Service project booths show off good works of Rotary

I n addition to offering exciting activities and live entertainment, the 2010 House of Friendship in the Palais des congrès gives Rotary clubs and districts a chance to showcase a variety of service projects, from those helping to advance literacy to others providing clean and safe drinking water to millions.

More than 60 Rotary clubs or districts joined Rotary Action Groups, Rotary Fellowships, and outside aid organizations in setting up booths to promote their projects at the House of Friendship. Here is a sampling of those efforts:

Learn Grow
District 9830 (Australia)

Learn Grow helps people in developing countries learn how to grow local foods and plants that are adapted to their area. They are also taught how to choose the plants with the highest level of nutrients that are missing in their diet.

"One example: Hundreds of thousands of people in the world go blind through lack of vitamin A. Often in those places, there are plants that are very rich in vitamin A, all around them, that are naturally growing. It’s just the connections are not being made."
-- Lawrence Green, Rotary Club of Devonport North, Tasmania, Australia
Link : www.learngrow.org

Jaipur limb project
Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland

The Jaipur limb was developed by P.K. Sethi, winner of the Rotary Award for World Understanding and Peace in 2001. Limbs can be made by trained local technicians in about two to three hours for an average cost of US$15. The project sponsors limb clinics and permanent centers in many parts of the world.

"I’ve seen the recipients after they receive their limbs. Within a couple of hours, they’ll be using it like they never lost a leg. It’s freedom for them."
-- Subrahmanyam Ganesh, Rotary Club of Merthyr Tydfil, Mid Glamorgan, Wales
Link : www.rotaryjaipurlimb.co.uk

New Life International
District 6580 (Indiana, USA)

New Life International provides purified water to villages in Uganda through a purification system that uses an ordinary pound of salt and a 12-volt battery to chlorinate up to 55 gallons of water a minute.

"Nearly one billion people lack access to safe water. One filter can provide enough safe drinking water for a village of a thousand."
-- Brent Hulett, New Life International
Link : www.waterfortheworld.com

Global Feast to Benefit People with Inherited Blood Disorders
District 5420 (Utah, USA)

This project raises awareness of inherited blood disorders, such as hemophilia and Von Willebrand disease, which affects as many as 1 out of 100 people. It aims to remove the stigma of the disorders and encourage more people to get treatment.

"People with hemophilia who do not get proper treatment generally die before they reach the age of 20 or 21. But with treatment, they can lead fairly normal lives."
-- Paula Bell, Rotary Club of Sugar House (Salt Lake City), Utah, USA
Link : www.globalfeast.org

Adopt a Village
District 5130 (California, USA)

Through Rotary Foundation Matching Grant projects, Adopt a Village seeks to improve the quality of life in poor villages by addressing three issues at once: health, food production, and education. The projects provide clean drinking water and malaria prevention resources; supply villagers with chickens, cows, pigs, or honey bees; and promote literacy by funding school supplies and giving villagers a source of income.

"Some of these families eat one meal a day, and it’s a starchy root. If we increase their diets, the kids are healthier, the parents are healthier, and they can work more."
-- Kathleen Mayhew, Rotary Club of Sebastopol, California, USA
Link: www.toadoptavillage.org

Sleeping Children Around the World
Rotary Club of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

Sleeping Children provides money to Rotary clubs in Africa and South America, which make bed kits with local items, and finds children who need them.

"The object is to see that every child gets a good night’s sleep so they are ready to meet the challenges of the coming day."
-- Dave Dryden, Sleeping Children
Link : www.scaw.org