On the 6 Sept we listened to International Institue for Economic and Peace (IEP) Peace Ambassador and District 9800 Peace building chair, Gabe Hau tell us all about Peace in the world or the lack of it.
Joining us a guests we had three members from the Caroline Springs RSL, Ken Whitham, Ross Wiltshire and Andy Marshall and Homecourt Nathan Peeters.
In his presentation Gabe showed us the Global Peace Index 2023 and spoke about IEP who pioneers the research and insight for Peace. He gave us insight in Negative and Positive Peace and how Johan Galtung, a Norwegian sociologist who is often referred to as the father of peace studies, defined two concepts of peace that are used in this research: negative and positive peace.
Installation of Peace Pole at Stevenvilles Primary - St Albans
Rotary Caroline Springs will be walkinng around Lake Caroline to raise awareness and fundraise to End Polio on 21 Oct 2023. During October many Rotary clubs in Australia and around the World will WalkWithUs to End Polio. Our plan is to walk a few rounds around Lake Caroline one weekend from 11.30am weather permitting. Note that the whole of October is End Polio month but the actual day is 24 Oct. I personally have committed to walk 50km in Oct to End Polio. Do join our team by registering or donating to show your support on Rotary Caroline Springs.
Click on the link here to find our more about why we need to End Polio.
Thank you for your support. Together we can make a difference. Walk with us.
The PolioPlus Society (PPS) ia a new fundraising and recognition program that specifically support PolioPlus.
PPPS encourages Rotary members and others to pledge a least US$100 (A$165) per year to the PolioPlus Fund until polio is eradicated from the face of the earth.
Rotary members and their friends who join the Society will be honored with a distinctive lapel pin and certificate, which will be presented at a special ceremony.
Your contributions will count toward the Pal Harris Fellow recognition and Major Donor status and will be matched 2-to-1 by the Gates Foundation.
The Society will be managed within D9800 by the D9800 Coordinator:
International Men's Day falls on the 19 November 2023. Rotary Caroline Springs is looking for local champions who support the health and wellbeing of men and boys. We are holding a fundraising awards dinner on the 17 Nov 2023 at The Club, 1312 Western Highway, Caroline Springs where nominating organisations will have the opportunity to speak about why their champion was chosen. The organisation's champion can be any gender.
The awards dinner night will focus on the theme "Healthy Men, Healthy World", in line with the Australian Men's Health Forum for International Men's Day. On the night, community groups and sponsors can showcase the work of their organisation, and how they are helping to raise awareness of health for men and boys in our community and beyond. The net funds raised during the event will be donated to a charity working for the betterment of Men's health.
The Timor Leste Rotary Consortium team - Vijay Susarla and Justine Paragreen are back visiting Timor-Leste, on a scoping trip for the next stage of our Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Project. As part of this scoping trip for the next stage of the Timor Leste Rotary Consortium WASH Project, we’ve been undertaking due diligence and assessing potential sites for toilet blocks and water tanks in several villages, such as Triloka as the project expands into the Manatuto and Vikeke Districts.
Here’s a map location of where we are, if anyone’s in the area?
Recently I was in Northern Uganda where our team were building a block of toilets for the girls at a school. From around 1986 until 2008, the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) had wreaked havoc in the area. It became widely known for atrocities of war and the use of child soldiers. 1.5 million people were displaced.
War always brings in an influx of international funds, emergency services and media. Once it ends, everyone leaves – especially support services.
It is at this time that development needs to happen, but often doesn’t. It takes more than a generation or two to recover from war.
Development is brought about by empowering children, most especially girls and providing them with the resources and support they need to thrive in their education. This is not only a matter of equity and justice but also a strategic investment in the future. Educated girls and women have the potential to positively impact families, communities, and societies in so many ways. Therefore, it is important to equip them and avail all the amenities they need to stay motivated to focus on developing themselves and blossoming them into impactful women in the society. We not only were able to give the school a second set of latrines but also reconstruct the shower block for the girls. Now they have privacy and dignity when bathing and toilets that are clean and usable.
Development takes time. Development takes money. Development transforms communities. Development leads to self - sufficiency.
Thank you to our donors who make our work in recovering communities possible. We appreciate you all.
At our meeting on the 16 Aug held at the Club in Caroline Springs we invited Robiel Abraham to speak about the African Youth Initiative (A.Y.I). Robiel is the co-founder and chief executive of A.Y.I whom have recently been awarded a $150,000 government grant to support their initiatives in Melton and across the West. He gave a very inspiring talk on what they have achieved in helping young Africans make an positive impact on society. Since 2020 they help and aspire young Africans through "Weekly Mentoring Program", the"African Aspire Program" in schools and to come and"United Families Forum".
Rotary International 1.4 million-member organization started with the vision of one man—Paul P. Harris. The Chicago attorney formed one of the world’s first service organizations, the Rotary Club of Chicago, on 23 February 1905 as a place where professionals with diverse backgrounds could exchange ideas and form meaningful, lifelong friendships. Rotary’s name came from the group’s early practice of rotating meetings among the offices of each member.
Rotary of Caroline Springs part of this amazing nternational community is a relatively new club but we are here as part of your community in Caroline Springs. If you have a project come and talk with us, better yet speak at one of our meetings to see how we can collaborate with one another to serve this community and together we can connect.
In May 2023 Rotarians from around the world gathered on this beautiful city of Melbourne at the Rotary International Convention 2023 (RICON). The next Convention will be in vibrant Singapore from May 25-29 2024. We are looking forward to welcoming all Rotarians from around the world.
Rotary SAFE Families has had our Guide to Prevention of Family Abuse in Australia translated into 6 different languages so far. The latest release is a video on Rotary Safe Families Inclusive Communities Initiative - Swahili. Click on the photo to view the video.
The guides below are for the use of Rotary Clubs or the public to download and print as appropriate.
They will assist our more recent Australians to read and be informed of Australian law and models to prevent abuse in families. This includes abuse to women, men, children and our elderly.
So far, Rotary SAFE Families have translations into Dari, Hindi, Swahili, Mandarin, Farsi and Greek. We hope to have other translations in the future. We thank our translators for their generosity in volunteering their time and skills at no cost to SAFE Families.
