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Could you identify if someone is having a stroke? Think F.A.S.T.  Courtesy of the National Stroke Foundation

On 12 April 1955, scientists declared Jonas Salk's polio vaccine safe, effective, and potent. In honour of the anniversary of that historic announcement, RI General Secretary John Hewko delivered a speech at the World Vaccine Congress in Washington, D.C., noting Rotary's leadership role in polio eradication.

Click here for the link to his insightful presentation.

A great initiative for people who would like to join Rotary, but their lifestyle makes it difficult for them to join a traditional Rotary club.

WHy not give it a go? Details can be found on the Club’s website www.rotaryeclubgreatermelbourne.org.au

By Mary Kathryn DeLodder, a member of the Rotaract Club of Greater Louisville, Kentucky, USA, for World Rotaract Week 12-18

Rotary Blog

While it is not unheard of for Rotary clubs to have members under the age of 30, many young people in their 20s may not quite be ready for membership in a Rotary club, whether due to work schedule, finances, or other family obligations.

This is where Rotaract offers the perfect bridge into Rotary. Rotaract provides college students and young professionals with a way to connect to Rotary while conforming to their needs and circumstances. 

The issues are myriad: a scarcity of schools and learning materials, insufficient government spending on education, and cultural stigmas that limit education for women and girls, to name a few. And the problem goes far beyond the inability to decipher words on a page. In an increasingly complex world, poor reading comprehension condemns adults to the lowest rungs of society.

PP John Shearer has passed on a media press release from Save the Children that highlights the problems of adequate food supplies in Timor Leste.

It is something we know about but the extent of the problem is somewhat disturbing. Our Club’s efforts through East Timor Roofing and the Water for the Hungry Months projects with food silos and clean water are one way that Rotary is  doing something constructive in that country.

 Click here to read the article.

I was about to turn 40 when I joined Rotary. The timing was perfect. I’dwandered into a profession, computer software development, where I wasdisconnected from any community.

I was developing a somewhat complex database program for betting on horseraces, based on 70 variables for each horse that enabled me and my colleaguesto determine its true odds of winning in any race, once we entered all the dataand did our modeling.

My interaction was entirely with a computer screen. We didn’t havecustomers or clients, so I had little opportunity to connect with other humans.And I was living in Hong Kong, a long way from Pittsburgh, my home. Our goalwas to handicap every Hong Kong racehorse based on past performance, trackconditions, and so forth, and place strategic bets based on the results. It wasa huge amount of work – but profitable and perfectly legal.

Rotary International has succeeded in meeting the Bill& Melinda Gates Foundation’s US$200 million match in funding for polioeradication, raising more than $202.6 million as of 17 January.

“We’ll celebrate thismilestone, but it doesn’t mean that we’ll stop raising money or spreading theword about polio eradication,” Rotary Foundation Trustee John F. Germ toldRotary leaders at the International Assembly in San Diego, California, USA. “Wecan’t stop until our entire world is certified as polio-free.” 

The fundraisingmilestone was reached in response to $355 million in challenge grants awardedto The Rotary Foundation by the Gates Foundation. All funds have been earmarkedto support polio immunization activities in affected countries where thevaccine-preventable disease continues to paralyse children. 

“In recognition of Rotary’s great work, and toinspire Rotarians in the future, the [Gates] foundation is committing anadditional $50 million to extend our partnership,” said Jeff Raikes,chief executive officer of the Gates Foundation. “Rotary started the globalfight against polio, and continues to set the tone for private fundraising,grassroots engagement, and maintaining polio at the top of the agenda with keypolicymakers.” Raikes also addressed Rotary leaders at the InternationalAssembly.

Rotary Club members worldwide are cautiously celebrating a major milestone in the global effort to eradicate polio. India, until recently an epicentre of the wild poliovirus, has gone one year without recording a new case of the crippling, sometimes fatal, disease.

When Rotary launched PolioPlus in 1985, the “plus” signalled the belief that the polio eradication effort would increase immunizations against five other diseases prevalent in children: measles, tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus. As time went on, the list of benefits grew.

Polio immunization campaigns created an avenue for other lifesaving health interventions, such as the distribution of vitamin A supplements. New equipment for transporting and storing vaccines made it easier to combat infectious diseases in developing areas.

