Village in Zambia Aided by Rotary (Aired On February 5, 2023)
Rotarians Steven Caine and Laura Lee (Burnt Bills Ballston Lake Rotary) visit Radio Rotary to tell about their efforts to help bring medical facilities to Muchila Center, an isolated village in Zambia—the nearest hospital is two hours away. In addition to assistance from the Rotary clubs of Kusinta and Lusaka, the new clinic uses equipment supplied by Project C.U.R.E. Much needed dental facilities and transportation are also part of the nonprofit Muchila Access Project, which will serve over 43,000 persons in the Muchila region. Burnt Hills Ballston Lake Rotary is working on a Rotary Foundation Global Grant directed primarily toward providing maternal and child health and disease prevention and treatment, including dental health. As many as 1 in 13 women die from maternal related causes in regions like Muchila, compared to 1 in 4,000 in developed countries, and about 80% of the population in the region suffers from oral disease.
Learn More:
Burnt Hills/Ballston Lake Rotary: https://bhblrotary.org/
Rotary Club of Lusaka (Zambia): https://lusakarotary.org/
Rotary Club of Kusinta (Zambia) on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KusintaRocks/
Muchila Access Project: https://www.muchilaaccess.org/
Project C.U.R.E.: https://projectcure.org/
Hudson Valley Helps Refugees (Aired on January 15, 2023)
Highland Rotarian BJ Mikkelsen returns to Radio Rotary to report on the progress of his efforts to help refugees from the February 24 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Mikkelsen was in Berlin on the day after the invasion, where he observed thousands of Ukrainian refugees crowding the main Berlin train station. He quickly raised money for food and other supplies, and in October traveled
with a truckload of relief to Lviv, Ukraine. Since then he has created the nonprofit corporation “Hudson Valley Helps Refugees,” which by the end of 2022 had collected and delivered some $40,000 in aid. The key elements in getting the aid to those in need are a Rotary Club in Warsaw, Poland; another Rotary in Helmstedt, Germany; and St. Nicholas Ukrainian Church in Berlin. One of the main projects needed for refugee help in Ukraine is an additional ambulance, and Hudson Valley Helps Refugees is working toward providing that, but there are also many other ways that the organization provides aid.
Learn More:
Hudson Valley Helps Refugees: http://www.hudsonvalleyhelpsrefugees.org/
Rotary Club Warszawa Fryderyk Chopin: http://rotaryfryderykchopin.org.pl/
Rotary Club of Helmstedt: https://helmstedt.rotary.de/
St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church: https://www.berlin.de/en/attractions-and-sights/3559961-3104052-st-nicholas-church.en.html
Highland (NY) Rotary Club: https://highlandrotaryclub.com/
Vassar-Haiti Project Accomplishments (Aired on January 1, 2023)
Sarah O’Connell-Claitor and Kathy Kruger learn the latest development of the Vassar-Haiti Project (VHP) from Lila Meade, Executive Director of Vassar-Haiti Project (VHP), and Laury Senecal, Vassar senior who is president of the Vassar Rotaract Club and co-president of Student Executive Board. For twenty-one years, VJP the has improved the lives of Haitians in the remote mountaintop Haitian village of Chermaitre and its surroundings. Today Chermaitre and the surrounding area is served by a 200-student school, a clinic that treats 3,000 patients annually, solar-power system to bring electricity to the clinic. and a system bringing clean water to the community. A new project is adult education, teaching illiterate patients to read. Education, health, community economic improvement, and clean water are all Rotary goals as well, and 14 Rotary Clubs from District 7210 as well as three others from other districts, have been one of the main supports of VHP, along with annual sales of works by Haitian artists.
Learn More:
The Vassar Haiti Project: http://www.thehaitiproject.org/
The Rotary Foundation Global Grants: https://my.rotary.org/en/take-action/apply-grants/global-grants
Rotaract: https://www.rotary.org/en/get-involved/rotaract-clubs
Rotary District 7210:https://rotarydistrict7210.org/
Polio in Rockland County NY and World (Aired on October 23, 2022)
On the day before World Polio Day 2022 North Rockland Rotarian and 7210 Past District Governor (2006-07) Carole Tjoa, currently the District PolioPlus Chair, once again joins Radio Rotary to update the progress on polio eradication. In 1985 in the Philippines Rotary became the first to use the vaccines to eradicate polio. In 1988 Rotary began a worldwide eradication program, working with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the U.S. CDC, joined by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2007. This team has eliminated wild polio in all but two nations (Pakistan and Afghanistan), but the United States has recently experienced a resurgence of a type of polio in Rockland County, NY, with some spillover to adjacent regions. One person was partly paralyzed by the disease. Health authorities quickly moved to provide vaccination against the type of polio that surfaced here, brought by a visitor or immigrant from another part of the world.
Learn More:
Global Polio Eradication Initiative: https://polioeradication.org/
PolioPlus: https://www.endpolio.org/
Carole Tjoa: https://www.rocklandtimes.com/2017/03/23/unsung-hero-carole-tjoa-rotary-club-of-north-rockland/
North Rockland Rotary Club: https://northrocklandrotary.org/