Edward James-Smith, Vocational Service Awards, Rotary Careers Day, Rotary & Gender and RAGE!

Last Week

It was our belated AGM and we got through the business relatively quickly.  I'm not going to dwell on it as you will receive the minutes in due course.

This Week

Our speaker is Edward James-Smith who will talk on The Role of the Civil Service in a Democracy.

Edward was educated at Rondebosch Prep School and St Andrew's School, Bloemfontein.  

He graduated with a BSc in Biochemistry and Microbiology from the University of the Free State and then acquired an MSc, Technology and Socio-Economic Studies at the University of Roskilde, Denmark, graduating in 2005.  He subsequently worked for Ramboll and Ea Energy Analysis specialising in electrical energy policy and planning before moving to the Danish Energy Agency in Copenhagen as an Adviser to the Danish Minister of Energy.  He lives in Espergærde, Frederiksborg, Denmark with Tina Sommer Kristensen who is a Climate-Change Specialist and they have two children.

Rotary Club of Rosebank Johannesburg Vocational Service Awards

This is a very special meeting when our Club recognises people who exemplify the Rotary Motto of Service Above Self by using their vocation as a platform for the service of their community.  The award goes to those who have never been recognised for what they do and Melodene Stonestreet, Chairman of Vocational Service, and her committee will present these special people to us and honour them personally.

Rotary Careers Morning Saturday 27th February

We are really making good progress here with Grade 12 learners from 5 participating schools.  We currently have 19 different Career Bases plus 4 Tertiary Institutions.  many thanks to Club members who have volunteered their services and expertise.

Rotary Anns' 100 Club  

Some of the Rotarians have very kindly already bought tickets to support our fund-raising this year for which we thank you most sincerely.  We still have 8 tickets to sell at R360 for the year and you will be in the draw to win R350 or R150 every month, with big prizes at the end of the year (September) of up to R5000!  If anyone is interested, please would they contact President Shirley.

Rotary & Gender

Rotary’s policy on gender equality is absolutely clear. Yet nearly one-fifth of our clubs today continue to exclude women, usually by claiming that they simply cannot find women who are qualified for membership. 

I would say that any Rotarian who makes this argument, or believes it, lacks the two most basic qualifications for Rotary membership: honesty and good sense. 

Equality for women is not just a nice extra. It is absolutely essential to our service, to our future. If we don’t put it front and centre, we are dead in the water before we even begin. A club that shuts out women shuts out much more than half the talent, half the ability, and half the connections it should have. It closes out the perspectives that are essential to serving families and communities effectively. It damages not only its own service, but our entire organization, by reinforcing the stereotypes that limit us the most. It makes our partners take us less seriously. And it makes all of Rotary less attractive to potential members, especially the younger people who are so crucial to our future. 

Click on here to visit their website RAGE  Rage is Australia based and this is one of  the projects they support.

We appreciate any help or support you can provide towards our efforts to helping endangered species by supporting our projects in partnership with Roots & Shoots Kenya, the Chipembere Rhino Foundation in South Africa and the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya. 

SAVE OUR RHINO SOUTH AFRICA.

The project of the Rotary Club of Kenton-on-Sea in South Africa:

 Save Our Rhino Web Site

Rotary Kenton takes up the challenge to save the Rhino. In existence for over 50-million years, rhinos are global symbols of nature’s right to life –  the shocking plight of rhinos led to the  Rotary Club of Kenton on Sea donating Rand 23,250 to Brent Cooke of theChipembere Rhino Foundation for tracking collars. At the handover of the cheque, world renowned veterinarian and expert on rhino conservation, Dr William Fowlds, talked about the fight to save the Kariega rhinos after the brutal poaching attack on them. When asked what the Kenton Rotary Club could do to help, he answered “create awareness across the world.”

Rhino poaching has reached a crisis point, and if the high levels of poaching continue, rhino populations will be seriously affected. In South Africa if the killing continues at this high rate, we could see rhino deaths overtaking births in 2016-2018, meaning rhinos could become extinct in the very near future.

Somewhere in the bush a rhino nudges and nuzzles her newborn calf, blissfully unaware of the frenzy she’s created. In the darkest of times, she unknowingly gave us something so beautiful and tender-hope. Simply by choosing to survive, by going on each day, and by being..well, a rhino. Thank you Thandi. We will not give up.

