2022-11 November

November 2022 Rotary and UNICEF’s guide to collaboration page 14 One veteran’s reckoning with PTSD page 26 Microcredit for women in Uganda page 48 Welcome to and the world at the in Australia 2023 Rotary Rotary International Convention pa e 40 Connect with

HOW CAN I BECOME A PEACEBUILDER? Start by enrolling in the Rotary Positive Peace Academy. • Y ou’ll learn to be an effective peacebuilder in your community • You’ll understand how to develop stronger, more sustainable projects • You’ll hear from global leaders in the study of peace • You can complete the free, self-guided course in just two hours Get started at positivepeace.academy/rotary

Sharing our Rotary stories from the heart B eing asked to Imagine Rotary can seem like at the work you are performing and the lives that a big, heady exercise, but the most impor- are transforming. Throughout the year, I’m going to tant element of it is something quite small, share with you the sights and the stories that made even personal. those tours meaningful for us. Not too long ago, Rotary members were expected to perform our acts of service quietly. I understood I hope you can do the same in your corner of and appreciated the thought behind that — humility Rotary. It can be something you share in meetings or is a wonderful trait, and we should continue to nurture on social media. For the most savvy and ambitious, it it in other ways. could be an event you publicize through local media. Even telling your stories to friends has impact. But keeping Rotary to ourselves has a cost. And by sharing our Rotary moments, we are being gener- We need ambassadors for Rotary’s message and ous with others and giving them an opportunity to our dreams for a better world. The best ambassadors understand the impact of Rotary. are our members. The more you share stories — and share them from the heart — the more you encour- It brings to mind that wonderful aphorism that age others to partner with us, to join us, and to stay. poet Maya Angelou was known for: “People will forget what you said. People will forget what you To give you just one small example, in the months did. But people will never forget how you made ahead, I will be turning over this column to Rotary them feel.” members who will share their personal stories as they relate to diversity, equity, and inclusion in our So how do we make people feel Rotary? The best organization. It’s important that we hear these sto- way is to share our Rotary moments. We have all had ries directly from the people who experienced them them — when the ordinary collides with intention to as a way of feeling the importance of DEI for the create something extraordinary. future of Rotary. Some people have those Rotary moments the first In everything we do, what people feel about time they go to a meeting. For others, finding such a Rotary will shape our future. I can only imagine moment can take years, perhaps when seeing the joy what you will inspire through the stories you’ll tell. in the eyes of someone we serve. Or in hearing from another member something that hits close to home. JENNIFER JONES As Nick and I share this journey, we are amazed President, Rotary International PHOTOGRAPH: KHAULA JAMIL “In the months ahead, I will be turning over this column to Rotary members who will share their personal stories as they relate to diversity, equity, and inclusion in our organization.” P.S. November marks the 60th anniversary of Interact! I want to express my fondest wishes to our Interact members and the people who support them. Thank you for everything you do. NOVEMBER 2022  ROTARY  1

2  ROTARY  NOVEMBER 2022 PHOTOGRAPH: ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

YOU ARE HERE: Abuja, Nigeria GREETING: How you dey? ROCK ON: “Abuja is a city of hills and rocks,” says Constance Okeke, past president of the Rotary Club of Abuja- Gwarinpa. The city has abundant hiking trails, parks, and views of Aso Rock and Zuma Rock, which are among the world’s highest and largest monoliths — natural geological features that are each a single huge piece of stone. One side of Zuma Rock, pictured left, has contours that resemble a human face. FUEL UP: At the Wuse Market, all nine of the city’s Indig- enous ethnic groups ply wares, from vibrant African fabrics to kola nuts, in a sprawling, open-air feast for the senses. “You smell the roasting boli [plantains], fish, and yams,” Okeke says. “You have music blaring from speakers, the catcalls of merchants trying to attract customers, the hum of customers meandering among the stalls, preachers calling for prayers.” THE CLUB: The Rotary Club of Abuja-Gwarinpa meets on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. at the Benysta Hotel. — paula m. bodah NOVEMBER 2022  ROTARY  3

