2019-03 March

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Dear fellow Rotarians, One of the things I appreciate most about serving as president of Rotary International is the people I get to meet. Much of my time is spent traveling and visiting Rotary clubs around the world. A Rotarian welcome is something quite special. But let me tell you, there’s nothing so warm as the welcomes that have been rolled out for me by Rotaractors. These are young people who are committed to Rotary ideals, who are pouring their hearts into service, and who, in the process, don’t forget to have fun. One of the highlights of my recent travels was a trip to Ghana, where I visited a district that boasts some 60 Rotaract clubs. They aren’t satisfied with that number, though — in fact, they’re excited about a plan to double it. They’ll do it, too. Rotaractors are vaccinating children against polio. They’re donating blood where the supply is dangerously low. They’re providing handwashing facilities to schools where children previously had no way to get clean. In short, they’re all about transformational service: carrying out projects that make a real difference in their communities. In Nakivale, Uganda, one special Rotaract club is making a difference in its community — which happens to be a refugee settlement. These young leaders are turning what others might see as disad- vantages into opportunities for service, building community and opening up new possibilities to those who are most in need of them. In Turkey, Rotaractors are visiting children in the hospital every Wednesday to lift their spirits by playing games with them. They also are mentoring new students at their university and teaching them leadership skills. Rotaractors are blazing the path for Rotary to be more relevant in this new century of service. And World Rotaract Week, which we’re celebrating 11-17 March, is the perfect opportunity to get to know your local Rotaractors and talk to them about how your clubs can work together. If your Rotary club doesn’t already sponsor a Rotaract club, know that you don’t need to be near a college or university to do it: Community- based Rotaract clubs are a great option. And remember that Rotaractors are part of the Rotary family. When Rotaractors are ready to leave their Rotaract club, we don’t want them to leave that Rotary family behind. I’m asking all Rotarians to help them make the transition into a Rotary club or to start a new one: I’m happy to charter as many new clubs as we need to give everyone a place where they feel at home while making the world a little better. Service should be fun, it should be inspirational, and it should be open to all. If there’s one thing Rotary has always excelled at, it’s diversity. In the past, that often meant diversity of profession, nationality, and outlook. We’ve made great strides when it comes to diversity of age and gender, and as we welcome more Rotaractors into our organization, we’ll become even stronger. Rotary is powerful. Together with Rotaract, it is unstoppable. Working side by side, we have the potential to Be the Inspiration in every part of society, to every person we meet. BARRY RASSIN President, Rotary International

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contents MARCH Vol. 197, No. 9 30 00 features 30 C AN ONE PERSON MAKE 1 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE A DIFFERENCE? Stephanie Woollard went from Down Under 6 INBOX to the top of the world to find out. 8 EDITOR’S NOTE By Diana Schoberg 1 1 our world Photography by Monika Lozinska • Taylor Huie, self-starter 44 GROWTH CHART • Flower power President-elect Mark Daniel Maloney maps out • Q&A with Yesenia Uribe a course for Rotary’s future. • Thinking — and giving — big • People of action around the globe By John Rezek and Geoffrey Johnson • Snapshot: New Orleans Photography by Monika Lozinska • March events 48 WTheHInYstPituEteAfCorEEcEonQoUmiAcsLaSndPPReaOceShPadEdRonIeTY 23 viewpoints the research on how countries could create and • Naming names sustain peace. But how to put that research into • Less is more action at the grassroots level? Enter Rotary. By Geoffrey Johnson 55 our clubs “ We need more hands • The Thinkers ”doing service, more brains • 4 questions about the coming up with ideas. Rotary Positive Peace Academy • Club innovation: Accra-East, Ghana — Mark Maloney • Convention: Hamburg dining • Message from the trustee chair ON THE COVER Seven Women, a Rotarian-founded • Brought to you by Rotary social enterprise, provides girls and women in Nepal with • Crossword literacy, vocational, and financial training. Photography by Monika Lozinska 64 LAST LOOK OPPOSITE Rotary is working with USAID in Ghana to deliver water and sanitation services. Read about some ways to help solve the world’s water crisis on page 64. Photography by Awurra Adwoa Kye THIS PAGE Fair-trade goods produced and sold by Seven Women provide an income for women in Nepal. Photography by Monika Lozinska March 2019 The Rotarian | 3

JOHN REZEK Editor in chief General O cers of Rotary International JENNIFER MOODY Art director 2018-19 JENNY LLAKMANI Managing editor President BARRY RASSIN East Nassau, Bahamas GEOFFREY JOHNSON Senior editor President-elect HANK SARTIN Senior editor MARK DANIEL MALONEY Decatur, Alabama, USA DIANA SCHOBERG Senior sta writer Vice President JOHN C. MATTHEWS Mercer Island, Washington, USA VANESSA GLAVINSKAS Contributing editor Treasurer NANCY WATKINS Copy editor PETER IBLHER Nürnberg-Reichswald, Germany MARC DUKES Production manager Directors FRANCESCO AREZZO Ragusa, Italy JOE CANE Design & production assistant OLAYINKA HAKEEM BABALOLA Trans Amadi, Nigeria JEFFRY CADORETTE Media, Pennsylvania, USA MARK DURAN Research editor BASKER CHOCKALINGAM Karur, India LAWRENCE A. DIMMITT Topeka, Kansas, USA CYNTHIA EDBROOKE Senior editorial coordinator RAFAEL M. GARCIA III Pasig, Philippines SANNA LERENMAN Circulation manager KEIICHI ISHIGURO Tsuruoka West, Japan ROBERT C. KNUEPFER JR. Chicago, Illinois, USA JWK MEDIA GROUP Advertising representatives AKIRA MIKI Himeji, Japan Ad inquiries: [email protected] EUN-SOO MOON Cheonan-Dosol, Korea JWK MEDIA GROUP FLORIDA — 954-406-1000 DAVID D. STOVALL Hall County, Georgia, USA 212 SE Eighth St., Suite 101, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316 BRIAN A.E. STOYEL Saltash, England JWK MEDIA GROUP NEW YORK — 212-292-3718 PIOTR WYGNAŃCZUK Gdynia, Poland 1271 Avenue of the Americas, 43rd floor, New York, NY 10020 GREGORY F. YANK O’Fallon, Illinois, USA PAULO AUGUSTO ZANARDI Curitiba-Cidade Industrial, Brazil Send ad materials to: Marc Dukes, The Rotarian, One Rotary Center, 1560 Sherman Ave., 14th floor, Evanston, IL 60201; phone 847-866-3092; JOHN HEWKO General Secretary email [email protected] Kyiv, Ukraine Media kit: rotary.org/mediakit Trustees of The Rotary Foundation To contact us: The Rotarian, One Rotary Center, 1560 Sherman Ave., 2018-19 Evanston, IL 60201; phone 847-866-3206; email [email protected] Website: therotarian.com Chair To submit an article: Send stories, queries, tips, and photographs by mail RON D. BURTON Norman, Oklahoma, USA or email (high-resolution digital images only). We assume no responsibility for unsolicited materials. Chair-elect To subscribe: Twelve issues at US$12 a year (USA, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin GARY C.K. HUANG Taipei, Taiwan Islands); $16 a year (Canada); $24 a year (elsewhere). Contact the Circulation Department (phone 847-424-5217 or -5216; email [email protected]) Vice Chair for details and for airmail rates. Gift subscriptions available at the same rates. BRENDA M. CRESSEY Paso Robles, California, USA To send an address change: Enclose old address label, postal code, and Rotary club, and send to the Circulation Department or email [email protected]. Trustees Postmaster: Send all address changes to Circulation Department, The Rotarian, ÖRSÇELIK BALKAN Istanbul-Karaköy, Turkey One Rotary Center, 1560 Sherman Ave., Evanston, IL 60201. MÁRIO CÉSAR MARTINS Santo André, Brazil Call the Contact Center: USA, Canada, and Virgin Islands (toll-free) 866-976-8279. Elsewhere: 847-866-3000, ext. 8999. DE CAMARGO Unless otherwise noted: All images are copyright ©2019 by Rotary International JOHN F. GERM Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA or are used with permission. MARY BETH GROWNEY SELENE Madison West Towne-Middleton, Published monthly by Rotary International. The Rotarian® is a registered trademark of Rotary International. Wisconsin, USA Copyright ©2019 by Rotary International. All rights reserved. Periodicals postage paid at Evanston, Ill., USA, PER HØYEN Aarup, Denmark and additional mailing offices. Canada Publications Mail Agreement No. 1381644. Canadian return address: SEIJI KITA Urawa East, Japan MSI, PO Box 2600, Mississauga, ON L4T 0A8. This is the March 2019 issue, volume 197, number 9, of JULIA D. PHELPS Amesbury, Massachusetts, USA The Rotarian (ISSN 0035-838X). Publication number: USPS 548-810. K.R. RAVINDRAN Colombo, Sri Lanka KENNETH M. SCHUPPERT JR. Decatur, Alabama, USA 4 | The Rotarian March 2019 GULAM VAHANVATY Bombay, India MICHAEL F. WEBB Mendip, England SANGKOO YUN Sae Hanyang, Korea JOHN HEWKO General Secretary Kyiv, Ukraine

