ROTA Committee Newsletter Issue 01 June 2010 Dear Orscelik,   You are receiving the first edition of a new publication about the exciting Reach Out To Africa (ROTA) initiative. For the past three years, many exprienced and dedicated Rotarians in Africa and around the world have successfully gotten this ambitous ROTA undertaking under way. Several RI Presidents and the RI Board have endorsed the concept of directing a concerted effort to improve the lives of citizens on that great continent. This periodic publication will endeavor to support RIPE Klinginsmith’s goal to BUILD BIGGER BETTER BOLDER clubs in accordance with Ray’s motto: ‘BUILDING COMMUNITIES, BRIDGING CONTINENTS.”  In this issue, the Chair and Vice Chair of each Region express their hopes for this bold undertaking. Please correspond with those in your region about your needs and accomplishments. In future issues, you will read about Rotary success stories and will learn about specific ways in which you can lend your support. RIPE Ray Klinginsmith   I made my first visit to Africa as a Rotary scholar, when I sailed from New Orleans to Cape Town on a Lykes Line freighter ship in 1961.  The voyage took 28 days, and I often describe it as the Rotary trip that has lasted a lifetime.  I traveled 16,000 miles within Southern Africa during my year as a scholar, and my experiences there have spawned a genuine interest in the continent of Africa.  Therefore, I am highly pleased that two of my friends, who are movers and shakers in the Rotary world, past RI directors Tom Branum and Orscelik Balkan, have accepted my invitation to lead the Reach Out to Africa Committee for 2010-11. This newsletter is good evidence that the ROTA Committee will produce Bigger, Better, and Bolder results in the coming year! PRIP Wilf Wilkinson, Current Chairman   (A message from the first ROTA Chairman, Past RI President Wilf Wilkinson) Rotary has had a long history with Africa and members from that continent have held all the Senior offices in Rotary including the Presidency. Several Past Rotary International Presidents have encouraged clubs from all over the world to participate in Matching Grants, Friendship Exchanges and other Hunanitarian Initatives to assist those in great need. This appeal was repeated on both of my meetings with the Secretary/General of the United Nations.   The question was why had the hoped for results, of my predecessors, not quite achieved their  goals ? The answer seemed to be that it is hard to start a particular emphasis and see it succeed during the term of a single President. Secondly, there were just too few Rotarians and Clubs in Africa to come to grips with the massive problems that exist. The solution was to create a Reach Out to Africa task force that would exist for at least three years. Its mandate would combine more Humanitarian assistance for that continent plus a concentrated effort to increase Membership. I think those persons that were jointly appointed, in cooperation with my two successors, have worked extremely hard. Initially the results were slow but recently we are beginning to see real progress. I am delighted that under Presidents  Ray Klinginsmith and Kalyan Banerjee the effort will be continued and in some areas expanded. This is good news for Rotary and for the many persons in Africa who will become Rotarians or who will be helped by our humanitarian work.     ***   All committee members listed below have been appointed by RIPE Klinginsmith to assume office July 1, 2010.   ***     PRID Örsçelik Balkan, Vice-Chair   Africa has always been a Continent, full of challenges, where the needs super pass resources. At the edge of 21st century, the state of desperate living conditions for hundred millions is an insult to human race. How could Rotary facilitate improvement of the living conditions in the Continent to better levels that would comply with human dignity?  ROTA – Reach out to Africa, was formed up three years ago, to respond to this strong need assessment. Our purpose was to organize a systematic approach to mobilize the resources in the developed economies of Rotary, and steer them to the needs in the Continent. In parallel, we aimed to activate local Rotarians to make projects that would match their local needs with the subject international resources available. To achieve the purpose, we realized that empowering Rotary in the Continent, would always be a prerequisite, particularly by enhancement of membership. Starting from this principle, we derived the 8 goals of ROTA stated in its web site http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103452295455&s=10&e=001aAEeMjjDgTMndcZzTqmM9cPW0vPmj5MbeCGZ-1Yi8swnYs0gzPIgqCX2GLdC7EbpJceNI58WKxTrXHZEH99J0m86M_GqVABZTY3ZUDeKwaEMQbuoe6vJniUeJVHly5Wd. We invite all Rotarians to join us in achieving these Goals. Email address for Örsçelik Balkan is obalkan@superonline.com East Africa Region includes the countries of Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritus, Mayotte, Reunion, Seychelles, Tanzania and Uganda.     