ROTARY GENERAL OFFICERS OF ROTARY TRUSTEES OF THE ROTARY INTERNATIONAL, 2022–23 FOUNDATION, 2022–23 November 2022 PRESIDENT CHAIR EDITOR IN CHIEF ART DIRECTOR Jennifer E. Jones Ian H.S. Riseley Wen Huang Jacqueline Cantu Windsor-Roseland, Ontario, Sandringham, Australia Canada MANAGING EDITOR PRODUCTION CHAIR-ELECT Jason Keyser MANAGER PRESIDENT-ELECT Barry Rassin Marc Dukes R. Gordon R. McInally East Nassau, Bahamas SENIOR EDITOR South Queensferry, Scotland Geoffrey Johnson DIGITAL EDITOR VICE CHAIR Kristin Morris VICE PRESIDENT Larry A. Lunsford SENIOR STAFF WRITER Nicki Scott Kansas City-Plaza, Missouri, Diana Schoberg EDITORIAL The North Cotswolds, England USA COORDINATOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR Vera Robinson TREASURER TRUSTEES John M. Cunningham Ananthanarayanan S. “Venky” Jorge Aufranc CIRCULATION Venkatesh Guatemala Sur, Guatemala COPY EDITOR MANAGER Chennai Mambalam, India Rose Shilling Katie McCoy Marcelo Demétrio Haick DIRECTORS Santos-Praia, Brazil Send ad inquiries and materials to: Marc Dukes, Alberto Cecchini Rotary magazine, One Rotary Center, 1560 Sherman Roma Nord-Est, Italy Martha Peak Helman Ave., 14th floor, Evanston, IL 60201; phone Boothbay Harbor, Maine, USA 847-866-3092; email [email protected] Patrick D. Chisanga Nkwazi, Zambia Holger Knaack Media kit: rotary.org/mediakit Herzogtum Lauenburg-Mölln, Jessie Harman Germany To contact us: Rotary magazine, One Rotary Center, Wendouree Breakfast, Australia 1560 Sherman Ave., Evanston, IL 60201; phone Hsiu-Ming Lin 847-866-3206; email [email protected] Jeremy S. Hurst Taipei Tungteh, Taiwan Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands Website: rotary.org/magazines Mark Daniel Maloney Drew Kessler Decatur, Alabama, USA To submit an article: Send stories, queries, tips, North Rockland (Haverstraw), and photographs by mail or email (high-resolution New York, USA Geeta K. Manek digital images only). We assume no responsibility for Muthaiga, Kenya unsolicited materials. Muhammad Faiz Kidwai Karachi Karsaz, Pakistan Aziz Memon To subscribe: Twelve issues at US$12 a year (USA, Karachi, Pakistan Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands); $16 a year Won-Pyo Kim (Canada); $24 a year (elsewhere). Contact the Gyeongju South, Korea Akira Miki Circulation Department (phone 847-424-5217 or -5216; Himeji, Japan email [email protected]) for details and for airmail Urs Klemm rates. Gift subscriptions available at the same rates. Aarau, Switzerland Bharat S. Pandya Borivli, India To send an address change: Enclose old address Mahesh Kotbagi label, postal code, and Rotary club, and send to the Pune Sports City, India Greg E. Podd Circulation Department or email [email protected]. Evergreen, Colorado, USA Postmaster: Send all address changes to Circulation Patricia Merryweather-Arges Department, Rotary magazine, One Rotary Center, Naperville, Illinois, USA Dean Rohrs 1560 Sherman Ave., Evanston, IL 60201. Langley Central, Lena J. Mjerskaug British Columbia, Canada Call the Contact Center: USA, Canada, and Virgin Enebakk, Norway Islands (toll-free) 866-976-8279. Elsewhere: GENERAL SECRETARY  847-866-3000, ext. 8999. Vicki Puliz John Hewko Sparks, Nevada, USA Kyiv, Ukraine Unless otherwise noted: All images are copyright ©2022 by Rotary International or are used with Yoshio Sato permission. Okayama-South, Japan Published monthly by Rotary International, 1560 Sherman Ave., Julio César A. Evanston, IL 60201. Rotary® is a registered trademark of Rotary Silva-Santisteban International. Copyright ©2022 by Rotary International. All rights El Rímac, Peru reserved. Periodicals postage paid at Evanston, Illinois, USA, and additional mailing offices. Canada Publications Mail Agreement Elizabeth Usovicz No. 1381644. Canadian return address: MSI, PO Box 2600, Mississauga, Kansas City-Plaza, Missouri, ON L4T 0A8. This is the November 2022 issue, volume 201, number 5, USA of Rotary. Publication number: USPS 548-810. ISSN 2694-443X (print); ISSN 2694-4448 (online). GENERAL SECRETARY John Hewko 4  ROTARY  NOVEMBER 2022 Kyiv, Ukraine

Giving Tuesday: 29 November During this season of giving, remember The Rotary Foundation as your charity of choice. A donation to our Annual Fund helps strengthen communities close to home and around the globe. GIVE TODAY: my.rotary.org/giving-tuesday

