[D9640general] [eFlash_Rotary] Digest Number 787

[Garry D Krischock]

 Messages In This Digest (3 Messages) 
  1. 1492: R I President's April Message From: Sunil K Zachariah 

  2. 1493: TRF Chair's April Message From: Sunil K Zachariah 

  3. 1494: Key Indian state turns the tide against polio From: Sunil K Zachariah 
Messages 
1. 1492: R I President's April Message 
Fri Apr 11, 2008 9:39 pm (PDT) 
R I President's April Message

Dear fellow Rotarians, 

Rotary is uniquely privileged to be a well-established, religiously 
and politically neutral organization with no governmental ties or 
obligations. We are known and respected as a group of men and women 
who simply come to help - by bringing clean water and food, teaching 
literacy and numeracy, providing assistance after a disaster, ending 
polio. 

When there is a need, a crisis, or an emergency, Rotary is there. We 
know that, as Rotarians, part of our role in any crisis is to bring 
people together, rather than drive them apart. It is our role and 
also our responsibility. 

Today, we are faced globally with a new crisis: the changing 
environment and the changing climate. It's a frightening situation 
that will affect everyone but will hurt the poor and the weak far 
more than the wealthy and the strong. The days of wondering and 
considering and hoping are at an end, as it has become ever clearer 
that we are on a course that can be slowed but not stopped. 

This past summer, the Arctic ice cap melted at a pace that exceeded 
even the most pessimistic expectations. The rate of melting and 
warming is accelerating in what seems to be a cycle of ever-
increasing speed, and we cannot pretend that it will not affect us. 
It already has. In the American West, water is becoming more and more 
scarce as less snow falls every winter to refill lakes and streams. 
>From my window in Evanston, I can see Lake Michigan, whose water 
level, like the other Great Lakes, is near or already at a record 
low. And as the supply of fresh water diminishes, the sea levels are 
rising, putting low-lying nations - many of them poor and developing -
at increasing risk. 

We know that in the years and decades to come, there will be crises, 
and there will be challenges. Will we let them drive us apart, or 
will we use them to bring us together? Will we be fragmented, or will 
we come together to address the universal needs of all people? Will 
we choose to address the desires of the rich over the needs of the 
poor, or will we do what is best for everyone on our planet? 

The greatest challenges lie before us, now and in the years to come. 

Wilfrid J. (Wilf) Wilkinson 
President, Rotary International 

Source: The Rotarian
Courtesy: eFlash_Rotary 
  2. 1493: TRF Chair's April Message 
Fri Apr 11, 2008 9:50 pm (PDT) 
Message from the TRF Chair: April recognizes magazines and more 


Dear family of Rotary, 

In this world of immediate information through the Internet, e-mails, 
blogs, and cell phones, the very idea of celebrating Magazine Month 
sounds somewhat old-fashioned. Although information about Rotary 
Foundation programs is immediately available at www.rotary.org, your 
Rotary magazine is still the best place to read in-depth accounts of 
the Foundation's remarkable work around the world. 

In fact, the many pamphlets, guides, and request forms available from 
The Rotary Foundation continue to play a major role. For example, 
printed take-home instructions are still the most effective way to 
ensure that Foundation seminar information is reviewed at a later 
date. Every Rotarian should carry a copy of the latest Rotary 
Foundation Facts (159-EN), a concise, up-to-date summary of the 
activities of the Foundation, which is published each November and 
available from the RI Secretariat. 

When recognizing our magazines and other printed materials, let's not 
forget that the timeliest way to get information is on our Web site. 
During April, for example, the Future Vision Committee will report to 
the Trustees, who will be making many decisions about the future of 
the Foundation. These decisions will be reported on Rotary.org, and I 
ask you, as so many did in October, to comment online so that your 
Trustees will have the benefit of your opinions. Since its inception, 
the Future Vision Committee has relied very heavily on the opinions 
of Rotarians at all levels. In this final lap, we need these thoughts 
more than ever, and our Web site provides an excellent way to get 
your feedback. 

Our Web site is indeed essential today, so let's include it in our 
celebration of Magazine Month. 

Robert S. Scott 
Trustee Chair, The Rotary Foundation, 2007-08 


  3. 1494: Key Indian state turns the tide against polio 
Fri Apr 11, 2008 9:56 pm (PDT) 
Key Indian state turns the tide against polio
By Dan Nixon 

If current trends continue, however, India's most populous state will 
no longer qualify as the "poliovirus capital of the world," as some 
health experts have called it.

Eighty percent of Uttar Pradesh's 339 polio cases occurred in the 
Muslim community in 2007. But a Rotary-led initiative helped drop 
that rate to 30 percent of 20 cases during the first three months of 
2008.

Overseeing the state's effort to end polio is the Ulema Committee for 
Polio Eradication, established by Rotary International in July 2007. 
(Ulemas are leading Muslim legal experts in Islamic law.) Nearly 200 
Muslim clerics and school representatives at the meeting received a 
booklet published by India's National PolioPlus Committee, which 
linked polio immunization to the duties of parents as explained in 
the Quran. The booklet also listed the names and phone numbers of 
Ulema committee members who could be contacted to clear up any 
misconceptions about the polio vaccine.

Since that meeting, committee members have visited districts in Uttar 
Pradesh that reported large numbers of polio cases and convinced 
parents that the polio vaccine was safe and not contrary to Islam.

"The ulemas have done a remarkable job in making the polio program 
acceptable to hitherto ignorant Muslim parents," said RI Director 
Ashok Mahajan, chair of the committee, at a meeting of the executive 
committee in January. "We want to spread the message of good health 
through the ulemas, who are so much revered in the Muslim community."

"Misconceptions and rumors that were widespread in the community 
against polio have almost been removed, due to the efforts of the 
Ulema committee, and we will continue with our efforts until polio is 
eradicated," said committee member Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi 
Mahali, president of the Ulema Council of India. "Our religion is not 
against immunization. Even the Saudi Arabian government has issued a 
directive that pilgrims visiting Mecca and Medina along with their 
children should carry polio vaccination certificates."

In February, The Rotary Foundation awarded US$5.65 million to the 
World Health Organization and UNICEF for social mobilization 
activities and operational support focused on more than 4,300 high-
risk communities in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The Foundation disbursed 
the funds from the $100 million challenge grant for polio eradication 
it had received from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 

"Rotary's Ulema committee is a very positive development," said 
Ananth Mishra, health minister for Uttar Pradesh. "Eradication of 
polio is possible due to the pioneering efforts of organizations like 
Rotary, and more NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] should pitch in 
to mobilize the masses to achieve such health goals."

Source: Rotary International News
Courtesy: eFlash_Rotary
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