Dear Fellow Rotarians, visitors and guests!
WELCOME TO OUR E-CLUB!
Thank you for stopping by our club meeting! We hope you will enjoy your visit.
Our E-Club banner is shown at left! Please send us a virtual copy of your club banner and we will send you a copy of our new club banner in exchange. We will also display your club banner proudly on our meeting website.
Although our E-club has Provisional status at this time, we hope you will find the content of our meeting enlightening and will give us the benefit of your opinion on the content.
May has arrived at Rotary. We are at the Rotary District Conference in BVI.
The Rotary District Conference in Tortola is very exciting. There is lots of news to report, and I wish that I could that right now - but it will have to wait.
For all our members, there will be news upcoming regarding the ways that we can move forward to become a very successful E-Club - and I will be following up individually with each one of our club members. So, please watch for that exciting information!
In the meantime, please enjoy the meeting. Information on how to apply for a make-up is displayed here and also at the end of the meeting so that you don't have to scroll back.
Visiting Rotarians. Click this link to Apply for a Make-up. We will send you and your club secretary a make-up confirmation.
Active Members. Click here to sign in.
Happy Hour Hangout. Our Happy Hour Hangout is held on Saturday mornings - early enough so that you can join before your day gets away from you.
We meet for a live chat and sometimes business discussion. If you are interested in dropping by, please click the link below. Morning coffee is on the house! (Your house, that is...) Hope to see you there!
Please note: Now, attending our HHH will earn you a make-up!
The Happy Hour Hangout has been cancelled for this week because we are attending the District 7020 Conference in Tortola.
Interested in joining us? Click the link Membership Application and Information.
Our Provisional President, Kitty, would now like to welcome you to this week's meeting. Please listen in...
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ROTARY E-CLUB OF THE CARIBBEAN, 7020
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ABCs OF ROTARY (Cliff Dochterman)
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| Cliff Dochterman RI President, 1992-93 |
Youth Exchange
Rotary Youth Exchange is one of Rotary's most popular programs to promote international understanding and develop lifelong friendships.
It began in 1927 with the Rotary Club of Nice, France. In 1939, an extensive Youth Exchange was created between California and Latin America. Since then, the program has expanded around the world. In recent years, more than 7,000 young people have participated annually in Rotary-sponsored exchange programs.
The values of Youth Exchange are experienced not only by the high school-age students involved but also by the host families, sponsoring clubs, receiving high schools and the entire community. Youth Exchange participants usually provide their fellow students in their host schools with excellent opportunities to learn about customs, languages, traditions and family life in another country.
Youth Exchange offers young people interesting opportunities and rich experiences to see another part of the world. Students usually spend a full academic year abroad, although some clubs and districts sponsor short-term exchanges of several weeks or months.
Approximately 36 per cent of Rotary Youth Exchange students are hosted or sent by the clubs in the United States and Canada. European countries account for about 40 per cent, and 12 per cent come from Australia and New Zealand.
Asian clubs sponsor 5 per cent, and 7 per cent come from Latin American countries. Over 70 per cent of all Rotary districts participate in Youth Exchange activities.
Youth Exchange is a highly recommended program for all Rotary clubs as a practical activity for the enhancement of international understanding and goodwill.
No Personal Privileges
Frequently, friends ask whether Rotarians receive special business benefits from their Rotary membership. Should Rotarians expect a special discount or some preferential service just because they are dealing with a fellow Rotarian?
The answer is clearly "no." The Rotary Manual of Procedure expressly states the Rotary position on this matter. The policy, originally approved by the RI Board of Directors in 1933, is that in business and professional relations "a Rotarian should not expect, and far less should he ask for, more consideration or advantages from a fellow Rotarian than the latter would give to any other business or professional associate with whom he has business relations."
On the other hand, if new or increased business comes as the natural result of friendship created in Rotary, it is the same normal development which takes place outside of Rotary as well as inside, so it is not an infringement on the ethics of Rotary membership.
It is important to remember that the primary purpose of Rotary membership is to provide each member with a unique opportunity to serve others, and membership is not intended as a means for personal profit or special privileges.
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BEST FRIENDS
Dog and Lion Cub
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SIX AREAS OF FOCUS for Rotary International
• Peace and conflict prevention/resolution
• Disease prevention and treatment
• Water and sanitation
• Maternal and child health
• Basic education and literacy
• Economic and community development
LESSONS IN SUSTAINABILITY
Years ago, Marilyn Fitzgerald learned valuable lessons about sustainability from an impoverished rice farmer in Indonesia.
The events that followed became the subject of her recently published book, “If I Had a Water Buffalo,” and have shaped her thinking about sustainability, a key principle of The Rotary Foundation’s new grant model. Fitzgerald now shares those lessons with Rotary clubs she visits, which recently included the Rotary Club of Evanston Lighthouse, in Illinois, USA.
