Local civic and government officials and representatives from ten Rotary clubs at the 2019 World Polio Day event. Photo by David Andrews By David F. Andrews, three-time past president, Rotary Club of Oshawa-Parkwood, Ontario, Canada, and chair of District 7070’s Public Image Committee After many years of celebrating World Polio Day with proclamations, updates from…
A hybrid meeting setup with a webcam on a dampened tripod, a laptop, and a projector. By Patrick Eakes, Zone 33 Rotary Coordinator Patrick Eakes In our area, the global pandemic arrived like an unwelcome dinner guest. Within a matter of days after the first local case of COVID-19, my Rotary club’s meeting location closed,…
Rudy Balmater By Rudy C. Balmater, membership committee chair, Rotary Club of Jakarta Gambir, Indonesia In early 2019, I received an online membership inquiry from Dicky Armando, who lived in Pontianak in the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan. Pontianak is about 735 kilometres away from Jakarta and reachable by airplane in less than two hours.…
A delegation of 30 Papua New Guinea participants funded by the Evangelical Lutheran Church take part in the Global Cyber Peace Conference. Elaine Pratley By Elaine Pratley, Rotary Peace Fellow This has not been an easy year. I attended my first virtual funeral because of local lockdowns due to COVID-19. Friends have lost jobs and…
David Jones and his wife, Judy, in San Francisco in 2006. By David Jones, president-elect of the Rotary Club of Upper Arlington/Grandview (TriVillage), Columbus, Ohio, USA In 2008, my world changed when my wife of 29 years was killed by an impaired driver. She was returning from a college visit with our 17-year-old daughter. My…
In March, members of Rotary, Rotaract, and Interact from both Pakistan and India gathered together at Kartarpar Sabib a shrine holy to Sikhs. By Sajid Pervaiz, past governor of District 3272, member of the Rotary Club of Ruryila, Pakistan In March, members of Rotary, Rotaract, and Interact from both Pakistan and India gathered together at…
S.R. Yogananda By S.R. Yogananda, past district governor, past regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, and a member of the Rotary Bangalore East, Bengaluru, India The year was 1987. I had come back from the Sultanate of Oman and was running a consumer products distribution company in Bangalore, India, when a business executive came to my office…
Rotary members load boxes of assembled face shields for Form5 Prosthetics. With the help of Rotary members in New Albany, Ohio, USA, the company has produced more than 5,000 face shields for health workers. By Michelle Davis, past president of the Rotary Club of New Albany, Ohio, USA, and an assistant governor in District 6690…
The group study exchange team during a field visit with their hosts in Maryland, USA, in 1990. By Rakesh K. Gaur, former Group Study Exchange team member As a citizen of India, I have been troubled by my country’s population growth, economic crisis, poverty, crimes against women, and child abuse. I had the privilege of…
Members of the Rotary Club of San Antonio, Texas, sort items for a food drive in a school parking lot. By Nathan Rizzo, Rotary Club of San Antonio, Texas, USA I have been a member of my club for two years, but it was in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that I learned what…