Dr Fowlds of Kariega Game Reserve and  Wildlife Veterinary Surgeon, comments: “I am sure that the whole rhino caring community will share in the joy of this amazing birth. Thandi’s story has always been an incredible testimony of the will to survive against all odds. She represents so much of what her species faces under the current poaching crisis. Her survival has already given us inspiration but the birth of her calf brings a new dimension of hope to the crisis showing us that a future generation of life is possible if we put our minds and hearts to it.”

South Africa has the largest population of rhinos in the world. However, figures compiled by the South African Department of Environmental Affairs show a dramatic escalation in the number of rhinos being poached. During 2014 a staggering 1116 rhinos were killed. Over the past five years 3569 rhinos have died at the hands of poachers.

Together with the Rotary Club of Kenton-on-Sea South Africa and our Projects Director Jo Wilmot, we are developing Rhino International Survival Kits or RISK Boxes.  These boxes or kits will be available for Rotary and Rotaract Clubs and Districts to support.

These RISK Boxes will contain equipment that will go to various projects engaged in the protection and survival of rhinos in areas of South Africa that are currently under attack by well organised poaching gangs and syndicates.

RAGES is looking at sourcing these RISK Boxes in the area of most need so as to keep the economic benefits in that country.  These RISK Boxes will start at US$500 for the entry level.  There are three other levels that will be available.

*BRONZE RISK BOX LEVEL 1     US$500

*SILVER RISK BOX LEVEL 2   US$1,500

*GOLD RISK BOX LEVEL 3      US$5,000

*A full list of what is contained in each level of the RISK Boxes will be made available on our RAGES web site and via our newsletters.

Don't forget the AGM! Steven's Mindtrap, Art for Art's Sake and the Centenary of the Rotary Foundation in 2017.

This Week
It is a rather belated AGM.  The real reason for the delay was a lack of a quorum prior to the end of December so it is very important that everyone attends.  
Don't forget to forward the nominations for 2017/18 Rotary Year to Lyn Collocott.

Steven Mind-trapping.

Last Week

Steven Anastopoulos treated us to Mind Trap 2.  The puzzles....I hesitate to call them questions...were much easier than last time so we felt quite pleased with ourselves!  
Steven then showed us a number of short videos that appealed to him.....much laughter.

Joan Sainsbury brought a couple of the artists who exhibit and sell at our Annual Rotary Art Festival, Chrysoula Argyros and Paul Botes.  This is the first of monthly visits from artists who exhibit at the Festival, the idea being that we all get to know each other a lot better and there is a more sustainable link between the artists and the club.  It's an excellent idea as we now have good links with the Bag Factory as well and Rotary is not noted for it's interest in the arts, generally.
An important aspect of the visit was the donation by Chrysoula and Paul of two paintings for the annual Rotary Art Festival Draw.  Paul is also telling President Neville about a calendar he produces.  Many thanks, Joan for this initiative.

We will be establishing a "Page" for aspects of the Art Festival and participating artists in The Ramble in the future.

DISTRICT LEADERS SET TO CELEBRATE FOUNDATION’S CENTENNIAL

The Rotary Foundation has been improving lives since 1917. Learn about our work and help us celebrate 100 years of doing good in the world.

Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair Ray Klinginsmith asked district governors in training at the International Assembly to lead the celebration of the Foundation's centennial year, 2016-17.

"You are the primary contacts between the Foundation and our 34,000 Rotary clubs in the world. The success of the centennial celebration is largely in your hands," said Klinginsmith at a 19 January general session. "Catch the spirit and spread the word about the importance of celebrating our success."

Since the Foundation was established in 1917, it has spent more than $3 billion on programs and projects to improve the lives of millions worldwide, said Klinginsmith.

The centennial celebration officially kicks off in May at the Rotary Convention in Korea and culminates at the 2017 convention in Atlanta.

DISTRICT PLANS FOR THE CENTENNIAL

Governor-elect Tom James Markos of District 5100 in Oregon, USA, says he is proud to be serving during such a historic year. He plans to promote the centennial not only to his district's members, but also through local media.

"We need the public to be aware of what we've accomplished," says Markos, who has set a district goal of raising $1 million for the Foundation during the centennial year.

Bill Proctor, incoming governor of District 7080 in Ontario, Canada, believes the centennial year is an opportunity to "refocus and reeducate" members on the importance the Foundation's work.

"We have so many accomplishments to celebrate," said Proctor. "We need to use the momentum of the celebration to strengthen the Foundation's future."

