Rotary news November

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Rs.4

20 November 2014

Vol.6

5, Is

sue 5

The Rotary Foundation Month

Building schools in Garhwal.

16 2422

41

CONTENTS

7 From the Editors Desk

9 President Speaks

10 First Thoughts

16 Building Schools in Garhwal

20 White House honours Women Rotarians

22 One Act of Charity Began A Revolution

24 Rotarians reach out to the devastated J&K people

26 A win-win MoU

27 Global Outlook

36 Focus - Happy Schools

38 The India Sri Lanka Tie-up

39 Lights On

41 The Giving Festival

42 World Round-up

44 Punes Jalpari

51 Water Harvesting

53 Rotary was there earlier

54 Taking Literacy to Rural India

56 Spreading Cheer

62 India at The Asian Games 2014

64 District 3131 shares Membership Secrets with District 1270

69 Dialysis made Affordable

70 A Spanish Sojourn

76 Connect to Collaborate

82 Very Briefly

TRUSTEES

Send all correspondence and subscriptions to

ADVISORY BOARD

COMMITTEES

Chairman DG Ramesh Agrawal, RI Dist. 3052

Secretary DG Vyankatesh S. Metan, RI Dist. 3132

Treasurer DG Sanjay Khemka, RI Dist. 3250

RI Dist. 2980 DG S.P. Balasubramaniam

RI Dist.3000 DG Jagannathan Paramasivam

RI Dist.3010 DG Sanjay Khanna

RI Dist.3020 DG Dr. G.V. Mohan Prasad

RI Dist.3030 DG Dattatraya Shantaram Deshmukh

RI Dist.3040 DG Narendra Kumar Jain

RI Dist. 3051 DG Jagdish B. Patel

RI Dist. 3053 DG Anil Maheshwari

RI Dist. 3060 DG Ashish Ramesh Ajmera

RI Dist. 3070 DG Gurjeet Singh Sekhon

RI Dist. 3080 DG Dilip Patnaik

RI Dist. 3090 DG Pardeep Kumar Chehal

RI Dist. 3100 DG Sanjiv Rastogi

RI Dist. 3110 DG Ashok Jyoti

RI Dist. 3120 DG Satpal Gulati

RI Dist. 3131 DG Vivek Aranha

RI Dist. 3140 DG Ajay Gupta

RI Dist. 3150 DG Malladi Vasudev

RI Dist. 3160 DG G.S. Mansoor

RI Dist. 3170 DG Ganesh G. Bhat

RI Dist. 3180 DG Dr. S. Bhaskar

RI Dist. 3190 DG Manjunath Shetty

RI Dist. 3201 DG P. Venugopalan Menon

RI Dist. 3202 DG K. Sridharan Nambiar

RI Dist. 3211 DG K.S. Sasikumar

RI Dist. 3212 DG M. Ashok Padmaraj

RI Dist. 3230 DG I.S.A.K. Nazar

RI Dist. 3240 DG Swapan Kumar Choudhury

RI Dist. 3261 DG Shambhu Jagatramka

RI Dist. 3262 DG Ashok Bihari Mohapatra

RI Dist. 3291 DG Pinaki Prasad Ghosh

ROTARY NEWS TRUST 3rd Floor, Dugar Towers, 34 Marshalls Road, Egmore, Chennai 600 008, India.Phone : 044 42145666Fax : 044 28528818e-mail : [email protected] : www.rotarynewsonline.org

RID P.T. Prabhakar RI Dist. 3230

PRIP Rajendra K. Saboo RI Dist. 3080

PRIP Kalyan Banerjee RI Dist. 3060

PRID Sushil Gupta RI Dist. 3010

PRID Ashok Mahajan RI Dist. 3140

PRID Yash Pal Das RI Dist. 3080

PRID Shekhar Mehta RI Dist. 3291

RIDE Dr. Manoj D. Desai RI Dist. 3060

DG Ramesh Agrawal RI Dist.3052

DG Vyankatesh Metan RI Dist. 3132

DG Sanjay Khemka RI Dist. 3250

DG I.S.A.K. Nazar RI Dist. 3230

PDG Rabi Narayan Nanda RI Dist. 3262

PDG Radhe Shyam Rathi RI Dist. 3053

PDG Hari Krishna Chitipothu RI Dist. 3150

DG P. Venugopalan Menon - Chair, Finance Committee

DG Dr. G.V. Mohan Prasad - Chair, Editorial Committee

DG Sanjay Khanna - Chair, Marketing Committee

DG G.S. Mansoor - Vice-chair, Marketing Committee

ROTARY NEWS ROTARY SAMACHAR

EditorRasheeda Bhagat

Assistant EditorsJaishree Padmanabhan

Selvi Kandaswamy

Your Comments

Change for betterThe Holistic Thoughts by Mahatria Ra are an eye opener. As he rightly says there is no rewinding of time and our present and future are in our own hands to prove our abilities. So let us think about today and tomorrow positively, and change for better.

Rtn. B. PasupathiRC Dalmiapuram

RI District 3000

Welcome new EditorI congratulate our RI President, Gary C.K. Huang for his new idea Light up Rotary through celebrating Rotary Days and welcome the new Editor Rasheeda Bhagat and convey my appreciation to her and her team for an interesting September 2014 issue.

Rtn. Dr A.K. DasRC Malda

RI District 3240

Were with youRotary News is very informative, educative and useful for all of us. In his column President Speaks,

the RI Presidents appeal to all Rotarians to support the youngsters serving in Rotaract and Interact motivates us. After all, they are the Rotarians of Tomorrow. Grow by reading in Literacy page gives knowledge to set up Library, and Holistic Thoughts Your future begins today by Sri Mahatria Ra is truly inspiring.

Rtn. SachibhaiRC BhanjanagarRI District 3262

We welcome your feedback

I thank Rasheeda Bhagat for introducing the readers to Achyuta Samanta, the founder of the amazing institutions KISS and KIIT. KISS provides residential care and education from KG to PG and even Ph.D., to thousands of tribal children coming from remote Odisha. Your versatility in the use of language is brilliant. I hope you will write about more such unsung Messiahs in the coming issues.

Rtn. Col. GopinathanRC Wadakkanchery

RI District 3201

Heartiest Congratulations for being appointed as the Editor of Rotary News. Please accept my compliments for an

excellent September 2014 issue. Your cover story: A Life worth Living, A Sunday Family Treat and your Editorial are very interesting. Its also a matter of pride for us to have one of the Rotary awardees in the eld of journalism on our board. You connecting Prime Minister Narendra Modis inspiring speech with real life examples are really touching.

Rtn. Atul BhideRC Thane HillsRI District 3140

I appreciate the article on Sridhar Vembu in the September issue and his focus on democratisation of education. We want more articles of this type in Rotary News in future.The Editors note on awakening the youth and making them more conscious about their role in our elections was inspiring.

Rtn. Arun Kumar DashRC Baripada

RI District 3262

I am regular reader of Rotary News. The new look and design of the September issue made reading more interesting, specially No Blind Moves by Jaishree and Making Herbal Salt by Rasheeda Bhagat. Hats off to the Editorial team; my club wishes you all the best.

Rtn Rajiv SaigalRC Bhusawal

RI District 3030

Four-way TestCongratulations for an excellent layout and extensive coverage in the October issue, be it the Member-ship Seminars in the Districts or the projects in the clubs with excellent photographs and good text. Mahatria Ras column is welcome as I am one of his fans. The First Thoughts of RID PT Prabhakar on the 4-Way Test has hit the nail on the head. The change to Rotary News is welcome, let it continue to change for the better.

Rtn. Nan NarayenenRC Madurai West

RI District 3000

Unsung HeroesThe write-up on DGN 201617 Meet in the October issue of Rotary News was excellent. The change in Rotary News content is obvious and impressive, specially the coverage of districts and special projects. The editorial team deserves credit for the improved content. The DGN meet article covered a landmark meeting, which would inspire future leaders. However DGN 3140 Gopal Mandhania, DGN 3190 HR Anant and DGN 3090 Sanjay Gupta, also deserve a big round of cheer for their hard work to make this event a huge success.

DGN Dr Pramod KumarRI District 3120

NOVEMBER 2014 ROTARY NEWS 7

FROM THE EDITORS DESK

For Rotary and Rotarians, constantly striving to improve the lives of fellow citizens, in whatever corner of the world, there is always enough and more to do. That much more in a country such as India where challenges abound on the development front in areas as varied as literacy and sanitation, health, housing and nutrition, and above all gender and child rights.

So just before undertaking a three-day journey to the Rudraprayag region in the Garhwal Himalayas where Rotarians are building schools that were devastated by the June 2013 flash floods, it was exhilarating to learn that Kailash Satyarthi, a child rights activist from Madhya Pradesh in India, and Malala Yusufzai, a Pakistani teenaged activist fighting for the girl childs right to education, and already an international celebrity, had jointly bagged this years Nobel Peace Prize.