East Region Chair Nelson Nkawalya Membership - For a very long time, membership has been at around 1.2m global out of billions of people throught the world. We ought change this figure and this is more so in Africa. Polio - We have gone a very long way and in Africa there is only one country where other countries get importation from. Everything has to be done and I am glad Nigeria is pulling up on this. Water - Water is life. Many parts of Africa lack clean water and as Rotarians we have to reach these parts to ensure that they have clean water. Peace - We have many conflicts and wars in Africa. Some are religious and many political. Let us find ways how we can assist end the same.   We have to feed the chicken that lays the golden eggs. In Africa we are the greatest beneficiaries of the Foundation Funds, we must therefore support the Foundation. Email address for Nelson Nkawalya is nkawalya@starcom.co.ug East Region Vice Chair Kaushik Manek Africa faces many basic development challenges such as poverty, food shortages and widespread illness. My desire is to see Rotary as the leader among charitable organizations assisting Africa overcome these challenges and help improve the quality of life for the less-fortunate citizens of this continent. Email address for Kaushik Manek is rotary@maneknet.com North Africa Region includes the countries of Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco (including Western Sahara) and Sudan.   North Region Chair Mohamed Delawar Rotary Clubs in Africa are not merely service clubs helping there communities by implementing Humanitarian or Educational projects but in underdeveloped countries act as a Beacon, lighting in the dark providing guidance, Rotarians with their high ethical values and ideal of service act as role model to their peers in the community. Rotary is not a service club but it is a way of life by applying the following:  1. The Four Way Test 2. Good Governance at the Club and District Level 3. Respect others cultures, religions, ideology, opinions, ideas and accept the differences. 4. Promoting world understanding and peace. For me the ROTA committee objectives of increasing Rotary Clubs and number of Rotarians in Africa, and helping existing clubs in accomplishing there service projects through a partnership of other Rotary Clubs and Rotarians in the world will turn these Beacons into light houses which will attract more volunteers and create better professionals. Email address for Mohamed Delawar is mohamed@delawar.net   North Region Vice Chair, Ridha Souissi Look for comments from Vice Chair Soussi in a future edition. Email address for Ridha Souissi is ridharotary@topnet.tn South Africa region includes the countries of Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.   South Region Chair June Webber  The Kick Polio Out of Africa campaign – ostensibly driven as a ROTA initiative – highlights Rotary team work in action at its very best. “This is not Reach out to Africa – this is Africa reaching out to the world” says PRIP Wilf Wilkinson. And it is just a start. Through better communication and vigorous public relations initiatives, bigger effort on the part of Rotarians in Africa to keep their eye firmly on the ball, we can build a bolder and stronger Rotary in Africa to meet the needs of this vast continent in the year ahead. Rotary is a force for good. “Building Communities” is what we do best. ROTA’s role in “Bridging Continents” by facilitating international partnerships with districts, clubs, the community and the corporate sector – those who share our core values – is our primary goal. Email address for June Webber is corpcon@global.co.za   South Region Vice Chair Josh Chimhanda My hope is that Rotary will be able to do projects that are relevant to the needs of the particular communities and in the process enhance the image of Rotary. Like a sailor is focused on the port in the harbor in which he is headed, we must remain focused on our goal to enhance Rotary in Africa with an emphasis on membership development, service project development, and needs assessment. Wilfred Peterson said “Success is focusing the full power of all you are on what you have a burning desire to achieve.” Discipline and determination will be required in order to succeed.  In order to realise greatness we need to visualise, plan and ACT. Lets BUILD COMMUNITIES and BRIDGE CONTINENTS. Email for Josh Chimhanda is jchimhanda@africaonline.co.zw   West Africa region includes the countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo and Tunisia.       