November 2022 Vol. 201, No. 5 CONTENT FEATURES 1 President’s message ILLUSTRATION: STEPHANIE WUNDERLICH; PHOTOGRAPH: (OPPOSITE) RHYS MARTIN 2 Welcome 26 CONNECT Home from war, a 8 Staff corner struggle to find peace 9 Letters to the editor 13 The specialist With Rotary members behind A gene researcher’s breakthrough him, an Iraq veteran works holds promise for an HIV vaccine through his trauma — and OUR WORLD adopts a mission to help others By Kate Silver On the cover: Melbourne, Australia’s 36 14 A new handbook for humanitarians multicultural metropolis, prepares to host A collaboration guide for two tried- the 2023 Rotary International Convention. Bounce forward Photograph by Rhys Martin and-true partners: Rotary and UNICEF After loss, a writer goes in 17 Defying predictions search of post-traumatic growth At 71, a polio survivor thrives as a By Michaela Haas triathlete Illustrations by Maguma 18 People of action around the globe 20 The new math 40 Make more money by giving away A capital destination more money? It adds up if you have a ‘Generosity Purpose’ Make the most of your visit to 22 The multiplying factor the host city of the 2023 Rotary Rotary is ‘a calling’ for Singapore International Convention benefactor driven to give back By Meagan Martin OUR CLUBS Photography by Rhys Martin 48 Virtual visit 20 Rotary Club of Yumbe, Uganda 50 Where are they now? A Rotary Peace Fellow helps businesses become catalysts for social good 52 Rotary in the news 53 Calendar 54 Dispatches from our sister magazines 56 Yours for the asking There’s a right way to make a request of someone 58 Trustee chair’s message 59 Meet the 2024-25 RI president 60 Arch Klumph Society honorees 62 2023 convention | Crossword 64 Sardinia’s comfort food Try the Italian island’s beloved chickpea flatbread with sausage or veggies 6  ROTARY  NOVEMBER 2022

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CONNEC STAFF CORNER PHOTOGRAPHS: COURTESY OF CHRIS BROWNChris Brown Digital insights team lead I’ve been working for Rotary for 22 years now. I started out as a temp in Evanston and ended up working as an assistant and a coordinator with the Club and District Support team and subse- quently a business analyst for the Web team. Now as the digital insights lead, I provide the Secretariat with web analyt- ics. For example, if someone’s filling out a donation form, I can look at how long it takes to fill it out, or how often a person comes back. A few years ago, I worked with Rotary’s PolioPlus and Visual Media teams to create The Agents of Polio Eradi- cation, an animated comic to educate people about our polio eradication efforts in a different style. I’ve always loved complex games. A board game lover and creator, Brown showcases his new game prototype. I made my first game in third grade. I thought Monopoly was cool but wanted to make it more complex. So I created a game called Making It Big. At school, I turned several class assignments into board games. When my teacher assigned a book report on the Odyssey, I turned Odysseus’ journey into a board game. Follow us to get updates, A few years ago, the software develop- Art is another big part of my life. I just share stories with your designed the label art for SumACTION, networks, and tell us what ers I worked with at Rotary invited me a beer put out by Sketchbook Brewing you think. in suburban Chicago, as well as a couple to some game nights. When I looked of album covers for a Chicago hip-hop Rotary.org online, I realized the market for hobbyist producer. I enjoy drawing, painting, and board games was so much bigger than I 3D modeling. [email protected] thought. So, during the pandemic in 2020, I started playtesting a game I created. I’m always trying new things, like @rotary It’s a two-player game. Each player is an architect who helps celestial gods con- indoor hydroponic gardening. The gar- /rotary struct towers by charting constellations dening replaces a decent amount of my in the sky. Whoever builds the most gets grocery shopping. I’m usually growing @rotaryinternational riches, fame, and special abilities. I’m also about 40 plants at a time, including kale, working on a card game about achieving tomatoes, different lettuces, and herbs. Rotary magazine political ambitions amid a brewing rebel- One Rotary Center lion. My goal is to self-publish the games. I like having different personas for dif- 1560 Sherman Ave. Evanston, IL 60201 I got into music after high school and ferent pursuits. When I do art, I use 360 made some hip-hop records. I put out as my name. So my Instagram account The editors welcome comments a full-length rap album, some vinyl, is @artby360. When I rapped, the alias on items published in the and a compilation album on my own I used was Lord360. I also go by Chris magazine but reserve the right to record label, Cypher Infinitum. I also co- Cypher for singing, designing games, and edit for style and length. Published founded a label called Birthwrite with a other pursuits. letters do not necessarily reflect couple of friends. the views of the editors or Rotary — as told to dinah eng International leadership, nor do the editors take responsibility for errors of fact that may be expressed by the writers. 8  ROTARY  NOVEMBER 2022