Satyarthis organisation Bachpan Bachao Andolan has been fighting for decades to stop child trafficking and rescue children held in bonded labour and put them into schools. According to the 2011 census, there are 43.53 lakh working children in the 514 age group in India. Shocking though this number sounds, we were much worse the 2001 census had put the number of working Indian children to over 1.26 crore. NGOs say the real number is far, far greater, if you include children working in restaurants and roadside chai-shops, construction industry, homes and offices. It is no consolation that the official number has more than halved in 10 years. We cant raise our heads and say with pride we are Indian unless we can get all our children into schools, and return their childhood to them.

Malalas story has been well documented. Shot by the Pakistan Taliban through her head for daring to advocate on a BBC blog the girl childs right to education, she was treated by a hospital in Birmingham, UK, where she is schooling now. Her grit and determination to work for girls right to education has influenced world leaders and her 16th birthday was celebrated by the UN as Malala Day. After winning the Peace Prize, she touched our hearts by her simple speech in which she thanked her parents, specially her father for not clipping my wings,

for letting me fly and achieve my goals. For showing to the world that a girl is not supposed to be a slave, she should have an identity, she has equal rights and she should be recognised as a voice.

While these activists have put childrens education on centrestage, there are millions of Indian schoolchildren who have no such saviours. We can wax eloquent on quality education, but what about those children who dont even have a basic classroom with a safe roof above their heads? Where children study in the open because their parents are terrified that the damaged roof might collapse on their little heads anytime? This happened in Uttarakhand after the flash floods of June 2013 devastated many schools in Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag and other areas in the Garhwal Himalayas.

Rotary has swung into action and is now engaged in building several such schools, which are designed and built taking safeguards against earthquakes and landslides (page 16). With the Rotary Uttarakhand Disaster Relief Trust formed last year, District 3080 started to implement their plans and model schools are coming up in remote villages of the State. I visited a couple last fortnight, one requiring a one-hour hike on the hills, and could see the contrast between the ramshackled schools these bright-eyed and shiny-faced children attend now and the new Rotary schools being built from a corpus of Rs 5.12 crore. All the money, except a few lakh of rupees, has been collected from India.

Rotarians acted immediately in Jammu & Kashmir and are continuing to send the much needed relief material (Page 24). In Pune, Distrct 3131 has done exemplary work for rejuvenating a dry stream and given hope to the farmers of three villages (page 44).

When you give for such causes, you open not only your purses, but also your hearts.

Rasheeda Bhagat

Our children deserve the best

8 ROTARY NEWS JUNE 2014

It seems the heart of a man told the man, I began beating when you were

in the womb of your mother and I will keep beating till you reach the tomb.

Relentlessly I keep working with so much intensity and enthusiasm. And,

I know I Can till the end. After all, if not, that will be the end. If this is

what I can do as just an organ of your body, hey man, as the master of

this body, is it not possible for you to work with relentless intensity and

enthusiasm in whatever you do, if only you too believe, I Can.

It seems the hand of a man told the man, I dirty myself to keep

the other parts of the body clean. If anybody tries to hurt any part of the

body, I volunteer to take the hurt unto myself, and protect the other parts

of the body. I know I Can and I take responsibility for every part of the

body. If this is what I can do as just a part in your body, hey man, is it not

possible for you to assume responsibility for the welfare of all your near

and dear ones, if only you too believe, I Can.

It seems the leg of a man told the man, I take you wherever you

want to go. I help you to reach whatever be the destination. I always

believe, I Can. If this is what I can do as just a part in your body, hey

man, is it not possible for you to achieve every goal you set for yourself,

accomplish every ambition of yours, and fulfill every dream you have

dreamt for yourself, if only you too believe, I Can.

It doesnt matter whether others believe in you or not, you got to

believe I Can, and if you do, you can become whatever you want to

become. It doesnt matter even if everybody believes in you, even God

cannot help you, if you dont believe in yourself.

Dont ever let someone tell you, you cant do something. You want

something; go get it.

Get enriched with inspirational thoughts

reproduced from renowned new-age life guru and spiritualist,

Shri. Mahatria Ra. He is also the founder of

Alma Mater, an organisation dedicated

to self-mastery and holistic personality. His

spiritual foundation, Infinitheism encourages

a path that inspires breakthroughs in people by thinking abundance in all spheres of human

endeavour.

HOLISTIC THOUGHTS

8 ROTARY NEWS NOVEMBER 2014


Dear Fellow Rotarians,

Four months into this year of working to Light Up Rotary, I am more excited about Rotary than ever before. Ive been to 22 countries, visited dozens of

cities, and met thousands of Rotarians. Ive seen amazing projects and been inspired over and over again by the terrific work Rotarians do all over the world. And Ive been privileged to be part of all kinds of

Rotary events, from club meetings to Rotary institutes, from Rotary Days to Foundation dinners.

Every event is memorable. I feel especially honoured when I am invited to share in club celebrations. To me, taking part in a Rotary club celebration as Rotary International President is like being invited to a family event as an honoured guest. Indeed, Rotary is the biggest family in the world.

You could say that Rotary is built of service: Each project is another brick in the big building that is Rotary. If our service forms the bricks, then there is no question that friendship is the mortar that holds those bricks together. I see this every day, but nowhere more clearly than at some of the most special Rotary club events: their centennial celebrations.

Being President of Rotary International in its 110th year, Ive been lucky to take part in a number of these. It is natural, when visiting long-serving clubs, to want to know what their secret is because I have always noticed that the longest-serving clubs are also some of the most productive. They are large, they are active, and they do great work. Not only that, but they have a great time doing it.

Of course, that is their secret: In Rotary, strong friendships and great service go hand in hand. When we enjoy our work,

we want to do it. We want to work harder, and we want to work better. We look forward to Rotary meetings. Even when our lives

are busy, we make Rotary a priority because we want to see our friends, and we want to serve.

That is why Rotary is still here, after more than 109 years. In Chinese, we say:

A life without a friend is a life without sun.

Our Rotary friendships give light to our lives, and it is Rotary friendship as well as service that lets us Light Up Rotary.

Gary C.K. Huang President, Rotary International

Rotary Day at the White House!Rotarians excel in service, thanks to their spouses

District Seminars and meetings galoreParticipation soared in Chapter Four!

My dear partners in service,November brings the smell of monsoon, feel of festivity, sight of lights ... sound of laughter. Lets add these to the touch of generosity that Rotarys Foundation Month brings, and create a grand celebration of love and life!

No better examples can be cited than The Rotary Foun-dation (TRF) projects to define RI President Gary Huangs theme this year Light up Rotary.

Nearly 98 years ago the then RI President Arch Klumph had a vision. He nurtured it with passion, articulated it with conviction, matched it with action and drove it to fruition.

At the culmination of that vision lay the beginning of TRF, which today stands as a testimony to Rotarys spirit of service and concerns and commitment to the entire world.

In his address at the 1917 convention of the Interna-tional Association of Rotary Clubs, President Arch Klumph called the attention of the organisation to the possibility of a future endowment fund for the purpose of doing good in the world, in charitable, educational or other avenues. If Klumph were alive today he would indeed be proud of the endowment he inspired.

From a humble beginning of $26.50, TRF has grown into a colossus, making its presence felt in millions of lives spread across numerous geographical regions. It deserves and is in need of all the help and support it can receive from each and every Rotarian. In this connection, the pro-found words of Kahlil Gibran spring to mind: Beauty is that which loves to give that which loves to give and not to receive.

The Rotarians of the world have made a wonderful beginning towards this end by mastering the Art of Giving! Rivers do not drink their own water, nor do trees eat their own fruit, nor do rain clouds eat the grains reared by them. The wealth of the noble is used solely for the benefit of oth-ers! Even after accepting that giving is good and that one must learn to give, several questions need to be answered.

Question 1: When should one give? We all know the famous incident from Mahabharat: Yudhistira asks a beggar seeking alms to come the next day. Hearing this, Bheem rejoices that his brother Yudhistira has conquered death! For, he is sure that he will be around the next day to give. Yudhistira gets the message.

One does not know really whether one will be there tomorrow to give! The time to give, therefore, is now.

Question 2: How much to give?One recalls the famous incident from history: Rana Pratap was reeling after defeat from the Moghals. He had lost his army, his wealth, and most important, hope and the will to fight. At that time, in his darkest hour, his trusted minister Bhama Shah came seeking him and placed his entire fortune at the disposal of Rana Pratap. With this Rana Pratap raised an army and lived to fight another day.

So the answer is: Give as much as one can! Question 3: What to give? It is not only money that can be given away. It can be a flower or service with a smile. It is not how much, but how one gives that really matters. When you give a smile to a stranger that may be the only good thing received by him in days and weeks!

You can give anything but you must give with all your heart!

One also needs answer to this question: Whom to give? Obvious answer for Rotarians: Give to TRF.

Question 4: How to give? On the manner of giving, please ensure the receiver does not feel humiliated, nor the giver feels proud by giving. In giving, follow the advice Let not your left hand know what your right hand gives. Charity without publicity and fanfare is the highest form of charity. Give quietly!