HISTORY OF THE ROTARY FOUNDATION

At the 1917 convention, outgoing RI President Arch C. Klumph proposed to set up an endowment “for the purpose of doing good in the world.” In 1928, it was renamed The Rotary Foundation, and it became a distinct entity within Rotary International.

GROWTH OF THE FOUNDATION

In 1929, the Foundation made its first gift of $500 to the International Society for Crippled Children. The organization, created by Rotarian Edgar F. “Daddy” Allen, later grew into Easter Seals.

When Rotary founder Paul Harris died in 1947, contributions began pouring in to Rotary International, and the Paul Harris Memorial Fund was created to build the Foundation.

EVOLUTION OF FOUNDATION PROGRAMS

1947: The Foundation established its first program, Fellowships for Advance Study, later known as Ambassadorial Scholarships.

1965-66: Three programs were launched: Group Study Exchange, Awards for Technical Training, and Grants for Activities in Keeping with the Objective of The Rotary Foundation, which was later called Matching Grants.

1978: Rotary introduced the Health, Hunger and Humanity (3-H) Grants. The first 3-H Grant funded a project to immunize 6 million Philippine children against polio.

1985: The PolioPlus program was launched to eradicate polio worldwide.

1987-88: The first peace forums were held, leading to Rotary Peace Fellowships.

2013: New district, global, and packaged grants enable Rotarians around the world to respond to the world’s greatest needs.

Since the first donation of $26.50 in 1917, the Foundation has received contributions totaling more than $1 billion.

The Mind Trap, Discon, Friendship Exchange to Nigeria & Hunger in the USA

Last Week
It was a Business Meeting and President Neville has commented on it in his column.

This Week

Back by POPULAR DEMAND 

                                                  Steven Anastopoulos 

                                                                                    Presents MIND TRAP 2

Steven has the ability to lower the perceived intellectual capacity of the Rotary Club of Rosebank Johannesburg by approximately 90%.  He is a dangerous man.  If you are feeling insecure, subject to bouts of depression, anthophobia, bathmophobia, coulrophobia, ecclesiophobia or even islamophobia it is recommended that you stay away.

Discon, Muldersdrift, 16th - 19th June

Discon is just around the corner both geographically and timewise.  I haven't seen a booking form yet but keep a look out for one coming your way.  It would be great to have a really good turn out from our club.



Rotary Friendship Exchange Lagos Nigeria 23rd April - 5th May

Lagos Island

This exchange sounds really fascinating as there are so many interesting things to see and I am sure that the hospitality will be outstanding.  The approximate cost is R14 000 per head all inclusive.

Should you be interested you can contact the tour co-ordinator Koekie Makunyane-Quashie 

e-mail: koekiemq@inkhanyetischool.ac.sz

cell: (+268) 7602 8220

OBITUARY

It is with great sadness that I inform you that we have just heard  that our dear mouth-painter Elsie Fouche passed away last November.

Apparently she died of the illness which had caused her disability. Joan Sainsbury battled to make contact with the artist, and finally reached her sister.

Elsie was a resident of Ry-Ma-In, a home for disabled in Linden, and joined our group of exhibiting artists in 2004, along with Kobie Tait. Rudy Lombard joined the group in 2005.

Elsie exhibited at every exhibition since then, and attended each event regularly in her wheelchair. She was always friendly, smiling and loved to talk about her art, which was much admired and sold modestly well. She thrived, despite her disabilities. She had her own computer and was active on email.

We shall miss her bright face, personality and lovely artworks at our Festivals in future. We shall remember her for all her attributes, and are sure she is blessed in her new home.

Mark Franklin

CLUBS BATTLE HUNGER IN MISSOURI WITH ‘FOOD FIGHT’

Rotary members from Columbia, Missouri, USA, volunteer at a regional food bank.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of District 6080 (Missouri, USA)

Though the media tends to focus on underdeveloped countries when the subject is hunger, food scarcity is also a problem in the United States.

Consider parts of Missouri, where one of every six people goes hungry, according to the Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri.

Rotary member Steve Dulle wanted to change that. For his induction as this year’s governor of District 6080, he eschewed a traditional installation featuring fine food and formal wear. Instead, he asked members throughout the district to collect nonperishable provisions and volunteer at local food banks and pantries on the day that he took office. And he launched a month long “food fight” that pits clubs in the northern part of his district against those in the south to see who could collect the most food.