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inbox Beyond books to Read a Raise”) and none, except perhaps is a delightfully provocative concept! “How to Read the Night Sky,” about sharing the I appreciate the content and also the Some clubs like to say, “We aren’t your wonder of life with a child? Why were there no gender inclusivity of these pieces and grandfather’s Rotary club,” which may or may children’s books in the “Shelf Life” section? of the “Shelf Life” book reviews. not be true (and is kind of ageist, too). But after the December issue, we can all say The As we older Rotarians consider our legacy, It may interest the editors to know that Rotarian is not your grandfather’s club let us focus on children, which will automati- women are not only writing today but have magazine. The layout was spectacular, much cally lead us to find solutions on immigration, contributed to the literary pantheon for more like the New York Times Magazine than climate change, world peace, etc. Perhaps a quite some time, notwithstanding the the Rotarian of the past. Kudos for the design whole issue of The Rotarian could focus on exclusively male list presented in “How to and the unusual articles about reading. children? We have much to learn from their Read Big Books.” I would submit Toni curiosity, needs, and options for the future. Morrison’s Beloved, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. HARRY FREEMAN Dalloway, Gloria Naylor’s The Women of Memphis, Tennessee ROBERT L. ROGERS Brewster Place, Sandra Cisneros’ The House Rockville, Maryland on Mango Street, Barbara Kingsolver’s The While the “How to Read” section in the Poisonwood Bible, and Ursula K. Le Guin’s December issue was quite fascinating, I wish I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed the The Left Hand of Darkness as the start of the editors had read the interview with Dana December issue. I always like the magazine — a long list of examples of lengthy, short, Suskind in the same issue before deciding the first thing I do is find the crossword puzzle romantic, thrilling, fantastical, easy, and what to include. Suskind’s emphasis on the and work that out, and then I read the difficult books that are waiting to be importance of the first three years of life, and articles. This month, I was blown away! explored and enjoyed. on talking with your baby, reminded me of my wife and her career teaching child development. I’ve already put a hold on the book Our Since women do indeed hold up half of the My wife and I are grandparents whose Towns at my local library. I’m No. 10 in line. sky, many of us appreciate seeing women’s post-retirement “careers” focus largely on how Maybe I should have read the magazine when talents and contributions included in basic to be supportive of our three granddaughters, it first arrived in my mailbox. “how to” lists of all kinds and at all levels. ages three, eight, and 11, especially since the The above books (as well as several of those death of our daughter from cancer 16 months Keep up the good work. You guys rock! included in the story) have enriched my life in ago. I longed to find in the many pages of “How glorious, multidimensional ways and, as an avid to Read” something that shares the love of KAREN SHIVELEY reader, I encourage the editors to keep striving reading with and to children. Why were there two Edmonds, Washington for the inclusion of diverse perspectives. sections that one might call “feeding addic- tions” (“How to Read a Racing Form” and “How Kudos for the interesting set of perspectives DAWN LESLEY on “reading” in the December issue: tarot, Northfield, Minnesota Shakespeare, EKGs, a menu, the night sky — “there’s more to literacy than books” MONIKA LOZINSKA / ROTARY INTERNATIONAL Stephanie Woollard reads to children in Sudal, Nepal. The organization Woollard founded, featured on page 30, helped rebuild their school after the 2015 earthquake. 6 | The Rotarian March 2019

Attitude is everything Overheard on social media I just finished reading Frank Bures’ thought- provoking column “Decline to Decline” Rotary and World War I | November [December], and I wanted to share a couple of related perspectives. I am a cancer survivor Thank you for the reminder of an important piece for over six years now, and the battle I had of our history with Rotary’s role and the Great War — to wage compelled me to pay much closer we shall always remember them. attention to my lifestyle choices. In the — STELLA KOKOROS recommendations given to address dementia, cancer, obesity, or any number of other health Tomorrow I have the honour of laying a wreath on behalf concerns, there is a remarkable consistency: of the Rotary Club of Kelowna at the Kelowna City Park Eat well, exercise regularly, manage stress, Cenotaph right beside our Field of Crosses. Lest we forget ... take good care of your friendships. I embraced — CAROL EAMER all of these with greater vigor after enduring my cancer treatment. This is what Rotary is all about. Look up Rotary Peace Fellowship! My attitude about aging is just as critical — FUNKSTUF as the lifestyle changes I have made in the past six years. I am convinced that the finest Sur ng fellowship | November part of my life is right now. I seek to be fully present in what I am doing and in who I am We joined and are surfing behind our boat on the lakes with, and to approach each of these moments of northeast Wisconsin! It’s a blast! with a strong attitude of gratitude. – MARY ANDERSON I am slowing down as I get older and I The editors welcome comments on items published in the magazine but reserve the right to edit for style acknowledge this, but there are no regrets. and length. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or Rotary International I will listen to my body and manage my current leadership, nor do the editors take responsibility for errors of fact that may be expressed by the writers. reality to the best of my ability. I am still here, and that was not a foregone conclusion in Follow us to get updates, share stories with your networks, the fall of 2012. Every day is a gift, and I will and tell us what you think. strive not to waste that and instead celebrate that I am indeed getting older. The Rotarian, One Rotary Center, 1560 Sherman Ave., Evanston, IL 60201 USA JOHN LODAL WEBSITE therotarian.com twitter.com/rotary facebook.com/rotary Boise, Idaho EMAIL [email protected] instagram.com/rotaryinternational I would like to commend and thank Frank Bures REPRINTING ARTICLES for his fine column “Decline to Decline.” The Rotarian frequently receives requests to reprint its articles. In the interest of I am a 30-year Rotarian and a 71-year-old raising awareness about what Rotary does, we encourage readers to share our articles who agrees wholeheartedly that we need in this way. Any article, in its entirety, may be reprinted in a Rotary-denominated to have the right attitude about our age. publication such as a club or district newsletter. For other publications, both consumer I’ve said for years that I am happy to grow and nonprofit, reprints require the expressed prior permission of the magazine. older so my kids can grow up and experience life and its many rewards. I feel that the only In all reprints, author, photographer, and illustrator credits must appear with the way they can achieve that is for me to article, along with the following: grow older with them. Reprinted by permission from The Rotarian magazine, [month/year]. As a wise person once said: It’s OK to Copyright © [year of publication] Rotary International. All rights reserved. grow older, just don’t grow old. If you wish to reprint an article from The Rotarian, contact us at [email protected]. BRUCE NORMAN After publication of the reprint, please mail a copy to: Oakville, Ontario The Rotarian, 1560 Sherman Ave., Evanston, IL 60201. See also myrotary.org/en/terms-using-rotary-international-trademarks-and-copyrights. March 2019 The Rotarian | 7

SERVICE A message from the I n March, during World Rotaract Week, we ABOVE SELF editor in chief celebrate the accomplishments of what RI Pres- JOHN REZEK ident Barry Rassin has called “Rotary’s secret The Object of Rotary weapon.” Reading this issue, you will see how Rota- Rotaractors ractors are woven into the fabric of Rotary. Taylor THE OBJECT of Rotary is to encourage and foster are woven Huie, a former Interactor who comes from a Rotary the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise family, seized the initiative when she arrived at Duke and, in particular, to encourage and foster: into the fabric University and started a Rotaract club. Yesenia of Rotary. Uribe, inspired by a training program for young lead- FIRST The development of acquaintance ers, got her Rotaract club involved in painting mu- as an opportunity for service; rals in public parks. The club’s example attracted other people and organizations from the neighbor- SECOND High ethical standards in business and hood, who helped reclaim parks that had fallen professions, the recognition of the worthiness of all into disrepair and become havens for violence and useful occupations, and the dignifying of each Rotarian’s drug use. And the Rotaract Club of Accra-East, occupation as an opportunity to serve society; Ghana, streams its meetings live so members who can’t attend — including a few who live abroad — are THIRD The application of the ideal of service in each able to participate. Rotarian’s personal, business, and community life; This month, we also take you close to the top of the FOURTH The advancement of international world. Senior sta writer Diana Schoberg, art director understanding, goodwill, and peace through Jennifer Moody, and photographer Monika Lozinska a world fellowship of business and professional traveled to Nepal to report on how women there are persons united in the ideal of service transforming their own lives with help from Stepha- nie Woollard, a Rotary Peace Fellow and Rotarian. It’s The Four-Way Test a story about the dramatic e ects that moments of human connection can have. OF THE THINGS we think, say, or do: 1) Is it the TRUTH? Rotary has a partnership with the Institute for 2) Is it FAIR to all concerned? Economics and Peace, which provides analytical tools 3) Will it build GOODWILL and and research to assess the world’s progress toward a state of “positive peace” — which is not simply the BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? absence of conflict, but the presence of positive fac- 4) Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned? tors to sustain peace. In this issue, you’ll read about how Rotarians take the IEP’s charts and graphs and Rotarian Code of Conduct turn them into action. The following code of conduct has been adopted for And this month, we feature a Q&A with RI Presi- the use of Rotarians: dent-elect Mark Daniel Maloney. Senior editor Geo - AS A ROTARIAN, I will rey Johnson and I sat down with him a few months ago 1) Act with integrity and high ethical standards to talk about his goals as president. He told us about a profile of him that had appeared in the German news- in my personal and professional life paper Nürnberger Nachrichten. Its headline read: 2) Deal fairly with others and treat them and their “Maloney ist Mr. Fabelhaft.” And what does that mean, we wondered. “Fabulous,” explained the president-elect. occupations with respect “Maloney is Mr. Fabulous.” When you read our conver- 3) Use my professional skills through Rotary to: sation, you’ll find that nothing is lost in translation. mentor young people, help those with special needs, and improve people’s quality of life in my community and in the world 4) Avoid behavior that reflects adversely on Rotary or other Rotarians 8 | The Rotarian March 2019

