[D9640general] [eFlash_Rotary] Digest Number 757

[Garry Krischock]

 Messages In This Digest (4 Messages) 
  1. 1438: Lee asks Rotarians to 'Make Dreams Real' for world From: Sunil K Zachariah 

  2. 1439:  Emphases key to Lee's lofty challenge From: Sunil K Zachariah 

  3. 1440: RI Theme 2008-09 From: Sunil K Zachariah 

  4. 1441: RI Theme 2008-09 Logo From: Sunil K Zachariah 
Messages 
  1. 1438: Lee asks Rotarians to 'Make Dreams Real' for world 
Mon Jan 14, 2008 3:24 pm (PST) 
Lee asks Rotarians to `Make Dreams Real' for world's children

By Ryan Hyland

RI President-elect Dong Kurn Lee announces the 2008-09 RI theme, Make 
Dreams Real, to incoming district governors at the 2008 International 
Assembly. Rotary International President-elect Dong Kurn Lee 
addressed incoming district governors today at the 2008 International 
Assembly, urging them to use their resources to help curb child 
mortality. Lee said he was in disbelief when he learned that 30,000 
children under the age of five die every day from preventable 
diseases such as pneumonia, measles, and malaria. 

"Once I understood the issues behind that terrible number, I knew 
what I needed to do," Lee said. He told the incoming governors that 
Rotary will keep the service emphases of recent years -- water, 
health and hunger, and literacy -- but asked them to focus their 
efforts in each of these areas on children. 

"In 2008-09, I will ask you all to Make Dreams Real for the world's 
children," he said. "This will be our theme, and my challenge to all 
of you." 

"Children are killed by illnesses that become deadly in combination 
with poor sanitation and malnutrition," Lee said. In addition, 
families stricken by extreme poverty are trapped in a cycle that only 
leads to more unnecessary deaths. "It's a cycle that is not 
interrupted because there is no access to education." 

He challenged the audience to do their part to give children "hope 
and a chance at a future" by reducing the rate of child mortality in 
the world. 

"We will bring clean water to their communities and create sanitation 
projects that keep children healthy," Lee said. 

As the incoming governors begin preparing for the year ahead with the 
training and inspiration they receive at the International Assembly, 
Lee reminded them of Rotary's power and encouraged them to use their 
resources efficiently to maximize the good done around the world. 

Governor-elect Geoffrey Mathis, of District 9930 in New Zealand, 
thinks the upcoming RI theme allows Rotary to dream big. "Make Dreams 
Real will be an easy theme to sell around the world. We all like 
challenges; Lee has allowed us to put our dreams to practice." 

Rotarians can improve children's health, Lee said, even in small 
ways, such as delivering mosquito nets, rehydration salts, vitamins, 
and vaccines. "So much more can be done with just a little more: a 
trained birth attendant, a simple clinic, a school feeding program, a 
visiting nurse," he continued. "These are simple and direct ways to 
save children's lives." 

In 2008-09, Rotarians will be asked to open their eyes to the needs 
of children in communities near and far, Lee said. 

"Children die not because nobody can help them, but because too 
often, nobody does. But you and I, here in this room, are Rotarians, 
and helping is what we do best," he said, adding that "our job is to 
Make Dreams Real for children. If every one of us does this, at the 
end of our year, we will all have achieved something wonderful." 

Source: R I Website
Courtesy: eFlash_Rotary


  2. 1439:  Emphases key to Lee's lofty challenge 
 Mon Jan 14, 2008 3:44 pm (PST) 
Emphases key to Lee's lofty challenge 

By Ryan Hyland 
Rotary International News

The 2008-09 theme challenge to reduce the child mortality rate is a 
tall order, RI President Wilfrid J. Wilkinson told incoming district 
governors at the International Assembly yesterday, but by working 
within the framework of Rotary's emphases set by RI President-elect 
Dong Kurn Lee, it's a goal worth achieving.

Guided by Lee's emphases of water, health and hunger, and literacy, 
Rotarians can help prevent needless deaths of children, Wilkinson 
said. "There is no question that this is something that Rotary is 
very capable of doing." 

Wilkinson told district governors-elect that the lack of safe water 
worldwide contributes to at least 6,000 preventable deaths of 
children under the age of five every day. It's why the first emphasis 
in 2008-09 will ask district leaders to encourage clubs to create 
water and sanitation projects.

"Every Rotary club should be proud of the work they do in this area, 
and every Rotary club should be involved in work in this area, 
directly or in partnership in other clubs," he said.

Health and hunger is the second emphasis of the upcoming Rotary year. 
Wilkinson cited bleak statistics of children dying from preventable 
diseases such as acute respiratory infection, diarrhea illnesses, and 
malaria. Prevention begins with knowledge, he said.

"All of us need to know what it is that kills children," said 
Wilkinson. "If we are to stop the deaths, we must understand the 
causes."