While giving, let not the recipient feel small or humili-ated. After all, what we give never really belonged to us. We come to this world with nothing and will go with nothing. The thing gifted was only with us for a temporary period. Why then take pride in giving away something which really

First Thoughts



did not belong to us? Give with grace and with a feeling of gratitude.

Question 5: What should one feel after giving?We all know the story of Eklavya. When Dronacharya asked him for his right thumb as Guru Dakshina, he unhesitatingly cut off his thumb and presented it to his guru.

There is a little known sequel to this story. Eklavya was asked, when he was dying, whether he ever regretted the act of giving away his thumb. His reply has to be believed to be true. He said, Yes, I regretted this only once in my life. It was when Pandavas were coming to kill Dronacharya who was broken-hearted on the false news of the death of his son, Ashwathama, and had stopped fighting. It was then that I regretted the loss of my thumb. If the thumb was there, no one could have dared to hurt my Guru.

The message is clear: Give and never regret giving!

Last Question: How much should we provide for our heirs? Ask yourself: Are we taking away from them the gift of work a source of happiness?

Investment guru Warren Buffett has the best answer: Leave your kids with enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing!

I would conclude by saying: Let us learn the Art of Giving. Quoting Saint Kabir: When the wealth in the house increases, when water fills a boat, throw them out (for good causes) with both hands! This is the wise thing to do!

The RI board has recognised TRF as Rotarys major instrument for charitable work in its quest for international understanding and peace. It has also noted that the Foun-dation does not get the priority it deserves among some clubs and individual Rotarians.

This year, let each and every club in our zones help change this perception.

Many of us consider the gift of US $1,000 which is recognised with a PHF certificate, pin and medallion, as generous and the end of our support to the Foundation. But the Paul Harris Fellow recognition should only be consid-ered as our first serious commitment to TRF, rather than the last; a beginning and not the end.

Each year, we must make some contribution to TRF not necessarily at the level of a PHF contribution. Every gift helps support the splendid TRF programmes ... be it only $25, 50 or 100.

An annual gift would be a wonderful ongoing expression of our continued support to TRF, which is rated as one of the best run foundations by Charity Navigator, an organisation that rates US NGOs.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive self-ishness. Lifes most persistent and urgent question is what

are you doing for others, said Martin Luthur King. The Rotary Foundation has many befitting replies to this

question. Its PolioPlus programme is a perfect example of selfless service.

This potent mix of money and man-hours combined with the magnificent leadership and direction provided by TRF has proved lethal for the polio-virus.

These past few months as I travelled all over our country, meeting Rotarians, visiting projects, and presiding over functions, Ive realised that I was only a messenger a spokesman, an insignificant person drawing significance from the organisation and the cause it represents.

However, this significant phase in my life has made me aware of my role in the continuity of Rotary and its pursuit of service ideals. Time is fleeting and so much more remains to be done. Let us take up the challenge and act in the living present.

We are not sure of sorrowAnd joy was never sureToday will die tomorrow

Time stoops to no mans lure.Lets fill our present with action

And strengthen The Rotary FoundationLets make our generous thoughts

Flow into beseeching hands and hearts!

Yours in Rotary,

P.T. PrabhakarDirectorRotary International (201315)

From a humble beginning of $26.50, TRF has grown

into a colossus, making its presence felt in millions of lives spread across numer-

ous geographical regions. It deserves and is in need of all the help and support it can receive from each and

every Rotarian.

Rotary Social Mediawww.rotary.org/socialnetworks

More Online Resources

www.rotary.org/rotarian

www.rotary.org/rotaryminute

Rotary Imageswww.rotary.org/rotaryimages

Rotary eNewsletters www.rotary.org/newsletters

BookmarkRotary

books

District Wise Contributions to The Rotary Foundation as on September 30, 2014

(in US Dollars)

DistrictNumber

APF PolioPlus* OtherRestricted

Endowment Fund

TotalContributions

India2980

3000

3010

3020

3030

3040

3051

3052

3053

3060

3070

3080

3090

3100

3110

3120

3131

3132

3140

3150

3160

3170

3180

3190

3201

3202

3211

3212

3230

3240

3250

3261

3262

3291

India Total

3220

3271

3272

3281

3282

3292South Asia TotalWorld Total

24,187

5,859

8,005

20,251

1,240

(3,867)

0

(72,500)

2,026

21,158

7,951

31,260

17,408

22,829

23,773

10,943

35,537

1,929

2,10,907

16,476

1,856

8,967

41,320

2,014

13,745

19,730

9,434

9,380

42,152

27,839

64,995

3,965

15,921

1,328

6,48,015

48,222

2,414

500

46,426

2,400

7,082

7,55,060 2,07,35,511

6,217

0

561

500

305

0

0

0

0

0

300

9,727

0

0

1,614

0

1,544

0

200

0

0

150

0

100

624

949

1,000

2,608

203

1,597

0

0

0

0

28,201

1,100

12,345

4,705

11,010

0

50

57,411 42,25,371

0

0

2,700

3,000

0

0

0

0

4,000

4,385

1,329

18,279

0

0

0

0

3,51,409

0

69,592

18,076

0

0

6,000

4,040

0

0

0

0

0

3,000

105

0

0

23,768

5,09,683

0

0

(816)

0

0

500

5,09,367 34,27,298

0

0

1,000

0

0

593

0

83,136

0

8,492

0

3,898

0

0

0

0

24,042

0

1,300

2,000

0

0

0

0

0

1,017

6,000

0

16,552

25

7,245

0

0

0

1,55,300

5,000

0

0

6,000

0

0

1,66,300 30,45,874

30,404

5,859

12,266

23,751

1,545

(3274)

0

10,636

6,026

34,034

9,580

63,166

17,408

22,829

25,386

10,943

4,12,532

1,929

2,81,998

36,552

1,856

9,117

47,320

6,154

14,369

21,696

16,434

11,988

58,908

32,461

72,344

3,965

15,921

25,095

13,41,199

54,322

14,760

4,389

63,436

2,400

7,632

14,88,138 3,14,34,055

Sri Lanka

Pakistan

Nepal

Bangladesh

* Excludes Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Source: RI South Asia Office

XXXXXXXXX

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

Help us promote peace

It is surely the wish in all our hearts that there is peace in our world.

Our Rotary Foundation is endeav-ouring to advance this with the establishment of Rotary Peace Centres in various parts of the globe.

The Rotary Peace Centres are the premier educational programme of the Foundation, and this year I am asking Rotarians to foster world understanding, goodwill and peace by promoting and publicising the programme so its work is enhanced.

The programme funds upto 100 Rotary Peace Fellowships per year, for fellows to study at one of the Foundations specially chosen universities. Fellows can earn a masters degree in peace and conflict resolution or a related field at Duke University and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in the United States; University of Queensland in Australia; Uppsala University in Sweden; University of Bradford in England; and International Christian University in Japan. Additionally, our professional development certificate programme in peace and conflict resolution is offered through Chulalongkorn University in Thailand.

The idea of the Rotary Peace Centres is to create a cadre of individuals who are dedicated to peace and conflict resolution, and who have been given the tools to succeed in their efforts. Since the programme began in 2002, nearly 900 peace fellows have been engaged in peace activities throughout the world, working for non-governmental organisations, government agen-cies, the World Health Organisation, World Bank, and others.

To fund the programme, the Rotary Peace Centres Major Gifts Initiative has set a target of US $125 million by the end of this Rotary year. This is a programme pertinent to the 21st century, and one worthy of all Rotarians support.

In these days of uncertainty in our world, it is important to remember that the brotherhood of man transcends the sovereignty of nations.

John KennyFoundation Trustee Chair

Rotary Foundation Award WinnersThe 201314 recipients of The Rotary Foundation Distinguished Service Award and Citation for Meritorious Service have been announced. The Distinguished Service Award is the Foundations highest recognition of active ser-vice, which must reach beyond the district and last for an extended period. Rotarians become eligible for the award four years after receiving the Citation for Meritorious Service, which recognises individuals who have provided significant active service to the Foundation for more than one year. Although anyone may nominate a candidate for the citation, District Governors must approve each nomination.

Distinguished Service Award

RI District Name

3020 Sam Movva

3040 Ramesh Chandra Tiwari

3060 Ashok Panjwani

3131 Vinay Kulkarni

3140 Bharat S. Pandya

3150 Ranga Rao Jashti

3170 Ravi N. Deshpande

3190 Prabhashankar Khokale Narayana Rao

3201 Kesava Sankara Pillai

3240 Narendra Nath Dutta

3261 Subhash Sahu

3291 Rajkumar Rajgaria

Citation for Meritorious Service

RI District Name

3010 Ramesh Aggarwal

3020 Patibanda Sundar Rao

3030 Rajiv Sharma

3040 Nalini Langer

3051 Ashish Kantilal Desai

3052 Nirmal Kumar Singhvi

3053 Kranti Chandra Mehta

3060 Sunil C. Vakil

3080 Madhukar Malhotra

3090 Suman Gupta

3100 Vinod K. Agarwal

3131 Abhay Gadgil

3140 Vijay K. Jalan

3150 Murti V.R. Tanikella

3190 Suresh Nanjunda Manandi

3240 Samir Kumar Choudhury

3261 Shashi Varvandkar

3262 Narayan Mishra

3291 Rajendra Khandelwal

Source: The Rotarian


A man once had a dream in which he saw that he stood at the gates of Paradise. And in the dream he saw a learned Rabbi who said, I long to enter Heaven.