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BRENT CLARK our world Self-starter TAYLOR HUIE Rotaract Club of Duke University When Taylor Huie arrived at Duke University as a freshman in fall 2017, she was surprised to find no Rotaract club on campus. Rotaract was born just 120 miles away, at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, in 1968. And Duke, together with UNC-Chapel Hill, is home to one of Rotary’s peace centers. Back home in Michigan, where March 2019 The Rotarian | 11

our world Flower power continued from page 11 WITH 10,000 TULIPS that blossom each program. “It takes a lot of in-depth planning her mother, Jackie Huie, is a member of spring and neatly trimmed trees and shrubs on environmental and sustainability issues,” the Rotary Club of St. Joseph & Benton Harbor, Taylor had been an involved In- lining the streets, tiny Slippery Rock, Pennsyl- Greenwald says. teractor, serving for three years as membership chair and one year as pres- vania, is clearly a well-cared-for community. “We started by cleaning the town: We ident of the club at St. Joseph High School. Planter pots are dotted throughout the bor- created a recycling program, and there was “Because my family is so involved in ough’s 2 square miles, filled with a palette of a fall cleanup with schools, Slippery Rock Rotary, I feel like Rotary is part of who I am now,” she says. “The idea of going off greenery that rotates with the seasons. University students, and community volun- to college and not having Rotary was be- yond my comprehension.” The project, known as Slippery Rock in teers,” she says. Since then, the committee While Huie, a biomedical engineering Bloom, was launched eight years ago by the has raised nearly $100,000 from individu- major, settled into college life and got fa- miliar with the campus, she also started Rotary Club of Slippery Rock’s president at als and from private and public grants to pay talking with fellow students about the idea of a Rotaract club. She met with the time, Jeff Berta. For this community im- for numerous projects. local Rotarians and campus advisers, and researched how to set up a club. And provement effort, the club raises funds and The committee has torn down an old she recruited three other students and formed an executive board. club members get their hands dirty. bank building that was an eyesore, and, “I knew this was not something I Last year, their work was rewarded when along the town’s streets, replaced flowering could do alone,” she says. a nonprofit called America in Bloom gave pear trees, which had been wiped out by fire After her freshman year, she studied the Rotaract handbook, standard consti- Slippery Rock top honors in the tution, and bylaws. In July 2018, she category of communities with a posted an item on Duke’s freshman and sophomore Facebook pages; 360 people “population of 3,000 to 10,000. indicated their interest. Two Google ”The contest promotes improve- Hangout Live events drummed up addi- It’s a lot more than the tional interest. Huie appeared in front flowers and tidiness. of a student panel in September to get approval from the university. ments in quality of life, and entries are eval- blight, with trees less vulnerable to disease. Along the way, she found that many uated on seven criteria: overall impression, It has worked to improve local water quality students were looking for networking and mentoring opportunities. The club community vitality, environmental efforts, and encouraged landlords and homeowners hopes to work with nearby Rotary and Rotaract clubs to organize a career fair. heritage celebration, urban forestry, land- to clean up yards and spruce up houses. It To make club meetings efficient and scaped areas, and flowers. coordinated with the local parks board to put productive, members split into groups to discuss projects and club business. Though the plantings are the most obvi- walking trails in a park, where members will Huie, who plans to become a doctor, ous aspects of the project, “it’s a lot more soon add benches and exercise areas. says that she has always been inter- ested in helping others and that Rotary than the flowers and tidiness,” explains club And everyone helps out, including scout has allowed her to do that. “I enjoy being able to make the world a better member Regina Greenwald, who coordinates troops, church groups, local businesses, col- place — and being with people who are passionate about that.” the Slippery Rock in Bloom committee. The lege students, and Rotarians. “Thousands of SLIPPERY ROCK IN BLOOM —ARNOLD R. GRAHL committee (made up of Rotarians and other people have participated,” says Greenwald. 12 | The Rotarian March 2019 residents) plans and coordinates year-round “You’ll never walk through another town and beautification, fundraising, and the thou- not think about pulling weeds after you’ve sands of volunteers who participate in the seen Slippery Rock.” — ANNESTEIN

We needed to recover public “spaces so that the community had places to meet. ”Yesenia Uribe Peace through parks Looking around her hometown of THE ROTARIAN: How did this project get started? bors joined us, and other organizations and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, Yesenia local artists offered to paint some murals. Uribe, a member of the Rotaract URIBE: I have always been worried about vio- Club of Juárez Integra, saw parks The biggest obstacle was apathy. Getting that were in disrepair, abandoned, lence in my community. Ciudad Juárez [which an apathetic community involved is always and vandalized. Uribe, who is 29, is across the border from El Paso, Texas] is complicated. Many people do not help because thought these unloved spaces and sadly known for its high crime rate. There is a they do not get anything in return. To change the surrounding community de- serious problem with drug trafficking, and this that mindset, we have to set an example, and served better. And she wondered has generated an atmosphere of insecurity. I little by little more participants will join in. if better public spaces might help wanted to learn how I could implement peace address the city’s high crime rate in my community, so I applied to participate in TR: What has been the reaction to the mural and violence. “I’ve always had the “A Stronger Mexico: Pillars of Positive Peace” desire to carry out projects that leave (“Un México Más Fuerte: Pilares de Paz Posi- project? something concrete for the world,” tiva”), which is designed to provide tools and she says. knowledge related to peace. URIBE: Places that looked totally abandoned and After participating in a training Ciudad Juárez has many parks in poor con- vandalized have become meeting spaces for the program for young community lead- dition, abandoned, and vandalized. We needed community. The project has also had a great im- ers called “A Stronger Mexico: Pillars to recover public spaces so that the community pact on the members of my Rotaract club. Per- of Positive Peace,” which was sup- had places to meet. We wanted to provide parks forming these artistic activities and seeing such ported by a Rotary global grant, Uribe that were attractive. That started with rehabili- great progress toward our goals helps us to stay got her club involved in reclaiming tation work in the parks. Then we painted mu- enthusiastic about our community work. those spaces and creating murals rals dedicated to the idea of peace. The project dedicated to the theme of peace. was a way to unite the community through art TR: What did you personally learn from this and improvement activities. It took us almost a VIKTOR MILLER GAUSA year to paint 10 murals. Each mural has a dif- experience? ferent design, but all are focused on the theme of peace and convey a positive message. URIBE: Carrying out projects that make lasting TR: What challenges did you face working on changes does not take much — only the firm conviction to achieve it, clear objectives, and a the project? good team. In the positive peace training pro- gram, they asked us to write a letter to our future URIBE: At the beginning, only members of the self, saying what we hoped to do with what we had learned. At that time, I did not know what Rotaract Club of Juárez Integra worked to fix up projects I was going to undertake. But now when the parks and paint the murals. Then the neigh- I read the letter I wrote, I feel that I achieved all the goals I wrote about. — CLAUDIA URBANO March 2019 The Rotarian | 13

our world Thinking — and giving — big WHEN RAVISHANKAR DAKOJU was and was imprisoned for four years for and marketing management. a young boy, one of his teachers would his activism. After India gained its in- In the 1980s, Ravishankar delved into often say, “You should give till it hurts, dependence, he worked as an engineer. because until then you are sharing your Ravishankar and his six siblings enjoyed real estate and construction. In 1987, he comfort, not everything that you have.” a comfortable life — until their father and his childhood friend B.S.N. Hari Ravishankar, president of the Rotary died unexpectedly. founded a company called Hara Hous- Club of Bangalore Orchards, India, and ing, which is now one of the leading land a successful real estate developer, has After being widowed, Ravishankar’s developers in Bangalore. followed that advice: He mother faced serious financial problems. is donating $14.7 million But as his business thrived, he felt (1 billion rupees) to The “She had to struggle to bring us up,” he re- that something was lack- Rotary Foundation, one of calls. He remembers having only rice and ing. “Everybody around the largest-ever contribu- vegetables to eat. When he couldn’t get me was obsessed about tions to the Foundation. enough, he would go to friends’ houses the real estate market. and ask for food. “Society fed me,” he I felt suffocated with The gift will establish says. “People whose hearts were so pure the kind of people I was a named endowed fund fed me. They are all dead and gone, but I mixing with,” he recalls. within the Foundation to have to give back.” “Whether it was a doc- support high-impact and tor, a barber, or a dentist, sustainable humanitarian Ravishankar struggled emotion- they’d talk only about and educational projects. ally after his father’s death. “I fell into business and real estate.” bad company, stealing things, selling Then he met a Rotar- The idea took shape black-market cinema tickets, and so on,” ian named Ramesh Chari. in 2017. Ravishankar had he says. He failed his high school “I told him I wanted to a list of projects that he exams twice. Knowing how much this connect with society. He wanted to fund, including upset his mother, he tried one more said, ‘Why don’t you try a microcredit program and time and finally passed. He went on to Rotary?’ ” a home for senior citizens. He discussed earn degrees in business administration it with his longtime friend Suresh Hari S, For Ravishankar, Rotary offered a way the incoming governor of District 3190 at to give back. “Rotary is like a buffet; it is up the time, who persuaded him to give the to you what you want to take from it,” he money to The Rotary Foundation. “I be- says. “Rotary gives you the opportunity to lieve whatever money I have belongs to do things.” The things he has done through society,” Ravishankar says. “I am just a Rotary range from building schools to custodian for a short while; I didn’t bring reaching across national borders and reli- it with me, nor can I take it with me.” gious divisions to make connections with fellow Rotarians in Pakistan. Ravishankar’s parents taught him to value altruism. During the movement Currently, he is involved in a project for Indian independence, his father had to plant 10 million saplings in Karnataka, been a freedom fighter and embraced his home state. “It’s a five-year project,” the philosophy of Vinoba Bhave, a fol- he says. “We’re trying to involve the Kar- lower of Gandhi, who urged landowners nataka state government. We want to in- to give away a portion of their land. Rav- volve schools and make the headmasters ishankar’s father gave away all his land responsible for ensuring that the trees survive.” 14 | The Rotarian March 2019