The north won — as did the area’s hungry residents. Rotary members, Rotoractors, and their families and friends collected more than 10,000 pounds of food and raised nearly $19,000 for Missouri’s food pantries.

“I wanted to start off my year with an example of what it should primarily portray, namely a dedication to service,” says Dulle. “This was the first time we did a service project for our district — it united us.”

The Rotary Club of Jefferson City Breakfast took top honors for the amount of food brought in, collecting more than 2,500 pounds of nonperishable items outside a supermarket on Saturdays in July. The Rotary Club of Columbia-Metro contributed the most labor, volunteering 258 hours at the Food Bank of Central & North East Missouri. And the Columbia South, Fulton and Jefferson City Evening clubs collected the most money for the cause, more than $2,000 each.

Rotary members and guests even repackaged nearly 5,000 pounds of Rice Krispies for local food pantries. Dulle says that a volunteer stood on a ladder and shoveled the cereal from a 15-foot box into a large pan, which was eventually divided by others into serving sizes for innumerable plastic containers ready for delivery.

Local Rotaract members pitched in as well.

“Coordinated projects like these are able to take service projects to another level,” says Jolyn Sattizahn, president of the Rotaract Club of Columbia, who helped with the effort.

Of the 49 clubs in the district, 36 participated in the initiative.

Larry Price, president of the Rotary Club of Mountain View, says he’ll never forget volunteering at an Ozarks Food Harvest pantry.

“Frankly, I had no idea that so many people in Mountain View were being served at this site,” he says. “And the beneficiaries of the program were quick to express their appreciation to the volunteers as they made their way around the tables.”

Dulle’s 28 June installation as district governor, at the Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri, was atypical. There was no banquet, attendees wore shorts, and the governor was sworn in during a lunch break. He wouldn’t have done it any differently.

“It was important that the project be hands-on so we could better feel the service we were doing,” he says. “Because of the project, clubs are continuing to work with their food banks.”

And that promises to make a dent in the district’s hunger problem in the years to come.

By David Sweet

Rotary News

Business, Muhamed Nordien & Susan Davis

This Week
It's a Business Meeting....there's not much else I can say about it.  Twelfth Night or What You Will has passed us by and this is almost certainly what happened a year down the line.

Last Week
Muhammed Nur Nordien talked to us about a likely home for conservative thought in South Africa.  It didn't make much sense to me as nothing is 100% conservative or progressive.
We don't have any Donald Trumps in this country, or if we do they are not in the public domain!  Muhamed didn't think it was much of a possibility either!
I got the impression that he wanted to promote some sort of discussion and in that he was successful.

FOUNDATION HONOREE CREATES OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE POOR

Susan Davis shares a photo with school children in Pakistan. Davis co-founded BRAC USA to advance the mission of BRAC -- Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee -- which is dedicated to fighting poverty.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Susan Davis

For her work to mitigate extreme poverty around the world, Susan Davis has received many honors. But the 2015-16 Rotary Foundation 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 largest nongovernmental development organization, which was founded after Bangladesh’s partition from Pakistan in the 1970s. The U.S. branch is dedicated to fighting poverty and to creating opportunities for the poor in Africa and elsewhere.

Fulfilling that mission hasn’t been easy. Davis’ work has been disrupted by floods, cyclones, earthquakes, and war. Even worse was the sudden and deadly Ebola epidemic in 2014 in West Africa.

“I wasn't sure how to protect our staff and clients and accompany these vulnerable communities out of this tragic situation,” says Davis, who served as BRAC USA’s president and chief executive officer until her departure this month. She quickly contacted Ebola experts and connected them with BRAC USA’s representatives in affected countries. “I lost sleep and cried with each death,” she says.

Two of those deaths were particularly painful. Ophilia Dede, a BRAC credit officer in Liberia, and her husband succumbed to the virus, leaving behind a little girl. Davis helped set up a scholarship fund for her education.

But she doesn’t allow such painful experiences to deter her.

“The urgency of the need and the tangible opportunities to make a difference keep me going,” she says. “And I have been blessed by seeing two big ideas — microfinance and social entrepreneurship — take root globally.”

From 1987 to 1991, Davis championed microfinance while working as a program officer with the Ford Foundation in Bangladesh. She developed a consortium that raised $175 million, increasing the availability of microloans in Bangladeshi villages to 44 percent from 5 percent, she says. Though debates endure over how much credit microfinance should receive for the country’s progress, conditions in Bangladesh have improved significantly: According to The Economist, life expectancy in the country rose from 59 to 69 during a 20-year span ending in 2010.

