World Roundup – December 2014

Rotary Club of Duxbury, USA

Rotary Club of Duxbury, USA during the presidentship of Razia Jan approached Afghan Ministry of Education officials to donate a piece of land in Deh’Subz, a village 30 miles outside Kabul. Today, the Zabuli Education Centre (ZEC) is in its sixth year and has a roster of more than 400 girls in kindergarten through ninth grade. Students at ZEC are taught Dari (the local language), English and Math. As their studies progress, the curriculum expands to include Pashto (another local language), History, Science, Health and Hygiene, Geography, Religion and Reading the Quran.

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Rotary Club of Ajijic, Mexico

The club in association with Rotary Club of Lincoln, California, turned an abandoned building into the Tepehua Community Centre. For its first year, the centre provided a soup kitchen every Friday to feed over 200 women and children.  A women’s health clinic was set up and in the first 15 months, 1,000 pap-smears and breast exams were conducted, and 800 women attended family planning and counselling sessions. The Centre also provides education and counselling in the region. Current classes include sewing, arts and crafts, computer skills and English. The centre also offers auxiliary nursing classes and has certified dozens of women as auxiliary nurses. A nursery and a playground were built to provide child-care while the local women participate in the centre’s activities.

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Rotary Club of Vancouver Island, Canada

Jordan has become home to refugees fleeing from oppression and war in Palestine, Syria and Iraq. With the support of the club and teenage refugee volunteers from the Collateral Repair Project, a non-profit organisation that helps refugees create a sense of community in Jordan, an art programme has been implemented to give refugee children a creative outlet for their dreams and ambitions. Ten life-skills deemed essential by UNICEF and WHO for those coping with forced displacement is being imparted to these children.

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Rotary Club Devonport North, Australia

Learn Grow, a project supported by Rotary Club Devonport North, Australia helps people in developing countries grow local food that suits their nutritional needs. The club launched its pilot project in the Solomon Islands, producing a compendium of local edible plants, field guides for growers, and a book on crops for schools and community groups. Local organisations provide support and distribute information while a qualified agriculturist serves as a technical support specialist. The project team has received enquiries from 20 other developing countries.

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Rotary Club of Shanghai, China

The clubs raised a total of $46,000, including $21,000 in matching funds from Rotary Club of Warner Robins, USA and TRF. The Shanghai club collaborated with Vision in Practice, an organisation that provides surgical training, consultation and assistance to eye care institutions and professionals, to oversee the procedures and assist hospital staff.  The Global Grant project has introduced a low-cost, high-quality cataract surgery model into the Chinese healthcare system.

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Rotary Club of Boaz, Alabama

Installation of two water wells in Aflao, a town in the Volta region to provide clean water was undertaken by the club. With the cooperation of local leaders, who offered to provide the manual labour to extend the pipelines to their villages, the project reached nine villages. Pipe stands were set up at the villages and in places deemed important to the participating communities, including a common market, a boarding home, a school and a poultry farm.