A Season to Share & Care

 

Rotary can be defined as an organisation of people, a social unit, living together. The Rotary family is not what it used to be. It’s not breaking up…its building stronger and closer through the use of technology. We should all consider ourselves as a part of this big family. It encompasses our Rotarian’s family members, spouses, widows and widowers, children, grandchildren and other relatives.

In pursuing the first Object of Rotary, we seek “to encourage and foster the development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service.”  Friendship and fellowship was the foundation, the bedrock on which Rotary service was built.

As individuals we often create our own family – a group of people who have become important in our lives. The family of choice may include members of our family of origin but will also include friends, neighbours or significant work colleagues. If a problem starts to affect an individual in the family then everyone in that family is affected too. This is why a Rotary Club that has not built a strong family of Rotary amongst its members, breaks up and is unable to confront even a small challenge. We need to learn from the past by increasing the support to family ties amongst our members. This will certainly lead to increased happiness in the Club. Programmes and service that meet the basic needs and support family values should be introduced. Career guidance programmes to meet children’s’ needs will promote goodwill and strengthen the bonds of friendship amongst the Rotarians.

If everyone in a family starts thinking “My Rotary is My Family” then Rotary will grow and be a model for other to follow for Rotary’s success depends on the support of every Rotarian and everyone in the Family of Rotary. During the month of December, Rotary celebrates Family Month. Throughout this time, Rotarians, Interactors, Rotaractors, and RYLA participants are encouraged to celebrate Rotary's commitment to family. 

Use this time to build the connection between your family and the family of Rotary. Consider bringing along members of your family when you participate in the shared activities of Rotary's youth and young adult programs. Or organise a service project aimed at strengthening families in your community.

Membership within our Zone has been a mixed bag of success. Overall we have increased our membership by 60 from 1 July 2013. On the African continent membership is on the increase especially in Central Africa and Nigeria. The North African countries, Tunisia and Egypt are experiencing a loss of members. Over the past three years membership in Central Africa has trebled and doubled in some of the countries. What is their success attributed to? Having spoken to some senior leaders in the region, it is not different to what we are doing.

We provide the fun and fellowship and an opportunity to serve. We make our meetings attractive with a range of interesting speakers who do talks on health, professions, community, current affairs, zumba dance, golf fellowships,  picnics and so on. Do we invite our friends and spouses to join? Are they a part of the Rotary family? Do we try and match expectations of the prospective member with those of the Club and vice versa? Are we creating a balance in diversity? These are some of the things we should look at and work on because we do have a great opportunity of increasing our membership within the Zone. Let’s break away from the thoughts of putting people into boxes. Let us think outside of these boxes.

I want to take this opportunity of responding to the numerous emails that have been received by the RI 2019 Convention Bid Committee after the appalling decision taken by the RI Board at the November meeting ‘not to look with favour on Durban as the venue for the 2019 International Convention”. This small committee has worked hard and effectively for just over three years with our partners for this bid and despite meeting most of the requirements did not win the favour of the RI Board. Rotary leaders at Evanston have for many years being voicing their concerns on membership growth in Africa and especially Southern Africa and the opportunity for creating greater awareness of our organisation within our communities and the possibility of major funding from the more traditional “giving” countries has gone begging. It is not only talk that will address our need for growth within the Rotary circles but a leap of faith is also required that we in Southern Africa can and will deliver a world class event that would make Rotary proud of their decision to let us host the event. But alas it is not to be and I want to, on your behalf, express our heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to PDG Nick Phillips and the team for their tremendous perseverance, diligence and fortitude in attempting to bring the RI Convention to Durban. All is not lost for one day…one day.

Finally, the end of a calendar year is a time for celebration in any tradition. Vasanthee and I would like to take this opportunity in sending our Season Greetings to all Rotarians, Anns, Spouses, our Youth groups, Alumni and their respective families. It is the time of the year to put your feet up, relax and take stock of our achievements and to learn lessons from our challenges. It is that time of the year to renew our spirits and move into the New Year with more vigor and greater passion to serve our fellow men and grow our organisation. Travel safe, have fun and take care for ROTARY needs you.

