Paul Harris on kindness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul Harris, circa 1915. Appeared in “The Rotarian,” February 1915, May 1938, and February 1945.

When he spoke at the 1935 Rotary Convention in Mexico City, Paul Harris had only recently returned from a journey though Asia and the Pacific. He reflected on the opportunities for friendship he encountered on his trip and reminded members of their duty to act as ambassadors of goodwill. Read the full speech.

Editor’s note: 19 April marks the anniversary of Paul Harris’ birth. Learn more about Rotary’s founder.

 

This article shows some great projects completed by Rotaract Clubs

Sustainable projects earn top Rotaract honors

Hi All,

Club Changeover GoToMeeting – Wednesday 12 July

I have organised our Club Changeover Meeting for Wednesday 12th July 2017 at 7.00pm to be held online with a GoToMeeting invite to all members and guests. I hope that this date suits all of our members.

If you open the Annual Letter from Bill and Melinda Gates below you will see some statistics about their work great work but also about the needs of the world that are not being met at present. It makes interesting reading and some things worthy of our support.

ROTARY’S POLIO EFFORTS PRAISED BY BILL AND MELINDA GATES

Every year, Bill and Melinda Gates publish an annual letter to broaden awareness and interest in key global health and development programs. This year’s Annual Letter mentioned polio among their foundation’s ongoing efforts to fight disease and inequality, specifically, the incredible progress that’s been made towards polio eradication. Melinda Gates offers these kind words to reaffirm the important role Rotary has had leading the way to a polio-free world:

“We’re awed by the teams of vaccinators who take risks to reach each child. And we’re inspired by the infinite persistence of Rotary International. They were leading this fight long before we joined it, and they’ve just kept moving forward.”

She goes on to say, “They know going from 350,000 cases to 37 is amazing, but success is zero.” Even though a handful of polio cases have been reported this year, there is a chance these are the last cases of polio in history. This June, Bill Gates will speak at the Rotary International Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, USA to discuss how we can — and will — end polio together. 

Board Meeting held Wednesday 12th April

Thank you to all who attended the meeting last Wednesday. If I had not mixed up the timings we would have had 8 attendees – so apologies for the mix up but we had a good role up anyway. As discussed at the meeting please read about KIVA and give some consideration to donating a small amount to an account that I have established in the name of Rotary E-Club of D9700, Australia. Contact me by email for details of how to login and make a donation.

We can discuss starting to lend the funds we accumulate at the next Board meeting.

KIVA

Kiva is an international nonprofit, founded in 2005 and based in San Francisco, with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. We celebrate and support people looking to create a better future for themselves, their families and their communities.

Website – https://www.kiva.org/

By lending as little as $25 on Kiva, anyone can help a borrower start or grow a business, go to school, access clean energy or realize their potential. For some, it’s a matter of survival, for others it’s the fuel for a life-long ambition.

100% of every dollar you lend on Kiva goes to funding loans. Kiva covers costs primarily through optional donations, as well as through support from grants and sponsors.

Kiva by the numbers:

2.4Million Borrowers in 83 Countries.

1.6M Lenders who have loaned $967.2M Loans funded through Kiva at 97.0% Repayment rate

It’s a loan, not a donation

Kiva believes lending alongside thousands of others is one of the most powerful and sustainable ways to create economic and social good. Lending on Kiva creates a partnership of mutual dignity and makes it easy to touch more lives with the same dollar. Fund a loan, get repaid, fund another.

You choose where to make an impact

Whether you lend to friends in your community, or people halfway around the world (and for many, it’s both), Kiva creates the opportunity to play a special part in someone else’s story. At Kiva, loans aren’t just about money—they’re a way to create connection and relationships.

Pushing the boundaries of a loan

Kiva started as a pioneer in crowdfunding in 2005, and is constantly innovating to meet people’s diverse lending needs. Whether it’s reinventing microfinance with more flexible terms, supporting community-wide projects or lowering costs to borrowers, we are always testing and learning.

Lifting one, to lift many

When a Kiva loan enables someone to grow a business and create opportunity for themselves, it creates opportunities for others as well. That ripple effect can shape the future for a family or an entire community.

Due diligence and monitoring

Kiva takes due diligence and monitoring very seriously as part of our responsibility to lenders and borrowers. We encourage all lenders to learn about the risks of lending on Kiva as Kiva does not guarantee repayment on any loans. Lending on Kiva may involve loss of principal, for a variety of reasons including if the borrower doesn’t repay, the Field Partner doesn’t repay or from currency loss.

The level of due diligence relevant to a specific loan on Kiva depends on a variety of factors, including how the loan is administered. Most loans on Kiva are administered by one of our local partners working in more than 80 countries. Kiva conducts due diligence on all Field Partners prior to allowing them to begin posting loans on the Kiva platform. To learn more about this process visit our Field Partner due diligence page.

Almost all Kiva loans for borrowers in the U.S. are direct loans, which are not administered by a Field Partner. This gives Kiva the ability to reach populations that even microlenders can’t or don’t serve, but it also means these loans often involve a higher level of risk or default. To learn more about the due diligence for these U.S. loans, please visit the due diligence page for direct loans.

