Rotary members and our partners in the fight to eradicate polio offer our heartfelt condolences and express a deep sadness in the wake of a horrific bomb attack in Quetta, Pakistan, that took the lives of at least 15 security personnel on 13 January. This tragic attack outside a polio immunization center is a stark reminder of the dangers faced by Rotary, our partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, and the brave women and men on the front lines of our effort to protect all children from the paralyzing effects of polio. While the bombing will be investigated, one thing is clear:...

Rotary is releasing $35 million in grants to support polio immunization activities and research in nine countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan. The funds will build on last year’s historic achievement of stopping the transmission of the wild poliovirus in Nigeria and all of Africa. “We are closer than ever to achieving a polio-free world,” says Michael K. McGovern, chair of Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee. “To ensure that no child ever again suffers the devastating effects of this disease, we must all ensure that the necessary funds and political will are firmly in place in...

For her work to mitigate extreme poverty around the world, Susan Davis has received many honors. But the 2015-16 Rotary Global Alumni Service to Humanity Award has special significance. “It feels like a circle of completion,” says Davis, who was a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar in 1980-81, doing graduate studies in international relations at Oxford University in England. “Rotary invested in me when I was young, and now is celebrating the harvest.” A decade ago, Davis co-founded BRAC USA to advance the mission of BRAC -- Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee -- the world's...

From the January 2016 issue of The Rotarian. In this issue, we kick off 2016 with first-person accounts of Rotary members' most harrowing and heartfelt personal experiences. Pick up the issue to explore more stories. Dushan “Dude” Angius Rotary Club of Los Altos, Calif. On Christmas Eve 1988, I picked up my son Steve at the airport. He always kept himself in good shape, but he was so skinny it was really beyond the pale. I didn’t say anything, but Christmas morning I asked him, “Are you right?” He said, “No, actually, I’m not well at all.” At first, he said he had Kaposi sarcoma, which is a...

From the January 2016 issue of The Rotarian. In this issue, we kick off 2016 with first-person accounts of Rotary members' most harrowing and heartfelt personal experiences. Pick up the issue to explore more stories. Naing Ko Ko Rotary Peace Fellow University of Queensland, Australia, 2012-13 In 1988, when I was 16, I began to protest with other students for democracy, human rights, and social justice in my home country of Burma, now called Myanmar. Four years later, I was arrested and tortured for two months in an interrogation camp. I was shackled and beaten. I was not allowed to sleep....