PHOTOS COURTESY OF RAVISHANKAR DAKOJU Ravishankar and his wife, Paola, have raised their two daughters, Ektaa and Samta, to value altruism as well. “When they were children, I’d always tell them, ‘I have taken so much from society, I need to give back.’ They said, ‘Don’t worry about us. We’ll stand on our own feet.’ ” Ektaa, who is getting a master’s de- gree in Melbourne, Australia, worked for several years to save money for her education, and considers her parents’ contribution to her schooling as a loan. “She wants to return the money she has ‘borrowed’ from her father by working part time for him,” says Paola. The whole family embraced Ravishan- kar’s plan to give away so much of their wealth. “From childhood I have had this way of doing things; I think big, stupid, or impossible,” he says. “My wife, be- ing a mother, understandably had some concerns about our daughters, but Ektaa convinced her.” Samta, he notes, “doesn’t even want to inherit our house. She says, ‘If you leave it to us, we will sell it and build a school in Kashmir with the money.’ I feel so blessed to have such a fine family.” Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair Ron D. Burton says Ravishankar’s gift is “ex- traordinary and truly transformational, not just for those who will benefit from the Rotary projects funded by the gift, but also for our Foundation, as it encourages other Rotarians to think big and select Rotary for their charitable giving.” When he is reminded that his will be one of the largest contributions to the Foundation, Ravishankar says, “I didn’t think of any statistic. I didn’t have a strat- egy in my mind. I simply decided to give.” — RASHEEDA BHAGAT A version of this story appeared in Rotary News. Every donation to The Rotary Foundation Opposite: Ravishankar Dakoju and his wife, Paola. This page, clockwise from top: Ravishankar visits the Sung- helps fund clean water and sanitation, cham Friendship School in Manipur, India; the Ravishankars with RI President Barry Rassin (right) at a Rotary health, economic development, and institute in Chennai; the couple supports Rotary’s End Polio Now efforts; Ravishankar (with Christopher Rego of the Sunbird Trust and Paola) donated land for the Sunbird Ravishankar Farming Knowledge Center in Manipur. new opportunities. Be a part of changing the world at rotary.org/donate. March 2019 The Rotarian | 15

our world United States United Kingdom Egypt Bolivia Fiji Pareooupnledothf eacgtlioobne The U.S. United States Bolivia United Kingdom has , One day in August, hundreds of A 2016 drought in Bolivia — the For a dozen years, the Rotary Club airports. spectators watched as pilots landed country’s worst in 25 years — impelled of Amber Valley has provided about their small planes at the municipal Rotarians to action in Minnesota, $1,300 annually to the local branch airport in Fremont, Nebraska. Then North Dakota, Ontario, and Wiscon- of Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline, a UK everyone sat down to breakfast in one sin. Six clubs, led by the Rotary Club charity devoted to helping children of the airport’s hangars. The Rotary of Crystal-New Hope-Robbinsdale in from Ukraine and Belarus at risk for Club of Fremont has been organizing Minnesota, gave $23,000 to dig cancers, blood disorders, and damage its annual “fly-in,” its biggest 70 farm ponds and 20 surface wells to their immune systems believed fundraiser, since 1994. “People love to serving more than 100 family farms to be linked to radiation from the see airplanes landing and taking off,” in the highlands of central Bolivia. 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. In says Brian Newton, who is the Fremont The project was completed in May summer 2018, the club played host as city administrator as well as a pilot 2018. The wells, built along the 20 children and a translator from the and a club member. A local Boy Scout banks of the Mizque River, provide affected region visited Derbyshire, troop makes the pancakes for the access to water for crops and the club’s home. The children visited breakfast and shares in the proceeds livestock even when the river is dry. the seaside and a zoo, and received from the event, which generated more “The year-round access to water has dental treatment and clothing as well. than $4,600 for initiatives including really improved lives,” says James “The respite the children get by com- scholarships and a youth track meet in Benshoof of the Crystal-New Hope- ing here is really important,” notes the town of about 26,000 people. Robbinsdale club. Trevor Taylor, club co-president. 16 | The Rotarian March 2019

Fiji hospital in Fiji, providing inpatient Egypt Egypt was . and outpatient services. declared The once-drab walls of a mental To make a big statement about the polio-free in health center were a blank canvas The exterior walls were deco- importance of polio eradication, February for the Rotaract Club of Suva, rated with a playful nautical theme, the Rotary Club of Port Said put on ROTARACT CLUB OF SUVA which brought together patients featuring whales, waves, manta a parade. Rotarians filled streets and participants from other volun- rays, and seahorses. “The patients around the city’s public library with teer organizations for a mural- and staff were extremely grateful a caravan of Jeeps and motorcycles; painting project that brightened and loved the mural from the first nearby, children competed in a the facility with splashes of color. day so much that they water- 5-kilometer footrace. The End Polio Volunteers gathered for two days of blasted and cleaned up the rest Now Festival was augmented by a painting, one in September and one of the walls to be ready for our seminar focused on polio awareness, in October. “We had over 50 volun- next project,” Paris says. A month a youth concert, and a back-to- teers who turned up at St. Giles after the first painting marathon, school fair. The celebration was Hospital for the first painting day in 30 volunteers took up their brushes branded “as a global day to convey September to help in painting the again. A local shop donated sup- the necessity of continuing vaccina- mess hall of the women’s ward as plies for the project, aided by Youth tion to keep Egypt and the world well as an ocean-themed mural on Champs 4 Mental Health, the local free of the disease,” says Khaled the walls outside,” reports Andrew campus of the Australia Pacific Sakr, an assistant governor of Paris, club president. St. Giles is Technical College, and Lifeline Fiji. District 2451. the only dedicated psychiatric — BRAD WEBBER March 2019 The Rotarian | 17

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Rotary führt Menschen zusammen, die weltweit Gutes tun. Unsere Mitglieder setzen sich für Potential shines brightest when it’s inspired. That’s why Rotary clubs invest time and expertise in 로타리는 문제 해결에 앞장서는 세계 각지의 사람들을 ‘인류애 실천’이라는 공통된 목표로 이어줍니다. 우리 nachhaltige Veränderungen in ihren Gemeinwesen ein, damit es Menschen besser geht. encouraging others to be the best they can be. Empowering those who have big dreams to achieve 회원들은 지역사회 주민들과 더불어 오래 지속되는 변화를 일구어 냅니다. 우리는 실천에 나서는 사람들입니다. Wir sind Rotary. Wir tun was. Mehr über uns bei Rotary.org/de great things — that’s what people of action do. Learn more at Rotary.org. 함께 연결을 통해 삶을 개선해 가세요. Rotary.org에서 자세히 알아보세요. TOGETHER, WE Your story Rotary believes healthy communities are strong communities. That’s one reason we’ve here. worked tirelessly to help immunize 2.5 billion children against polio. Bringing the world closer Rotary une a personas de todo el mundo para dar soluciones y hacer el bien. Ya sea brindando capacitación to eradicating a deadly disease — that’s what people of action do. Learn more at Rotary.org. vocacional o apoyando a emprendedores de la localidad, contribuimos al fortalecimiento de nuestras comunidades. Somos Rotary. Somos gente de acción. Más información en Rotary.org/es Tell the community about your club – and the world about Rotary. Rotary has launched a global campaign to let the world know we are People of Action. The more clubs that join in, the further our message carries. Go to rotary.org/brandcenter for step-by-step guides, easy-to-follow templates, and ideas and inspiration to tell your club’s story. Help spread our inspiring message around the globe.

our world 20 | The Rotarian March 2019

SNAPSHOT New Orleans Professional photographer DYLAN RAY and his wife, Lindsay Parker, who is a member of the Rotary Club of Beaufort-Ole Towne, North Carolina, were visiting New Orleans in January 2017 to celebrate Ray’s 40th birthday. Early one morning, Ray and Parker were walking along the Mississippi River when they encountered a street musician. “The ethereal fog created a perfect background of vanishing lines, with the faint silhouette of a figure in the distance,” Ray says. “What I find most interesting is what you cannot see: Several barges were being tugged along the shoreline in the deep fog creating all sorts of scrapes, crashes, and groans.” March 2019 The Rotarian | 21

our world MARCH events 29 th Hole-in-one EVENT: March Madness Putt-Putt for a Cause! HOSTS: Rotary clubs of Grosse Ile and Southgate, Michigan WHAT IT BENEFITS: Local charities 3 rd WHAT IT IS: If winter has left you missing fair weather on the Savor the flavors fairways, come inside for nine holes of indoor tournament-style mini-golf. Nosh on hors d’oeuvres, EVENT: Taste of Punta Gorda followed by dinner, a cash bar, and prizes. HOST: Rotary Club of Punta Gorda, Florida 30 th WHAT IT BENEFITS: Local charities, college scholarships, A fest for the rest emergency relief, Water4Life Mozambique EVENT: Wheels on the Grove Car Show HOST: Rotary Club of Lexington, WHAT IT IS: More than 30 restaurants bring their culinary South Carolina talents to this daylong festival noufmfoboedr,olifb lao-cal WHAT IT BENEFITS: College scholarships for local tions, art, crafts, and music. A high school seniors Rotary clubs have booths to showcase their WHAT IT IS: This isn’t just a car show; it’s a daylong festival with projects and to share ideas and network w ith something for everyone. The 15th annual Oyster Roast and Barbecue is a highlight of the event, which fellow Rotarians. also features a popular Kids’ Zone and live music. 9th 30 t-h  31st Just keep swimming EVENT: Swimathon HOST: Rotary Club of Milton Keynes, England Home improvement WHAT IT BENEFITS: Local charities took part in this even t, EVENT: Home, Garden & Lifestyle Show WHAT IT IS: In 2018, 344 people Rotary Club of Hyannis, Massachusetts completing 7,700 lengths of a pool for a to tal HOST: WHAT IT BENEFITS: Local charities of 150 miles. Organizers hope to top those numbers in 2019. WHAT IT IS: This show features more than 150 vendors offering home renovation, landscaping, and lifestyle products. Need new windows? Siding? Shrubbery? The weekend also includes children’s programming and a 5K and 10K run. Tell us about your event. Write to [email protected] with “calendar” in the subject line. 22 | The Rotarian March 2019

viewpoints Naming names Three initials threatened to disrupt a marriage — and destroy a family legacy by JEF F RUBY I n graduate school, I obituary in the Chicago Tribune, and siblings to join his father, RICHARD MIA roomed with a guy my own imagination during periodic who had come to Chicago a named Kennedy — and trips to his grave. I was taught the Jew- year and a half earlier to my name is Ruby. One night, ish ritual of placing a stone on his avoid military conscription. after too many beers, I grave, the reasoning being that a stone Jacob learned English on the scanned the phone book for never dies, just like your memory of the streets. Made $6 a week an Oswald, called him up, deceased. But I was a kid and my rocks stocking merchandise for an and asked if he would move were pebbles, wishes that I had known overalls manufacturer. He in with us. Just to complete the man. was slated to become a rabbi, the circle. He hung up on me, but as a way of supporting the which was for the best. If Born Jacob Marshall Rubinstein in family he taught himself ac- history is any indication, it 1892, he was 11 when he immigrated to counting instead. When he probably would not have the United States from modern-day Be- was 24, he and a partner set ended well. larus with his mother and four younger up 12 sewing machines in an empty warehouse and Even today, more than 55 launched their own overalls years after that business in manufacturing business. Dallas, when I say my name — Jeff Ruby — people invari- And until the end of his ably call me “Jack.” Some life, Jacob Ruby basically pantomime shooting me with never stopped working. His a .38. I always take it in stride and think clothing company moved to Michigan about my great-grandfather, whose City, Indiana, and became Jaymar- name was Jack Ruby. Most every day Ruby. At its peak, Jaymar employed after 24 November 1963, he had to say, 3,500 workers and produced 5 million “No, I’m not that Jack Ruby.” pairs of slacks a year, including Sansa- belts. Yes, my family gave the world He was already an old man when I Sansabelts, the preferred casual wear met him, post-stroke and inarticulate. of golfers, referees, and math teachers All I remember about him was that he everywhere, a pant so ingrained in pop- had a jar of candy corn on his coffee ular culture that it was name-checked table and that his house smelled like on Seinfeld. Bengay. The bulk of his life and person- Through it all, Jacob Ruby was a re- ality is a mystery to me. All I’ve got are liable rock of a man with a quiet swag- facts handed down by my family, an March 2019 The Rotarian | 23

