[D9640general] [eFlash_Rotary] Digest Number 761

[Garry Krischock]

 Messages In This Digest (2 Messages) 
  1.  1448: International Assembly prepares DGEs From: Sunil K Zachariah 

  2. 1449: Understanding will make difference in ending world poverty From: Sunil K Zachariah 
Messages 
  1. 1448: International Assembly prepares DGEs 
Sat Jan 19, 2008 4:53 pm (PST) 
International Assembly prepares incoming district leaders for 
challenges

By Ryan Hyland 

As the 2008 International Assembly in San Diego, California, USA, 
drew to a close, 532 district governors-elect learned at this 
weeklong training event what challenges they may face in the 2008-09 
Rotary year and how to meet those challenges, which includes keeping 
a promise to eradicate polio and becoming catalysts for RI President-
elect Dong Kurn Lee's emphasis on reducing the child mortality rate. 

To accomplish his focus on reducing preventable deaths of children, 
Lee told the incoming governors that Rotary will keep the service 
emphases of recent years -- water, health and hunger, and literacy. 
To go along with his presidential emphases, Lee announced the 2008-09 
RI theme of Make Dreams Real.

"We will give children hope and a chance at a future," said Lee. "We 
will bring clean water to their communities and create sanitation 
projects that keep children health."

Many governors-elect were inspired by Lee's vision. "I've been 
floating on air since the theme was announced," said District 7470 
Governor-elect Janice Teetsell from New Jersey, USA. "I'm thrilled 
that we're talking about children. People outside Rotary can identify 
with this, giving us a great opportunity to help children in our 
communities, as well as around the world."

Furthermore, Foundation Trustee Chair Robert S. Scott outlined 
Rotary's US$100 Million Challenge, a three-year fundraising 
commitment to eradicate polio. It's the Foundation's response to a 
$100 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, awarded 
in November. 

"Rotary promised the children of the world that we would eradicate 
polio," said Scott. "We must not forget our promise."

The challenge is the motivation Rotary needs to end polio, said 
Ogugua Nwankwu, governor-elect from Distrtict 9140 (Nigeria). "We can 
finally put polio into the history books."

District 1980 District Governor Urs Herzog believes that "by 
eradicating polio, we truly will Make Dreams Real for children." 

Assembly attendees also heard Foundation Trustee Chair-elect Jonathan 
Majiyagbe discuss the 2008-09 Foundation goals. These include 
supporting Your Foundation/Our Foundation, which asks large club and 
district foundations to share funds to help provide secure funding 
for the Rotary Centers for International Studies in peace and 
conflict resolution and support polio eradication. 

Past RI leaders share keys to success
"Membership in your district will not grow or blossom unless some 
very necessary steps are taken," said Past RI President Cliff 
Dochterman during a plenary session on Wednesday. He stressed the 
need for incoming governors to make membership growth a focal point 
in the upcoming year. "Rotary's very survival depends upon it." 

Past RI President William B. Boyd asked governors-elect to use the 
tools RI provides, such as PR grants and the Humanity in Motion 
material. "We have a wonderful story to tell, so let us make sure 
that we do."

Other topics featured during the International Assembly included 
proper stewardship, the Foundation's Future Vision Plan, and 
vocational service.

Near the assembly's close, district governors-elect and their spouses 
showcased Rotary's true international flavor at International 
Festival Talent Night. Rotarians took the stage in colorful native 
attire to dance, sing, and entertain the crowd. 

For the upcoming class of district leaders, the challenges are lofty 
and expectations high. But the training they received at the assembly 
will prepare them to help Make Dreams Real for all children. In turn, 
their success will pave the way for Rotary to leave an indelible 
footprint on helping to make the world a better place. 

Source: Rotary International News
Courtesy: eFlash_Rotary


 2.  1449: Understanding will make difference in ending world poverty 
Sat Jan 19, 2008 5:08 pm (PST) 
Understanding will make difference in ending world poverty
By Ryan Hyland 

A basic understanding of poverty is the inspiration Rotarians need to 
eradicate it, keynote speaker Deepa Willingham said during the second 
spouses plenary session at the International Assembly. 

Willingham, a member of the Rotary Club of Santa Ynez Valley, 
California, USA, told the audience that 1.3 billion people around the 
world live on less than US$1 a day and that 10 million children die 
each year before they reach their fifth birthday due to extreme 
poverty. "I find these numbers staggering and overwhelming. My heart 
aches with sadness," she said. 

Figures like these led Willingham to form PACE Universal (Promise of 
Assurance to Children Everywhere) in 2003. The organization's mission 
is to nurture the education, nutrition, health, and social 
development of young girls in the slums of Kolkata (formerly 
Calcutta), India, and other areas around the world. 

"I'm just a simple Rotarian from a small town in Southern California, 
but I believe that I can make a difference by doing my share, however 
small that may be," Willingham said.

Her club partnered with the Rotary Club of Calcutta Metropolitan to 
build a permanent building for the Piyali Learning Center, which will 
eventually serve 1,200 girls and 500 boys from impoverished villages 
around Kolkata. 

The center will also help provide clean water, sanitation, and solar 
ovens to the community of Piyali Junction. "The aim of the center 
will be to bring about sustainable changes to the lives of citizens," 
said Willingham.

Those living in extreme poverty "live with no hope in their hearts, 
they have no voice in their destiny or the ability to determine their 
future," Willingham told the audience. 

It's up to Rotary to make a difference in the existence of extreme 
poverty, Willingham added. "Rotarians' actions are a perfect example 
of how the power of one can work, changing the life of one child, one 
community, one village at a time."

Source: Rotary International News 
Courtesy: eFlash_Rotary
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://rotary9640.org/pipermail/d9640general_rotary9640.org/attachments/20080121/37df8773/attachment-0001.html