Rotary Youth Exchange alumni network at the 2023 Rotary International convention in Melbourne, Australia. By Jimmy Musiime, past president of the Rotary Club of Kabale, Uganda In 2015, I was honored to receive the Royce and Jean Abbey Scholarship Award, a vocational scholarship that allowed me to stay with Australian farmers for three months studying…
Massimo Ballotta By Massimo Ballotta, Rotary coordinator for Zone 14 and member of the Rotary Club of Feltre, Italy People used to see my Rotary pin and ask me, “What is Rotary?” To be honest, I didn’t always have a quick answer. This is a problem, because surveys tell us that we only have a…
Lis Mullin Bernhardt is a past Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar and program officer for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). By Lis Mullin Bernhardt, Freshwater Unit, Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, United Nations Environment Programme In January, a professional dream came true for me. After more than five years of working toward the moment, two global organizations I…
How to inspire others through storytelling Mary Shackleton is an Endowment/Major Gifts subcommittee chair for District 7230 (New York, Bermuda, USA) By Mary Shackleton, District 7230 Endowment/Major Gifts subcommittee chair Do you have an answer ready if you are asked, Why Rotary? Even seasoned Rotary members struggle to answer this seemingly basic question if we’re…
A coimmunity health worker tests a woman for malaria in Zambia. Eric Liswaniso, Programs Manager, Malaria-Free Zambia When we launched Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia (PMFZ) in March of 2021, one of our objectives was to establish a Rotary club in at least one of the districts we would be serving. On 15 June, that…
Aimé Césaire Mpangaje By Aimé Césaire Mpangaje, District 2150 deputy polio coordinator, member Rotary Club of Fleurus-Aéropole, Belgium I have had a long journey with polio. My story is one of resilience in the face of this devastating disease. It is why I share this message with those I meet: Do not forget them, do…
By Ayda Özeren, past governor of District 2440 (Türkiye) The Olympic Games in Paris are especially delightful this year. They mark a historic milestone in gender equality. After 128 years, an equal number of male and female athletes are participating. For the first time, the number of male and female athletes will be equal in…
Joe Otin By Joe Otin, past governor of Rotary District 9212 (Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan) I gravitate naturally to statistics despite the negative feelings some people have about them. I think that information is the fuel that our world runs on and without it our systems will sputter, stall, and shut down. That is…
Front and back of the What’s Rotary wallet card available to download on My Rotary. By Beth Kotz The world moves quickly and you may have less than 60 seconds to make an impression that lasts. Enter the elevator pitch, so named to reflect the short period of time it takes to travel between floors.…
Gaetano Scamarcio, far right bottom row, and members of the Rotary Club of Bari. Gaetano Scamarcio By Gaetano Scamarcio, 1994-95 Ambassadorial Scholar sponsored by the Rotary Club of Bari, Italy, and District 2120 About 30 years ago, I discovered Rotary’s programs for aiding young people in achieving their dreams, which struck me profoundly. At the…