International

On Monday 10th August the Club voted through a contribution of £760.00 towards the above project. This, along with £3,000 from the Totnes RC and £500.00 from Ashburton RC should, after matching grants from the Great Rotary Club in the sky yield approximately $24,500 US.

This will be sufficient to help 5 villages install Elephant Pumps and Wells (see Pump Aid via Google and attached article).

It will also enable the cultivation of smallholding type plots. Included in the planting will be Moringa Olefeira trees which provide protein and vitamin C. Look them up on Google via Tree Africa, a subsidiary of Environment Africa.

We should eventually be able to identify the exact villages we have helped.

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Money Myths and Maneaters

Dr Amy Dickman of Oxford University gave an illustrated talk on her project investigating the conflict between humans and carnivores in Ruaha National Park Tanazania.  This took place at a public evening held on 27th November at Budleigh Salterton Town Hall which included a ploughman’s lunch and a glass of wine (or two).   The Rotary Club of Exmouth’s particular interest was to raise money for medicines and medical supplies for the villagers Amy  comes into contact with in her work.     She told us that the local people lack almost everything we take for granted and many people live on $1 a day.  We raised nearly £2,000 through ticket sales, draw and auction for this worthwhile project.   This project is now coming to fruition and is an amazing testament to what a relatively small amount of fund raising can achieve in Africa, improving the quality of life for people who  would otherwise have no access to more modern health care.  Click the link which follows to read about the Oxford University project which inspired us to help the people they are working beside.  This is a great spin off from the help being undertaken by Oxford University to understand better how to find better ways for people to live alongside  the fantastic wild life of Africa without damaging the diversity which is truly mind blowing.  www.ruahacarnivoreproject.com

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Building Communities – Bridging Continents

Whenever there is an international disaster you will see Rotarians across the country with collecting buckets raising funds to help those affected.   We in the Rotary Club of Exmouth always react quickly and the last two collections for Haiti and Pakistan in Budleigh Salterton and Exmouth have raised a staggering £9,000.  In both cases we have specifically collected for shelterbox www.shelterbox.org a charity originating from the Rotary Club of Helston in Cornwall which provides first response.  Help is accurately targeted by the charity’s own people on the ground.  A shelter box provides a tent and vital equipment for survival in a useful plastic box.   One of our members, Marian Scott is well known locally for her talks on Shelter Box.   She volunteered to assist the charity by spreading the word about what it does. Marian always needs more help and if this is for you then please contact our club using the contacts page.  We would really like to hear from you.

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Rotary the World Over

Rotary as an International Organisation turns fellowship and humanity into action for others in need.   It runs or has spawned exemplar projects of many kinds such as:-

Shelter Box – A first responder in international disasters.

Trade Aid – To provide tools for tradesmen to promote self help in the recovery stage after disasters.

Aqua-Box – To provide for fresh drinking water storage where there is immediate need.

Eradication of Polio – Leading the campaign to remove polio from the world.

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