I studied the Holy Books day and night! Wait! said the Angel. We shall know from your earthly record if you stud-

ied the Books in reverence for the prophets or for the sake of social applause. Then in the dream appeared another learned man. He said, I long to enter Paradise. I fasted much. Wait, said the Angel. We shall first enquire if your motives were pure. Then appeared in the dream another man. Simple was he. He said, I long to

enter Paradise. A few fragments of my bread I shared each day with a man who limped and could not earn his daily bread, and I swept his floor and I filled his water-jar every day. And I prayed, O Lord! Make me a servant of those who suffer and are in pain every day!

And the Angel said, Blessed amongst mortals art thou! Thou hast attained the Abode of the Immortals. The gates of Heaven are opened unto thee!

Give, give, give! Share what you have with others, and you will be richer in material and spiritual terms.

By the Law of Attraction, if you believe in it, the universe is replying to you with your own voice.

Say, I want more and the universe will say, I want more!Try saying and doing: I want to give more! and trust that the universe will

also say to you, I want to give more!A friend said to me, You know Dada I think what Sadhu Vaswani said to

us is scientifically accurate.Please explain it to me, I requested him.When you give, it creates a vacuum in the space of your wealth. By the law

of Universe, we know nature absorbs a vacuum. In no time, the empty space will be filled up. God will send us more wealth.

After a pause he asked me, Do you agree? How can I disagree with the voice of experience? I replied with a smile.

You have given away your wealth to help others, and you have had your vacuum filled. You know it, because you have experienced it.

Giving to others actually connects you to greater source of abundance and prosperity.

The Key to Heaven Dada J.P. Vaswani

Dada Vaswani, born Jashan Pahlajrai Vaswani, is a spiritual

leader and heads the Sadhu Vaswani Mission, that has its centres spread

out across the world. A recipient of U-Thant Peace Award, he has addressed the British House of

Commons, the World Parliament of Religions, Chicago and the

Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders at the United Nations, New York, and

several other gatherings.


COVER STORY

Driving along the picturesque route from Dehradun towards Devprayag in the Garhwal Himalayas (sangam of the rivers Bhagirathi and Alaknanda) and then upward towards Rudraprayag (meet-ing of Mandakini and Alaknanda), who can even imagine the nightmare this region had become in June 2013, thanks to the angry waters of the Mandakini?

Natures fury or what the locals call the Himalayan tsunami in Kedarnath, Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag also destroyed the regions schools. Luckily, as the waters came crashing down on June 16 and 17, 2013, bringing with them huge rocks, silt, foliage and rubble, destroying ruthlessly whatever came in its way, the children were on a summer break. They returned to find their schools either gone or damaged badly.

Rotarys response in this disaster too was fast. We learnt of it before

the government; the CM was not here; the Rudraprayag Collector was hospi-talised, recalls Prem Bhalla, Rotarian of 52 years, and Past District Gover-nor 3080. A meeting was convened on June 17 in Dehradun, the news was flashed to all the 82 clubs in the district and austerity measures were

declared for the July 1 installation of new teams. Dinner meets were turned into tea meetings, and the money thus saved, along with more collected from all over India went to a common pool to help the Uttarakhand victims.

The Rotary Uttarakhand Disaster Relief Trust was formed with Past RI Director Yash Pal Das as one of the Trustees and Treasurer. Giving details of the project to rebuild schools in Uttarakhand, Das says that the Trust has till now collected Rs 5.12 crore, almost all from India, with barely Rs 34 lakh coming from overseas.

In September, an MoU was signed with the Uttarakhand Government to repair 120 damaged schools and con-struct 55 schools in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts.

Work on three schools in the Agastyamuni block has almost been completed; this was done with Rs 38 lakh that came in from the Bharat

by Rasheeda Bhagat

Building schools in Garhwal

This building can last 20 to 25 years,

but it has to be maintained.

Children at the Rotary school under construction in Siddhanagar.

SANGEET SHARMA

Dalmia Foundation which entrusted the work to the Rotary Uttarakhand Disaster Relief Trust. The total cor-pus fund includes Rs 31 lakh from the Inner Wheel Association of India.

A scenic journeyI set out on a bright morning to see this high-profile school project in remote villages of Uttarakhand, along with District 3080 Governor-elect David Hilton and Assistant Governor Sangeet Sharma. We cover the 180-odd km distance from Dehradun to Rudraprayag in seven hours, check into a very basic Hotel Mandakini better hotels are full and set off for the first school nearing comple-tion in Kyunja, about 35 km from Rudraprayag.

Closer to Devprayag and beyond, one can clearly see telltale symptoms of last years fury. Sharma points out half destroyed houses hanging peril-ously on the mountains. Every couple of kilometres multipurpose excava-tors-cum dumpers are stationed to clear landslides the earlier day has seen some rain, and at one point we have to wait, mercifully only for 15 minutes, for the road to be cleared.

As our Innova winds its way through the 23 km stretch of the ser-vice road towards the Kyunja village school, we jump over potholes. The priority in these hills is clearly for the main road going to Kedarnath, but at least a service road allows passage of

two wheelers and private jeeps. A ride to Rudraprayag in a jeep costs Rs 50.

Soon the spanking new green roof and whitewashed walls of the school are visible. A final coat of paint and the primary school will be ready in a week for the 51 smartly dressed stu-dents, now taking lessons in an adjoin-ing ramshackled hall, to cross over. A kitchen, two toilets, a principals room the Rotarians are ready to build anything the school authorities want, except handing over cash.

More girls than boysIm delighted to find 39 girls in the 51-student school. This is also the case in the other two schools we visit. Whether the boys are going to a bet-ter or private schools is not within the scope of this article!

The contrast between the spanking new robust hall, and the passable one

the children are now using, it is easy to understand why people from sur-rounding villages are asking Rotarians to build their village schools too. In one of the schools we pulled down, we were shocked to find barely 1215 steel sariyas (tor steel) on the roof, when there should have been at least 100 or more, says PDG Bhalla.

As I talk to some parents, Sharma tells other parents and teachers: This building can last you 20 to 25 years, but you have to maintain and keep the school clean.

Das says at the outset the Trust had got an independent analysis on the damage caused to the schools on the list by its own engineers and 30-odd students from IIT Rourkee,

A school being constructed in Siddhanagar; Labourers carry bricks on the steep incline to this school.

Queuing up at their new school in Kyunja.


and then chalked out its construction programme.

But the continuing rains were a huge problem. But he and other senior Rotary leaders such as Past RI President Kalyan Banerjee have visited their sites to watch the progress. Continuing rains till March have pushed back the project.

At the Kyunja school, which will be handed over after Diwali, Rotary site engineers Arvind and Manish Diwedi are all smiles as their work is admired by surrounding villages. Arvind claims that many people cant believe this is a

The design for the schools that Rotary is building in Uttarakhand has been given by the Governments Central Building Research Institute at Rourkee, taking into account safeguards against landslides and earthquakes. On Rotarys experience in building schools, Trustee and Treasurer of the Rotary Uttarakhand Disaster Relief Trust Yash Pal Das says, We had prior experience from building schools in the Kutch region of Gujarat after the 2001 earth-quake. So we readily agreed to the governments request to repair/build these devastated schools. But we did not realise the challenges of hill construction.

But slowly his team is overcoming these challenges; three schools are done, six are in the making and now we are fully geared, more or less in an assembly line kind of way, to build more schools.

But the original project has been altered because in March, the Uttarakhand Government asked the Rotarians to stop the project saying it had collected Rs 10 crore and would itself repair or build the schools. But it requested the Trust to complete the three schools it had started.

But by August 2014, while the three schools were coming up in Agastyamuni, the village pradhans and local leaders in the Block requested the Rotary Trust to build 14 schools in their villages. As these requests were endorsed by the Education officers concerned, we said well do it as we have the funds.

Of the Rs 5.12 crore collected, nearly Rs 48 lakh has been spent. Each school costs about Rs 1314 lakh and the children get covered area of 1,500 sq ft.

Recalling Rotarys experience in building classrooms for schools devastated in the Kutch region of Gujarat by the 2001 earthquake, Past RI President Kalyan Banerjee says, That time, when we volunteered, the Gujarat Gov-ernment sought our help to build classrooms in primary schools.

In that massive project, one, two, or three classrooms were built according to the requirements; the project took three years (200407) and 709 classrooms were built, each at a cost of about Rs 1.6 lakh. The project cost about Rs 11.34 crore, with half the money raised by Rotarians and the other half coming from the Gujarat Government.

