No matter how modern we become, the natural bleeding process (menstruation) in women is still considered taboo in Nepal; many students miss their school during this time. This taboo has resulted in, as well as women dying from exposure because they are forced to remain outdoors.
The Asha Project, in collaboration with the Rotaract Club of Damak in Nepal, conducted a training class on menstruation hygiene and distributed reusable sanitary pads free of charge to the community. Women groups were trained on how to make environmentally friendly sanitary pads. This project will allow the Nepali women to make their own pads. Many local students are not able to purchase sanitary pads and miss school during their period.
The major goal of this project was to break the myth that women are untouchable during their period and provide knowledge about menstruation and make them mentally, physically and economically strong.
Thank you Sapana Kandangwa (Limboo), President of the Damak Rotaract Club for her dedication and service to the needy people of Nepal.
Rotary Club of Cranford is asking for donations to help one of their members whose husband is paralyzed after a biking accident. As shown below, Sue Ulaky is an active Rotarian with service as both adviser to and supervisor of the club's EarlyAct and Interact Clubs. The family has many needs, not the least of which is renovating their home to accommodate his mobility issues. One of our own club members worked as acting superintendent of schools in Cranford and knows Sue Ulaky as a dedicated employee and key to the success of Interact and EarlyAct.
District 7475's Rotary Dare to be Great EClub is a global club with members from all over the world. As a global club, we do not have a local community. Our mission: "Being of the greatest service to our community called Earth."
We believe the amount of good we can accomplish is dependent on how many Rotarians we are, the audacity of our projects and the engagement of our members. So much so that one of our club's goals, registered at Rotary International Club Central, is to support all clubs worldwide in growing their membership, maximizing engagement and thereby maximizing impact (and the image of Rotary).
RI President Shekhar Mehra called for all Clubs to "Do More and Grow More!" We seek to help clubs do both of these.
We also look to "create extraordinary opportunities for people (members) to do more with their lives than they ever dreamed possible." (PRIP Sir Clem Renouf paraphrased).
We therefore look for project opportunities that:
Are likely to get the mass media talking about Rotary (i.e. be newsworthy to a degree likely to capture the interest of the mass media)
Are likely to result in local participation and local public interest
Are likely to be viewed as significantly worthy by the local population
We are currently pursuing several projects that would create opportunities for local Rotary (and Rotaract) clubs. Here is one that should be of interest.
Global Rotary Debate Competition (Pilot):
This is a pilot project for a program that originated with Rotary in India that was done for a number of years. In 2021, the competition went international (virtual) and our club had teams from six countries in the finals, one of which won third place and $1,000. From this event, a plan to make the competition into the world's largest, global debate competition evolved, with the potential of eventually having more than 30,000 teams from every Rotary District competing for more than $700,000 in prizes.
This year we would like to run a pilot in the 8 Rotary Districts in NJ, eastern PA and southern New York with more than 500 debate teams competing for more than $10,000 in prizes. Each debate team would consist of two people, one arguing the pro- and the other the con-side of thought-provoking topics.
We look to partner with debate associations and organizations affiliated with the UN in communicating this opportunity to the more than 3,500 high school debate clubs in the competition area in the next week or so. The competition would take place in 3 tiers at 2-week intervals starting in late March.
There would ideally be 8 qualifying competition rounds of eight teams each in each of the eight districts followed by a semi-final at the district level and each district would then send one team to the overall final competition round.
Ideally, each competition round would be decided by a combination of the scores from a team of judges (following guidance on judging criteria) and votes from the general public, who would be invited to view a live stream and vote online. (More opportunity for publicity for Rotary in the local area.)
We see 2 levels of opportunity for Rotary/Rotaract clubs in these eight districts:
To promote the competition and sponsor teams from 1 or 2 high schools in their club area. (There is roughly enough space in the competition for each of the 500 plus Rotary/Rotaract clubs in the competition area to sponsor a team. There will be a $25 registration fee for each competing team.)
To host a debate competition round. There will be opportunities for 8 clubs from each District to host a competition round. And an opportunity for one Club to host a District semi-final round. (This would involve 2 to 3 members of a club spending 3-4 hours moderating the competition round on a Zoom call following a minute-by-minute guide for running such a competition.
We will be providing all clubs with a competition kit, consisting of:
A competition flyer (to send to local schools and media)
Communication templates for emails to schools, local media, etc. (These are complimenting communications to those sent out directly to schools and media by the competition organizing group to make sure these parties know that there is a local Rotary Club also.)
In addition, a competition website is being finalized that has all the complete details for promoting and hosting a competition round, including:
a detailed checklist and templates for emails for inviting competition judges, pre- and post- communication with the media, communicating with participating debate teams, etc.
Social media templates for informing the general public about the competition and voting process and rules.
Detailed instructions for setting up the infrastructure for the competition round (simple Zoom event with streaming to enable voting by the public) including who would be needed to do what during the competition (moderators, judges, backend communication monitors, timekeeper, etc.)
Detailed instructions for moderators, judges, timekeepers, communication monitors during the competition. To include a minute-by-minute breakdown of who is expected to do what when and even video examples showing a competition around being hosted.
As mentioned more information will be following shortly.
This is an opportunity for clubs to provide some members with an exciting project, to get a lot of people in their local community talking about a Rotary-led initiative (especially local students and their families and all those who might vote in the competition) and an opportunity to get the local media reporting about an interesting Rotary project.
This is just one of a number of projects of the Rotary Dare to be Great EClub aimed at having a major impact on important issues while generating positive publicity for Rotary. Another is a pilot project aimed at demonstrating the ability to dramatically improve the average education outcome for the entire state (raising the achievement level of almost all those currently in the bottom 10% to the equivalent of the top 20% in just one year). A first in the nation project of this scope and ambition would result in massive mass media attention if it succeeds even moderately. "Close the Education Gap NJ"
Anyone interested in knowing more or perhaps participating in the preparations for this debate competition (strategizing, planning, developing or quality control of communication templates, etc) or wanting to express interest in potentially hosting a competition round, or to simply find out more about the audacious projects of the Rotary Club that seeks to be the go-to place for people crazy enough to think they can change the world and daring enough to try, please contact Bill Graham at wmgraham1@hotmail.com or 908-377-5490.