A club in Mauritius that’s anything but ordinary
The Rotary Club of Phoenix on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius is, as its name might suggest, a “go big or go home” kind of club. So when a school for people with visual impairments wanted to help its students learn about growing their own food, club members didn’t stop at building vegetable beds. They created an experiential garden replete with fragrant flowers (without thorns so students could feel as well as smell them), a waterfall made of pipes, bamboo wind chimes, and a wall-mounted xylophone, all designed to appeal to the students’ senses.
Later, when the club provided the school with Lego Braille Bricks, which are designed to teach children the writing system for blind people, members couldn’t resist also putting on a Lego competition complete with an exhibition and prizes — and even media attention.
And when a school in a less-affluent area approached the club looking for help renovating its run-down library of “dusty old books,” well, you can guess what happened next — and it wasn’t just a coat of paint. “We rose to the challenge with a 360-degree strategy,” says club member Vino Sookloll. The club designed the library to bring to life Tikoulou, a Mauritian children’s book character, and partnered with the Rotaract Club of Phoenix to organize related activities. People read from the books at a shopping mall, the illustrator signed autographs, and students enjoyed a book-themed art contest. Its twin club on Réunion Island, the Rotary Club of Saint-Denis-La Montagne, helped with the book collection drive. “We really wanted to create a buzz around reading,” says Club President-elect Virginie Constant.
Members of the Rotary Club of Phoenix, Mauritius, visit a sensory garden that the club created at a school for students with visual impairments. Pictured (from left) are Vino Sookloll, Club President-elect Virginie Constant, and Akhilesh Sooroojebally.
Image credit: Jean Jacques Fabien
It’s all part of the club’s project blueprint. “Everything we do, if you have an idea, you make it grow,” says Sookloll, a Rotary public image coordinator. That allows even the simplest projects to blossom into something newsworthy, he adds.
Despite growing up with a “challenging background,” Sookloll says, he found his way, building a career as a creative director and founding his own advertising agency. When his accountant was working to charter the Phoenix club, he asked Sookloll if he’d join. “The problem is at the time, I hated everything corporate,” he says. “I wear a T-shirt at my office. I meet with clients in jeans.” He declined the invitation, worrying that a highly structured organization would stifle his creativity. But he agreed to help with designing a club logo and to attend the charter night as thanks. Then he accepted an invitation to attend the nascent club’s first meeting. “I was sucked in,” he says. “The people were great.”
Benefits of age diversity
Age diversity can be a plus at your job — and in your club. Older and younger people may solve problems differently, strengthening the performance of groups that include an age spectrum. And knowing people of a different age than yourself can help shift stereotypes.
Here are tips for bridging the generational divide, adapted from Greater Good magazine:
- Find someone older or younger than you to collaborate with. People often default to working with others their own age.
- Recognize your differences, then find a common passion or project. Service through Rotary is a great place to start!
- Share power among members of all ages in your club.
- Defy age expectations, stay current, and be relevant to people of any age. So-called “perennials” find ways to stay young at heart.
Since its start in 2003, the club has been about shaking off stereotypes. It chartered with nine women, a record number for Mauritius at the time, and elected its first woman as president the following year, a first for the island country. Today the club has achieved a balance of about half men and half women, and women are currently serving as president, president-elect, president-nominee, and president-nominee-designate.
When Constant was considering joining the club, she was attracted by its diversity. But it wasn’t just gender diversity that drew her. “There were different age groups,” she says, “people who were at different stages in their careers.” The club still has founding members who participate, either actively in projects or by sharing their contacts.
“It’s really a matter of pride to be part of a vibrant club,” she says. “We don’t want to be known just as the club where you have so many women presidents. We want to be known as the club that, even before all the talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion, we were already living that.”
But it was service, above all, that appealed to Constant. Her children accompanied her on projects when they were younger, and they are now Interactors. “I always say we are a 100 percent Rotary family, and very proud to be,” she says.
The club has made a name for itself by positioning the group as one that cares for children’s well-being. “We have a purpose,” explains Akhilesh Sooroojebally. “We are associated with a cause, instead of going in multiple directions.” Almost from its start, the club has had a tie with the school for children with visual impairments. One of its first projects, in 2003, involved a donation of pocket Braille slates to the school, and it holds annual Christmas celebrations for the students.
Likewise, the club has had a long relationship with the Chooromoney Government School. In addition to the Tikoulou-themed library, the club has provided wheelchairs, school bags and supplies, and breakfast for the school. Supported by the U.S. Embassy in Mauritius, the club helped reimagine a science classroom to rival facilities of the most prestigious schools in the country, Sookloll says.
The club has a five-year strategic plan for its continued work with the school, with projects that include creating studios for art and music, refurbishing classrooms, repainting the exterior of the school, and executing a comprehensive schoolyard redesign.
Constant uses succession planning to help her private banking clients look to the future. The same should go for Rotary projects, she says. “Even with service, it’s so important to plan ahead.”
Club presidents can and do launch smaller projects, explains Sooroojebally, a past president. “But we have agreed among ourselves that we want the club to do some sustainable long-term projects that we can measure the impact.” When members select club leadership several years out, that helps ensure they can all be on the same page.
“This is not about the president’s project,” Sooroojebally says. “This is the club’s project.”
This story originally appeared in the April 2025 issue of Rotary magazine.