ger, strict with his children and playful This heaped and asked if anyone in his family with his wife, Fay. “He wasn’t funny as responsibility on my had a name that started with M. Pref- in joke-telling or puns, but he was a kid- shoulders. As a JMR, erably someone he liked. Sure, he said. der,” recalls my father, Tom Ruby, one I was expected to work Uncle Max. Everyone loved Uncle Max. of seven grandchildren who adored hard. Keep promises. Great guy. him. “When he was teasing, his eyes would twinkle almost in glee as he gen- Be a mensch. “What if we name him Jacob Max- tly zinged you.” My dad recalls him as a well Ruby?” Sarah asked me. “But we lifelong humanitarian — a Paul Harris never occurred to me. I like my brother call him Max?” Fellow of the Rotary Club of Michigan and all, but his initials are KJR, which, City — and the building that houses the as far I know, have no significance to It was a brilliant solution. This would local chamber of commerce is named anyone but him. And what’s more, the carry on my great-grandfather’s name for him. name Jacob obviously belonged to us. and Sarah’s great-grandfather’s In my self-absorbed mind, it was my name, pay homage to this beloved Uncle One other thing is named for my legacy. But the fact remained: My Max whose existence we hadn’t known great-grandfather: me. At least it seems brother and his wife had gotten there about 20 minutes earlier, and circum- that way, since we share the initials first. They had dibs. And dibs, as any navigate a possible cold war with JMR (my full name is Jeffrey Michael brother knows, is a binding social con- my brother. (Max also happened to be Ruby). When he died, I was 13, and I re- tract stronger than mere birthright. Jacob Marshall Ruby’s father’s name.) member scores of family members hug- I knew it was the only way. And I still ging me, as if just by existing I was Thus began the worst fight my wife said no. keeping a little part of him alive. This and I ever had. When I said I didn’t want also heaped responsibility on my shoul- to drive a wedge between my brother It was a boy. Seven pounds, 11 ounces, ders. As a JMR, I was expected to work and me, I instead drove a wedge be- all dimples, no hair. I don’t know if it hard. Keep promises. Be a mensch. In tween my wife and me. “Why can’t they was the euphoria of the moment, the the end, of course, they’re just initials, both be named Jacob?” she asked. desire to stay married, or a simple act three simple letters, but I have spent “There were six first-born Isaacs in my of surrender. But I gave in. much of my life trying to earn them. father’s family, and they were all cous- ins! One went by Irving, one Yitz, one Sarah announced it at the baby’s bris: Fast forward to adulthood. I had been was Ike, one Itchy —” “This is Jacob Maxwell Ruby. We’re on a few dates with Sarah — a tough and calling him Max. He is named after whip-smart Chicagoan — and told her At my brother’s son’s baby naming Jeff ’s great-grandfather, Jacob Mar- about my family, my initials, and my ceremony, I tried to explain my situa- shall Ruby, and my Great-Uncle Max.” connection to Michigan City. She was tion to him. (My brother, not the baby.) If this arrangement bothered my impressed. “When we have a kid to- A confused look crossed his face. “I brother and his wife, they were too gra- gether,” she said, “I want to name him think it would be weird if they were both cious to say so. They had their Jacob; Jacob, and his initials will be JMR.” I named Jacob,” he said quietly. Some we had our Max. And we had claimed was touched, but also creeped out. I help he was. the precious family initials. didn’t even realize we were hitting it off at the time, much less ready to inter- I dug in my heels with Sarah, and she Max is 11 now. He says his initials twine the vines of our family trees. dug in hers, chapped and bloated as they don’t mean much to him. He’s more in- (Jacob also happened to be her great- were. We spent the last two months of terested in the Chicago Bears and roll- grandfather’s name.) Sarah and I pro- her pregnancy alternating between ing on the floor with our dogs. I ceeded to fall in love and get married, screaming matches and a dark and dan- understand. But I also don’t entirely be- and she reminded me about this con- gerous silence. The due date loomed lieve him. The last time I visited the versation repeatedly. heavy, as if in a slow-motion nightmare. cemetery, Max came with me, and I We didn’t even know the gender of the placed a stone on my great-grandfather’s She was seven months pregnant child curled in her womb, but as a man grave. The two of us were standing there when my brother’s wife gave birth to a who spends his life avoiding confronta- — two JMRs at the grave of another — baby. The nerve. “Great news!” my tion, I was praying for a girl. when I noticed that, next to my stone, brother said over the phone. “It’s a boy! was a pebble. n His name is Jacob Chase Ruby.” Then Sarah had an idea. She called her father, the oldest of the six Isaacs, The chief contributing dining critic for The blood in my veins turned to icy Chicago magazine, Jeff Ruby profiled sludge. Somehow this possibility had storyteller Kiran Singh Sirah for our February issue. 24 | The Rotarian March 2019

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viewpoints Less is more Surviving in an age of abundance by F RA N K BUR ES RICHARD MIA N ot long ago, I the average French diet comes in at This apparently favorable found myself at a around 3,000 calories per day. In 1970, circumstance has led to some strange and won- Americans ate 2.3 pounds of food a day; problems. “Our species has not drous place: the All You Can today, we eat about 25 percent more lost its ‘discipline’ over food Eat Buffet. There’s one in than that. consumption — because we nearly every town in America; never really had (or needed) no doubt you’ve been inside. But we humans didn’t achieve all this that discipline,” writes Paarl- What the food may lack in overnight. Much of this growth took berg. Our innate drive to con- quality, it makes up for in place in the late 20th century, when the sume enough food to survive quantity. As soon as a tray is global costs of food and fuel plummeted has become a struggle to keep emptied, a new load of compared with wages, writes food and from eating too much. chicken-fried steak, wontons, agricultural policy expert Robert Paarl- or pancakes appears. berg in his 2015 book, The United States That struggle isn’t limited of Excess: Gluttony and the Dark Side of to food. We are also buying It’s like the children’s story American Exceptionalism. From 1961 more things, largely because Strega Nona, in which an un- to 2000, for instance, U.S. fruit produc- there are more things to buy wise Italian villager named tion grew by 130 percent. (China’s, and we have more money to Big Anthony turns on a meanwhile, grew by 1,061 percent.) buy them with: Between 1870 witch’s magic pasta pot only and 2014, average incomes to find that he can’t turn it off. rose 17 times. (In contrast, Soon the town is buried under from A.D. 1 to 1820, incomes a mound of spaghetti. When the witch merely doubled.) returns, she stops the pot — and makes Our minds are also coping with a cog- Big Anthony eat it all. Boy, is he sorry. nitive tsunami: In 2016, all the data on the internet amounted to 1 zettabyte, the At the buffet I kept eating, too, until equivalent of 152 million years of high- finally I felt some sympathy for Big An- definition video. This year, that will have thony. Yet the pots did have a certain doubled. As Paarlberg noted about food, magic; I wondered at the endlessness of so it is with bytes: We humans are not the feast. It struck me that we live in an well-equipped to deal with this volume incredible time. As a species, we have of information. In an age without limits, been wildly successful, productive be- we must figure out strategies to hold yond our ancestors’ dreams. Generations back the tide. of the past would have hardly believed We are trying to do that. Today we the quantities available to us today: the have the “slow food” movement, which mountains of food, the floods of goods, attempts to make dinners more human the torrents of information. and healthy by asking us take our time cooking and eating. We have fans of min- In France in the 1700s, people ate an average of 1,600 calories per day; today, March 2019 The Rotarian | 27

WANT A MORE imalism, which sees people paring down EFFECTIVE WAY TO their possessions until their homes look SET CLUB GOALS? like an Apple Store. We have apps that allow us to shut off the internet so we ROTARY CLUB CENTRAL can give ourselves the space we need to POINTS THE WAY. digest the information we have con- sumed. And we have proponents of in- GET STARTED AT ROTARY.ORG/MYROTARY termittent fasting, who abstain from 28 | The Rotarian March 2019 eating one or two days a week as a way to cope with the obscene amounts of food available to modern humans. Interest- ingly, this approach also seems to offer a range of health benefits. “What we’re finding,” says Mark Mattson, a neuroscientist at the National Institute on Aging, “is that when we switch to an intermittent fasting diet, the brain and body change in ways that im- prove their function and their resistance to stress. These cycles of challenge and recovery seem to optimize health.” For hundreds of thousands of years, of course, fasting wasn’t something we chose to do. It was a reflection of life: random and unpredictable. That’s the environment we adapted to, and that’s the environment we still seem to need. Our bodies and minds were shaped by this ebb and flow. Only now there is no ebb, only flow. The idea of simplifying one’s life is not new, but the current push for it carries a tinge of panic. And while most of us are not going to end up cramming into tiny homes, the idea behind them is worth considering. “Because food and fuel no longer ra- tion themselves, unprecedented self- disciplines must now be constructed, at both the social and individual level,” Paarlberg writes. Self-discipline is not always a popular idea, but it is an important one. And what people don’t realize is that often, it’s not about using the force of will to make the right decisions. It’s about creating situ- ations in which the decision has already been made. I think about this every day. It’s the reason I’ve never gotten a smartphone.

