RI President 2022-23 Jennifer
Jones
Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland
Ontario, Canada
================
Dear Fellow Rotarians, Rotaractors, and friends,
December 2022
While sitting with a group of Rotary leaders outside of Lusaka,
Zambia, I ask a question: “How many of you have ever had malaria?”
Every hand in the room goes up. They even begin to tell me about
the first, second, or third time they experienced the disease, one
of the main causes of death and sickness in many developing countries.
They are fortunate. They have access to medical treatment and lifesaving
medicines. For the people of rural Zambia, their story is very different.
On a wooden bench in a small village, I sit with Timothy and his
young son Nathan. With a camera crew capturing our conversation,
he tells me of the time Nathan showed signs of malaria. He brought
the boy to the nearby home of a community health worker, where Nathan
quickly received medicines that in all likelihood saved his life.
Calmly, Timothy tells me about his other son’s bout with the
disease a few years earlier. He had to race that son to a medical
clinic more than 5 miles away. Riding a bike and carrying his child
on his back, he tells me, he could feel his son’s legs turn
cold and then his little body go limp. As he finally entered the
clinic, he screamed for help, but it was too late. The camera stops
rolling, and we sit in silence. He begins to weep, and I hold him
tightly. “I lost my son, I lost my son,” he says.
This story is all too familiar for the families we meet over the
next few days. And yet there is hope. Partners for a Malaria-Free
Zambia is Rotary’s first Programs of Scale grant recipient,
and it is saving lives. Across two provinces of Zambia, 2,500 volunteer
health workers have been selected by their communities. They are
trained to bring medical care closer to those who need it, and they
are able to diagnose and treat malaria and other ailments. Rotary
partnerships create lasting change.
Jennifer Jones
President 2022-23
Trustee Chair's Message - December
2022
Ian H.S.
Riseley
Trustee Chair 2022-23
Sandringham, Victoria, Australia,
Trustee chair's
message
December 2022
We all make hundreds if not thousands of decisions
daily. Whenever I need to make an important decision,
I remember the words of Roy Disney, who co-founded
what became the Walt Disney Co.: “It’s
easy to make decisions when you know what your values
are.”
Each of us brings a set of personal values into our
clubs. Rotary also unites by a set of core values
— service, fellowship, diversity, integrity,
and leadership — that guide our decisions and
galvanize us to take action and, by doing so, change
the world.
Another value is inextricable to Rotary: our giving
spirit. From the club members who volunteer their
time for service projects to the Rotary leaders in
the Arch Klumph Society who sustain our Foundation,
Rotary members are among the most generous people
I have ever met. Combining our personal generosity
with the countless ways Rotary affords us to give
back makes us a global force for good.
In Rotary, we take it a step further. We also value
good stewardship, planning, and sustainability. Not
only do we give, but in Rotary we also give smart.
We know that building sustainability into our projects
means their impact will be felt over the long term.
In short, through the Foundation, your gifts keep
on giving.
This is why donating to The Rotary Foundation is one
of the most intelligent decisions you can make. You
know that your gift will align with those values you
hold dear and that it will be administered by your
fellow Rotarians, who share those values.
It is quite an understatement to say that in giving
to Rotary, we also receive. As someone who has been
privileged to visit hundreds of Foundation projects
around the world, I can tell you that the gift we
get in return is priceless.
I hope you, too, will be as lucky I have been, to
see the look of amazement on the face of a person
at an eye clinic in Chennai, India, who now sees clearly.
The proud smiles of Guatemalan children who learned
to read thanks to Rotary. Or the grateful tears of
a parent in Pakistan whose child has received two
drops of polio vaccine. Then you will understand what
I’m talking about. We are so fortunate to be
able to serve humanity by supporting our Foundation.
During this season of giving, I thank you for your
generosity to The Rotary Foundation and for all the
ways you give to our great organization. Juliet and
I extend our warmest holiday greetings to you all.
http://www.endpolio.org/donate.
Ian H.S. Riseley
Trustee Chair 2022-23
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