Access to clean water is a basic human right which many of us take for granted and this week’s video focuses on India’s plight. Clean Water and Sanitation is one of the Areas of Focus of Rotary International and reminds us of the need to ensure all persons especially children have access to clean potable water. If this is available, we are assured that they would live healthier and more productive lives.
We can assist through partnerships with Rotarians in India and around the world. Let’s hear from you on ways we can promote this and what part we can play in improving the lives of persons everywhere.
Please join us as we celebrate the installation of the new executives this Saturday July 11, 2015 during our regular meeting. In addition, we look forward to seeing all of you on Saturday July 25 at our 1stClub Assemblyfor the New Year.
Camille
Meeting Agenda
8:45 Login & Fellowship
9:00 - 10:00am
Welcome and Program Commencement by IPP Amarylis
About President Camille by Rtn Denise
IPP presents AG Manoj
AG Manoj to conduct Installation Oath
Pin Moment by President Camille's sister
President Camille to conduct Board Oath
President Camille's acceptance words
Open to Congratulations from Fellow Rotarians and guests
President Camille to offer thanks and proceed to adjourn meeting.
At this past Wednesday's HHH we were treated to a thought provoking video from PP Kitty. While it is not available to post, Kitty has offered to show it again if there is sufficient interest. President Camille has offered a related video below for you to consider. In any case, the members shown below had a lively discussion on this and other topics. Thank you PP Kitty for hosting this HHH and for the video which has set the theme for this week's bulletin.
“India is the largest democracy on earth.
· It has an advanced and growing economy.
· It has a highly educated population.
· It has cutting edge technological capabilities, such as space and nuclear weapons programs.
However, India still struggles to provide for its poor particular as it relates to sanitation and clean water.”
Today, 92 million people in India do not have access to clean drinking water. More than a million children under 5 die each year.
A recent UN report indicates that globally, without a dramatic change in the way we manage our water, in only 15 years, 40 per cent of the world will not have access to usable water.
Places shown – Meerut, India – a small town in northern India.
Open gutters – horrible smells
Open-air sewers like what you see above is India’s water crisis.
In Meerut, there is no sewage facility at all. Water and waste drains untreated from the buildings into the streets and then untreated directly into local waterways.
Yamuna River – one of the most polluted waterways. A vital waterway that runs directly through New Delhi.
All human waste is dumped into this river – one of the holiest rivers in India. People come to pray here and to cremate dead bodies. The water is untreated. People consume it, bathe in it.
“80 per cent of the sewage generated in our cities is untreated and it is disposed of in our water bodies, whether it is our rivers, our lakes, or even ground water. Without a reinvention of the way we do sewage management, our rivers cannot be cleaned. It is unacceptable as human beings. You do not have health or water security. The connection between water and sanitation is critical.”
As the film discovers, it’s not just the lack of infrastructure for toilets that’s having a profound impact on health, in many parts of India, open defecation is widespread. According to the film, less than half the households in India have access to toilets, Open defecation has become a national issue.
Shashi Tharoor, Former member of parliament says “Being a country that has more temples than toilets is certainly odd, but in some people’s mindsets, they just have not grown up being used to using a toilet. A study in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh indicates that, a large number of toilets were built and of the toilets built there, 67 per cent have never been used. People continue to live near those toilets and go out into the fields instead. It’s habit to some degree. For generations, they found it comfortable and pleasant to be communing with nature. Open defecation puts toxins into the groundwater and it affects the water that kids drink and the foods that they eat.”
Increasing population is the major problem. Over the last 40 years, India’s population has doubled from 600 million to 1.2 billion. 30 million waterwells and pumps have been constructed in that time, which are draining India’s water table.
“Because of the heavy exploitation of India’s groundwater, there is a scarcity of water. Everyone has to face the problem. We do not have proper management for the water. Irrespective of the country, if water is not pure, then nobody can survive on Earth.”
Here is a related short video. No wonder that Clean Water and Sanitation is a major focus of Rotary.
With the commencement of July, we usher in the new Rotary year of 2015-2016. This new year will present challenges we should turn into opportunities, it promises difficulties but also successes and it offers us the platform to do significant things in the world. I am proud to be a Rotarian. I am proud of the work that our organization does. I am proud of our District 7020.
I try to encourage as many persons as I can to join Rotary and I tell them that this organization provides the opportunity to move from a life of “Success”, however that is defined, to a life of “Significance”. I consider that our Rotary motto ‘Service above Self’ means working as hard as one can – not for ‘self, but for others. It means achieving as much as one can to make other people’s lives better. It means looking at our own effort, not in terms of what it costs us, but in terms of what it can give.
For this new Rotary year, RI President K.R. “Ravi” Ravindran has chosen as his theme ‘Be a Gift to the World’. He encourages us as Rotarians to use our talents, expertise and leadership to be gifts to the world. He observes, “ In the end, our worth will be measured not by how much we acquired, but by how much we gave away.”
My challenge to our beloved District in 2015-2106 is to further move from Success to Significance. Success represents the accomplishments and accolades we build up for ourselves. Significance represents the lasting accomplishments we attain for others. Significance is the truest spirit of service. Significance is our legacy. It is our gift to the world. As Rotarians, we’ll be remembered and judged not for how successful we were but for how significant we became.
Carla and I look forward to standing shoulder-to-shoulder with you in the upcoming year as we continue to provide Service above Self. We thank you for all that you do to create lasting legacies in your community. We encourage you to Be a Gift to the World. We challenge you to move from Success to Significance.
Felix N. Stubbs
District Governor 2015-2016, District 7020,
Rotary International
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