It’s the reason I periodically shut down CSTHPOOEN2NVI0NSE1OHN9RATRIMOOTBNAURRYG! my social media accounts, and it’s the reason I spend part of each day with the Promote your company to 25,000 Rotarians from around the world. internet blocked from my computer. SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES CAN INCLUDE: I don’t dislike having so much infor- Exhibit space within the House of Friendship and Convention Center mation at my fingertips. And I like keep- Opportunities to host a breakout session ing up with what my friends are doing, thinking, and eating. If anything, I like it Company recognition in convention materials and website too much. Trying to take it all in leaves Development of custom campaigns and promotions to build customer loyalty me feeling fragmented, disordered, and rudderless. I need a quiet space, and after Access to sponsor events a certain amount of solitude, I always feel Contact us to learn more: [email protected] I am better able to navigate my world. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? As a parent of 10- and 12-year-old daughters, I have to think about these BE A VIBRANT CLUB things for them as well. One popular ap- proach among parents these days is to Be a Vibrant Club guide includes: have their child sign a “contract” to get a • A club success story from your region phone. These often spell out rules and • Ideas for your club to try expectations: I will not take inappropriate • Resources for your club on My Rotary photos. I will not bully. I will tell you if I am bullied. I will not use my phone at the Get your free copy at table. I will not believe everything I read, shop.rotary.org hear, or see online. I will not give out my private information. I will be kind. Such contracts read like wish lists for the kind of person parents hope their child will be — and for the kind of world they want their child to live in. But as I think about the world I want for my daughters, I find there’s something missing from those pledges — some- thing that seems like the most important thing of all: I promise to keep a quiet space for myself. I promise to step away when the flow becomes too much. I prom- ise to find some quiet hilltop in my life where I can go to think about who I am and who I want to be. We have worked to banish hunger from our bodies and minds, only to find that we need some challenge, some scar- city, and some empty space to survive after all. Now that we’ve turned on all these magic pots, like Big Anthony, we’ve got to conjure a way to stop them. n Frank Bures is the author of The Geography of Madness and a frequent contributor to The Rotarian. Be a Vibrant Club Ad_EN14.indd 3 March 2019 The Rotarian | 29 4/9/14 2:41 PM

by Diana Schoberg | photography by Monika Lozinska StetpohtahnefiretoomWpoDoofolltwahrnedUwwnoderneldrt 30 | The Rotarian MSeaprtcehm2b0e1r92018

tcoanfinmdaokuetaifdoinffeerpeenrcseon SeptMemarbcehr 20189 The Rotarian | 31

Above: “A lot of women mention T he clacking of sewing a knack for connecting with people. After that when they get inside the gate machines fills the sunlit leading a tour group to Kathmandu in of Seven Women they feel peace- room until word spreads 2006, she stayed an extra week to explore ful. I feel the same,” says Anita Kerr that the bus has arrived. the city’s winding streets and hidden pas- (left), the organization’s president. At that, a dozen women sageways, as tangled as the electrical Opposite: Swayambhunath in the clad in pink kurtas file wires above them. She soon made friends Kathmandu Valley is one of the with shopkeepers, who invited her to tea holiest Buddhist sites in Nepal. into the courtyard of the Seven Women as she asked them about their lives. Previous pages: The women are Center in Kathmandu, Nepal. They smile “I’m a very curious person,” she says. eager to update Stephanie Wool- widely as a group of Australian women lard (center) on developments at led by a tall blonde enters through the One day, Woollard noticed a woman the Seven Women Center since iron gate. with dwarfism lugging two heavy bags her last visit. “At other places, Stephanie Woollard bends down to let into a makeshift tin shed constructed when senior managers come, Sandhya Khadgi, the center’s bookkeeper of three walls and a roof. It had no door; they are treated and respected as and literacy trainer, put a dot of red pow- on impulse, Woollard followed the bosses only,” says Sandhya Khadgi. der on her forehead and a red flower petal woman inside. “We don’t have that feeling here. atop her head in a gesture of welcome. It feels like our own family.” Woollard has arrived with a group of Ro- Another woman who spoke some Eng- tary members and friends to tour the cen- lish told Woollard that seven disabled 32 | The Rotarian March 2019 ter that she founded and whose goal is to women lived in the shed, eking out a living improve the lives of women in Nepal. selling soaps and candles. In Nepal, many people consider a disability to be karmic When Woollard, now 34 and a member payback for a sin committed in a past life. of the Rotary Club of Melbourne, firstmet One of the women had fallen out of a tree as a child and had never been treated for Khadgi, Woollard was a 22-year-old tour her injuries; another had hurt her leg and, guide with a passion for social justice and because her family didn’t have money for

treatment, had to have it amputated. looked for an outlet to sell their work. Australian market, Woollard searched Khadgi — who was one of the women A student at La Trobe University in the internet for images and, on trips to Woollard met that day — was born with a Melbourne at the time, Woollard joined Nepal, made patterns on her hotel room jaw deformity that she covered with a a group focused on fighting human traf- floor using material from a wholesale mask in public. ficking and asked the members to host market in Kathmandu. She and the “When Stephanie walked into the tin a booth on campus to sell the Nepali women worked together to come up with shed, I felt so nervous around someone women’s products. But sales didn’t go from outside the Nepali community,” the way she expected. She began to real- She started speaking Khadgi says. “In the community, be- ize that people saw only the items, not to groups around campus cause of the deformity I have, I am the women behind them. So she started shunned.” But she had a feeling Woollard speaking to groups around campus to to drum up interest in was different. drum up interest in the group she now the group she now called The experience haunted Woollard. She called Seven Women; soon sales reached called home and asked her mother what $800 per week. The proceeds went back Seven Women. to do. “Can one person make a differ- to Nepal where they were invested into ence?” she wondered aloud. more training so the women could make designs that would suit both their skill She decided to use her last AU$200 to higher quality goods. Soon they were level and the market’s demand. She find out. getting orders from fair-trade outlets wanted it to be their business, not hers. Through the connections she had made across Australia. “All of those things that went wrong, in Nepal, Woollard hired two people to The enterprise went through some she turned into learning experiences. teach the seven women to knit handbags, growing pains. When products weren’t She’s creative in that way,” says Bob Fels, gloves, and hats. By the time she flew consistent in size, Woollard realized the a Rotarian from Melbourne. “She got her home, they had crafted 12 items, which women had to learn how to use a ruler. hands dirty. She was practical. She was she stuffed into her suitcase to sell to The need to read and fill out order sheets driven by wanting to help people. She friends in Australia. Meanwhile, the turned into literacy lessons. Trying to was prepared to put herself out.” women kept on knitting, and Woollard find products that would appeal to the March 2019 The Rotarian | 33

34 | The Rotarian March 2019

In Kathmandu—which ranks fifth among husband left her for another woman. Opposite: Woollard met the origi- the world’s most polluted cities — blaring “I feel like it is my home,” she says. nal Seven Women while exploring A banner hanging on the wall of the sew- Kathmandu’s crowded streets. horns and choking dust fill the air and the ing room depicts the life cycle of a butter- crowded streets. The Seven Women fly: It’s the metaphor the women use to March 2019 The Rotarian | 35 Center provides a respite from all that, as describe how their lives have changed well as from the discrimination and vio- because of Seven Women. They were cat- lence many Nepali women face in their erpillars when they arrived, and the center personal lives. “When Steph comes here is the cocoon that shelters them while they to visit, we’re excited,” says Anita Kerr, receive training in skills that include hos- president of Seven Women. “There are pitality, literacy, and finances. When always new things happening. We are they’re earning money, they’re butterflies, growing, and the women are changing. able to leave poverty, violence, and oppres- They have more confidence.” sion behind. And once their metamorpho- On this July day, the visiting Rotarians’ sis is complete, they can share their skills first stop is the sewing room, where a half- with others — teaching women back in dozen women sit at the machines. They their villages how to read and write, con- are only a few of the women who work tinuing to work with Seven Women, or with the center; most are based at home opening their own shops and businesses. so they can fit in their sewing or knitting Kerr has her own metamorphosis story. between taking care of children and other When she was in school in her village household duties. The women have just near the Indian border, she used to won- completed a large order that they’ve been der what had happened to girls who working on for months for a French com- stopped coming to class. Then she would pany, a new customer. Now they’re start- see them with babies of their own. In ing on a 10,000-piece order for friendship Nepal’s poor villages, where there are bracelets for a local tour company. many mouths to feed, children are often Kerr introduces the women and briefly married off or sent to monasteries. tells their stories. A 17-year-old girl who One day, she witnessed a girl being used to wash dishes 16 hours a day until pulled off the schoolyard by three men her hands were raw now lives at the for an arranged marriage. “She looked so center, where she receives an education scared,” Kerr remembers. “I felt angry, as well as a stipend that she can send home and I felt pain as well, because it’s not fair to her parents. Eventually, she wants to that this happens to women.” own a tailor shop. Another woman is a Kerr wanted more for her life. When she was 14, she left her family a letter tell- The Seven Women Center ing them not to look for her and then took provides a respite the first bus she saw to a town she had never been to. Fortunately, she met a from the discrimination friendly woman shopkeeper who helped and violence many her find a safe place to stay and a job cook- Nepali women face ing at a kindergarten. Later, she managed a boutique hotel in Kathmandu, where in their personal lives. she was the only woman employee. “I always felt that there was something single mother who wouldn’t give up her big that I was going to do,” Kerr says. daughter, even though girls are seen as a She found that in Seven Women. By burden in Nepali society. A third makes a 2012, Seven Women’s manufacturing three-hour round-trip bus ride to the business was running smoothly. While center every day because it’s a place where the organization had originally focused she feels safe and happy after her abusive solely on women with disabilities, many other women in desperate situations