Natty Moodley

Rotary Africa

December 2013

Rotary Honours Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

 

LONDON, UK (December 16, 2013) — Rotary International recognized Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II on Monday,16 December with the Rotary International Award of Honor to celebrate the 60th anniversary of her Coronation. Her Majesty The Queen, who has graciously accepted this prestigious honor, has supported Rotary's polio eradication and humanitarian programs.

 

The award was presented on behalf of Rotary International at Buckingham Palace, London. Since 1990, the President of Rotary International has granted the Rotary International Award of Honor to deserving individuals. Past recipients of the Rotary International Award of Honor include the late Nelson Mandela, State President, Republic of South Africa; His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI; UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan and the late King Hussein of Jordan.

 

Her Majesty The Queen, who celebrated the 60th anniversary of her Coronation this year, sent her good wishes for the year ahead to all Rotary Club Members in the United Kingdom and throughout the Commonwealth and applauds Rotary for its polio eradication program and advocacy efforts: “I am pleased that Commonwealth governments are playing their part in tackling disease and improving health for all. Polio, for example, used to cast its shadow across many countries. Today, thanks to concerted international action, just a handful still need to eliminate polio.”

 

When Rotary launched its PolioPlus program in 1985, polio struck more than 1,000 children around the world every day. Although the disease is at its lowest levels ever—just 223 reported cases in 2012—polio has never been stopped in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

 

Rotary made polio eradication its top philanthropic goal in 1985. As the volunteer arm of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), Rotary has contributed more than US$1.2 billion and countless hours of volunteer service to ending polio. This includes nearly ₤20 million contributed by the more than 53,000 members of Rotary clubs in the United Kingdom. To date, more than two billion children have been immunized against the paralyzing and sometimes deadly poliovirus.

 

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative includes the World Health Organization, Rotary International, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Lifecycle of a Service Project (Part 3): Acquiring Resources

Rotary International is presenting the third webinar in this five-part series about designing and implementing sustainable service projects. The series highlights strategies, best practices, and the Rotary resources available to help clubs and districts undertake successful, sustainable service initiatives, using real-life examples from Rotarians.   In part 3, you will:  Learn how to find partners -- other clubs and organizations -- with which to collaborate in order to increase the impact of your project Find out how to secure funding, volunteers, and needed resources for your service project  Become familiar with Rotary resources that can help make your service project a success Space is limited to 500 attendees, so register today! Note that all times are Chicago time (UTC-6). Convert to your local time. To register, click on the links below:                        English: Tuesday, 28 January, 10:00-11:00                             English: Tuesday, 28 January, 18:00-19:00

 

President Burton on the death of Nelson Mandela

Rotary members worldwide are deeply saddened to learn of the death of Nelson Mandela, a man who overcame unimaginable hardships to emerge as one of the greatest leaders of our time -- and one of our greatest humanitarians.

 

Mr. Mandela shared Rotary’s commitment to humanitarian service and world peace, and twice as President of South Africa accepted Rotary recognition for his commitment to helping those in need, especially the children of southern Africa. In 1995, President Mandela received the Rotary International Award of Honor. Two years later, he accepted Rotary’s highest award, the Rotary Award for World Understanding. In true fashion, he donated the $100,000 grant accompanying the award to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.

 

Rotary is especially grateful for his strong support of the global effort to eradicate the crippling disease polio, our organizaton’s highest priority. Mr. Mandela himself helped administer oral polio vaccine to the children of South Africa, which has been declared polio-free.

 

Our deepest condolences go to Mr. Mandela’s family, to his millions of admirers worldwide, and especially to the People of South Africa, including the country’s Rotary members, who knew him as a friend and staunch supporter of humanitarian service.

 

Despite this great loss, Mr. Mandela’s legacy of courage, determination, and commitment will forever inspire us to move forward in our effort to achieve a better, more peaceful world.

 

Ron D. Burton

President, Rotary International

Are you a Butterfly ?

During my year as a Governor, my Club visit speech was based on the “Butterfly Effect”. In chaos theory, the Butterfly Effect is the sensitive dependency on initial conditions in which a small change at one place can result in large differences in a later state. In Rotary parlance, a tiny act on the part of one person can have the effect of touching so many people’s lives across the globe.

How then does this relate to Rotary? Think about where we started. Each one of our acts makes an impact. What we do, when we do it, and how we do it, lives on forever. When Paul Harris met in 1905 with his three business friends would he have ever dreamt what Rotary would be today? He did something that made an impact across the world. That was the butterfly effect on Rotary.

