring district of Kuala Krai. Todd and Martin will be leaving Malaysia at the weekend.
Gaza – conflict
Overview:
ShelterBox has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development to provide aid to people in Gaza following on-going conflict in the region.
250 boxes have been packed this week and will leave Cornwall on Monday. This batch will serve to test the pipeline before a further 250 boxes are sent.
Niger – flooding Last updated: Today
Overview: Heavy rains and subsequent flooding have affected Niamey, Tillaberri and Dosso regions amongst others.
ShelterBox are working with Plan who originally requested 2,000 ShelterBoxes. So far, 200 have been distributed, with more due to be drip-fed from prepositioned stock in Accra, Ghana.
ShelterBox signed an MOU with Plan and a shipment of 200 ShelterBoxes has been distributed in country. 368 ShelterBoxes have now arrived in Niger and are due to be distributed soon.
Pakistan – flooding
Overview: Areas of southern Punjab have suffered severe flooding throughout the last few months and a request was made to ShelterBox to help people through the winter.
1,000 shelter repair kits and 224 ShelterBoxes are en route by sea to Pakistan to assist flooding survivors.
Philippines – Typhoon Haiyan and Hagupit
Overview: Typhoon Haiyan, the largest storm ever to make landfall, struck the Philippines on 8 November 2013.
After the need for emergency shelter diminished, ShelterBox turned its attention to providing other types of aid to help communities rebuild.
ShelterBox is working in partnership with the international agencies Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development Handicap International, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) on four separate projects to than 8,000 vulnerable people with a safe, durable home.
Toby Ash reported that all of the ongoing ‘build back stronger’ projects have stood up really well against Typhoon Hagupit. now back in the UK.
Plan has now distributed almost 2,000 tarpaulins to families affected by Typhoon Hagupit.
Iraq – conflict
Overview: Conflict in numerous governorates has displaced huge numbers of Iraqi people.
ShelterBox has prepositioned stock in Iraq and is working with ACTED to establish a camp to provide shelter for internally people (IDPs).
There are around 1,900 tents in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which have all now been distributed.
The ShelterBox operations team is making provisions to supplement the existing stock of shelter Iraq with winterisation Sierra Leone – Ebola
Overview: Sierra Leone is one of three West African countries that have an outbreak of Ebola. Around 100 cases of the being reported daily in the country.
60 yellow and black ShelterBoxes have been used to contain foodstuffs on the private ship MV Gypsum Centennial. In SchoolBoxes have also been transported on the vessel, which will be delivered to the Sierra Leonean educational charity The mixture of items will then be distributed to people within areas affected by Ebola.
Syria and bordering countries – crisis
Overview: It’s been more than three and a half years since conflict broke out in Syria. Over 9 million people have been The majority remains within the borders.
ShelterBox has ensured distribution of aid through implementing partners including Hand in Hand for Syria (HIHS). Shelter kits, more tents, mosquito nets, water filters, water carriers, blankets, groundsheets, SchoolBoxes and solar lamps have sent to assist families in the region.
HIHS are continuing to distribute aid throughout the country including to areas in the Aleppo governorate and the Syrian/border.
What is the Rotary Australia Benevolent Society?
RAWCS has established the Rotary Australia Benevolent Society (ABN: 54 563 288 318) to assist Rotary Clubs and Rotary Districts within Australia to respond to needs within their own communities and to gain tax deductibility for donations made to their particular project. RABS is a public benevolent institution (PBI) with full Australian Taxation Office certification.
RABS will be administered on a National basis, fully utilising the RAWCS website to minimise administration costs.
RABS Projects can be registered by Australian Rotary Clubs and Rotary Districts who are of good standing with Rotary International. A Rotary Club can only register one RABS project at a time. An open project must be acquitted by RABS National before a new registration will be accepted. In addition to registrations by Clubs, Rotary Districts can register up to two District projects.
Rotary Clubs and Districts operating RABS projects are acting as agents for RAWCS Ltd.
What are the project criteria?
The ACNC Act requires that all Benevolent Society projects must address one of the following criteria that arouse the compassion of your community:
- Poverty
- Sickness
- Suffering
- Distress
- Misfortune
- Disability
- Destitution
- Helplessness
The main requirement for RABS projects is that they provide direct relief to people in need. If the clients are disadvantaged, the relief should target that disadvantage, i.e. a place to sleep for the homeless, food and money for those in poverty, counselling and support of those in distress.
In past years many Rotary Clubs were approached to assist individuals or groups in their Community who were in circumstances that warranted assistance beyond the capacity of a Rotary Club to assist. RABS allows a Rotary Club to set up a Tax Deductible fund to raise money to assist these situations by offering the opportunity for the public to support these causes through a sanctioned Rotary Project.
Following are examples of some existing successful RABS Projects in Eastern Region:-
To provide funds to allow Marny Cringle an active, self-sufficient young lady who unfortunately lost her leg in the United Kingdom in 1996 to be fitted with an appropriate, safe bionic leg
· To raise $40,000 to assist with the cost of a liver transplant for 14 months old Cooper Terrell who suffers from a rare genetic disorder known as cps1 – a urea cycle disorder.
· To raise funds for Dean Walsh who was seriously injured in a car accident and requires a special vehicle to get him to physiotherapy & medical attention to complete his rehabilitation.
· To provide financial assistance to individuals and families who have lost their homes in the October 2013 Bushfires.
· To provide essential oxygen facilities for Natalie Peek so that she will be able to come home from hospital after 44 months in hospital care.
· To provide travel expenses & funding for two family members to the Democratic Republic of Congo on compassionate grounds to attend to recovery of the body & burial of Abishay Djumapili.
If there is a need for this type of assistance in your Club’s area, Contact Alan Chesworth at alchessie151@bigpond.com for assistance with an application.