The risks of lending

Microloans reach populations that have limited access to financial services, so these types of loans come with some inherent risks for lenders. When you lend money on Kiva, you may lose some or all of your principal. You should be aware of the different types of risk (some of which are outlined below) and find the right loan option for you, with respect to repayment risk and social return.

Kiva’s current repayment rate is reflected below. The “overall repayment rate for all loans” includes all loans in all countries, including loans that were repaid or defaulted and loans that are currently paying back. It also factors in currency loss. Please note that past repayment performance does not guarantee future results. To review the terms that apply to your use of Kiva, please see our terms of use.

In order to help reduce your risk exposure, you may wish to diversify your Kiva portfolio, thus reducing your exposure to any one borrower, Field Partner or country. For example, instead of placing $100 with 1 borrower, you may wish to place $25 with 4 borrowers in different countries.

Repayment rate statistics

• Repayment rate for all loans: 97.0%
• Repayment rate for ended loans only: 98.0%
• Repayment rate for partner facilitated loans: 97.2%
• Repayment rate for direct U.S. loans: 83.3%
• Borrower repayment rate for all loans: 97.5%
• Currency exchange loss rate: 0.5%

8,000 kilometers to peace

Rotary members in a small town of Nova Scotia, Canada, took action to bring two families from war-torn Syria to their country, where the refugees are starting a new life.

Why host a Rotary Peace Fellow?

Masao Mizuno meets with a Rotary Peace Fellow.

By Masao Mizuno, Rotary Club of Ageo West, Japan

Hosting a Peace Fellow substantially changed my life in Rotary. Since joining Rotary, I have been running a company that imports industrial tools, mostly from Israel and Europe, so I am familiar with talking to people from other countries.

My initial purpose for joining Rotary was to make local friends and expand my network. However, I began to think about peace more seriously after running a joint venture with an Israeli company. After seven years in my club, I took a position on our club’s Rotary Foundation committee, and heard about the Rotary Peace Fellowship program. Getting involved seemed like the right thing to do.

I met many Peace Fellows in May of 2015 as part of a cross-cultural trip I joined. The students were so similar to the people I work with internationally, so it took only a few seconds to make friends with them. Most of the Peace Fellows are well experienced in both studying and travelling. When I talk to them, I feel relaxed and encouraged. Additionally, I have had many chances to meet with family members and friends of Peace Fellows as a Rotary Foundation committee member during the last two years.

I have been enjoying the time I get to spend with Peace Fellows and I appreciate the opportunity to support  these enthusiastic young students.

By volunteering as host counselors, Rotary members share culture and build friendships with Peace Fellows. Learn more about the Rotary Peace Centers.

The Rotary Clubs of NSW Police Officer of the year and Emergency Services Community Awards

Our Club can nominate a police officer or emergency services officer to be considered for these awards. Just email me if you think you know someone who we should nominate.

The NSW Police Officer of the year details are in this link – rotary-2017-flyer-a5-2up

Details of the NSW Emergency Services Community Awards are in the flyer below:

From Rotary Scholar to Peace Corps

Please note the organisation KIVA that may be an avenue for our Club to achieve a positive presence for Rotary and assist individuals that we select to achieve their goals.

Hi All – some good ideas here?

Meet my vibrant club

Posted on March 24, 2017 by Rotary International

Members of the Seoul Young Leaders Satellite Club in Seoul, Korea.

S. David Chang

By S. David Chang, Rotary Club of Seoul, Korea

Our club, The Rotary Club of Seoul, was established in 1927 as the first club in Korea. We are unique in that our members are multinational and our official language is English. Like most other clubs, our challenges were: diminishing membership; inability to attract younger people; lack of community service; and uninteresting meetings sinking motivation and enthusiasm.

In recent years, our club board decided to transform our club with several new initiatives. We decided to form a satellite club for English speaking young leaders in Seoul between age 19-35. The group got started with Ray Chetti as its first leader, and we were successful in recruiting 65 young leaders. During the first year, this “Seoul Young Leaders Satellite Club” conducted 38 fundraising and community service events, raising over $7,000. Now with new co-presidents (Sayel Cortes & Haein An), the club is focusing on helping single mothers without support.

Another exciting thing we did was to create a “convertible membership program” for busy people of age 36-55 to pay only half of our annual fee and come only a couple of times per month.

We also decided to lower the barriers for new members. We got rid of the clerk and lowered the annual dues and made our meetings more interesting. Now, every month, we have one formal lunch meeting, one community service event, one informal fellowship night, and one cultural or outside activity to engage new friends.

By cutting down operational expenses enough to give a $100 contribution to The Rotary Foundation for every member, we became the only 100% Foundation Giving Club within our district. During the first year of our transformation, we increased our membership from 38 to 125 including 65 young leaders. We wiped out almost all district awards and restored our club image and reputation. It is important to create a challenging vision with stretching goals, but it is more important to sustain that momentum for several years. We are lucky to have club leaders like Andrew Lee, Marc DeVastale, Sugar Han, and many others who really care for Rotary and our club.

Rotary is all about service and friendship; and we must continue to be creative to make it enjoyable and meaningful.

Learn more about the new club flexibility measures