Letters to the editor A CEREMONY FOR FORGIVENESS AJulgyu2s0t222022 OVERHEARD ON SOCIAL MEDIA Thank you so much for the August article Meet the second “Peace through a bowl of tea.” The sig- Programs of Scale grantee In August, we nificance of the formal tea ceremony by page 24 wrote about the Genshitsu Sen at the hallowed ground of Member survey points 2021-22 Programs the sunken USS Arizona in Hawaii is not to Rotary’s road ahead of Scale grant lost on surviving World War II veterans page 46 recipient, Together on all sides of that terrible war. Eco club takes on plastic for Healthy page 48 Families in Nigeria, In 1984, when I was 33, I had many which aims to WWII veterans in my life, including my The reduce maternal father and members of our local Rotary Way and neonatal club and other clubs in District 6490. of Tea mortality. They had to make a big leap of faith as they sent me and my fellow Group Study A revered Japanese That is indeed Exchange team members to Japan. tea master spreads a remarkable his message of peace program which Prior to our exchange, we underwent page 30 deserves further extensive training to appreciate Japa- strong support. nese culture — including tea ceremonies illustration and watching him walk onto Congrats for at Japan House at the University of Il- Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. I started going selecting it. linois at Urbana-Champaign. Our Group to see the Dodgers when I was 15. For a Rainer Moosdorf Study Exchange e ort was to help heal nickel I took the El from my apartment in ► via LinkedIn the wounds of the war by meeting Japa- Brooklyn, changed once to a shuttle, and nese people and staying with Rotarian was in my paradise for 25 or 50 cents. We all can help. hosts. In To yo, Okinawa, and historic When Jackie stepped out to the field, a This is a story Kyoto, we were shown the Way of Tea as roar of approval went up. He was so agile, that inspires us a most moving and emotional perfor- a great hitter and fielder, and brought to contribute to mance with each movement loaded with Dodger fans years of excitement and joy. reducing maternal meaning — a true healing ceremony. The and child mortality. exchange truly promoted one-on-one Lowell Greenbaum, Augusta, Georgia interactions. This experience changed Sergio Almeida my life and my view of historical world I enjoy reading Rotary International’s ► via Facebook events and people. magazine, especially to learn about Rotary’s activities and impacts around William J. Dees, Hannibal, Missouri the world. But your recent article “The whole world is watching” raised an Thank you for the moving and informa- eyebrow, not least because the men- tive article about Rotarian Genshitsu Sen tion of baseball being “our national and his practice of chadō, or “the Way pastime” is clearly referring to the U.S. of Tea.” I was particularly moved by the But we’re Rotary International, and we description of his 2011 chadō ceremony have been international since 1912, when performed at the USS Arizona Memorial. a club was chartered in Canada. Also, It demonstrated such spiritual commit- the article doesn’t even mention Rotary. ment and courage, showing us all the Please, let’s keep those valuable Rotary power of forgiveness. magazine pages for Rotary subjects of interest to all Rotarians. Jim Kennedy, Greensboro, North Carolina Alex Handyside, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia GLOBAL APPEAL GREEN GOALS Hooray for Scott Simon, one of my favorite NPR hosts, for his article [“The I appreciate the su gestions on how whole world is watching,” August] that clubs can support a green global econ- mentioned Jackie Robinson and his omy [“It’s easy being green,” August]. introduction to the major leagues and the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. I remember sitting in the exact spot in the bleachers depicted in the story NOVEMBER 2022 ROTARY 9

