What is International Service?
International Service encompasses actions taken to expand Rotary's humanitarian reach around the globe and to promote world understanding and peace.
In this area, Rotarians strive for the advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service. International Service Projects are designed to meet the humanitarian needs of people in many lands, with particular emphasis on the most underprivileged children and families in developing countries. Through International Service programs, Rotarians provide millions in funds and donations-in-kind each year.
Here are some of the Rotary Club of Oakville Trafalgar’s recent International Projects.
Butiiti Girls Primary School, Uganda - Rotary Global Grant Project
Rotary Global grants support large international activities with sustainable, measurable outcomes in Rotary's areas of focus. The process requires that both the district or club(s) in the country where the activity is carried out and the international partner club must work together to muster resources and apply for a global grant.
The Butiiti “Adopt A Community Global Grant Project” is an initiative undertaken by the Rotary E-Club of Uganda Global and partnering clubs to improve the quality of education at Butiiti Girls Primary School in Kyenjojo District, Uganda. The project aims to enhance human capital and strengthen institutional capacity to provide a positive environment for student academic and social development.
The Rotary Club of Oakville Trafalgar (RCOT) is the lead international partner and together with the Rotary E-Club of Uganda Global were successful in obtaining financial support, for this project, from numerous Rotary Clubs across North America, Uganda and Europe.
The project's key objectives include:
- Developing a skilled and effective teaching workforce
- Improving education infrastructure and WASH facilities
- Supporting extra-curricular activities, such as climate smart farming
With the financial support of the Rotary Clubs and the Rotary Global Grant the budget of $210,000 USD is allocated to the project.
Upgrades to the infrastructure include renovation of the school and library buildings, construction of toilets with wash stations and change areas, installation of a water well, pump and rainwater holding tanks. Enhanced human capital will include training of teachers and school staff, plus parent education, purchase of sewing machines for making sanitary products, acquisition of computers and internet access. The planting fruit and medicinal trees and plants will add nutritional supplements and teach climate smart farming techniques.
For More information on this project CLICK HERE
Copán Ruinas Health Center Laboratory - Copán Ruinas - Honduras
The "Laboratorio del Centro de Salud Copán Ruinas" project is a humanitarian initiative aimed at addressing the critical healthcare needs of the residents in Copán Ruinas, Honduras. The project seeks to establish a fully-equipped medical laboratory within the local health center. The primary objectives are to provide quality healthcare services to low-income individuals, improve the capacity of local healthcare professionals, promote disease prevention and treatment programs, and strengthen local healthcare systems.
Copán Ruinas, Honduras has a population of approximately 45, 000 comprised of 23% urban and 77% rural inhabitants. The economy is made up of tourism, coffee harvesting and production and subsistence farming. The poverty rate is around 64% and there are significant gaps in public health and education.
There was no public medical laboratory in Copán Ruinas, and most residents could not afford private care. Therefore, if tests were needed, they must travel many hours by bus to obtain them. The Rotary Club of Copán Ruinas received consistent requests for support from local doctors and health managers. These conversations, ongoing for several years, were intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the urgent need for accessible healthcare services. Meetings were held with local government officials, health authorities, and community leaders to confirm broad support for the project.
The Project Objectives were to provide quality healthcare services to low-income individuals, improve the capacity of local healthcare professionals, promote disease prevention and treatment programs and strengthen local healthcare systems.
The decision was made to build a medical laboratory within the Copán Ruinas Medical Center. This involves renovating the space and outfitting it with laboratory equipment. Additionally, negotiations were held with the government and the local health authority to fund and staff the laboratory once built. A four-party
Memorandum of Understanding was signed and sealed by all parties.
At a cost of $75,000 USD the project was funded by the Rotary Club of Oakville Trafalgar (RCOT), a Rotary District 7080 Matching Grant, a Rotary International World Fund Matching Grant and private donations.
Costa Rican Solar Panels - CEPIS - Huacas, Costa Rica
This project aims to support CEPIA (Culture, Education & Psychology of Infants and Adolescents), a charity in Costa Rica, by installing solar panels to reduce electricity costs, which is a significant expenditure in their annual budget. The Rotary Club of Oakville Trafalgar (RCOT) identified the need during visits to the organization and is the primary sponsoring Rotary Club. The project is a collaboration of 7 participating clubs in the Kitchener, Waterloo and Oakville areas which pool resources to projects, with Rotary District 7080 support. $29,820 USD was provided to the project.
CEPIA is a Costa Rican non-profit organization established in 2005. It serves a large population of undocumented Nicaraguans and low-income Costa Ricans, providing essential services to improve their quality of life. CEPIA’s mission is to promote cultural development, educational and labor opportunities, physical and mental health, social cohesion, and participation among children, teenagers, and their families from poor backgrounds. CEPIA serves 27 communities and approximately 3,000 beneficiaries, including children, teenagers, and adults.