Davis also is co-author, with journalist David Bornstein, of the book “Social Entrepreneurship: What Everyone Needs to Know.”  And she is involved with Ashoka, a nonprofit organization that supports social entrepreneurship; as a director, she oversaw its expansion to the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia.

A resident of New York City, Davis is widely recognized for her work in the field of international development. She was appointed to the board of the United Nations Fund for International Partnership in 2012, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and has served on the boards of the Grameen Foundation, the Sirleaf Market Women's Fund, and the African Women's Development Fund USA.

Davis has come a long way from the small town in southwest Louisiana, USA, where she grew up. The Rotary scholarship provided her first opportunity to live abroad. She believes that her Oxford experience allowed her to be taken seriously, and credits it with helping her land a job with the Ford Foundation.

Perhaps most importantly, says Davis, that Rotary-sponsored year gave her an entirely new perspective on power and privilege.  “Oxford was larger than life in my imagination,” she recalls. “But when I became a part of Oxford and got to know the dons and the students, I realized that, whether rich or poor, we were all just human beings and all of us were vulnerable and full of imperfections.”

Davis will be honored at the Rotary International Convention in Korea in June.

By David Sweet

Rotary News

Casual, Unofficial, Chariots Bar Meeting, Muhamed-Nur Nordien and Food Banks in the USA?

The Casual, Unofficial Chariots Bar Meeting

And it was a great success with about a dozen of us turning up and having a great social time...maybe we should have more?

This Week
Muhamed-Nur Nordien is talking to us on "The Conservative Home in South African Politics".

I have 7 years experience in international satellite radio, 3 years in the South African Department of Foreign Affairs and 4 years as a content manager ( Head of Religion ) for the South African Broadcasting Corporation. 
I am now the MD of my own company Nordien Consulting. We specialize in providing political consulting services primarily to foreign entities in South Africa. We also provide Strategic Communication services. My skills are at the crossroads between communications and politics, the merging of the two and the managing the interdependency between the two. 
We intend to grow our field of services into political communication as well as political campaigning in the next few years.
Innovation is a key driver towards success in this industry as well as exploiting the opportunities to create new markets and be at the front-line of developing and servicing these markets.

London 2016 Fireworks   Just to cheer you up!  Happy New Year!

CLUBS BATTLE HUNGER IN MISSOURI WITH ‘FOOD FIGHT’

Rotary members from Columbia, Missouri, USA, volunteer at a regional food bank.

Courtesy of District 6080 (Missouri, USA)

Though the media tends to focus on underdeveloped countries when the subject is hunger, food scarcity is also a problem in the United States.

Consider parts of Missouri, where one of every six people goes hungry, according to the Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri.

Rotary member Steve Dulle wanted to change that. For his induction as this year’s governor of District 6080, he eschewed a traditional installation featuring fine food and formal wear. Instead, he asked members throughout the district to collect non perishable provisions and volunteer at local food banks and pantries on the day that he took office. And he launched a monthlong “food fight” that pit clubs in the northern part of his district against those in the south to see who could collect the most food.

The north won — as did the area’s hungry residents. Rotary members, Rotaractors, and their families and friends collected more than 10,000 pounds of food and raised nearly $19,000 for Missouri’s food pantries.

“I wanted to start off my year with an example of what it should primarily portray, namely a dedication to service,” says Dulle. “This was the first time we did a service project for our district — it united us.”

The Rotary Club of Jefferson City Breakfast took top honors for the amount of food brought in, collecting more than 2,500 pounds of nonperishable items outside a supermarket on Saturdays in July. The Rotary Club of Columbia-Metro contributed the most labor, volunteering 258 hours at the Food Bank of Central & Northeast Missouri. And the Columbia South, Fulton and Jefferson City Evening clubs collected the most money for the cause, more than $2,000 each.

Rotary members and guests even repackaged nearly 5,000 pounds of Rice Krispies for local food pantries. Dulle says that a volunteer stood on a ladder and shoveled the cereal from a 15-foot box into a large pan, which was eventually divided by others into serving sizes for innumerable plastic containers ready for delivery.

Local Rotaract members pitched in as well.

“Coordinated projects like these are able to take service projects to another level,” says Jolyn Sattizahn, president of the Rotaract Club of Columbia, who helped with the effort.