FIND A CLUB ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD! Genshitsu Sen, the former grand master of the Urasenke tea tradition and a member of the Rotary Club Use Rotary’s free of Kyoto, Japan, was profiled in the magazine’s August issue. Listen to an audio version of the story at Club Locator and find a rotary.org/peace-through-bowl-tea. meGeettRinotgaryw’shfreeereClvubeLroycaotour agpop ! and find a meeting wherever you go! wwwww.wr.orottaarryy.o.orgr/gcl/ucblulobcalotocrator I have another: Rotary could opt out members don’t like “rituals and un- Do you need Rotary-branded of recognition pins. I have a box full of needed formalities like prayers and merchandise? them. I only wear two — my Rotary pin songs.” I found that survey result and my Paul Harris Fellow pin. The rest particularly offensive. Further, I feel very Then shop with Rotary-licensed will probably end up in a landfill when badly that this must be a pervasive view vendors, many of which are local my kids clean out my house upon my out there in Rotary land. What we need Rotarian-owned businesses. death. today is more, not less, prayer. Shop now at Scaling back the purchasing and Theodore Gurzynski, Greendale, Wisconsin on.rotary.org/shop distribution of these pins would reduce landfill usage, and the money saved could PRAISE FOR THE PREZ Shop With A Licensed Vendor_EN-20.indd 1 7/13/20 3:56 PM go to sustainable projects. That’s a win- win for our ecology and the economy. I just finished the great article about %((6 52%%(5 6&$1 President Jennifer Jones [“Storyteller Marina T. Schmidt, Elk Grove, California in chief,” July]. In 2018, Jones was a $6$3 $6/$17 $/'$ keynote speaker at a District 5300 event. Seeing the number of articles in the I was impressed with her wisdom, her 527 $5<&219(17 , 21 August issue with a climate emphasis passion for Rotary, and most of all her was incredibly reassuring to me. My club, warm personality. She and I had a private $02 $:1 6 2203 $ the Rotary Club of Oakville Trafalgar, conversation afterward. She surprised Ontario, recently formed an environmen- me by saying that Rotary might not be 0( / %2851( '28% 7 6 tal committee. It’s a good start, but we ready for a female president, but the day have a very long road to climate security. would come. 3522) 6 85*(1 7 Still, I’m relieved to see we are taking this problem seriously. I am so pleased that the day has come PHOTOGRAPH: MINMIN WU $ , 17 803 87 ( 5$6 and RI has broken another glass ceiling Heather Donaldson, Oakville, Ontario by selecting Jennifer Jones as the first fe- $&( ) 52 / <( / (*2 male president. The article did a fine job A PLEA FOR PRAYERS of showing what an exceptional leader &$3 , 7$ 63($56 she is, and I expect nothing less than an The article about a recent member- exceptional Rotary year. $&7256 $86 75$ / , $ ship survey [“United in friendship and service,” August] reported that some Dan Watson, Oracle, Arizona /2 , 16 + , *+ 25' , 0$ * , 1 (:+ $ 7 6 1 ( ; 7 6(5( ( / $ , 1( 2$.6 76$5 6 , 11(' ) / ($ 10  ROTARY  NOVEMBER 2022

Rotary magazine is now accepting advertising If your business plans to market a product or service to a targeted audience, consider advertising in Rotary magazine. We drive engagement and action – when surveyed, our readers reported spending 52 minutes with an issue, and nearly 75% said they’ve taken “some sort of action” as a result of reading Rotary magazine. Our diverse membership, attractive demographics, and expansive reach will enhance your results. Interested? Please email [email protected] for rates and guidelines.

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THE SPECIALIST influenza, the diversity of influenza strains in the whole world is roughly comparable to the diversity of HIV Defeating HIV strains you will find in a single patient infected with HIV. Type B white blood cells are the main players in A gene researcher’s breakthrough neutralizing viral infections. So, in my work, we used could lead to a one-time vaccine the CRISPR gene-editing technique to engineer B cells that activate the immune system to produce anti- L ike many PhD students, Alessio Nahmad bodies that neutralize HIV. We were able to directly endured a string of research failures. modify the cells in mice through a single injection. “Biology is not for the faint of heart,” he says. Now, at just 31 years old, Nahmad is To develop a cure for HIV, we need more than the achieving success — lots of it. He helped grant funding from universities. Financing this is lead a team at Tel Aviv University whose research huge. We are very close to curing HIV. But we need holds promise for a one-time vaccine for people with that last push. There is no reason why 40 million HIV/AIDS. Here, in his own words, is his story. people are living with HIV infection right now in the world. Governments should enhance funding for re- I wanted to study neurobiology because I liked Alessio search by offering academia and industry competitive psychology but wanted to know more about the Nahmad grants to tackle emerging or common diseases. science behind it. So I began a bachelor’s degree in biology. Then I was in a genetics class, and I fell in Rotary Club We think this technology will also work well against love. I learned about new technologies to modify cells. of Pninat I learned about stem cell therapy and gene modifica- Raanana, Israel cancer. At Tabby Therapeutics, we are going to try to tion techniques. use it to treat tumors. HIV is a single virus. Cancer is Co-founder a world of diseases, so a lot of people need treatments HIV is the king of mutations. It’s a virus that mutates of Tabby and solutions for cancer. to escape the immune response. If we compare it to Therapeutics People need to know that science is fun. We need to encourage the next generation of scientists. The world needs bright minds to resolve the issues we are and will be facing. — as told to orly halpern Photograph by Yadid Levy NOVEMBER 2022  ROTARY  13