Water buffalo, piglets, hens
Fitzgerald relates how she persuaded her family to give her money as a Christmas gift so she could buy the farmer a water buffalo. The result was that he was able to triple his crop yield, increase his income, and therefore send his children to school.
The next year, women in the village wanted 20 piglets to raise, breed, and sell. Then the children wanted hens so they could make and sell an egg snack popular in the area. Eventually, many community members increased their self-sufficiency.
“For less than US$1,200, they were [able to send] their own children to school,” Fitzgerald says. By contrast, “I was up to a $72,000 budget on the school project. I had never even asked them what they wanted.”
The most important thing any Rotarian can do to make a project sustainable, she says, is to listen. The local community has to be involved in all stages of a project, from identifying a need to coming up with a solution to implementing that solution.
“At the end of the day, they have to feel good about themselves,” Fitzgerald says. “They need to feel so good about themselves that they can go on with the effort themselves.”
She defines sustainability as the ability of a project to continue once the donations end.
“A lot of people tell me a project is sustainable because they have long-term donors or they have all these clubs involved,” she says. “But that’s not true. If the donors walk away, what happens to the project?”
Fitzgerald, a clinical psychologist, is a board member of the Rotary Action Group for Microcredit and serves as microcredit adviser and economic and community development coordinator for District 6290. She says she likes microfinance projects because a well-run program lets the beneficiaries come up with their own business plan, while Rotarians provide the capital and act as mentors.
What they really wanted was cell phones
During her Evanston appearance, Fitzgerald relayed another story, about visiting a village to pursue a sanitation project for her club, only to discover that the villagers really wanted cell phones.
“I thought, no way is my club going to go for cell phones.” But when she probed further, she discovered that the villagers wanted the phones so they could relay business decisions – such as what color fabric is really selling well – to their markets more than a day’s journey from the village.
“If we provide cell phones and [villagers] increase their income, then they can buy these other things,” says Fitzgerald. “We absolutely have to talk to our beneficiaries and ask them what they want. We need to educate them about the possibilities, then let them determine the solution that’s right for them.”
She says she used to believe that any charity was better than none, but she no longer feels that way.
“I believe we can cause great harm when we build programs that people become dependent on,” she says. “Charity robs people of choice, voice, and dignity.”
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VIDEO - What is Sustainability?
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SPEAKER - Every Kid Needs a Champion (7 minutes)
Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, "They don't pay me to like the kids." Her response: "Kids don't learn from people they don’t like.’” A rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect with them on a real, human, personal level.
Rita F. Pierson has spent her entire life in or around the classroom, having followed both her parents and grandparents into a career as an educator.
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Rita F. Pierson, a professional educator since 1972, has taught elementary school, junior high and special education. She’s been a counselor, a testing coordinator and an assistant principal. In each of these roles, she’s brought a special energy to the role -- a desire to get to know her students, show them how much they matter and support them in their growth, even if it’s modest.
For the past decade, Pierson has conducted professional development workshops and seminars for thousands of educators. Focusing on the students who are too often under-served, she lectures on topics like “Helping Under-Resourced Learners,”“Meeting the Educational Needs of African American Boys" and "Engage and Graduate your Secondary Students: Preventing Dropouts."
"Parents make decisions for their children based on what they know, what they feel will make them safe. And it is not our place [as educators] to say what they do is 'wrong.' It's our place to say maybe we can add a set of rules that they don't know about."
--Rita Pierson
Click this link to view the video. Click your browser's BACK button to return to the video.
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SPEAKER - ELECTRONIC TATTOOS (6 minutes)
What if Andy Warhol had it wrong, and instead of being famous for 15 minutes, we’re only anonymous for that long?
In this short talk, Juan Enriquez looks at the surprisingly permanent effects of digital sharing on our personal privacy. He shares insight from the ancient Greeks to help us deal with our new “digital tattoos.”
A broad thinker who studies the intersection of science, business and society, Juan Enriquez has a talent for bridging disciplines to build a coherent look ahead.
Enriquez was the founding director of the Harvard Business School Life Sciences Project, and has published widely on topics from the technical (global nucleotide data flow) to the sociological (gene research and national competitiveness), and was a member of Celera Genomics founder Craig Venter's marine-based team to collect genetic data from the world's oceans.
Formerly CEO of Mexico City's Urban Development Corporation and chief of staff for Mexico's secretary of state, Enriquez played a role in reforming Mexico's domestic policy and helped negotiate a cease-fire with Zapatista rebels. He is a Managing Director at Excel Medical Ventures, a life sciences venture capital firm, and the chair and CEO of Biotechonomy, a research and investment firm helping to fund new genomics firms. The Untied States of America looks at the forces threatening America's future as a unified country.
"Juan Enriquez will change your view of change itself."
--Nicholas Negroponte
"“Those of us of a certain age grew up expecting that by now we would have Rosie the Robot from ‘The Jetsons’ in our house. And all we’ve got is a Roomba.”"