Das says that with their current corpus, this Trust can construct in addition to the three schools completed already, another 33 schools. Currently we have requests from 14 schools in the Agastyamuni block, of which six are under construction.

At the end of the day, Rotarians like Banerjee and Das are happy to participate in such projects. Adds Das about the ongoing project, This is such a great and noble project these children were sitting on the floor now well give them tables and benches. Sometimes they sit in the open because their parents are worried about their safety in damaged buildings. After all these children are just like yours and mine and we owe them decent edu-cation in a clean and safe environment.

As of now, he adds, there are sufficient funds to build 14 more schools. As more schools come up, more requests are bound to come and the Trust will take a call on further plans.

Your children and mine...

PRIP Kalyan Banerjee (Top right) and PRID Yash Pal Das along with the children in one of the older schools.

View of a newly constructed school at Chameli.


Amazingly, the children do this steep trek every day, but it takes them hardly 15 minutes to run up the hill; they are used to the terrain, adds Zakir.

On a good day, opposite the Chameli school the snow-covered Chaukhamba peak is visible. As we leave for the plains the next day, the copious rainfall has given an enchant-ing green cover to the mountains. Whether it is the towering pines, the oaks, Indian red and other timber and water bearing green trees, the leaves are sparkling and as summer gives way to autumn, the colours are changing and Himalayan flowers are blooming.

Near Kaliya Saur, about 1215 km after Rudraprayag, our driver Sanjay recounts the tale of the local belief in how this tsunami was triggered. Pointing to a temple on the banks of the Mandakini, he says that as their temple was getting submerged in the river, the locals built a new temple and shifted the deity there. After a day or two the floods came; the timing was not right for shifting the goddess, aur Ma ko gussa aa gaya.

Pictures: Rasheeda Bhagat David Hilton:[email protected]

Sangeet Sharma: + 91 9412075884

to carry it up this path. Even bricks, cement, etc., have to be moved up either through porters or mules.

And then, adds Sharma, comes the challenge of finding labour. Even at Rs 450 a day, labour is hard to come by as they opt for the Government project of rebuilding the main Kedarnath route, at a whopping Rs 950 a day.

At Siddhanagar, where the iron frame of the roof of the Rotary school is ready, and the walls coming up fast, Hilton shows me some rusted steel wires kept on the side. This was all that we found in the roof; how could such a structure survive, he wonders. In the small hall where classes are held there are only 14 school children; 10 are girls! Says Mohammed Zakir, their teacher, Once the new Rotary school is ready I am sure well get 3035 children. Right now parents are scared to send their children to this school as they feel it is unsafe.

After Class 5, they will shift to the senior school at Agastyamuni which is 4 km away. The story for girls is the same, a dearth of separate toilets. As one toilet is already there in the schools identified, at least one more will be built so that girls have their separate toilets.

school; they think a Government bun-galow is being built.

That is clearly stretching things, but the satisfaction in the eyes of Bijender Lal, who grows wheat, rice and vegetables on his half-acre plot, while doubling up as a labourer, is evi-dent. A father of five, four of his chil-dren, including three daughters Aarti, Manisha and Sada, are students here. The youngest is only two; the eldest is in Class V and he is getting ready to send her to a secondary school nearby.

Terrain challengesHilton explains the challenges in mov-ing the building material in the hills; many a times after the transporter has dumped the material most of it pre-fabricated on the road, theyve had to wait for days to find decent weather and labour both at the same time to move the material to the site. Adds Sharma, A lot of material we use is pre-fabricated in Dehradun; to depend on local masonry would be hell!

They dont have to explain for too long the challenges; I face one soon enough at the school site in Siddhanagar village a steep trek exceeding one kilometre along a path that often narrows down to demand skills of a tight-rope walker. Hilton explains the ordeal they faced in moving up the 400-kg generator here. It took 12 Nepali porters two days

DGE David Hilton with the students.


White House honours Women Rotarians

by RI Director P.T. Prabhakar

I had the privilege to participate in Rotary Day at Washington DC on October 7. Senior Rotary leaders had gathered at the White House to honour 10 women for their service projects. The event was attended by members of the US President Barack Obamas senior staff. President Gary Huang and Corinna, President Elect K.R. Ravindran and Vanathy and several senior leaders attended this memorable event. Several Rotary pro-jects were presented here hoping for greater government partnerships and support.

This is recognition of the great work that they do and it also serves as a great vehicle to inspire others to do similar kinds of things, said Rotary General Secretary John Hewko. And were doing a better job of sharing our story with the non-Rotary world. The 10 women honoured were from US Rotary clubs but their projects touch lives across the globe.

Carolyn Jones, of Anchorage, Alaska, has served numerous times as a Rotary volunteer in Russia, three times as a preschool teacher for developmentally delayed children in

orphanages. During her presentation she related a moving story of a child sold in Russia for a bottle of vodka, and vowed to use her recognition as a stepping stone to save more lives.

Jacqueline Parsons, a licensed professional counselor from San Antonio, Texas, works on projects in her community and abroad, including

the FLAG (Fitness, Literacy, Attendance and Grades) programme, which provides incentives to students to go to school, giving them bikes, sports equipment and other items.

Ginger Vann from Baker, Louisiana, co-ordinates tutoring for at-risk students. With the help of her club, she has renovated an uninhabitable school building, and worked with tutors to reach 50 students each day. Shes also passionate about workforce development in Baker, where well-paying craftsman jobs often go unfilled. We just dont have enough craft workers, people who are certified to do the jobs, she said.

Michelle Candland, from San Diego, California, works with Monarch High, an alternative school designed for homeless children. Right now there are over 1.3 million homeless kids on the streets in America. Thats more than there are Rotarians around the world; 20,000

Women Rotarians along with Rotary dignitaries at the White House.

Carolyn Jones related a

moving story of a child sold in Russia for a bottle of vodka, and vowed to use her

recognition as a stepping stone to save more

lives.


of those kids are in San Diego alone, said Candland.

How can a child focus on school if their tummies are growling, their shoes dont fit, and they don't even know where they are going to be sleep-ing the next day, she asked, calling for communities to work together to solve such problem.

Others honoured were Bernadette Blackstock, Marion Bunch, Carol Butler, Elizabeth Usovicz, Deepa Willingham and Jane Winning.

Winning, a registered nurse from Chowchilla, California, has provided immunisation and conducted health exams in Mexico, Honduras, Ecuador, and Guatemala. Shes also worked with Rotaplast International to pro-vide free cleft lip and palate recon-structive surgery to those who cannot afford it.

A 65-year old gentleman said I can kiss my wife for the first time. These are incredible experiences you don't get to share every day.

Butler, also from Anchorage, highlighted two projects. The first is a statewide suicide prevention plan. According to Butler, Alaska has the highest rate of suicide per capita in the nation. The public awareness plan educates Rotary members and Alaska residents to recognise the warning signs of someone in crisis. She also talked about her clubs partnership with the Alaska Mission of Mercy, a collective of dentists, staff and other volunteers who provide free dental services throughout the state.

Dental care is a gateway to good health, says Butler. There's an increasing problem nationwide with people seeking dental care in emer-gency rooms.

Usovicz, of Shawnee Mission, Kansas, has worked on service projects in Missouri as well as abroad. In Malawi, she helped to reduce the rate of malaria deaths by 65 per-cent to 70 percent in less than a year by supplying the community with mosquito bed-nets.

Wi l l ingham, of So lvang , California, is the founder and chair of Promise of Assurance to Children Everywhere (PACE), an organisation that educates girls and their mothers, and works to prevent child trafficking and early marriage in India.

Bunch, of Atlanta, Georgia, is the CEO of Rotarians for Family Health and AIDS Prevention. She

has received numerous awards on behalf of her work for AIDS, and considers herself a mother who represents the face of AIDS because she started her work after losing her son to the disease in 1994. Because of that one single tragedy, my life's journey changed dramatically from a very engaged business woman to a warrior on AIDS and advocate of human rights, Bunch said.

As a result of her leadership, in April some 3,43,660 people received health care, medical checkups and counseling from 8,150 Rotary volunteers during Rotary Family Health Days across Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, and South Africa.

Like Bunch, Blackstock, of Franklinville, New Jersey, has turned her love of service into a career, launching the People for People Foundation, which assists families struggling with financial hardships. To date, the Foundation has helped some 10,000 families with food, clothing, rent, utilities, medications and other life necessities.

Our combined mission today is not only to provide small grants but to serve as advocates for our families and provide life-skill training and mentoring and case management where needed.

The event in D.C. was also an opportunity for the honourees to share ideas with each other. There are some resources still available to expand and improve projects even amongst the women here, Jones said.

Listening to the ladies, I was in awe, said Vann. I was thinking what if all 10 of us got together on one project. That would be amazing. Were talking and it's exciting to be a part of that conversation.

RI President Gary Huang and RI Director P.T. Prabhakar at the White House.

Incredible experience:

Jane Winning helped the cleft surgery of a

65-year old man who said: I can kiss my wife

for the first time. You dont get to share such experiences

everyday.

