Wednesday 29 July 2015


 
 
RI President K.R. Ravindran encourages us to use our gifts — talents, knowledge, abilities, and efforts to make a significant impact through fellowship and service activities. Through vocational service, we champion high ethical standards in the workplace, use our professional expertise to serve others, and improve local and international communities. Here are just a few ideas for activities your clubs can undertake:
  • Host a business networking event with non-Rotarian professionals in your community.
  • Offer career counseling for unemployed or underemployed adults.
  • Mentor youth with career guidance.
  • Recognise local businesses for high ethical standards.
  • Apply your professional skills to a project.
Review the humanitarian service goals to learn how your vocational service projects can help your club qualify for the 2015-16 Presidential Citation.
 
Resources & reference
An Introduction to Vocational Service Get information, resources, and project ideas related to vocational service.

Rotary Ideas Search Rotary's online database of club and district service projects in need of assistance.

Rotary Code of Conduct A set of ethical guidelines for Rotarians.

The Four-Way Test An ethical guide to use for personal and professional relationships.

Friday 24 July 2015


Nigeria on the brink of becoming polio-free


Nigeria has gone almost one year — longer than ever before — without a case of wild poliovirus. The last case was reported on 24 July 2014 in Kano state. Once the gateway to polio in Africa, Nigeria is paving the way to eradicating the disease on the continent.

But reaching the milestone is only one step on the final road to ending polio and it is too soon to celebrate victory. Until polio is eliminated everywhere, it can return to Nigeria and the rest of Africa. Less than a decade ago, in 2006, polio paralyzed 1,000 people in Nigeria.


For the African region to be certified polio-free, including Nigeria, there must be no polio cases for two more years. To do this, all children in Nigeria and throughout Africa — including those in hard-to-reach and underserved areas — must continue to be protected against the disease. 

“The ultimate goal is to ensure that the routine immunization infrastructure is established to increase and sustain the level of herd immunity” [protection for people who are not immune that occurs when a large percentage of the population has been vaccinated], says Tunji Funsho, chair of the Nigeria PolioPlus Committee. This will enable children to “continue to be immunized on schedule and protected from the virus even after the cessation of IPDs [Immunization Plus Days].” 

Once all surveillance data is processed, Nigeria will be poised to be taken off the list of polio-endemic countries by the World Health Organization (WHO) in September. That achievement would leave only two polio-endemic countries: Pakistan and Afghanistan. In 2014, Pakistan accounted for 85 percent of the world’s polio cases. As of 17 June, polio cases in Pakistan had decreased by nearly 70 percent.

“With Rotary, we made tremendous progress last year,” said Hamid Jafari, WHO’s Director for Global Polio Eradication and Research, speaking to attendees at the Rotary International Convention in São Paulo, Brazil, in June. “We must keep going to end polio. If the world’s commitment to polio eradication remains strong, we will soon see a polio-free world.”

http://highroadsolution.com/clients/ri/giving-grants/images/button-left.jpg
http://highroadsolution.com/clients/ri/giving-grants/images/button-right.jpg

 
Your donation will assist us in reaching a Polio Free World

Thursday 23 July 2015


GETS & ROTARY INSTITUTE – MOMBASA, KENYA

 
I am very pleased to advise you that GETS and the Rotary Institute of Zone 20A is being held in Mombasa, Kenya from 14th to 19th September 2015.
Please note that SA citizens do not require a visa if their stay is for 30 days or less. Where their stay will be longer than 30 days then a visa is required. Should you require a visa then kindly click on the link below to do the application.
 
Mombasa is the second-largest city in Kenya, with an estimated population of 1.3 million. A regional cultural and economic hub, Mombasa has a large port and an international airport, and is an important regional tourism centre. Located on the east coast of Kenya, in Mombasa County and the former Coast Province, Mombasa's bordering the Indian Ocean made it a historical trading centre and it has been controlled by many countries because of its strategic location



 
 
Weather:        Average 25 degrees C
Local time  Mombasa is 1 hour ahead of SA time
Currency:     Kenyan Shilling (approx 100KES to 1 US$)

Wednesday 22 July 2015

         

            Free toys brighten children’s lives

Children receive their toys in Badami Bagh, Lahore, Pakistan.
Children receive their toys in Badami Bagh, Lahore, Pakistan.
A girl clutched the new purse she had just received during the annual toy giveaway in the community of Badami Bagh, Lahore, Pakistan.
Another child examined the coloring books and colored pencils with interest, while a crowd of other children and their parents surrounded a table in the market square, waiting their turn to select a free toy.
On 11 July, about a dozen members of the Rotary Club of Lahore Sharqi (East), Punjab, Pakistan, took part in the club’s annual event that distributes toys to the needy children in the community. Longtime club member Asim Qadri started the tradition more than two decades ago.
Each year, club members spend several months collecting toys from businesses, soliciting donations, and raising money to purchase new toys. The looks on the faces of the children when they receive their toys makes all the effort worth it, notes Amir Sultan Rana, who served as the project’s publicity chair this year.

This project is just one of many that Rotary members have posted on Rotary Showcase.