--Juan Enriquez
Click this link to view this thought-provoking video. Click your browser's BACK button to return to the meeting.
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ROTARY WINS AN AWARD
At left - RI President-elect Ron Burton and wife, Jetta, Foundation Trustee Chair Wilfrid J. Wilkinson, Past RI President Luis Vicente Giay, RI President Sakuji Tanaka, RI General Secretary John Hewko, and Celia Elena Cruz de Giay at the awards banquet.
Rotary has received a silver Edison Award in recognition of the Future Vision Plan, the new grant model that enhances the scope, impact, and sustainability of humanitarian and educational projects funded by The Rotary Foundation.
Since 1987, the Edison Awards have recognized innovative new products, services and business leaders in the United States. The awards symbolize the persistence and excellence personified by Thomas Edison. Winners represent active contributors to the cause of innovation in the world.
RI President Sakuji Tanaka accepted the award during the annual Edison Awards gala held 25 April in Chicago, the city where Rotary was founded in 1905. The Future Vision Plan received top honors among funding models competing in the Lifestyle and Social Impact category. Nominee ballots were judged by a panel of more than 3,000, including members of seven associations that represent a wide range of industries and disciplines.
“This Edison Award recognizes and validates Rotary’s innovative approach to humanitarian service, as we constantly strive to improve lives and communities by addressing the world’s most pressing problems,” says Tanaka. “It is a great honor to accept such a prestigious award on behalf of Rotary’s global membership of 1.2 million men and women.”
The Edison Award coincides with the successful completion of a three-year pilot in which 100 Rotary districts in more than 70 countries tested Rotary’s new grant model.
The Future Vision Plan simplifies Rotary’s grant process, and focuses Rotarian service efforts where they will have the greatest impact. The model is innovative in combining Rotary’s volunteer base and a global reach with local resources to support sustainable, high-impact results in communities all over the world. The model funds more than US$100 million in service projects annually.
The new grant model will be implemented 1 July for Rotary clubs worldwide.
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AMAZING GEOGRAPHY LESSON
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WASRAG - Water and Sanitation Rotary Action Group
... A small child takes my hand, and with a big smile, leads me over to her new toilet block. I am visiting a rural school near Dodoma in Tanzania. Before Rotarians got involved, this primary school sent the school children, all 800 of them, out to the edge of the field to defecate. And, with no source of water and no soap, hand washing was out of the question.
Rotarians are making a difference, helping to improve access to water, sanitation, and hygiene education (WASH), one of The Rotary Foundation’s six areas of focus. Wasrag, Water & Sanitation Rotarian Action Group, supports Rotary Clubs and Districts in their work, by providing help with education, technical advice, networking, and funding.
Don’t miss one of the most exciting events in this year’s Rotary calendar!
The World Water Summit, held immediately before the RI convention on Friday, June 21., has a great agenda that will appeal to everyone interested in WASH. Poor (or no) sanitation is emerging as the most critical barrier to improving life for millions of people. And yet it is so often ignored. Hence this year’s focus on sanitation.
WWSV features some of the world’s foremost experts on sanitation and hygiene, including:
• Jack Sim, President, World Toilet Organization, Singapore
• Dr. Kamal Kar, Founder, Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS), Kolkata, India
• Caterina Fonseca, WASH Cost Project Director, IRC, The Hague
NEW THIS YEAR!
Take part in the first Wasrag Speed Project Fair, an innovative approach to sharing project opportunities! Register Now! For information or to register go to: www.wasrag.org
Rotarians the world-over strive to improve the quality of life for those less fortunate. Yet today 1.1 billion people - 15% of the planet’s population, uses no form of sanitation. In developing regions almost half the population – 2.5 billion – still lack access to improved sanitation.
Access to safe water has improved dramatically but there is so much more to do. We recognize that access to water is the first step in improving the quality of life. But it will only be sustainable if it is accompanied by improved sanitation, and hygiene education to sustain better hygiene practices.
Join your fellow Rotarians, Friday June 21, in Lisbon, to improve your skills, make new friends, and share your knowledge and experiences. For more information see: www.wasrag.org
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TO END OUR MEETING
To end our meeting, please recite aloud (on your honour!) the Rotary Four-Way Test of the things we think, say, and do.
Roger White from St. Thomas, USVI, leads us.
1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it BUILD GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
...and official close of meeting
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Thank you for stopping by our E-club meeting! We wish you well in the next week in all that you do for Rotary!
The meeting has now come to an end. Please do have a safe and happy week! If you have enjoyed our E-club meeting, please leave a comment below.
Rotary cheers!
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Visiting Rotarians. Click this link to Apply for a Make-up. We will send you and your club secretary a make-up confirmation.
Active Members. Click here to sign in.
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HAPPY HOUR HANGOUT
Apologies!
Our HHH has been postponed and rescheduled because of our District Conference this week. Join us next week.
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