The enormous network of laboratories and health clinics charged with identifying new cases of polio began to monitor the spread of other viruses as well. And the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which Rotary helped create, rose to international prominence as a model for public-private partnerships to address world health issues.

The “plus” in PolioPlus means that Rotarians are doing more than stopping the spread of polio in the last four countries in which it is endemic; they also are building a legacy of infrastructure and partnerships that will support the fight against infectious disease long after polio is gone.

Rotary clubs will be helping train engineers and scientists to solveproblems in water and sanitation, particularly in developing countries, througha new strategic partnership between The Rotary Foundation and UNESCO-IHEInstitute for Water Education. 

Through the partnership, the Foundation will offer packaged grants thatRotary clubs may use to select and sponsor scholarships for professionals inthe water sector. Up to eight students a year may be chosen for any of threemaster of science programs at the institute in Delft, the Netherlands.

More than 1,000 Rotarians, UN officials, Rotary youth program participants, and guests celebrated the special relationship between Rotary and the United Nations on 5 November. 

Rotary-UN Day, held annually at United Nations headquarters in New York City, included panels on health, water, and literacy, highlighting Rotarian projects that advance the goals of the UN and improve lives around the world.  

Kiyo Akasaka, UN undersecretary-general for communications and public information, commended Rotary for its ongoing collaboration with the United Nations to improve the health of children worldwide, and for its contribution to polio eradication.   

"Our shared vision for a safer and better world is what brings us together here today," Akasaka said. "It's your model of Service Above Self and your sterling results in improving health that makes Rotary one of the most important partners of the UN."

After the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth, the governments of Australia, Canada, and Nigeria, along with the Gates Foundation, made a combined pledge of more than US$100 million in new funds for polio eradication.

Standing with Canadian Rotarian and polio survivor Ramesh Ferris (centre) are Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Photo by Petina Dixon-Jenkins 

The Rotary Club of Doncaster, RYLA and Rotaract leaders, and staff from Manningham City Council, joined forces to put on the second annual Manningham Youth Sustainability Forum on Friday 28 October.  And what a hit it was!  “That was just awesome!” said two year 6 boys as the left the Forum.  These boys and another 80 students from 10 Manningham primary and secondary schools had assembled at the Manningham Function Centre for a free, full-day of exciting activities about living sustainably

Photo: Ella Vander Sluys and Caitlin Blair of Our Lady of the Pines Primary School with the prize winning model of a School Green Learning Centre 2020. 

On World Polio Day, 24 October, Rotarians around the globe showed their support for ending the disease, which still strikes young children in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

For more than two decades, eradicating polio has been Rotary's No. 1 priority. Through the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Rotary has come "this close" to its goal. The number of polio cases worldwide has dropped 99 percent since 1985, and the virus remains endemic in only four countries -- Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

India has reported only one case of the virus this year, as of 12 October, compared to 39 cases during the same period in 2010.

But much work remains. The final 1 percent of cases presents the most difficult and expensive challenge. Failure would open the door to a resurgence of the disease that would put millions of children at risk of lifelong paralysis. Eradicating polio would free up billions of dollars to address other world problems. ”

Rotary International News – 29 October 2011

Interesting article in a Melbourne Newspaper

Information on pledges made at the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth from Australia and Canada 

We are very proud to confirm that Hannah Miller, a Year 11 student at Doncaster Secondary College, has been selected to attend this presigious event with another 143 students from around the country.

For more information, go to: http://www.nysf.edu.au/

Rotary International has played a major role in helping the Global Polio Eradication Initiative make continued progress and overcome obstacles in the drive to rid the world of the disease.

Since October 2010, Rotary has provided almost US$40 million for polio surveillance, immunization campaigns, and technical assistance in several countries. In India, only one case of polio has been reported since January of this year. 

The Rotary Peace Centreprogram provided Alejandra Rueda Zarate, of Bogota, Colombia, with skills thatshe’s now using to help poor villagers in her nation’s countryside.