Of the 49 clubs in the district, 36 participated in the initiative.

Larry Price, president of the Rotary Club of Mountain View, says he’ll never forget volunteering at an Ozarks Food Harvest pantry.

“Frankly, I had no idea that so many people in Mountain View were being served at this site,” he says. “And the beneficiaries of the program were quick to express their appreciation to the volunteers as they made their way around the tables.”

Dulle’s 28 June installation as district governor, at the Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri, was atypical. There was no banquet, attendees wore shorts, and the governor was sworn in during a lunch break. He wouldn’t have done it any differently.

“It was important that the project be hands-on so we could better feel the service we were doing,” he says. “Because of the project, clubs are continuing to work with their food banks.”

And that promises to make a dent in the district’s hunger problem in the years to come.

By David Sweet

Rotary News

Chariots, Sarah Britten...with apologies and Pavarotti in 1978. An interesting Wheelchair Project in Mexico.

This Week
It's an informal meeting in Chariots.
All that really means is that we order off the menu, have a drink and socialise.
There are no bells and no fines, no sergeant and no-one with a chain around their neck or ankle.
Look forward to seeing you there!

Last Week
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
Whilst attempting to download the pictures of the Christmas Lunch all I succeeded in doing was deleting the whole lot so you won't be able to see your smiling faces, Eddie in full flow or Sarah Britten extolling the virtues of lipstick.  Instead you will have to put up with one of her pictures.

We also need a bit of Christmas Cheer having had three Ministers of Finance in less than a week!

Here's Pavarotti at the height of his powers in the Cathedral at Montreal.

It only remains for me to echo the words of President Neville.  Have a Wonderful Christmas and everything of the best for 2016!

SPIN DOCTORS

Liliana Martínez and Francisco Hinojosa Martínez repair a wheelchair in ALEM’s Cuernavaca workshop.

Rotary International / Monika Lozinska

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

From the December 2015 issue of The Rotarian

In Cuernavaca, Mexico, cobblestone streets and sidewalks can wreak havoc on wheels and bearings. For people who get around using a wheelchair, a mechanical breakdown only exacerbates the social isolation they often face. But an enterprising group is training people with disabilities to fix wheelchairs – and even bringing the concept of roadside assistance to wheelchair users in other cities.

Erik Friend, a member of the Rotary Club of Cuernavaca-Juárez, Mexico, had been volunteering with a group called Autonomy, Liberation Through Movement (ALEM) and was intrigued by the simple efficacy of its vision and work. ALEM’s employees design, build, and repair standard and sports wheelchairs, recumbent tricycles, and other custom wheeled devices. They work out of a garage workshop in Cuernavaca and staff mobile units that travel to cities such as Puebla and Veracruz.

Other groups distribute wheelchairs, but ALEM is the only wheelchair repair operation in the state of Morelos. It provides an essential service in a place where new wheelchairs frequently break down within a year – and where people with disabilities are often viewed as unable to work. ALEM’s technicians also offer general welding, upholstery, and painting services.

“ALEM opened new doors for me,” says Gilberto Beltran Montero, who was paralyzed after being shot in a mugging. Fighting depression, he didn’t leave his house for a year. “I thought that because I’m disabled, I would never be able to do anything. But I realized that I could still learn new skills.”

Friend, who has experience as a mechanic, is now the president of ALEM. He says he has seen how learning a skill has made workers like Beltran more confident and self-reliant. He has also seen the impact of their example on the communities where they work. Local auto mechanics, for instance, often bring aluminum-welding projects to ALEM, one of the only places in Cuernavaca equipped to do that type of job. When they see someone like Rosy Roman Sánchez, a young woman who specializes in welding aluminum, Friend says, “it makes them question all the assumptions they have – about not only what a woman can do, but also what someone in a wheelchair can do.

“To see the look on their faces when Rosy starts working, and does a job well, is great,” he says. “That’s how we transform society’s way of thinking.”

In 2013, the Rotary Clubs of Paoli-Malvern-Berwyn, Pa., and Cuernavaca-Juárez used a Rotary Foundation grant to purchase parts and equipment for ALEM’s repair operations. The next year, the two clubs received a Rotary global grant to purchase a trailer and a van for ALEM’s mobile repair service, continue to fund needed parts and supplies, and support training, education, and outreach programs. Rotary clubs in each city visited by the mobile repair unit coordinate permits, electricity, and housing for the technicians.