India has been certified polio-free by WHO an encouraging feat indeed! Just three more countries remain polio-endemic, and Rotarians through their concerted efforts are concentrat-ing on eradicating the crippling disease from the world.

Polio eradication was top priority of Rotary since 1988 but rehabilitating polio victims and undertaking polio cor-rective surgeries was another mammoth task indeed, and The Rotary Foundation (TRF) swung into action. The virus has left several people including young children crippled and paralysed. Polio corrective surgery camps are organised by Rotary clubs to reverse the condi-tion and mobility aids such as calipers, wheel-chairs and tricycles are provided to the polio victims to enable them to lead a better life.

More recently, Rotary Club of Delhi Midtown, RI District 3010 in associa-tion with Rotarian Ghulam Naqshband Institute for the Physically Challenged (RGNIPC) funded the renovation of the operation theatre and Artificial Limb

Centre at St. Stephens Hospital, Delhi. One of the citys oldest and largest non-government hospitals, it is Indias only hospital that has a dedicated polio ward, which became functional since 2001. Polio corrective surgery was first initiated at this hospital by former Direc-tor General of Health Services Dr Balu Sankaran, a pioneer in the field of polio corrective surgery, in 1987 and is today led by Dr. Mathew Varghese, HOD of Orthopaedics Department here. The eight-bedded polio ward is being sup-ported by RC Delhi Midtown. Rotary has contributed over USD 200,000 including support from TRF, through Matching Grants to the Hospital.

This year, the Rotarians equipped St. Stephens Hospital with 100 beds and other necessary equipment for the Artificial Limb and Prosthesis Centre. The Naqshband Institute, a charitable Trust run by a group of dedicated Rotar-ians in memory of their colleague and friend Late Rtn Ghulam Naqshband, pitched in with a grant of nearly Rs One Crore.

How it all beganIt all began when during one of the Polio NIDs, PRIP Rajendra Saboo and PDG Raman Bhatia undertook a visit to Uttar Pradesh, a polio endemic state that faced widespread resistance to polio immu-nisation. Saboo, chief guest at one of the Polio NID booths in Hapur village found several women resisted adminis-tration of polio drops to their children.

Saboo and Bhatia decided to visit one of the homes to make the family understand the significance of the two drops. Accompanied by the local Imam and a school teacher, they knocked at one of the villagers door. A woman opened it, but slammed it shut at the sight of the men in yellow jackets and caps. The Imam spoke to her and explained the need to administer polio drops to her children. She slowly relented and said though she understood the importance of the polio drops, she couldnt let her children take them as her husband (who was out on the fields) had threatened to kill her if she allowed this. She had two children below the age of five the girl was sitting on her mothers lap and this woman had hidden her little son inside a drum fearing some kind of threat from her visitors!

The Rotarians along with the Imam convinced the lady that they would immunise the children but ensure that they wouldnt be marked with the man-datory blue mark on their fingers. This done, they stepped out of her house and on to the dusty lane. They found a five year old young boy with limp legs, crawling on all fours. He was being stoned and teased at by few school children. Rescuing the boy, the Rotari-ans found that he was the eldest son of the same woman whom they had just visited and that she had five children, and this boy was afflicted with polio.

This triggered concern in the mind of Saboo and Bhatia which also brought forth the unique idea of organising polio corrective surgery camps to put polio victims back on their feet. The first camp was held at Hapur and it was deliberately made an all-healthcare

POLIOPLUS


One Act of Charity Began A Revolution

by Jaishree

Former Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit, inaugurating the renovated OT at St. Stephens Hospital, Delhi.


camp. The villagers were provided med-ical care not only for polio but also for other ailments. Rotarian- surgeons from Coimbatore in South India descended on this little village; 250 of the villag-ers were polio-stricken and 100 patients were operated upon. The rest were referred to a hospital in the neighbour-hood town, as they needed elaborate procedures.

Since then, Rotary clubs have been facilitating several such camps across the country, especially in the polio- endemic states of U.P. and Bihar. Every year at least 10 camps are organised in these areas with support from the local state government and WHO. The Rotary Foundation also plays a major role in bringing out these camps through sig-nificant financial aid. Rotarian doctors from across the country and abroad camp at the treatment venue for a week to perform the corrective surgeries and provide relevant mobility aids for the patients.

Saboo rightly observed that these corrective surgery camps would go a long way in encouraging social mobi-lisation and breaking resistance. When the locals see the polio victims walking tall, faith in Rotary would automat-ically grow for actions speak louder than words.

St. Stephens Hospital The polio ward at St. Stephens Hospital is the pride of Rotary and every foreign Rotary visitor and guests from TRF do not miss a visit to this site which has changed hundreds of lives and is going strong today. Bhatia feels a moral obli-gation to help the children of the world who were unfortunate to have been afflicted with polio. This life-changing surgery will bring back their lost future. Why should they still suffer this disabil-ity, he laments.

Another interesting aspect he remi-nisces with gratitude and awe is on how the late Naqshband, a doyen of the tour-ism industry and Managing Director of Le Passage to India approached him the first time offering a donation.

I first thought it might be a few lakh of rupees, but he left me speechless with the figureall of Rs 1 crore! To facili-tate polio corrective surgeries. He didnt stop; further donations continued after his death in 2000, at the age of 84.

The RGNIPC Trust was thus formed and Bhatia is one of the Man-aging Trustees. The Trust works under the aegis of RC Delhi Midtown. Today the Rotarians have helped to fulfill Naqshbands dream.

The upgraded OT and Artificial Limb Centre were formally dedicated to the community by former Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit in September.

Efforts are taken by the Rotarians to cover all children afflicted by the dreaded disease across the country so that they may be surgically treated. And their service does not stop there. Rotary Club Delhi Midtown along with Trustees of RGNIPC are together

trying to rehabilitate each and every polio patient. They support them in ways such as getting them back to school or college; or help them learn a vocation or even start a small business of their own. The objective being to help each one of them lead a digni-fied, self-sustaining life.

TRF is satisfied with this project and has been extending its whole-hearted support. Bhatia appeals to all District Governors to make use of this project. All they have to do is identify the polio patients and bear their travel cost to Delhi. The Rotarians of RC Delhi Midtown will then take care of the accommodation and food for the patients and their attendants, and the hospitalisation expenses for single or multiple corrective surgeries.

At the dedication ceremony, Saboo congratulated Dr Mathew Varghese and his team for such a wonderful job in serving the community and also com-plimented fellow Rotarians for provid-ing support.

Such corrective surgery ena-bles little victims of polio to attend school and older people to pursue their dreams and earn a livelihood. When everyone around their lives shunned them saying They cant Rotary reached out to say Yes, you can. The Rotarians justly feel elated at having made these people stand on their own feet.

Mrs Sheila Dikshit visiting the renovated Artificial Limb Centre at the hospital.

Her husband had threatened to kill her if she immunised her children against

polio.


As the devastation caused by the unprecedented flooding in Jammu and Kashmir continues to traumatise thousands of people who have lost their homes, loved ones and become refugees in their own homes, Rotary and Rotarians are reaching out opening their purses and hearts to the affected people.

Rotary Foundation India Chair Ashok Mahajan is spearheading the efforts to collect funds and relief material to be rushed to the people of J&K.

Even though at these trying times Rotarians have proved that Rotary Cares and Rotary Shares, and con-tributions have been widespread and generous, the amount collected is not enough as the scale of the destruction is so huge and people are still marooned and stranded away from their homes, says Mahajan.

The good samaritans of District 3140 are leaving no stones unturned to ensure that a steady supply of enough funds and relief material is available to help the ravaged people of Jammu and Kashmir, with District 3070 also pitch-ing in. The two Districts are working in tandem to understand the scale of the disaster, the kind of help required and what more needs to be done.

Rotarians from across the country are also pitching in with their support. Relief material collected by Rotarians has been consistently reaching the State. Rtn B.R. Malhotra from Rotary Club of Pune in RI District 3131 has sent blankets, utensils, food; Rotarians from 3140 have sent 10,000 blankets to J&K (5,000 each); RC Bombay Queens Necklace has dispatched medicines worth Rs 12 lakh through the Red Cross.

Generous individual contributions are coming in too. Rtn Shammin Botwala of Rotary Mumbai Green City has contributed Rs 5 lakh. PDG Sajjan Goenka and PDG T.N. Subramaniam (District 3140), Rtn Samir Jhaveri of RC Bombay Bayview and Rtn B.M. Shivraj of RC Thane NorthEnd have

byRasheeda Bhagat

Rotarians reach out to the

devastated J&K people

Rotary clubs provide support to the flood victims.


each donated Rs 1 lakh. Rtn Sandeep Agarwalla of RC Bombay has led the collection efforts and raised Rs 6 lakh though a club meeting organised for J&K Flood fundraiser, and took the responsibility of delivering 10,000 blankets.

We appreciate their generosity. We are also very touched that the Interact Club, which is working along with the Rotary Club of Bombay, has taken such pains to collect funds for the affected people of J&K, says Mahajan. On their own, the Interactors have raised Rs 22 lakh to help in the relief and rehabilitation efforts.