OUR WORL ROTARY AND UNICEF A new handbook for humanitarians A carefully crafted guide provides a road map for future collaboration between two tried-and-true partners 19 In June, at the Rotary International ganization and the U.S. Centers for For a copy Bush poetry Convention in Houston, Past RI Disease Control and Prevention as of the Local in Australia President K.R. Ravindran struck up founding members of the Global Collaboration a conversation with representatives Polio Eradication Initiative. The Framework 20 of UNICEF. The topic was the dire GPEI now also includes the Bill handbook, go Make money economic crisis that has left more & Melinda Gates Foundation and to my.rotary. by giving it than 5 million people in Ravindran’s Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. org/document/ away? home country of Sri Lanka without rotary- adequate food and medicine. From “Rotary and UNICEF have a long unicef-local- 22 that conversation emerged Lifeline history of successfully working to- collaboration- A Singapore Sri Lanka, a project by Rotary and gether, beginning with our partner- framework. benefactor’s UNICEF to provide medicine, water ship to protect children from polio calling purification supplies, educational and growing to other priority pro- materials, and other necessities to grams where we can jointly build 14  ROTARY  NOVEMBER 2022 families in the island country. on our unique strengths,” says Mi- chael J. Nyenhuis, president and “The significance of this his- CEO of UNICEF USA. toric moment is vested in the fact that these two prestigious organi- Mark Daniel Maloney, past RI zations have come together to lend president and current Rotary Foun- their support towards aiding one dation trustee, extols the “mutual singular nation in distress,” Ra- trust” between the two organiza- vindran said when the project was tions. “When we place money in launched in August. Within three UNICEF’s hands, when we fund the weeks, it had received more than programs that UNICEF is doing in $70,000 in donations. polio eradication, we know that it is going to be put to good use.” A particular aspect of that story is especially appealing to Stephanie As the organizations look to the Jacquier, a global philanthropy and future, they have devised a new partnership specialist for UNICEF. approach, introduced through a “It’s an illustration of one Rotarian handbook entitled Local Collabo- driving something locally, together ration Framework, that is designed with UNICEF, in one specific coun- to broaden and increase their col- try,” she says. Emphasis on locally. lective impact. “The framework is a comprehensive guide for local The story of Lifeline Sri Lanka Rotary clubs to work collabora- is inspiring, but such cooperation tively with UNICEF in determining is not a rarity. Around the world, and addressing the greatest needs Rotary and UNICEF, each with a locally,” says Nyenhuis. presence in more than 190 coun- tries and geographical areas, work “It’s an invitation to create syn- together on issues related to global ergy and leverage Rotary’s efforts,” development, humanitarian aid, and adds Maloney. “Rotary can provide peace. The partnership goes back to boots on the ground, and UNICEF 1988, when the two organizations provides the expertise.” joined with the World Health Or- To better implement this new approach, representatives of both

The 2022 Rotary Day with UNICEF brought together (clockwise from left) Michael J. Nyenhuis, president and CEO of UNICEF USA; Rotary members Carolyn Johnson, Padmini Murthy, and Rose Cardarelli; and Stephanie Jacquier, a global philanthropy and partnership specialist for UNICEF. PHOTOGRAPHY: MONIKA LOZINSKA organizations collaborated to cre- knew it was important to first col- 10 STEPS TO SUCCESS ate what Maloney calls a “road map lect evidence from the ‘audience.’ to expanding our relationship with Because once you know your audi- The Local Collaboration UNICEF.” Rose Cardarelli, a mem- ence, you’re better positioned to Framework handbook provides ber of the Rotary Club of Washing- answer their needs.” a step-by-step process for ton Global, Washington, D.C., and Rotary members and UNICEF the RI representative to UNICEF/ All that preliminary work re- staff to successfully implement New York, took a lead role in that sulted in a 64-page handbook that community-based projects: process. “Collaboration included provides clear and useful guidance, jointly identifying countries with policies, templates, and other tools 1 Get to know Rotary and both Rotary and UNICEF represen- to empower Rotary and UNICEF to UNICEF tation, studying previous potential work well together locally (see “10 joint projects, and surveying and steps to success,” right). “It’s a guide 2 Learn about the benefits conducting extensive personal in- that provides a viable method to fol- of working together terviews with Rotary members and low so that members of Rotary and UNICEF staff,” she says. “It was im- UNICEF staff can initiate discus- 3 Connect locally portant to have global participation sions for joint projects,” Cardarelli through regional representation.” says. “It captures best practices, 4 Get to know one another methods for collaboration and eas- The process began in fall 2020, ing partnership engagement. It is a 5 Identify opportunities for and, over the course of a year, living document in the sense that collaboration evolved into a two-step quantita- the methods can be refined further tive and qualitative process. “We with resulting engagements.” 6 Create an action plan didn’t want to rush; we wanted to do it right,” says Jacquier. “We Jacquier seconds that approach. 7 Make it official “We should always have the spirit 8 Track successes 9 Showcase successes 10 Turn vision into reality NOVEMBER 2022  ROTARY  15