 

The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International is celebrated during November of each year and the achievements of our Foundation cannot be ignored.  It has taken the tiny act (an idea or thought) of one person plus the tremendous support of the Family of Rotary and our generous sponsors that has led to numerous major achievements which have changed the lives of millions of people.

 

Somebody in the Philippines had an idea that we needed to stop the scourge of Polio in our country and one idea started an accumulation of ideas. It was September 1979Rotarians and delegates of the Philippine Ministry of Health looked on as volunteers administered drops of the lifesaving Sabin polio vaccine to about 100 children in Manila. In that same month then RI President James L. Bomar Jr. put the first drops of vaccine into a child's mouth, ceremonially launching the Philippine poliomyelitis immunisation effort and Rotary's first Health, Hunger and Humanity (3-H) Grant project was underway. In that same month Bomar signed the contract committing Rotary International and the government of the Philippines to the joint five-year effort to immunise about six million children against polio in a US$760,000 immunisation drive.The success of the project ultimately led to the creation of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative with Rotary as a spearheading partner. It also set the stage for Rotary's signature campaign to rid the world of polio.

 

We have just three countries that are affected by Polio with less than 500 reported cases last year. We are almost there because somebody had a dream and the butterfly effect of one person’s dream. Sadly though a few more countries in Africa have had the reoccurrence of the Polio virus and we need to keep at eradication to ensure that we keep our promise to the children of the world.

 

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Challenge is a wonderful example of the butterfly effect. In January 2009 I had the privilege of meeting Bill Gates Jnr when he met the incoming Governors in San Diego at the RI Assembly. It was here he said and I quote…“Rotary is incredible in what you do around the world in your 34000 plus clubs that I want to give you $255 million, so that you can eradicate and finish the job of Polio.” He also challenged us to raise money for Polio and a target was set and in true Rotary spirit this target was met 6 months before the due date. The Gates Foundation continues to engage with TRF and further donations and challenges have been made.  Rotarians and business leaders around the world have risen to meet the challenge.

 

The polio virus has been eradicated in most of the world, but Pakistan is one of the few countries where it is still a problem. Programmes to vaccinate children have been hampered by suspicions about the purpose of the vaccinations, religious concerns about the vaccines, violence from extremists, and critics who say Pakistan has more pressing problems to deal with.

 

Now let’s think of the Rotary Peace Centers which were set up by the Rotary Foundation. You and I have made this a reality through our contributions to the Rotary Foundation. Somebody had an idea and said that tour mission is world understanding and peace. We’ve got to get out there and do other things that really aim at our mission. So we set up the Rotary Peace Centers and started the Rotary Peace Fellow Programme.

 

Imagine 20 years from now or 30 years from now when so many of these young people are going to be in critical positions and we are going to read about their success stories in the Rotarian magazine or across the global newspapers. We are going to read about this past scholar who was funded by the Rotary Foundation bringing peace to the Middle East because of what we started today.  When we read that article perhaps with our grandchildren on our laps, we will be proud to have been Rotarians because we made it happen by supporting the programme. You created the butterfly effect. You started something small, you started with an idea that grew so much that it helps and changes mankind. That’s the butterfly effect. We do it every day. During the past week I was sent an email by the Rotary Foundation indicating it’s progress to creating the Endowment Fund for the Peace Programme. The goal of $105m is within reach, thanks to the generosity of individuals and corporates who have contributed in excess of $93m as at 11 October 2013.

 

There are many times in our life when we may feel as small as a butterfly, and when we think that the things we can do, has little effect as the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings.  We think that in our own little space allotted to us, in the small roles given us to play, that we make almost no difference in the lives of those around us.Little however do we know… that what we do… may truly result into a big difference later on, creating waves of change that wouldn’t have happened had we not taken the initiative to do our part.

So let us remember the Butterfly Effect for who knows when our little deeds may just yield a tornado of blessings to countless others around us, even to those whom we haven’t met or will never meet.

Are you a Butterfly? Share your experiences with me and I will select a few for forthcoming articles. Send me your stories to rotary@nattymoodley.co.za.

 

Natty Moodley

November 2013