West Region Chair Michael Olawacole The needs of the West Africa Region are so enormous considering the huge population and the present level of development of the member countries of the region. With the magnitude of poverty level in this region aggravated by the effects of global meltdown, so much is expected from Rotary International through the avenue of the Reach Out to Africa (ROTA). It is my hope and expectation that ROTA during the year 2010-11 through the strengths of the developed economies will assist the West Africa Region. Direct donations and support through The Rotary Foundation to meet needs in the areas of health, hunger, poverty alleviation, illiteracy, mortality, etc will be highly appreciated. It is hoped that Rotary in Africa during the year 2010-11 will do all possible to consolidate on service delivery to the needy people of Africa. It is also hoped that the issue of low membership will be addressed with all vigour so as to bring additional hands to work on the challenges facing the continent. I anticipate that Rotary International will do all within its reach and competencies to direct great financial and equipment support to the West of Africa Region as the level of suffering and poverty is unimaginable. Through ROTA, RI will be building communities and connecting continents. Email address for Michael Olawacole is olawacole@yahoo.com   West Region Vice Chair Yaovi Tigoe For Rotary in Africa in 2010-2011, my greatest wish is to see our organization focus more on real problems experienced by our populations: health and education. Rotary should absolutely recruit in order to develop our clubs, and have more “arms” to fulfill our efforts. “The Plan for Future” calls us to take care of social and development issues. This gives us some concrete and practical guidance for our objectives. I wish this year will be the year of revival for ROTA program. We have to reach substantial results. Polio Challenge, of course, is still a priority for all Rotarians. Email address for Yaovi Tigoe is yaovitigoe@gmail.com PRID Thomas Branum, Sr., Chairman   The Last Word   ROTA is an inspired idea, approved by the Board of Directors when I was there. By addressing some of the most critical needs on our planet, it formalized our intention to honor PRIP Arch Klumpf’s admonition “to do good in the world.” In these past three years, legions of talented Rotarians have admirably served the cause and I pray that they will continue to do so. With a grateful bow to PRIP Wilf Wilkinson and PRID Orscelik Balkan, I know that this Africa initiative is well poised to do even more great work. Now, as additional dedicated people are given the opportunity to serve, many more success stories will be forthcoming. When Rotarians act with common vision, there is no limit to what can be accomplished. Future editions of this newsletter will contain what YOU send to us. Let us help others know what you have been doing. Yours in Rotary, Email address for Thomas Branum is tombranumsenior@cs.com   Quick Links   Kick Polio Out of Africa  Reach Out to Africa (ROTA) LOOK AT THE ROTA WEBSITE OFTEN FOR IMPORTANT INFORMATION   When the new ROTA website structure is done, you will be able to go to reachouttoafrica.org for a wealth of African information. You are invited to send postings to Vice Chair Orscelik Balkan  orscelik.balkan@rotary.org or  obalkan@superonline.com such as: Names and contact information of Regional ROTA Subcommittee members Calendar of and links to coming events of interest to ROTA supporters. Humanitarian projects to be posted on the Virtual Projects Fair. Expressions of interest in RIPE Klinginsmith’s Rotary Projects Safari.   THIS IS YOUR VOICE TO THE ROTARY WORLD     Let us know what is happening in your region for inclusion in the ROTA newsletter.  If possible, include an action photo (JPEG format).  Identify who is in the photo. Keep written submissions no longer than 150 words. Microsoft WORD documents are preferred.  Include the name and contact email of the key person involved. English is not the only language in Africa.  It is OK if your article is written in Arabic, French, or Portuguese, so long as you send along an English translation for the editor’s information. Submit all articles to Editor PDG Karin Blue at karin.blue@comcast.net or  KBlue@SmithDavisBlue.com and a copy to tombranumsenior@cs.com. Did You Know?   Next time you’re doing a makeup on the eclub one website, take a look at the homepage.  Near the bottom of the page, there is a 4-Way Test screensaver available for download.   In future editions, we will list and link to the websites of all African Districts that have been provided to us.