RIPE Olayinka Babalola visited Madurai, Tamil Nadu, in February during his India tour. HIs mission: to assess Rotarians’ efforts to strengthen membership, expand humanitarian outreach and promote inclusive service.
A touching moment awaited him at the airport where special children from the Bethsan Special School welcomed him warmly. Later that evening, the President-elect presented the charter to the school’s newly-formed Interact club and installed its president and secretary. Supported by the Rotary Club of Madurai North West, RID 3000, the school serves children with developmental needs. “Babalola interacted affectionately with the children and insisted on personally accepting the small bouquets each of them held out for him,” said club secretary S S Sivakumar.
Babalola, accompanied by RI director M Muruganandam, also participated in a cervical cancer vaccination camp sponsored by the club, where 50 Interactors from the Interact Club of Guhan Matriculation School received the vaccine.
Addressing a joint membership summit, he elaborated on Vision 2030, Rotary’s global call to increase membership to 1.25 million Rotarians and maintain Rotaract membership at 125,000 by 2030, the year Rotary celebrates its 125th anniversary. Representatives from RIDs 2981, 2982, 3000, 3203, 3206 and 3212 participated in the event. Urging district governors-elect to begin work immediately to expand and strengthen membership, he said, “I want you to reflect on how Rotary has changed you as a person. For Rotary to grow, every Rotarian must be able to share that story with friends and family and inspire them to join Rotary.” He stressed that personal transformation stories are central to meaningful membership growth.
He also called on Rotary leaders to value Rotaractors for their abilities and leadership potential.
Muruganandam explained the Red-Amber-Green (RAG) classification of clubs based on membership strength across the four zones and outlined a comprehensive seven-point agenda anchored in a “1:2:3 formula” — adding 100 Rotary clubs, 200 Rotaract clubs and 300 Interact clubs, along with 100 new Rotary Community Corps. This initiative, he said, would result in “a net growth of 10,000 Rotarians and 10,000 Rotaractors every year for the next four years.” He also called for a five per cent increase in women’s membership.
Highlighting existing gaps, he noted that nearly 3,000 clubs had not chartered even one Rotaract club, while 3,800 clubs had yet to start an Interact club. He urged district leaders to address this immediately. “The future of Rotary lies in how well we nurture our Interactors and Rotaractors today and welcome them as Rotarians tomorrow,” he said.
PRID C Basker, along with DGs, PDGs and district leaders from the six participating districts, attended the summit. Earlier, Babalola and Muruganandam interacted exclusively with Rotaract representatives.
Several major service projects were also launched at the summit. These included a ₹1.12 crore GG project to install 14 dialysis machines in healthcare institutions in Puducherry and the distribution of sewing machines to 300 disadvantaged women by RID 2981. RID 2982 launched a $137,362 GG project to construct a diabetes care block at the Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Hospital in Salem, and a check dam in Hosur.
RID 3000 aims to vaccinate 10,000 girls against cervical cancer, construct 40 school toilet blocks, and install smart boards to support digital education in schools.
RID 3206 plans to provide reconstructive surgeries to burn survivors and dialysis support to 720 patients every month. Each of the 125 Rotary clubs of RID 3212 will adopt a village and transform it during the next year, announced DGE Gandhi Krishnan.