Below left: Skyline Bar 20up, atop the Empire Riverside Hotel in the St. Pauli neighborhood, offers craft cocktails and views of the massive port across the Elbe. Below right: All manner of vessels, from pleasure craft to huge cargo ships, ply the river. 36 | The Rotarian March 2019

were looking for help too. Woollard scouted for a location for a new center and hired Kerr to run it. “Anita’s an action person, just like me,” Woollard says. Meanwhile, Woollard herself was at a crossroads. “The joy as an entrepreneur is at the beginning — working with those seven women to set the thing up and get through challenges together. It had been running for a while, and we’d ironed out the crises,” she says. “I had been laser focused on Nepal. Now I wanted to learn more about the world and where I could make the biggest impacts.” What should she do next? Rotary helped show her the way. Rotarians have been allies of Woollard’s since her hometown Rotary Club of Ivan- hoe gave Seven Women one of its first donations — $1,000 for materials used to train the original seven women. (Today, donations from Rotarians are managed through Rotary Australia World Com- munity Service.) Later, after participat- ing in Rotary Youth Leadership Awards as a college student, Woollard was invited to set up booths at Rotary district confer- ences to sell the Seven Women goods. “Using business principles to do good in the community is essential, because it brings with it accountability.” At one of those conferences, Woollard learned about Rotary Peace Fellowships and decided to apply. That’s when she met Fels, a member of the Rotary Club of Melbourne who has been involved with peace fellowships since the program’s inception. Fels saw Wool- lard’s drive as well as her ability to relate to women on the margins in Nepal, and to some of the most high-powered people in Australia and beyond. “She can reach out to people in a remarkable way,” he says. March 2019 The Rotarian | 37

Above left: Sandhya Khadgi Woollard began her studies at the Ro- creating dependency, you’re empower- teaches a Nepali language class. tary Peace Center at Uppsala University ing people — giving them a job and an Above right: Women at the center in Sweden in 2013. She learned about income.” gain skills in bookkeeping and other demobilization, disarmament, negotia- Woollard’s work led Rotarians in her careers. Opposite: The women tion, mediation. It was eye-opening, she district to nominate her for a Rotary Re- view Anita Kerr (left) as a mother. says. “I remember being shocked in sponsible Business Award; in November Previous pages: After training some of the classes and thinking, Is that 2016, she traveled to the United Nations to in the sewing room, most women actually how the world works?” receive the honor at Rotary Day at the UN. return to their home villages so Before she left for Sweden, Fels had they can take care of their children. given Woollard a handful of Rotary ban- The various enterprises There, they can make products ners and told her to give them away give the women on their own schedules. while she was there. “I wondered, ‘How am I going to get rid of these bloody opportunities to follow 38 | The Rotarian March 2019 flags?’” she jokes. But she soon found a career path that that those banners and the Rotary clubs they find rewarding. they led her to were the key to experi- encing Sweden in a way she wouldn’t “She never stops learning. That’s the have been able to otherwise. She also thing that amazes me,” says Bob Glinde- realized how well Rotarians’ values mann, another Melbourne Rotary club aligned with her own. mentor. “She asks questions incessantly, When she returned to Australia, she and if she doesn’t understand something, joined the Rotary Club of Melbourne. she goes digging. I think this curiosity is She found herself drawing on the busi- what really drives her on. That would ness acumen, and the strong ethics, of have been, without any shadow of a doubt, her fellow Rotarians. “Using business what drove her to go into that tin shed.” principles to do good in the community is essential, because it brings with it accountability,” she says. “You’re not

March 2019 The Rotarian | 39

Above: Australian Rotarians The Australian Rotarians are gathered “You start to Jenny Foster (from left), Stephanie understand the needs Woollard, Sue Gammon, and Susie around a large wooden table in a room of a country like Nepal Cole discuss ways to help Seven festooned with prayer flags as Sandhya and why Stephanie Women grow. After returning, they Khadgi neatly writes out Nepali vo- would want to help.” helped Woollard hold an event cabulary words on a whiteboard. “Are that raised $AU75,000 for the you ready?” she asks them. Her sweet decorative items made of felt. The new Seven Women guesthouse. demeanor quickly morphs into drill center is currently fundraising for reno- Opposite: Bimala Tamang has sergeant mode as she quizzes them on vations on a planned 13-room hotel. become a role model to people in the words: “Thank you,” she prompts. When people look up the hotel online, her village, who saw her success “Dhanyabaad,” the Rotarians reply. they’ll read about the classes. and started sending their own Then she calls on people to respond in The various enterprises give the children to school. “If I hadn’t an increasingly rapid cadence, and they women opportunities to follow a career studied, I would already have chil- all crack up as their tongues twist over path that they find rewarding. Khadgi, dren,” she says. “This is all about the words. who has a 10th-grade education, desired the background; if the mothers are Visitors like the Australian Rotarians more cerebral work, so Kerr first asked uneducated, they expect their come to the center for language, cooking, her if she wanted to train as a literacy children to do and become the and craft classes taught by the women, teacher and later encouraged her to try same as them.” Following pages: who in return receive valuable experi- accounting. “I was very afraid, as day-to- Cooking classes give career experi- ence in hospitality skills and an oppor- day bookkeeping had to be done and I ence to women with an interest in tunity to practice their English (more didn’t know anything,” Khadgi says. tourism and hospitality, as well as than 1,100 tourists had taken a cooking an opportunity to practice English. class over the previous 17 months, Kerr says). After their classes, tourists visit 40 | The Rotarian March 2019 the shop where they can buy handmade cashmere scarves, silk garments, and

“I started with small tasks, and after do- amid the cacophony the ways Rotary can Betini has one of the highest rates of ing it and doing it, I can handle all these help Seven Women expand. Rotary buzz- child marriage in the country, and most things. Now I feel very proud.” words like “global grants” and “voca- of Tamang’s friends have several chil- Another piece of the Seven Women tional training teams” fly around the dren already. ecosystem is Hands On Development, a room. It’s a scene repeated frequently As a child, Tamang tagged along with tour company that Woollard founded in during the tour. her older brother when he walked to 2012 after showing some visitors Foster, who worked with her Rotary school — five hours round trip. In Nepal, around the Seven Women Center and club to host a screening of a documen- the money a family would spend to send other sites in Nepal. After hearing how tary about Seven Women to raise a girl to school is often seen as better the trip had affected them, Woollard had money for the organization, came on saved for her dowry, but in response to a lightbulb moment. “I thought maybe I this trip with her 20-year-old daughter, Tamang’s pleas, her grandparents, with could share Nepal with others and Elise. “You see the work of Seven whom she lived after her mother died of change their lives too,” she says. Each Women, but you’ve got to also see the complications from her birth, agreed to year, several of the tours organized by story behind why you need to do a pro- fund her schooling. the company are geared toward Rotary ject such as this,” she says. “Getting When Seven Women brought its lit- members and friends. into the villages, going up to see a tem- eracy program to the village, Tamang was During a steamy cooking class at the ple, meeting the local people — you the most educated female — child or adult center, the 19 people on this tour learn start to understand the needs of a coun- — they could find. Though she was only to make tarkari, achar, and khir (vegeta- try like Nepal and why Stephanie 17 years old, Seven Women asked her to ble curry, tomato pickle, and rice pud- would want to help.” teach other women in her village. ding). Jenny Foster, a member of the Seven Women then began a microloan Rotary Club of Essendon, Australia, and Bimala Tamang is 19 years old. She’s program in Betini, and today, the women several other Rotarians abandon their own shops and restaurants that cater to knives and cutting boards to hold an from Betini, a village deep in the Hima- aid workers who are helping to rebuild impromptu side meeting, brainstorming layas, a six-hour bus ride from Kath- after a 2015 earthquake hit the area. mandu followed by an eight-hour hike. March 2019 The Rotarian | 41

“Bimala has had a huge role in that suc- cess,” Kerr says. When the prospect of an arranged marriage threatened to interfere with Tamang’s dream of becoming a social worker whose focus was maternal and child health — one directly influenced “I used to doubt a girl could amount to anything. Now I have become a role model.” by the death of her own mother — she found refuge and continued her educa- tion at the Seven Women Center in Kathmandu. Woollard, Kerr, and the Australian Rotarians are gathered around the large wooden table in the classroom eating lunch when Tamang enters the room, beaming. She has passed her year 12 exam, which means she’s graduating from secondary school and on her way to college. The Rotarians erupt in ap- plause and a cheer. “I used to doubt a girl could amount to anything,” she says. “Now my grand- parents tell me, ‘You don’t need to get married. You have to do good things and show them to the villagers.’ I have al- ready become a role model. They are so happy to see this.” n Get involved Want to lend your support to Seven Women? Host a screening at your club of the documentary Bringing the Light: The Seven Women Story or become an ambassador for the organization. Find out how at sevenwomen.org/involve. Make peace There have been more than 1,200 Rotary Peace Fellows since the program began in 2002. Rotary districts are recruiting for the next class of peacebuilders. Learn more at rotary.org/peace-fellowships. 42 | The Rotarian MSeaprtcehm2b0e1r92018