CEPIA’s current programs include afterschool classes, a children's day centre, women’s empowerment, psychology and holistic health services, adult professional training and employability services
For More information on CEPIA …CLICK HERE
Canadian Nurses for Africa - Kenya
This initiative was started by RCOT, with funding provided by the Rotary Clubs of Kitchener and Oakville. Financial support was provided to Canadian Nurses for Africa to train 100 grassroots community health care workers in remote areas on Maternal and Newborn Care. The focus is on identifying the danger signs in pregnancy and birth, and reducing high morbidity and mortality rates.
To learn more about the Canadian Nurses for Africa…CLICK HERE
KIVA - Microfinancing
Microfinance, is a type of banking service (normally a loan) that is provided to impoverished people who have no other access to financial services. Ultimately, the goal of microfinance is to give these people an opportunity to become self-sufficient. By lending as little as $25, the borrower starts or grows a business, goes to school, accesses clean energy or realizes their potential. For some, it’s a matter of survival, for others it’s the fuel for a life-long ambition.
Kiva is a non-profit organization that connects lenders and borrowers in order to alleviate poverty in the borrower's region.
Kiva works with micro-finance institutions (field partners) around the world to identify suitable entrepreneurs (borrowers). Those field partners disburse loans to the entrepreneurs, then post the details on www.kiva.org. Over time, the entrepreneurs repay their loans to the lenders, who can withdraw their investment or re-loan it.
The Rotary Club of Oakville Trafalgar provided just over $4,000 to Kiva in 2015 which was increased to $7853 over 6 years. These funds have been loaned out and repaid numerous times such t hat the total amount lent to date is $54,880 through 758 loans in 51 countries.
These small loans have gone a long, long way in alleviating poverty by focusing in the areas of the elderly, agriculture, fish selling and other retail ventures, clothing, the arts, food, and education. Countries that benefited include Indonesia, Columbia, Pakistan, Philippines. Kenya, Jordan, Dominican Republic, Madagascar, Ecuador, Tajikistan, Georgia, Nicaragua, Uganda, Albania and Palestine.
Anyone can join - you don't need to be a Rotarian to make a difference. The more people that join, that difference will be bigger, go further and feel better.
Learn more about Kiva at http://www.kiva.org/
Mukuru Promotion Centre Renovations - Nairobi – Kenya
Funds were by the Rotary Clubs of Oakville and Oakville Trafalgar as well as a matching grant from Rotary District 7080 to renovate and provide computer equipment and solar lighting for the Mukuru Promotion Centre, Nibrobi Kenya. Upgrades to a school adjacent to and serving the children of the Mukuru slum, the largest in Nairobi.
To learn more about MPC...CLICK HERE
Training Teachers of Deaf Students in Mexico - Rotary Global Grant Project
Rotary Global grants support large international activities with sustainable, measurable outcomes in Rotary's areas of focus. The process requires that both the district or club(s) in the country where the activity is carried out and the international partner club must work together to muster resources and apply for a global grant.
Many deaf children in the State of Guanajuato, Mexico live too far from a school for special education, and cannot afford to pay for transportation to school or school supplies. They therefore either do not attend school or languish in the public school system with no specialised instructors/teachers available to provide adequate teaching to deaf children. They also do not hear well enough to learn the languages spoken around them and therefore do not acquire any language at all – spoken or signed.
Therefore, the Rotary Clubs of San Miguel de Allende-Midday, as host club, and the Rotary Club of Oakville Trafalgar, as their international partner, developed a project to training teachers of deaf students in Mexico.
The objectives of the project are to expand and develop teacher training programs to better prepare educators to work with deaf children and young people.
The teacher training component of the project enables the training of deaf educators in the region to:
- Document local sign languages and create an open-content digital library of folktales offered in an interactive bilingual format.
- Work with open-source software that enables local communities to create literacy content in local and national sign languages to be shared via an open-content digital library of folktales.
- Create a visual online Mexican Sign Language dictionary to enhance both Spanish and sign language skills.
The School for Deaf Children (EEESMA) of San Miguel de Allende has been providing quality education programs for Deaf children from Primary to High School levels for over 10 years. Because of their capabilities the EEESMA has been chosen to monitor, evaluate and document the training and literacy development of the teachers and students
The project has a total budget of $74,600 USD and has been funded by the Rotary Clubs of Oakville Trafalgar, Oakville, Burlington North, Bramalea, Orangeville, Kitchener-Conestoga, Richmond Hill, and Squamish, Rotary Districts in Ontario, Mexico, and California, the Rotary Foundation and a private grant.
With the funding in place, the project was kicked off in January 2024. A Vocational Training Team (VTT) was established and work has begun on the Mexican Sign Language Dictionary and high-resolution videos documenting Mexican Sign Language (LSM) signs used within Mexico.