"Thanks to theprogram, I complemented my years of work experience with internationalknowledge and learning, allowing me to start my own initiative on ruraldevelopment and poverty alleviation," says Zarate, a 2010 graduate of theRotary Peace Centre at the University of California, Berkeley, who had workedin the agricultural industry before her fellowship. "The strategicplatform brings capacity building to peasants in the countryside, and has hadsignificant results for conflict alleviation in Colombia."

Our  thoughts are with those who were, or are still being, impacted by the events of11 September 2001. Our lives changed forever and we must never forget the priceof freedom and those who serve to protect us. 

There so many courageous and heart-warming stories, with one relating toa fellow Rotarian who was the RC of New York’s first female president.

   Click  here for the story as reported in The Rotarian.

In response to the humanitarian crisis in parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, The Rotary Foundation has established the Rotary Horn of Africa Famine and Refugee Relief Fund, which will support recovery projects in the affected areas.

The worst drought in 60 years has gripped the Horn of Africa, leading to acute famine in parts of Somalia, where hundreds of thousands of people are now fleeing to Ethiopia and Kenya for aid. More than 10 million people are affected in the drought-stricken countries, including 3.7 million who are at risk of starvation.

When Rotarians in Walnut Creek, California, USA, found it difficult to attract young professionals to the area's morning and afternoon clubs, they set out to establish a new club that would accommodate busy, on-the-go schedules. 

The Rotary Club of Diablo View (Walnut Creek), chartered in 2009, meets in a local brewery at 5:30 p.m. every Thursday. Club president Jennifer Beeman says the club sets aside time each week for socializing before turning to club business, and that the relaxed atmosphere appeals to younger members.  

Rotarians are in the forefront of the drive to implement Pakistan’sNational Emergency Action Plan for Polio Eradication 2011. The governmentlaunched the plan in January, in response to a sharp increase in polio cases inthe country in 2010.  

Turning the tide against the disease in Pakistan is pivotal to the successof the Global Polio Eradication Initiative . Pakistan was the only one of theworld’s four polio-endemic countries -- the others are Afghanistan, India, andNigeria -- to see an increase in cases last year: 144 compared with 89 in2009.  

From developing a music program for at-risk children to generatingemployment opportunities for women in India, former Rotary Peace Fellows andRotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholars are promoting economic development inregions that need it most.

Yashar Keramati, a 2009-10 Ambassadorial Scholar from Canada, recentlyreturned to Fisantekraal, South Africa, to launch his Peace & LoveInternational initiative. “If it were not for the Foundation, I would not beable to have come here to do what I have been doing,” he says.

Melbourne club partners with homeless agency to provide shelter for city’spoor

More than 65 people in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, have a roof overtheir heads after moving into the newly built Elizabeth Street Common Ground, afacility that provides affordable apartments, mental health services,employment assistance, and medical referrals to the homeless.

Time to ramp up the fight against polio

By Dan Nixon

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has made significant progress since the launch of its new strategic plan and the bivalent oral polio vaccine last year. In India and Nigeria, the sources of all recent wild poliovirus importations into previously polio-free countries, the disease declined by 95% between 2009 and 2010.  

 Yes, our very own Margory was awarded the Medal (OAM) of The Order of Australia in the General Division in the Queen;s Birthday Honours announced today.

Congratulations Margory. We are so proud of you and your achievements and are fortunate to have you as a member of our Club. The community is a far better place through your tireless efforts!

Further to the recent presentation on Rotarians Against Malaria, here's an interesting article about malaria in the UK.

CLICK HERE

By Arnold Grahl and Ryan Hyland

Villages in four regions of Ghana are being equipped with ventilated pit latrines, showers, and boreholes featuring hand pumps and mechanized pipes through the efforts of dozens of Rotary clubs in Latin America, North America, and Ghana.

The effort is part of the International H2O Collaboration, an alliance between Rotary International and USAID. Launched in 2009, it works to implement long-term, sustainable water, sanitation, and hygiene projects in the developing world. The first phase of the partnership has focused on three countries: Ghana, the Philippines, and the Dominican Republic.

Education was the first area that The Rotary Foundation was active in, long before humanitarian programs were added at the end of the ’60s and in the ’70s. Education is vital to be successful in life, and Rotary can help.

Future Vision offers tremendous freedom as far as scholarships are concerned. I would argue that Future Vision improves upon the current scholarships program significantly. Future Vision allows scholars to be funded either locally or abroad at any level, for any length of time, either for a degree or certificate program, or simply for a period of study.