OUR WORLD The Local Collaboration Framework handbook was developed by Rotary members and BEYOND POLIO BY THE UNICEF staff to broaden and increase the organizations’ collective impact. Rotary and UNICEF have been 385NUMBERS of continuing to improve this tool,” Past RI President Shekhar Mehta partners since 1988, when she says, adding that it would be a started and that President Jennifer they set out to eradicate million good idea to collectively review the Jones is continuing,” Maloney says. polio. But their humanitarian handbook periodically to make ad- “UNICEF is well positioned to imple- efforts have gone beyond that Estimated justments to reflect evolving needs. ment programs to empower girls — endeavor, as these recent number of the and maternal and child health [one of examples demonstrate: world’s children The handbook was introduced in Rotary’s seven areas of focus] would who live in March in New York City at Rotary also fall within that purview.” Beginning in 2018, District Day with UNICEF. It is being distrib- 2483 (Montenegro and 23poverty uted to UNICEF offices and is avail- Like Jacquier, Maloney sees the Serbia) worked with UNICEF able to Rotary districts and clubs via handbook as a tool to help accom- Serbia to advocate for million My Rotary — though some Rotary plish these ambitious goals. But he children’s rights. The two members didn’t wait for the hand- also understands that it’s just that: organizations’ activities Number of book to get started on collaborative a tool, or, as he put it, a road map. focused on improving children who projects (see “Beyond polio,” right). “The handbook is not the end re- the status of children, missed routine Now that the handbook is available, sult,” says Maloney. “The end result including promoting vaccinations Maloney has some ideas about av- is the service and the projects that a culture of solidarity, in 2020 due to enues the partnership might want to will be implemented as a result of improving corporate disruptions in explore. Among them is “empower- the handbook.” It’s time for mem- social responsibility, immunization ing girls,” which was the theme of bers of Rotary and UNICEF to un- and encouraging Rotary this year’s Rotary Day with UNICEF. fold that map together and step into members to champion 800services “That would carry on a theme that the future. — geoffrey johnson children’s rights in their club activities and business Approximate practices. number of children who die In RI’s Zone 8 (Australia, each day from New Zealand, and Pacific preventable islands), Rotary and UNICEF diseases caused began working together by unsafe water in 2019 to vaccinate and lack of 100,000 children in nine sanitation Pacific countries and territories. By working with Source: Local local governments, the Collaboration partnership has raised more Framework than $3 million. The money handbook is being used to provide HPV vaccines for adolescent girls and vaccines to protect children against infections that cause diarrhea and pneumonia, two major causes of death for children under 5 in the Pacific. In Nigeria, District 9125 took on a social advocacy role when it partnered with the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene team at UNICEF Nigeria to support Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet, a national campaign to end open defecation in the country by 2025. Short Starting this Rotary year, the The annual West Africa Project PHOTOGRAPH: MONIKA LOZINSKA takes Rotaract Giving Certificate will be Fair will be held 2-9 November awarded to any Rotaract club whose in Enugu, Nigeria, with an option members collectively contribute at to attend virtually. Register at least $100 to The Rotary Foundation. rotarywapf.org. 16  ROTARY  NOVEMBER 2022 Illustrations by Antonio Giovanni Pinna

