President Tom Kolepp & family are in South Africa, enjoying a wonderful vacation and visiting many Rotarians who were part of son Carl’s Rotary Exchange experience eight (really 8!) years ago. Tom has agreed to present a future program on this fantastic journey! As a result, I have the honor of authoring the message this week and next.
“ONE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE”
Terry Reed, Past President of West Reading-Wyomissing Rotary, visited Morning Star on May 28 to talk of his experience in February, leading a Volunteer Training Team (VTT) of medical professionals to Uganda as part of a 3-year Rotary Foundation Global Grant project in our District 7430.
BACKSTORY: A few years back, a couple of future District Governors walked into the San Diego Zoo. (DG Elect training for ALL incoming DGs worldwide takes place in San Diego annually.) They struck up a conversation at one of the exhibits, discovering they were both soon-to-be DGs – one from Blue Bell, PA and the other from Uganda, Africa. Naturally there had to be a Rotary opportunity here.
“16 women die every day while giving birth in Uganda!” The 2 DGs decided to address this tragic situation. Recognizing this to be a very significant undertaking, a 3-year plan was developed to achieve meaningful results.
Rotary partners were sought in both Districts in the two countries. 6 Rotary Clubs in 4 Districts both in the US and Uganda/Tanzania stepped up.
The need for a strong medical partner was apparent. Key in this process was bringing in the head of OB/GYN at Drexel University College of Medicine through a fortuitous connection via the doctor son of the Blue Bell DG. (This project was meant to be!) This included the College of Nursing & Health Professions, College of Computing and Informatics, School Public Health and the Office of International Programs. From Uganda’s largest educational facility, the Makerere University included the College of Health Sciences, College of Computing and Informatics the School Public Health.
A Rotary Foundation Global Grant was approved to “Improve Maternal & Child Health”, one of Rotary Foundation’s six Areas of Focus.
Budget: $80,000 for Year 1, $120,000 for Year 2, and $150,000 for Year 3
In the initial year, the Pennsylvania team led by PDG Ron Smith visited Uganda to conduct an extensive needs assessment, and identified the following:
- Healthcare education, distance education, digital libraries …
- Support a network of healthcare professionals
- Improve community health center infrastructure at pilot Healthcare Centers (to provide an example that can be replicated at other locations later – sustainable after Rotary leaves)
- Exchange healthcare professionals
NOW BACK TO TERRY, whose background is engineering, NOT medicine …
I repeat, “16 women die every day while giving birth in Uganda!” That's the statistic that struck Terry Reed when he volunteered to travel to East Africa as part of year two of this Rotary International project. Terry led a medical team in February to Uganda to provide training to local health care professionals. The 11-person Volunteer Training Team consisted of OB/GYNs, pediatricians, midwives, public health, and IT professionals from Drexel University College of Medicine.
They traveled in and around the Kampala area as well as more-remote health care centers and offered advanced training to health care professionals in procedures and techniques to help mothers survive and help babies to breathe at the moment of birth. Terry shared his experiences in the hospitals and remote community health centers, where the Global Grant from the Rotary Foundation provided medical and computer equipment and training classes to help stem the mortality and morbidity rates facing the mothers and children of Uganda. As VTT Team Leader, Terry managed Communications, Transportation (airline and ground), Lodging and Meals, THE Schedule, The Hardware Store…The Digital Store…The Pharmacy and Rotary Club Visits. I am sure he drew upon the disciplines from his engineering background often. Herding cats comes to mind…
Incidentally, a group from Uganda came to Pennsylvania this past month as an exchange. Further exchanges are planned in the future.
You can follow the VTT Team’s progress on the blog: rotary-vtt-uganda-2014.blogspot.com. This project is just one wonderful example of how your Rotary Foundation Annual Fund donations are utilized.
Last Thursday we also welcomed several guests: Tom Brandt and John Oedmann were guests of Tom Kolepp, and Barry Gates was a guest of Steve Bajan.
Reminders:
Please turn in any remaining Spaghetti Dinner ticket sales money to Val Walk or Sue Reeps immediately so that we can close out the event reconciliation by May 31. If you did not hand it in yet, please remember ‘Is it Fair to all concerned?’
We have almost qualified Morning Star as a Rotary Foundation “Every Rotarian Every Year” Club. All of the members Tom Hartzell or Tom K talked to have pledged or donated. There are only a few members that we have not been able to contact – and we’ll keep trying. To fulfill your pledge, write your check to “The Rotary Foundation” and give it to Tom Hartzell or the “$2 a Week” Table. (One-time donations also accepted at the $2 a Week Table.) We are trying to finish this up now so that Tom H can assure proper credit to both you and the club for our EREY achievement.
We ask for two or more volunteers for June’s “Prospective Member Challenge” to make the commitment to introduce one or two acquaintances to Rotary and share our “Service Above Self” ideals. Guests are always welcome.
Get your tickets for the Camp Neidig Closing Ceremonies (on June 22 at Camp Manatawny near Boyertown) by June 7 at CampNeidig.com.
This week’s program on June 4 will feature KAREN SMITH, Volunteer Center of the Lehigh Valley.
The Mission of the Volunteer Center of the Lehigh Valley is "To engage the community to care for one another through volunteerism in the Greater Lehigh Valley."
The Volunteer Center’s vision is "To be the premier resource on volunteerism for the benefit of the community and organizations we serve." Please see volunteerlv.org for more information. Please join us and give Karen a warm Morning Star welcome this Thursday!
Please see Events, Speakers and Responsibilities on the side of this page! (On phones they may appear above or below rather than to the side.)
NEW DATE: Due to today’s rain, our Joint Golf Tournament to benefit Bridges Foundation has been postponed 3 weeks and will now be held on June 22.
If you are visiting Bethlehem or our website, or if you want to learn more about either Bethlehem Morning Star or Rotary International, please contact Ron Searfoss via email at rsearfos@ptd.net or via mobile phone at 610-504-1460.
Let's continue to "Light Up Rotary".
President Elect Ron
