Our Rotary Champions

Our Local Rotary Champions

Every year Rotary International of Great Britain and Ireland hosts the Champions Awards celebrating outstanding humanitarian and community service given by volunteers across the UK and Ireland. The Rotary Club of South Foreland is proud to announce that 2 of the 14 Champions are local. Wendy Catterick, nominated by the club for her work with refugees in Kent, receives a Community Champion Award, while club member Ken Berkin becomes a Champion of Change for his lifelong commitment to improving the lives of people in the North Kigesi region of Uganda.

The ‘Learning for Life’ projects which Wendy started 17 years ago, teaching English to refugees three mornings a week, have now grown into the most influential refugee support organisation in Kent, the Kent Refugee Action Network. It helps unaccompanied refugees aged 11 to 24, providing the skills and support which will help them become integrated members of the community. Skills such as learning English and independent living skills, and support with advice, mentoring and advocacy help young people develop study, work and relationships in their transition to adult life.

For 45 years Ken has devoted his life to helping the poor, orphaned and needy children of rural North Kigesi. He established a charity to empower people to lift themselves out of poverty, strengthen their families and improve their communities. Twenty years ago a Children’s Centre to care for abandoned children with the aim of reintegrating then into the community, was established. A project to provide fresh water from the springs in the western end of the Rift Valley has decreased the risk of cholera and saved local people the daily 3 kilometre journey to fetch what was polluted water. The charity is now building a rural maternity centre and finding funding for a midwife in order to help prevent the transmission of HIV.

Wendy and Ken will be presented with their awards at a ceremony in Nottingham on Friday 10^th May as part of the annual Rotary Conference and Showcase. The message from Rotary is that there is much good being done in the world.