New Zealand Rotarians responding to Christchurch earthquake

 By Joseph Derr

Rotarians in New Zealand are doing what they can to assist victims of the devastating earthquake 22 February in Christchurch, where more than 100 people have been killed and at least 200 are still missing.

As efforts move from search-and-rescue to recovery, responses from Rotarians offering assistance have been pouring in. Authorities are requesting that donations in kind or noncash items not be sent to Christchurch, as the government, local agencies, and NGOs have sufficient emergency and second phase supplies for the ongoing needs of the community.

Rotary New Zealand World Community Service, a group of Rotarians dedicated to international service projects in New Zealand and the South Pacific, has set up an earthquake appeal fund. 

[Click link http://rotarynews.info/3/District/9680/4979]

Pakistan launches emergency action plan against Polio

By Dan Nixon

A Responding to a sharp increase in the number of polio cases in Pakistan in 2010, the government has launched the National Emergency Action Plan for Polio Eradication 2011. Developed by national and international health experts at the request of President Asif Ali Zardari, the plan’s two main goals are to stop polio outbreaks by mid-2011 and halt transmission of the disease by yearend.

Pakistan was the only one of the world’s four polio-endemic countries to see an increase in polio cases last year -- 142 compared with 89 in 2009. And Pakistan’s total accounted for more than 60 percent of all cases among the four, which also include Afghanistan, India, and Nigeria.

BUILDING COMMUNITIES .....

An elderly woman is helped through the flooded streets of India. Photo courtesy of District 3150

Benefits of polio eradication up to US$50 billion.

By Dan Nixon 

A new study estimates that the Global Polio Eradication Initiative could prevent more than eight million cases of paralytic polio and save US$40 billion to $50 billion, if the wild poliovirus is eradicated in 2012 or shortly thereafter.

Rotary responds to polio outbreak in Congo Republic.

By Dan Nixon

Rotary International and its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative -- the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- are responding to a recent outbreak of wild poliovirus in the Republic of the Congo. Rotary is providing a total of US$500,000 in emergency grants to WHO and UNICEF for immediate polio immunization efforts throughout the country.

A child receives oral polio vaccine during a National Immunization Day in Nigeria. The perseverance that has reduced the incidence of polio in Nigeria by 97 percent is also being applied to the current outbreak in the Congo Republic. Photo courtesy of WHO

Rotarians in Pakistan boost polio eradication, flood relief.

By Antoinette Tuscano 

Polio eradication workers and resources have been mobilized to support flood-relief efforts for millions of displaced people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, Pakistan, many of whom are living in camps with poor sanitation.

SPIRIT OF SHARING

PROJECT "WATER FOR HUNGRY MONTHS"

John Shearer recently gave an update on an East Timor water project being jointly sponsored by the RC of Doncaster and RC of Lilydale.

Here's an extract of some detail provide by John .. stay tuned as this great project gains momentum.

PROJECT NAME AND RATIONALE :

"Water for Hungry Months" is a new and exciting humanitarian project to compliment the efforts of other Rotary projects in East Timor.

The commencement of this project has been made possible by the existence of East Timor Roofing Company [ETR] and the funds raised through its commercial operations.

Uniting to 'Kick Polio Out of Africa'

By Dan Nixon 

In the months leading up to the FIFA World Cup in June, Rotary clubs across Africa have been gearing up for the final push to kick polio out of the continent.

On 23 February, Rotary's 105th anniversary, a Kick Polio Out of Africa campaign launched with the symbolic kicking of a soccer ball signed by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, a polio survivor.

…… in the Community on Radio 96.5 FM

Some members may not be aware of the talents of our very own Jack Tanner who regularly hosts a "Rotary Hour" session on 96.5 FM . [Tuesday 4pm to 5pm]

On 15th December, Jack introduced some remarkable guests as part of the weekly Rotary segment. The guests were Phathiswa (Patiswa) Mangangane (Mungangane) from Springs, Johannesburg and Paula Volpe, representing Rotary.

Police / Islamic Multicultural Community Family Day

October 11

Our intrepid two shift BBQ teams at work ……..