Small but significant contributions have been coming in from across the district and in the meetings Mahajan addressed in Mumbai. He added that PRID Y.P. Das and PRID Shekhar Mehta also took immediate steps for sending shelter boxes and had offered more help to the Jammu region of the State. Many clubs and districts are directly sending relief material and money to District 3070. Governor Gurjeet Singh Sekhon of District 3070 has taken great care in managing the relief work.

The scale of destruction this nat-ural calamity has brought about is not just in the numbers, but also on the faces of those who survived the ones who are mourning the loss of their loved ones, their belongings and above all, hope, he adds.

It may take long to rebuild Kashmir, but I am hopeful that with individual endeavour, the collective contribution of our countrymen, Rotarians, and the resilient spirit of people in Jammu and Kashmir, the paradise, Inshaallah, will bloom again with Chinar trees. On our part, Rotary is willing to extend more help, adds Mahajan.

Please send your cheques drawn in favour of District Welfare Fund (A/C J&K Disaster Relief Fund), to District Treasurer, Hemant Gokhale, Heramb Bunglow, Plot No. 57, Sulabh CHS, Tadwadi, Ambernath East, 421501.

Huge areas of Akhnoor, Rajouri and people living on embankments of Jammu and Tawi were badly affected by the floods. Houses, livestock, schools and other infrastructure were devastated and thousands rendered homeless in just a few days. Some areas were completely buried under landslides triggered by incessant rains, 50 bridges were washed away and numerous power stations and pump houses lay submerged. Jhelum breached the embankments and flooded the bowl-shaped Srinagar and people had to climb on to the rooftops of their houses to save themselves, after suffering huge losses, says DG Gurjeet Sekhon, District 3070.

Rotary has 11 clubs in Jammu region and one in the Kashmir Valley. They appealed for help to the larger Rotary world in India. Many of them rushed to help us. The first truck was loaded by PRID Yash Pal Das from Ambala, carrying 200 shelter boxes and 500 tarpaulins. This was followed by clubs from Amritsar which sent 10 tonnes of relief material in the form of blankets, medicines, tents and utensils. Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Khanna, Ludhiana, Goraya, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot sent truckloads of relief and many clubs from the district sent cash contributions.

Help came from as far as Kerala, Kolkata and Pune, with materials delivered through railways, trucks and by air. Rotarians in Jammu identified beneficiaries and personally delivered aid to them. We set up a storage unit in Jammu in a Rotarians house; material aid worth Rs 75 lakh has already been distributed in the State thanks to help from Rotarians, says a grateful Sekhon.

PRIP Raja Saboo, PRIDs Sushil Gupta, Yash Pal Das, Shekhar Mehta and Ashok Mahajan provided tremendous material and financial support, he added.

The RI leaders are now considering the possibility of adopting one or two villages in J&K, build low-cost structures and other infrastructure there. This is estimated to cost Rs 2 crore for each village, says Sekhon.

J&K Rotarians swing into action

Shelter kits donated by RI District 3080.


During the Dussera celebrations week, Rotary International District 3230 launched a unique celebration at Chennai, with District 3230 coming together with 15 clubs of Area 2 Round Table India to form a fusion for service.

The two entities signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly execute community welfare programmes. To begin with, the two organisations will jointly undertake a project to provide clean drinking water

to 15 schools in Chennai. This will benefit about 50,000 children.

This joint fellowship will not only benefit the community which District 3230 and Area 2 serve, it also opens the doors to a win-win situation wherein, the Round Tablers get a better idea of Rotary and the work it does. As RI Director P.T. Prabhakar told at the meeting, when Round Tablers complete 40, they are considered too old to continue, whereas in Rotary, 60 is considered young.

District 3230 Governor I.S.A.K Nazar said that this fusion was historic and through this we are trying to create an awareness for Round Tablers that once they complete 40, Rotary could be a natural choice for them to continue their service to society.

TRF Trustee Sushil Gupta said this joint partnership was a great initiative undertaken by District 3230, which would have far reaching results for both Rotary and Round Table. It was a worthwhile initiative to be extended to the national and international levels in the days to come which would take our service activities to a new level.

RI Director Prabhakar said that Rotary had great expectations of benefitting from the young and energetic Round Tablers. The coming together of these two dynamic organisations will take community welfare to much higher levels.

Tr. Shriram Duvurri, Area 2 Round Table India Chair said that he was very happy with this fusion between Rotary and Round Table that unites for fellowship and service to community. Appreciating the novel venture, Tr. Deepak Menda, National President, Round Table India said that it was a proud moment as both the organisations focus on a common goal to enhance the lives of the downtrodden, and that together they would direct their combined energies to realise the objec-tives of the historic MoU.

Through this MoU, both the organisations agreed to facilitate partnership between each other to undertake joint programmes to promote community development. The agreement also encourages Round Tablers to join Rotary after retirement from Round Table to continue their service to the community.

A win-win MoUTeam Rotary News

Rotary Round Table Fusion: DG Nazar and Tr. Shriram Duvurri signing the MoU in the presence of TRF Trustee Sushil Gupta, Assistant Governor Dr. A. Sangaram and Round Table National President Tr. Deepak Menda.

Rotary dignitaries with Round Tablers.

Copy r i gh t 2014 by Ro ta r y In t e rna t i ona l . A l l r i gh t s r e se r ved .

A ROTARIANS GUIDE TO PUBLIC SPEAKING

GLOBALOUTLOOKA R O T A R Y P R I M E R


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ublic speaking is one of the most common fears and as business and community leaders, Rotarians have to confront it regularly. How

do you cultivate this important skill? We devote this Global Outlook to all aspects of public speaking. Weve tapped Chris Anderson, the man behind the internationally popular TED Talks, for his advice on giving a standout presentation. We also investigate the pitfalls of presenting in a language thats not your own and explore new technologies that will take your talk from static to stellar. Struggling to get top-notch speakers to come to your club? We have tips for that too. Read on.

P


EXPERT ANALYSIS

HOW TO GIVE A KILLER

PRESENTATIONby Chris Anderson

Chris Anderson is the curator of TED, a nonprofit dedicated to spreading ideas, often through short, powerful talks.

On a trip to Nairobi, Kenya, some colleagues and I met a

12-year-old Maasai boy named Richard Turere, who told

us a fascinating story. His family raises livestock on the

edge of a vast national park, and one of the biggest

challenges is protecting the animals from lions especially at

night. Richard had noticed that placing lamps in a field didnt deter

lion attacks, but when he walked the field with a torch, the lions

stayed away. From a young age, hed been interested in electronics,

teaching himself by, for example, taking apart his parents radio.

He used that experience to devise a system of lights that would turn

on and off in sequence using solar panels, a car battery, and a

piece of motorcycle equipment and thereby create a sense of

movement that he hoped would scare off the lions. He installed the

lights, and the lions stopped attacking. Soon villages elsewhere in

Kenya began installing Richards lion lights.

The story was inspiring and worthy of the broader audience that

our TED Conference could offer, but on the surface, Richard seemed

an unlikely candidate to give a TED Talk. He was painfully shy. His

English was halting. When he tried to describe his invention, the

sentences tumbled out incoherently. And frankly, it was hard to

imagine a preteen standing on a stage in front of 1,400 people.

But Richards story was so compelling that we invited him to

speak. In the months before his talk, we worked with him to

frame his story to find the right place to begin, and to develop

a succinct and logical arc of events. On the back of his invention,

Richard had won a scholarship to one of Kenyas best schools,

where he had the chance to practice the talk several times in

front of a live audience. It was critical that he build his confidence

to the point where his personality could shine through. When he

finally gave his talk at the 2013 TED Conference in Long Beach,

Calif., you could tell he was nervous, but that only made him

more engaging people were hanging on his every word. The

confidence was there, and every time Richard smiled, the

audience melted. When he finished, the response was

instantaneous: a sustained standing ovation.

Since the first TED Conference 30 years ago, speakers have

ranged from political figures, musicians and TV personalities

who are completely at ease before a crowd, to lesser-known

academics, scientists and writers, some of whom feel deeply

uncomfortable giving presentations. Over the years, weve

sought to develop a process for helping inexperienced presenters

frame, practice and deliver talks that people enjoy watching.

On the basis of this experience, Im convinced that giving a

good talk is highly coachable. In a matter of hours, a speakers

content and delivery can be transformed from muddled to

mesmerising. And while my team has focused on TEDs

18-minutes-or-shorter format, the lessons weve learned are

surely useful to other presenters.

FRAME YOUR STORYTheres no way you can give a good talk unless you have

something worth talking about. Conceptualising and framing

what you want to say is the most vital part of preparation. When

I think about compelling presentations, I think about taking an

audience on a journey.

If you frame the talk as a journey, the biggest decisions are

figuring out where to start and where to end. To find the right

place to start, consider what people in the audience already

know about your subject and how much they care about it.

If you assume they have more knowledge or interest than they


do, or if you start using jargon or get too technical, youll lose

them. The most engaging speakers do a superb job of quickly

introducing the topic, explaining why they care so deeply about

it, and convincing the audience members that they should too.

