Our stories

The drumbeat of change

Vaccination efforts continue in earnest in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the only two countries where polio remains endemic. Both countries present unique challenges that require innovative strategies.

In Pakistan, for example, it’s difficult to reach the members of some communities who are constantly on the move. People sometimes refuse vaccinations for their children because they’re receiving an overabundance of information or misinformation.

In the city of Rawalpindi, vaccination teams tried a new approach. A drummer traveled street to street playing familiar tunes while encouraging families to join the fun. He wore a banner that invited families to participate in an upcoming polio vaccination campaign. The drummer visited weekly, blending cultural traditions with polio awareness in a way that eliminated barriers and established trust. 

Polio teams vaccinated as many children in Rawalpindi and the city of Lahore as they could, which helped the Punjab province achieve 96% vaccination coverage.

There’s more than one way to listen

More than 70 million people in the world who are deaf and use sign language regularly encounter barriers to communicating and accessing information in societies structured for people who hear.

In Colombia, the Rotary Clubs of Bogotá Centenario, Bogotá, and Global Zipaquirá, Cundinamarca, hosted a Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) event for members of the Deaf community to offer more inclusive leadership development opportunities and create environments that are more welcoming for everyone.

The clubs worked with organizations like the Federation of Sports for the Deaf of Cundinamarca to facilitate communication between the Rotarian hosts and the RYLA participants, who discussed topics like communicating when you don’t speak the same language and how to be more inclusive of people with disabilities. To better understand the barriers most deaf people encounter, Rotary members used sign language, with help from interpreters, to facilitate the leadership development activities.

At all RYLA events, young people develop leadership skills while making connections and having fun. These participants had that opportunity in an environment designed for them. And the members who organized the event gained understanding and motivation to become more inclusive in Rotary and beyond.

For the love of dogs

Yugigyeon Soop, which means Forest for Abandoned Dogs, is more than just an animal shelter — it’s a sanctuary for large dogs. Because many people in Korea live in apartments, it’s difficult to own a large dog. Nearly 40% of the dogs over 15 kilograms (about 33 pounds) that animal shelters in the province receive are euthanized. At Yugigyeon Soop, large dogs have a chance to live.

Members of the Rotary E-Club of MZ (now known as the Rotary Club of Icheon Eeum), Gyeonggi, Korea, regularly support this animal shelter by cleaning the facility, changing bedding, and donating supplies. Their most important task though — to spend time with the dogs. They play games and give the animals much-needed physical affection.

The club hopes that by meeting in person and offering hands-on volunteer projects like the one at Yugigyeon Soop will entice more young people to join Rotary.

Reducing anxiety and depression

Young people in India have low levels of awareness of mental health issues and the stigma associated with seeking help with such issues often prevents them from understanding and getting treatment for anxiety and depression.

Rita Aggarwal, of the Rotary Club of Nagpur, Maharashtra, India, wanted to change that. With 35 years of experience as a psychologist, she is familiar with the devastating personal and social cost of unrecognized and untreated mental illness.

Using Wellness in a Box, a mental health literacy curriculum developed by the Rotary Action Group on Mental Health Initiatives, she started a program to teach 14-year-olds about depression, help eliminate its stigma, and provide them with proven coping strategies.

Teachers also had the opportunity to learn valuable counseling skills. The project, funded by a Rotary Foundation global grant co-sponsored with the Rotary Club of Naples, Florida, USA, included developing a certification program for school counselors and hiring full-time counselors at five schools.

The project showed strong results for participants and their community. Students, parents, and teachers reported more knowledge about depression, more confidence in seeking help, and fewer negative attitudes about depression. Wellness in a Box — Nagpur trained 2,280 students and 768 parents and faculty members in the “Break Free From Depression” curriculum. One hundred young people have volunteered for further training as peer mentors.

The teachers who completed the certification program have conducted seminars about the importance of school counseling and addressing mental health challenges for more than 400 teachers and administrators. Now, many other schools in Nagpur are expressing interest in using Wellness in a Box.

Aggarwal was recognized as one of six People of Action: Champions of Impact in January 2024, an honor that celebrates members’ successes in projects that have had a positive, long-term impact.

Fighting for their first breath

Birth asphyxia, or the inability to breathe at birth, kills an estimated 900,000 infants globally each year. It is the leading cause of neonatal mortality in low- and middle-income countries. But many newborns who aren’t breathing can be saved if health care workers begin resuscitation immediately.

Rotary members had helped the American Academy of Pediatrics develop the free Helping Babies Breathe training program in 2010. It teaches health workers how to provide this lifesaving care.

Since 2022, Rotary members in Sierra Leone and North America have worked together to use this curriculum to train more than 650 nurses, midwives, and other health care workers in Sierra Leone, thanks to a project funded by a Rotary Foundation global grant.

Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Freetown, Sierra Leone, and the Rotary Club of Palm Harbor, Florida, USA, the program incorporates a newborn simulator doll whose chest rises only with the correct resuscitation technique. Trainees can also check for a pulse in the doll’s umbilical cord, and a trainer can use squeeze bulbs to make the doll breathe or cry.

Rotary members purchased 160 newborn simulators, as well as five oxygen concentrators and a solar power system, for the King Harman Maternity and Child Hospital in Freetown.

Aiming for sustainability, the project trains people who can then teach other health workers and lead refresher courses. The clubs have also partnered with Sierra Leone’s health ministry and the nongovernmental organization Health Care Sierra Leone USA to ensure that the training will continue.