A visit to Goa by RI President Yinka Babalola, as part of his India tour in August, saw 35 new Rotaract clubs chartered in RID 3170. Addressing Rotaractors at a meet hosted by RC Porvorim, he congratulated the new clubs and reminded Rotarians that chartering was only the beginning.
“An empowered member is a member for life,” said Babalola, urging sponsoring Rotary clubs to orient, mentor and groom their Rotaractors. Recalling his own journey as a Rotaractor, he said, “Rotary found me and invested in me.” That investment has brought him to where he is today. “We have all benefitted from this organisation and it is about time we give back to Rotary. Let’s now groom the next generation to take on the reins so that Rotary continues its journey.”
To the Rotaractors, the RI President said, “Don’t wait for permission. Step forward, speak up and take the initiative. Leadership is about action.”
Later, at a TRF thanksgiving programme, Babalola thanked Rotarians for their generosity towards “our Rotary Foundation,” stressing that it belongs to Rotarians. “If you refer to it as ‘the’ Rotary Foundation, it is as though it belongs to some people somewhere else, and we are just being asked to help. But it is our Rotary Foundation,” he noted.
He urged Rotarians to look beyond immediate outcomes to lasting impact. “Change is just the beginning. Impact is what endures,” he said, illustrating the difference through Together for Healthy Families in Nigeria, a 2022 TRF Programs of Scale initiative. The pilot, in northern Nigeria near the Cameroon border, aimed to reduce maternal and infant mortality by 25 per cent. After two years, maternal mortality had fallen by about 35 per cent and infant mortality by about 50 per cent.
During a visit to one of the health centres, the chief medical officer told him that Rotary had begun working there about 17 months earlier and that, in the preceding 12 months, no mother or child had died at the facility. “That is what impact means,” he said.
We have all benefitted from this organisation and it is about time we give back to Rotary. Let’s now groom the next generation to take on the reins so that Rotary continues its journey.
He shared a similar lesson from his own club. Initially, members donated mosquito nets, birth kits and anaemia tablets, but later realised that many recipients did not need them. The club changed its approach, identifying women who could not afford even the registration fee for prenatal care. It paid their fees, provided mosquito nets and promised newborn kits. At the next immunisation programme, “as we got there, the health workers pointed to the children and told us, ‘Rotary, that’s your baby.’ They were now ‘Rotary babies.’ It did not cost us extra in terms of money, but we created impact because we thought a little harder.”
Congratulating RID 3170 on its upcoming bifurcation, Babalola said its growth reflected a healthy organisation. He warned that clubs that do not induct new members have “a destined handshake with extinction,” while districts that do not create new clubs face “a destined handshake with merger.” In a lighter vein, he said continued mergers could eventually mean district conferences in neighbouring Pakistan or Bangladesh.
RI director K P Nagesh echoed the call for stronger engagement with young members. Rotarians should handhold Rotaractors through sports and cultural events, RYLA, picnics and industrial visits, helping them sustain their interest in Rotary, he said. He also addressed the concern over Rotaract dues, pointing out that “the annual $5 contribution was small compared with the opportunities and lifelong lessons Rotary offers.”
Nagesh also announced an ambitious target of 1,000 new Rotaract clubs and one lakh Rotaractors in India by September 30, a commitment he made along with co-director and Vice President M Muruganandam, as well as a plan for at least 10 medical missions to Africa. “We have sought the Prime Minister’s support to facilitate regular Indian medical teams to African countries, potentially one or two teams every month,” he said.
TRF trustee A S Venkatesh noted that India’s Foundation contributions had risen from less than $20 million six or seven years ago to more than $45 million last year, making India the world’s second-largest giving country. He challenged Rotarians to aim for $100 million.
Complimenting RC Panaji Riviera’s international service project of setting up an NICU at a hospital in Kano, Nigeria, and training doctors there to handle emergencies, he said, “I am glad to see India evolve as a donor country from a recipient country. I recall those days when we would carry to the international assembly a bunch of booklets detailing projects that we intend doing, seeking funds from developed countries.”
RID 3192 Governor Ravishankar Dakoju introduced Dhanyavad — an India-wide environment and education initiative of planting one million saplings, setting up one lakh water bowls for animals and birds, and support for 5,000 schools in tribal regions — to the Rotaractors. “Your generation must practise minimalism,” he told them, announcing that he and his wife Paola had pledged 85 per cent of their wealth to TRF.
DG Lenny da Costa pledged 100 new Rotaract clubs, 52 new Rotary clubs and more than 300 Interact clubs in RID 3170.
The Rotary leaders participated in the Independence Day event at the invitation of Goa CM Pramod Sawant.
At Kolkata (RID 3291), Babalola, along with RI Vice President Muruganandam, distributed wheelchairs to 150 physically challenged people after visiting Rotary Sadan, the Children’s Library, Cultural Activity Centre and the Peace Pole. DG Tapas Bhattacharya welcomed the Rotary leaders.
In Delhi, an MoU was signed in the presence of President Babalola, RI VP Muruganandam and director Nagesh between Dakoju and RI districts 3011 and 3012, led by their respective DGs Ajeet Jalan and Amit Gupta.
The MoU creates a long-term framework to support Project Dhanyavad in the two districts in accordance with TRF policies. It emphasises continuity beyond individual Rotary leadership terms with joint district implementation, a coordination committee and the involvement of successive district leadership to ensure proper selection, monitoring and stewardship of projects.
In Varanasi, President Babalola, accompanied by RI VP Muruganandam and RI director Basu Dev Golyan, addressed a multidistrict membership summit for Rotarians of RID 3100, 3110, 3120, 3250 and 3261, and appreciated their contributions to TRF.