An Interact club was chartered at the Sri Vageesha Vidhyashram Senior Secondary School, Srirangam, near Trichy in Tamil Nadu, by RC Jambukeshwaram, RID 3000, on Global Handwash Day (Oct 15). The new club was initiated by past president and Rotary Study Circle district secretary Abbas Mantri.

As the Interactors from Utterbuniyadi ­Vidyalaya in Amalsadi, a tribal village near Surat, Gujarat, worked on their cleanliness drive, the wind seemed determined to make their job harder. “The moment we started sweeping, paper bags and plastic bottles flew right past us like they had grown feet,” says Sahil Rathod, the president of the newly installed Interact club. “We couldn’t stop laughing, it was as though the wind was playing games with us. One of us even chased down a plastic bag that had taken off with the breeze.”

One day, during a conversation two Rotary club presidents from nearby districts, RIDs 3132 and 3060, got an idea of conducting an inter-district RYLA at the Ellora Caves, the UNESCO World Heritage site, with the theme ‘Culture, art and cinema’ for school students.

During his recent visit to India, incoming RI ­President Mario de Camargo inaugurated a vocational centre at a residential facility put up for special children and adults in Nagpur by RC Nagpur North, RID 3030. The cost of the vocational centre was over Rs.4 lakh.

Supported by a ₹75 lakh donation from club member B D Agarwal, RC Belur, RID 3291, aims to vaccinate 5,000 girls against cervical cancer.

In July this year, Rotary ­Bangalore South Parade, RID 3191, in association with optical products manufacturer Carl Zeiss, launched the project Gift of Sight to provide 15,000 spectacles and 1,440 ­intra-ocular lenses (IOLs) to individuals undergoing cataract treatment across Karnataka. The project will be implemented every year at the Sri Sathya Sai Sarala Memorial ­Hospital located in Sathya Sai Grama, ­Muddenahalli, in Chikkaballapur, 60km from Bengaluru.

RC Delhi Safdarjung, RID 3011, along with the NGO Smile India, organised  a dental check-up programme for 100 children with special needs at the Vision Special School in the city. Besides complete dental examination by professionals, and lessons in oral hygiene, the camp also included application of fluoride to the children’s teeth to reduce the risk of developing caries. Fluoride helps strengthen tooth enamel, making it more resistant to acid attacks from plaque bacteria and sugars in the mouth, explains club president and dentist Priya Oberoi.

The Rotary Club of Bombay Queen City, RID 3141, installed vocational skill development centres in three schools for special children

The journey of Rotary Rourkela Queens, RID 3261, with Asha Deep School began through an unexpected connection. While working on the LN-4 project, we crossed paths with Ram Chandra Behera, chairman of RRRC (Regional Rehabilitation and Research Centre), Rourkela. During one of our discussions, he reached out to our club advisor, Ajay Agarwal, asking if we could assist Asha Deep School, which was in urgent need of support. He brought the proposal to our club, and we immediately embraced it. 

Addressing a Q&A session on Rotary and Peace organised by the Rotary Club of Madras, RID 3234, past RI ­President Kalyan Banerjee shared insight into the evolution of Rotary’s peace programme and the organisation’s enduring commitment to peace. The discussion he had with club member Sanjay Madhavan touched upon various aspects of how Rotary has been involved in furthering peace worldwide since its inception. It all began with the Rotary Club of ­Hamilton, Ontario, proposing a resolution in 1914 urging the International  Association of Rotary Clubs to promote global peace.

What if something as natural as the monthy menstrual period didn’t have to be a taboo topic?” This question inspired Shruti Dharamsi, president of RC Mumbai Ghatkopar West, RID 3141, to initiate Project Masik Chakra (menstrual cycle) as the club’s signature project for the year. “In a world where conversations about menstruation and menopause are only whispered, we wanted to create a programme that would break this silence. Our goal was to help girls understand that periods and menopause are ­natural, and knowledge about them can be empowering,” she explains. Several Rotary clubs including RCs ­Chandivali Mumbai, Wada, Mumbai Nova, ­Mumbai Mulund East and Mulund Valley have participated in this project.