International Involvment

The Rotary Club of Wokingham supports many international projects, either through Rotary International, in collaborations with other clubs, or as a sponsor of humanitarian charities.


Rotary International Projects

With 1.22 Million members found in more than 200 countries, Rotary International has a global reach, and is able to support humanitarian projects across the world. Here are a few examples of this work, to which our Club contributes financially.

End Polio Now

One of Rotary International flagship projects has been the fight against Polio, with a goal to eradicate completely this very debilitating illness.

Polio was endemic around the world as little as 70 years ago, causing multitude of children and adults to become severely disabled. Vaccines have been available since 1955, allowing the progressive eradication of the disease in the developed world. Since 1979, Rotary International has taken a leading role in the fight against the disease all around the world, raising billions of dollars to finance vaccination programs around the world. This work, done in collaboration with UNICEF, the Centre for Diseases Control, the World Health Organisation, and more recently, with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has allowed to eliminate Polio from all but three countries in the world.

For more information about this work, visit www.endpolio.org

Peace Fellowships

Each year, Rotary selects up to 100 individuals from around the world to receive fully funded academic fellowships at one of its peace centres located around the world. These students will receive certification or diplomas (bachelors), that will help them promote tolerance and cooperation, and become peace building experts at high level of government, military, law enforcement, NGOs, and international organisations.

For more information about this work click here.

Shelter boxes

Initially conceived in Cornwall 15 years ago, the Shelter Box project aim to provide temporary accommodations to civilian population having been hit by natural disaster of humanitarian crises. It sends boxes filled with family tents, cooking utensils, stoves, blankets, water sanitation equipment and other essentials to affected areas, allowing families to get temporary shelters while houses and infrastructures are being rebuild.From the early days of the project, a strong partnership was established between Shelter Box and Rotary International, which supports fund raising for the project, and provides its expertise and  contacts to facilitate the transport and deployment of the shelter boxes in the crisis zones.These boxes have been sent all around the world, from the Philippines after a devastating Tsunami, to India and to Louisiana after the Katrina hurricane left many families homeless.

For more details, visit www.shelterbox.org

Collaboration Projects

Sometimes, several clubs get together to promote smaller scale projects , which have huge impact on communities abroad.

Sri-Lanka

One of our members has strong connect ions with Sri-Lanka, which he visits on regular basis. This has helped developing a partnership with the Rotary Club of Colombo. Several charitable projects have been initiated as a result of this partnership.

Sri Lanka Clean water project

Our Club has helped deploying pumps and filtering systems allowing students of three Sri-Lanka's schools  to have access to clean water, reducing the spread of water born diseases.
We intend to finance more work allowing six additional rural schools to be provided with similar facilities.

Click here  for more information.

Building classrooms.

Would you have liked going to school, but have to take your lessons outside, sitting on the ground, the wind blowing your papers away, the rain interrupting lessons? These are the conditions for many students in rural Sri-Lanka. The Rotary Club of Wokingham will help to finance the construction of a classroom, which will eventually help children there to get a better education and help the development of their country. For more information, click here.

Support for charities providing help abroad.

Hope and Aid Direct

Hope and Aid Direct is a charity organising regular humanitarian convoys to populations affected by the troubles in the Balkans. Twice a year convoys of heavy Good vehicles are sent in these areas, to provide clothes, blankets and essential supplies to people living in areas severely damaged or mined during the conflicts of the 1990s.

The Rotary Club of Wokingham, in conjunctions with many other British Clubs, is proud to support Hope and Aid Direct. For more information, click here.
 

Hands of Compassion

The Hands of Compassion charity supports orphaned children in Zambia. Our Club has recently financed the acquisition of text books, which will help these children get a better education.

More information can be found here

Books for the Philippines

A huge craving for education exists in the Philippines, which is often hindered by a lack of resources. It is for example difficult for schools to provide libraries. In collaboration with the Rotary Club of Gingoog, the Rotary Club of Wokingham and other clubs in Great Britain and Ireland have collected educational books , which will be sent to Gingoog City and distributed in the schools in that area.

International Involvment sub-pages:

Charity Quiz

more Funds raised will send an Ambulance to Ukraine