The biggest problem I see in first drafts of presentations is that

they try to cover too much ground. Limit the scope of your talk to

what can be explained and brought to life with examples in

the available time. Go deeper and give more detail. Dont tell us

about your entire field of study tell us about your unique

contribution.

PLAN YOUR DELIVERYOnce youve got the framing down, its time to focus on your

delivery. There are three main ways to deliver a talk: You can

read it directly off a script. You can develop a set of bullet points

that map out what youre going to say in each section rather

than scripting the whole thing word for word. Or you can

memorise your talk, which entails rehearsing it to the point

where you internalise every word verbatim.

My advice: Dont read it. As soon as people

sense that youre reading, the way they

receive your talk will shift. Suddenly your

intimate connection will evaporate, and

everything will feel a lot more formal.

Many of our best and most popular TED

Talks have been memorised word for word.

Obviously, not every presentation is worth that

kind of investment of time. But if you do

decide to memorise your talk, be aware that

theres a predictable arc to the learning curve.

Most people go through what I call the valley of awkwardness,

where they havent quite memorised everything. If they give the

talk while stuck in that valley, the audience will sense it. Their

words will sound recited, or there will be painful moments when

they stare into the middle distance, or cast their eyes upward,

as they struggle to remember their lines.

Getting past this point is simple, fortunately. Its just a matter

of rehearsing enough times that the flow of words becomes

second nature. Then you can focus on delivering the talk with

meaning and authenticity.

But if you dont have time to learn a speech thoroughly and

get past that awkward valley, dont try. Go with bullet points on

notecards. As long as you know what you want to say for each

one, youll be fine. Focus on remembering the transitions from

one bullet point to the next.

DEVELOP STAGE PRESENCEWhen it comes to stage presence, a little coaching can go a long

way. The most common mistake we see in early rehearsals is that

people move their bodies too much. They sway from side to side,

or shift their weight from one leg to the other. Simply getting a

person to keep his or her lower body motionless can dramatically

improve stage presence. Some people can walk around a stage

during a presentation, and thats fine if it comes naturally. But

the vast majority are better off standing still and relying on hand

gestures for emphasis.

Perhaps the most important physical act onstage is making

eye contact. Find five or six friendly looking people in different

parts of the audience and look them in the eye as you speak.

Think of them as friends you havent seen in a year whom youre

bringing up to date on your work. That eye contact is incredibly

powerful, and it will do more than anything else to help your talk

land.

In general, people worry too much about nervousness. Nerves

are not a disaster. The audience expects you to be nervous. Its a

natural body response that can actually improve your performance:

It gives you energy to perform and keeps your mind sharp. Just

keep breathing, and youll be fine.

PLAN THE MULTIMEDIAWith so much technology at our disposal, it

may feel almost mandatory to use, at a

minimum, presentation slides. By now most

people have heard the advice about

PowerPoint: Keep it simple; dont use a slide

deck as a substitute for notes (by, say, listing

the bullet points youll discuss those are

best put on notecards); and dont repeat out

loud words that are on the slides. That advice

may seem universal by now, but go into any company and youll

see presenters violating it every day.

Many of the best TED speakers dont use slides at all, and

many talks dont require them. If you have photographs,

illustrations, or video that make the topic come alive, then yes,

show them. If not, consider doing without, at least for some

parts of the presentation. And if youre going to use slides, its

worth exploring alternatives to PowerPoint.

PUTTING IT TOGETHERUltimately, presentations rise or fall on the quality of the idea,

the narrative, and the passion of the speaker. Its about

substance, not speaking style or multimedia pyrotechnics. Its

fairly easy to coach out the problems in a talk, but theres no

way to coach in the basic story the presenter has to have

the raw material. If you have something to say, you can build a

great talk.

An extended version of this story appeared in the June 2013 Harvard Business Review.


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Sell your club. Emphasise to prospective speakers that its a big deal to present at your

club and that theyll get something out of it.

If you cant promise them a big crowd,

promise them that 20 of the top leaders in town will be

there, Caruso says. Consider changing your vocabulary:

Rather than asking someone to be the programme at your

club meeting, see if theyll be the keynote speaker at

your lunch. Take your speakers seriously, and they will

take your club seriously.

Create buzz on social media before, during,

and after the meeting. Ask your speakers for

a headshot and short video, and post them

on social media to generate interest in your

event. Ask their permission to tweet and photograph during

the meeting social media revolves around whats hap-

pening right now. A speaker would never say no to that,

Caruso says. If you took video of the presentation, post it

afterward.

Invite speakers who appeal to the members

you have and the members you want. If you

bring in presenters who are popular in the

city, chances are they will have friends,

associates, and customers of their own who could come for

the presentation. Welcome your speakers to bring their own

audience to your club meeting, and you may find prospective

new members. Also invite people you know who might be

interested in your speaker.

Start small, but think big. Finding and

promoting 52 big-name speakers may sound

daunting, but what about 12? Designate the

first meeting of each month as the speaker

showcase, and aim to double your attendance at that

meeting based on the draw of a star speaker, Caruso

suggests. Having a larger crowd increases the chances that

youll get media coverage and that other notable speakers

will come to your club as well. Dont forget to collect

business cards from visitors so you can let them know about

upcoming programmes and club events.

Imagine youre thinking of joining Rotary. You attend a club meeting, and the speaker that day is uninspiring and boring. Do you still join? Speakers hold more real estate than anyone in the Rotary meeting including the club Presidents, says Michael Angelo Caruso, Public Image Chair and Governor-nominee of District 6380 (parts of Ontario and Michigan), who teaches presentation skills to leaders and salespeople as a communications consultant. We caught up with Caruso, who has spoken to more than 400 Rotary clubs and districts around the world, at the RI Convention in Sydney, Australia, to get his take on how to make the most of your weekly speaker and land that big name.

HOW TO LAND A NOTABLE

SPEAKER FOR YOUR NEXT CLUB MEETING (IN FOUR EASY STEPS)



CANADA DONT forget its good practice to pro-vide English and French translations of documents when working in Quebec.

ARGENTINA DO be aware that as business

friendships develop in Argentina, kissing, hugging and back patting

often follow handshakes. Follow the lead of your Argentine counterparts.

BREAKING THE

LANGUAGE BARRIERPublic speaking is hard enough without the added difficulty of delivering in a foreign language. But with the right approach, anyone can learn to give an effective speech in another language. We turned to some multilingual Rotary leaders for tips on getting your message across.

DONT OVERTHINK IT. Just speak, says 200506 RI President Carl-Wilhelm Stenhammar, whose first language is Swedish. Even if the grammar is wrong, just go ahead. According to Rotary International speechwriter Abby Breitstein, it helps to remember that audiences are there to hear what you have to say, not to find out how well you speak their language.

FIND YOUR COMFORT ZONE. If youre presenting in a second language, learn what suits your proficiency level. Less-proficient speakers may need to write out the entire speech, while others will feel comfortable with an outline. Bhichai Rattakul, 200203 RI President, adapts to the occasion. A native Thai speaker who also speaks English and Chinese, he uses scripted speeches for formal events but works from notes in more casual settings.

PRACTICE UNTIL PERFECT. Even if you have a written speech, prepare it so much that you almost know it by heart, Stenhammar says. Breitstein suggests rehearsing into a voice recorder to hear how you sound, especially if youre trying to fine-tune foreign pronunciations.

HOLD THE JOKES. Humor doesnt always translate, so use it sparingly or not at all. Some people love jokes, but I am quite serious when I speak, says Rattakul, who prefers using memorable anecdotes to connect with listeners. Especially in Rotary, I find a good story that would touch the hearts of the audience, he says.


INDONESIA DO carefully look at peoples business

cards when they give them to you. Immediately putting them in a pocket

is considered disrespectful.

INDIA DONT point your foot at another person in India. Apologise if your shoes or feet touch someone else.

GERMANY DO treat business meetings

as serious occasions. Save humor for social settings.

KENYA DONT jump straight into business matters. Small talk is expected.



READY TO BUILD YOUR NEXT PRESENTATION?We tested three up-and-coming platforms that are available anywhere in the world.

PREZI WWW.PREZI.COMThis virtual whiteboard allows you to work from a sin-

gle screen that outlines the entire presentation, telling

the story by zooming in and out to cover specific top-

ics. Its cloud-based platform allows multiple users

to work on a presentation simultaneously. Available in

English, French, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean,

Portuguese and Spanish.

FLOWBOARD WWW.FLOWBOARD.COMThis iPad and Mac app allows you to create presentations

by embedding photo galleries, videos and links. Each

presentation gets a unique Flowboard URL, making your

work easy to access online and share via social media.

Flowboard allows you to import content from just about

anywhere, including Dropbox, Instagram, Facebook and

YouTube. Available in English, French, German, Italian,

Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and simplified Chinese.

HAIKU DECK WWW.HAIKUDECK.COMHaiku Deck appeals to users

with its emphasis on visuals.

Documents

Rotary news November