The third emphasis for 2008-09 is literacy "because many of the 
issues affecting children's health are issues of access, knowledge, 
and education," Wilkinson said. Rotarians can provide children 
education, a gift that only improves the future generations.

Reducing child mortality is a "monumental" task, Wilkinson told the 
audience, but one he believes the global network of Rotarians is 
uniquely capable of taking on. "We talk a lot in Rotary about the 
need to balance ambition and realism, our minds and our hearts, small 
projects with large ones. I can't think of any better example of how 
to do this well than President-elect Lee's theme and emphases for 
2008-09."

Source: R I Website
Courtesy: eFlash_Rotary


  3. 1440: RI Theme 2008-09 
Mon Jan 14, 2008 3:56 pm (PST) 
Make Dreams Real

A hallmark of Rotary service has always been Rotarians'commitment to 
doing what needs to be done. Every day, in tens of thousands
of communities, we look around us to see how and where we can best 
help others.

The help we provide responds to many situations and
takes many forms. On a club level, we might take
books to a school, help a disabled person with errands,
or volunteer in a jobs program. Together with other
clubs, we are capable of projects with greater reach.
And the participation of our entire network of clubs,
along with the support of The Rotary Foundation,
has allowed us to commit to our primary and most
ambitious goal: the global eradication of polio.

When choosing our service projects, we do our best
to work in ways that will have the most positive, and
most lasting, impact. But to ensure a better world for
many generations, we must begin by taking care of
our youngest generation. This is why, in 2008-09,
I will ask Rotarians everywhere to focus on the most
precious resource of every community: our children.

Every child deserves the chance at a healthy life.
Unfortunately, every day, some 30,000 children under
the age of five die from preventable causes. When I
first learned this statistic, I thought that surely there
had been a mistake, and the number was an error.
Unfortunately, it was not. Every day, around the world,
children die needlessly of pneumonia, measles, and
malaria. Thousands die every day from the lack of a
most basic resource: clean water. And many more die
from a combination of factors, in which malnutrition and
poverty play major roles.

I would like to see reducing the child mortality rate become
a key goal of club and district service projects in the year
ahead.

This is why the RI theme for 2008-09 is Make Dreams
Real. Food and water, health care and schooling, the
chance at a long and full life - this is the unrealized
dream of too many children. In 2008-09, I ask you to
Make Dreams Real for these children and their families,
and to work with me toward the Rotary dream of a
happier, healthier, and more peaceful world.

The great majority of childhood deaths occur in the
developing world, and that is where the most work must
be done. But every single Rotary club can also do its part
to help keep the children in its own community safe and
well. Even in the wealthiest countries, there are children
without access to medical care. Every day, children die
for want of simple technology such as smoke detectors,
bicycle helmets, and car safety seats. And in every part
of the world, children still face the threat of polio -
and remain at risk until we keep our promise of making
the world polio-free.

As a parent, I know how precious our children and
grandchildren are to us. We love them, care for them,
and protect them as well as we are able. As a Rotarian,
I believe that we also have a responsibility to love, care
for, and protect the children in our communities -
and everywhere in the world.

For the last few years, RI's presidents have chosen to
continue a consistent set of service emphases, focusing
every year on projects in health and hunger, water, and
literacy. There has been a good reason for this decision:

These are areas where true progress can be made
with the wise use of Rotary resources. These are also
areas where the need is tremendous, and the ability
of Rotarians to help is great.

I plan to keep these three emphases but to ask the
entire family of Rotary to make a special effort, in
this Rotary year, to focus on projects that will make
a difference in the lives of children. To this end, each
one of these three emphases is inextricably linked
with the others. Safe and available water immediately
and drastically reduces a child's risk of death from
waterborne illness - the cause of 6,000 deaths
daily. Good nutrition is necessary for healthy growth
and improves a child's resistance to disease. And
the ability to read and write gives a child a better
chance at raising the next generation in prosperity
and health.

Rotary is a truly global network of volunteers. Our
structure allows us to partner with clubs around the
world, combining the skills and resources necessary
to supply the right help in the right place at the right
time. Our organization is uniquely able to tackle
a goal as ambitious as a reduction in the child
mortality rate - but only if we work together. If we
take full advantage of our own resources, and those
available to us through other clubs and our Rotary
Foundation, then we will have the potential to make a
real difference - and to Make Dreams Real for the
world's children.

Dong Kurn (D.K.) Lee
President, Rotary International, 2008-09

Source: RI Theme Brochure 2008-09
Courtesy: eFlash_Rotary


  4. 1441: RI Theme 2008-09 Logo 
 Mon Jan 14, 2008 4:05 pm (PST) 
Heres' eFlash

Theme logos and graphics for the 2008-09 Rotary year are now available 
to use for newsletters, Web sites, and other publications at 

http://www.rotary.org/en/aboutus/sitetools/graphics/pages/themelogos.asp
x#theme0809

Courtesy: eFlash_Rotar
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