SeptMemarbcehr 20189 The Rotarian | 43

PHOTOS BY MONIKA LOZINSKA / ROTARY INTERNATIONAL

|| for the record || GROWTH CHART President-elect Mark Maloney maps out a course for Rotary’s future Mark Daniel Maloney knew the routine. A year earlier, he had in chief John Rezek and senior editor Geoffrey Johnson. For served as chair of the committee that nominated Sam Owori as the next 90 minutes (and for another hour a week later), they Rotary International president for 2018-19. Now, in the sum- discuss Maloney’s aspirations for his presidency. mer of 2017, Maloney was one of six candidates who had trav- eled to RI headquarters seeking that nomination for 2019-20. A lawyer — he and his wife are partners in the Decatur, Ala- bama, law firm founded by Gay’s father — Maloney speaks in “I was interviewed before lunch, so I knew I had a few hours thoughtful, well-formed sentences and long, carefully con- before the committee made a decision,” recalls Maloney. “It was structed paragraphs as he charts out his hopes for Rotary’s fu- a lovely August day, and I went for a long walk through the beau- ture growth. (His rich baritone also does creditable double duty tiful neighborhoods of Evanston. I had a late lunch, and then I when he breaks into song, a booming chorus of “R-O-T-A-R-Y / came back to my hotel room and waited.” That spells Rotary.”) Given what had happened in years past, Maloney expected Like the good lawyer he is, Maloney immediately steers the to hear from the committee by late afternoon, but with evening line of questioning into a direction of his own choosing. coming on, there was still no word. “I was texting to my wife, ___________________________________________________________ Gay, ‘Haven’t heard anything yet,’ and then the phone started ringing. It was Anne Matthews, the chair of the nominating THE ROTARIAN: Let’s start at the end. What do you want your presi- committee, and she asked me to return to the building.” dential legacy to be? This was an unexpected twist. In years past, candidates re- MALONEY: Let’s not start at the end. Let me give you a preliminary ceived a phone call telling them if they had been chosen. An- response, and then I’ll answer your question. ticipating that would happen again, Maloney had shed his suit and tie and was wearing khakis and a Rotary logo shirt. Now he Rotary is like a United Nations of individuals. The United had been summoned back to RI headquarters. Nations is an international organization of countries; Rotary is an international organization of individuals. We are having “I was bumfuzzled,” he says. “I was not expecting that. I a tremendous impact in the world. Just within the past month didn’t want to keep anyone waiting, so I didn’t even put on a I’ve had some experiences that brought that home to me. Two sports jacket. I’m on the phone with Gay saying, ‘I’m heading weeks ago, Gay and I joined with Rotarians from our two Ro- into the building. I think this is it.’ ” tary clubs — my Rotary Club of Decatur and her Rotary Club of Decatur Daybreak — in a water filter distribution project In the lobby, Andrew McDonald, RI’s deputy general counsel, on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Our partner club, the greeted Maloney and escorted him to the 18th-floor boardroom, Rotary Club of St. Thomas East, hosted a dinner meeting dur- where the nominating committee waited. Matthews rose. ing which a panel of local experts addressed water issues on “As I recall, she said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Mark the island following the hurricanes that happened in 2017. Maloney, the nominee for president 2019-2020.’ So that was Toward the end of the meeting, a Rotarian got up and said: pretty exciting.” “When I listen to the news or read the newspapers, I can be- come despondent. But when I come to a meeting like this, Fourteen months have passed. It’s a fine October morning, and Maloney sits in the president-elect’s office, an 18th-floor aerie overlooking Lake Michigan, talking with Rotarian editor March 2019 The Rotarian | 45

Rotary makes me realize that the world has a great future.” And my third priority is that we must change our culture, Rotary’s work completely changed this individual’s attitude our attitudes, and the way we do business so that it is possible about where the world is going. and apparent that you can be actively engaged in Rotary and even assume positions of Rotary leadership while you are still And this weekend here in Evanston, we inducted 32 indi- actively engaged in your business or profession. If we want Ro- viduals and couples into the Arch Klumph Society. These were tary to be attractive to a younger demographic, we have to make Rotarians who had contributed substantial sums of money to Rotary leadership accessible to the younger demographic. support polio eradication, peace and conflict resolution and prevention, maternal and child health, and other causes. And TR: What’s No. 4? there were so many stirring stories about what these Rotarians see Rotary accomplishing in the world today, so much so that MALONEY: In June 2020, the United Nations will celebrate the 75th they want, to use a colloquialism, to put their money where their anniversary of the signing of the UN charter. Rotary has been mouths are. So that’s the Rotary that I want to facilitate, that I involved with the UN since before the UN began. Because of that, want to make happen. I want to focus on Rotary’s relationship with the United Nations. The annual Rotary-UN Day will be returning to the UN head- So now that I’ve laid that predicate, I’ll answer your question. quarters in New York after having been in Geneva and Nairobi. At the end of my term, I want to have inspired changes in our We also hope to have three presidential conferences focusing on Rotary culture that make it possible for Rotary to continue do- Rotary’s relationship with specific UN agencies at different loca- ing the things that heartened the soul of that Rotarian in St. tions around the world and a final celebration of Rotary’s UN Thomas and that inspired those Rotarians at the Arch Klumph relationship before the convention opens in Honolulu, Hawaii. ceremony to make those significant contributions to The Ro- tary Foundation to keep that work going. So in terms of legacy — just to wrap that up — for those of us who are working together in 2019-20, our success will not be TR: How do you ensure that happens? measured on 30 June of 2020, but on 30 June of 2025 or 2030, when others can determine whether the things we started had MALONEY: We need to grow Rotary. We need more hands doing an impact as the years went by. service, more brains coming up with ideas. We need more part- nerships, more connections. To accomplish that, I have four TR: When will there be a female president of Rotary? priorities for my presidency, and No. 1 is growing Rotary. TR: How do you do that? MALONEY: I think it will be in the next five years. The structure of Rotary is such that to be district governor, you must have MALONEY: First, we redouble our efforts to support our clubs to served as club president. To be an international director, you attract new members and engage current members so that they must have been a district governor. And to be RI president stay with Rotary to perform greater and more innovative ser- you must have been an international director. Women have vice. That means clubs being more flexible than they have been. worked their way up through those ranks, and we have now several past directors who are women. They are gaining experi- But the other aspect is to form new Rotary clubs. Our tradi- ence in other positions as well, and that makes it ever more tion was to form new clubs in areas where clubs didn’t exist. likely every year that a woman will be nominated. We need now to focus on forming new clubs where Rotary not only exists, but thrives. In many of those areas we are serving I am certainly conscious of promoting gender diversity in only a certain segment of the population. We need new clubs Rotary. I’ve chosen a woman to chair my convention committee with alternative experiences that meet in nontraditional ways. and nominated another to serve as a trustee of The Rotary That would help us attract a different demographic — be it age, Foundation. And next year we will have two women on the gender, ethnic background — so that we are serving all aspects Board of Directors, and the following year we’ll have five. of the community. TR: Explain how you came up with your presidential theme — TR: What are your other priorities? and was it more difficult than choosing your presidential tie? MALONEY: My second and third priorities support the first. At MALONEY: Oh, no, it was far easier than choosing the tie. every level of this organization we need to design our club meetings, service projects, and social events so they are family- TR: So tell us about your theme: Rotary Connects the World. friendly. We need to provide opportunities that complement younger individuals’ family lives rather than compete with MALONEY: Rotary is all about connection. When you join a club, those family lives. you connect with the business leaders in your community. 46 | The Rotarian March 2019

Rotary connects you and clubs and districts for service around new attorney coming into Decatur, and it seemed as if that’s the world. The whole basis of The Rotary Foundation is to what all young professionals did: join a civic club. connect Rotary clubs in one part of the world with Rotary clubs in another part of the world, typically Rotary clubs from a TR: But why Rotary? developed country with Rotary clubs in a developing country, to undertake a humanitarian service project. MALONEY: I joined Rotary because my father-in-law was in Kiwanis. In terms of networking and making connections, the Rotary connects the world on a less formal basis interna- law firm already had a representative there; we ought to have tionally. Rotary International conventions and other inter- a representative in the Rotary club. It turned out to have been national meetings are wonderful events. You see people there a terrific decision. year after year that you don’t see at any other time of the year, and you connect with them through friendship. You’ve seen TR: Why is that? What kept you in Rotary all these years? the promo: “Rotary, the original social network.” That’s true. TR: Rotary’s efforts toward peace: reasonable aspiration or ex- MALONEY: One, because of the connections — because of the ercise in head-banging futility? friendships in the local club, and then the friendships in the district, the friendships internationally. MALONEY: It’s a reasonable aspiration. My father-in-law, Gilmer Blackburn, told Gay and me 15 or 20 years ago that if Two, because I was engaged in Rotary from the beginning. peace is going to come to the world, he’s convinced that it’s Gay and I have always been organizers. I belonged to 4-H, and going to be through Rotary. We have the opportunity to have I was the president of the county 4-H federation in my early an impact toward a more peaceful world. Do we have the teenage years. I was a state officer for the National Beta Club. opportunity to create the Pax Romana that existed at the I was the president of the Catholic Youth Organization for the time of the birth of Christ? No, but we do have the ability to Roman Catholic diocese of Belleville, Illinois, and at Harvard contribute to peace, to put leaders out there through our I was a football manager. I didn’t just join things. I organized peace fellows program who may help lead to some version things, and I moved up in those organizations. of the Pax Romana. So I was engaged in my Rotary club immediately. I joined in TR: Why did you join Rotary at age 25? December 1980. About a year later, they put me on the program committee, and a year later I was the committee chair. It may MALONEY: I joined Rotary because it was the thing to do. I was a have been three years after that, that I got on the board. The precise timing is lost in the mists of time. Either way, I can’t imagine a life without Rotary. n March 2019 The Rotarian | 47

by GEOFFREY JOHNSON The Institute for Economics and Peace had done the research on how countries could create and sustain peace. But how to put that research into action at the grassroots level? Enter Rotary. WHY PEACE THIRTEEN YEARS AGO, STEVE KILLELEA FOUND HIMSELF This speaks to one of Killelea’s central principles: “If you can’t measure something,” he says, “you can’t understand it.” in Kivu, a war-ravaged region of the Democratic Republic of At the IEP, Breslauer works to boost the organization’s Congo. A wealthy Australian software entrepreneur turned public profile and reach people who have the drive and the hands-on global philanthropist, he had traveled to Africa to resources to make change on the ground. “We want to reach help women and girls who had suffered some of the worst hor- a wider audience, beyond just the academic community,” she rors in the ongoing conflict. While there, he remembers, “I says — and a new partnership between the IEP and Rotary is asked myself a fantasy question: What is the world’s most helping do that. At a peace conference the IEP co-sponsored peaceful nation? I did an internet search and no answer came at Stanford University last fall, she recalls, “every time I up. It made me realize how little we understand about peace.” turned around, there was a Rotarian.” She was thrilled by That was the genesis of the Institute for Economics and their enthusiasm. Peace, which Killelea founded in 2008. By analyzing data about “Building peace is not something that can be done by govern- peace, the IEP aims to determine the social, political, and eco- ments alone,” Breslauer says. “We need to shift the way people nomic factors that create and sustain peace. “At our core, we think about building peace in their own communities. The IEP are a research organization,” says Michelle Breslauer, the or- can now galvanize at the grassroots level. Locally, Rotarians ganization’s program director in the Americas. “Nobody before can be leaders to push forward peace in the world.” had systematically measured peace.” 48 | The Rotarian March 2019