W hen Div Louw con- tracted spino-bulbar polio at age 4 in South Africa in the 1950s before vaccines became available, he was given a 2 percent chance of survival. He spent six months in isolation, including time in an iron lung machine to help with breathing. His father gave him a special toy and a choice. “He said, ‘Look, son, you can ei- ther go into the hospital and have calipers [leg supports] and hope you can walk again, or you can take this [toy riding] fire truck and do what you do best,’” recalls Louw. “I loved that fire truck. That was the trigger for everything.” The toy truck became his legs; he rode it everywhere. In time, some of his nerve and muscle function recovered, and he began to walk again. Now 71, Louw has spent his life baffling doctors and defying pre- dictions of immobility. Despite periodic flare-ups that cause irreg- ular heart rhythms and weakness in his limbs, he embraced athlet- ics later in life, winning the gold medal in his paratriathlon ability category at the Africa Triathlon Championships in Egypt in 2021. He represented his country again in the championships in Morocco in September. In July, he joined the Rotary Club of Benoni, South Africa. “I wanted to raise awareness,” he says, “and I looked on the internet and found that Rotary was work- ing to eradicate polio. It has been absolutely magical.” “The intensity of my plea comes PROFILE from my experience,” says Louw. Defying predictions “When I see resistance to vaccina- At 71, a polio survivor thrives as a triathlete Div Louw tions, especially now with polio still Rotary Club of Benoni, being detected in places, I want to South Africa tell people: ‘Don’t let this happen to you.’” — arnold grahl The Rotary Founda- World Interact Week takes place This month and next, district Rotary tion raised more 31 October-6 November, in com- Foundation chairs can nominate than $434 million in memoration of the founding of the Rotary members to receive The Rotary 2021-22, exceeding first Interact club on 5 November Foundation Citation for Meritorious its $410 million goal. 1962 in Melbourne, Florida. Service. Learn more at rotary.org/awards. Photograph by Christiaan Louw NOVEMBER 2022  ROTARY  17

OUR WORLD People of action around the lobe By Brad Webber Dominican Republic 358,000United States Like other places in the Dominican Republic, Los Cocos Four Rotary clubs in de Jacagua faces shortages of Florida flexed their suitable housing and sanitation muscles with a fire truck infrastructure. For 15 years, pull to raise more than the Rotary Club of Santiago Monumental has addressed $15,000 to refurbish Career U.S. firefighters community needs there in the entrance of an in 2019 tandem with a Rotary Community assisted living facility. Corps, creating a library, a community center, playgrounds, Sixteen teams competed and a financial cooperative. They installed hundreds of latrines to be the fastest to tug the 17-ton and provided medical care, among other contributions, truck 50 feet across the parking lot many accomplished with the help of international partners in of a sponsoring brewpub. Led by District 7710 (North Carolina). The Santiago Monumental club has the Rotary Club of Mid-Bay Bridge begun building homes for families, completing nine as of February (Choctawhatchee Bay), the April event at a cost of about $10,000 each, drew about 400 people. Joining the says club member effort were the Rotary clubs of Destin, 2 millionDavidCrow.“Our Fort Walton Beach, and Niceville- international partners spend a Valparaiso, which sponsored the week at a time with Estimated housing-unit deficit us, providing labor in the Dominican Republic winning team of Niceville High School for the construction effort,” Crow says. “This alliance football players. Members of two is a powerful way to promote peace and offer Rotarians the Knights of Columbus chapters and the opportunity to live and work together with local Rotarians and Boggy Sisters, a senior support group, the communities served.” assisted the Rotarians. Community Club of Santiago Monumental partnerships “lightened the load and made the event possible,” says Steve Wolfrom, immediate past president of the Mid-Bay Bridge club. Club of Mid-Bay Bridge PHOTOGRAPHS: COURTESY OF ROTARY AND ROTARACT CLUBS (Choctawhatchee Bay) 18 ROTARY NOVEMBER 2022

$54.9million The value of Germany’s apple exports in 2021 Germany The Rotary Club of Göttingen-Sternwarte teamed up with the Production School Göttingen, a trades-oriented institution for teens, to harvest about 2 tons of apples and turn them into nearly 400 gallons of juice. The Apfelfest project culminated in October 2021 with the juice being donated to elementary schools or sold, raising more than $3,300 for End Polio Now. “The juice is amazing — a sweet-sour note, pure apple flavors,” reports club member Sönke Jaek. “And the dry apple mash was used to feed game such as deer and boar. They loved it.” Club members also serve as tutors and assist the students in writing resumes, finding internships, and applying for jobs. Club of Göttingen-Sternwarte Romania 1.3 2.5 To put the brakes on dangerous driving, the million Rotaract Club of Bistriţa Omnia recently partnered Words in a translation with the police and a driving of the epic Sanskrit poem school to set up a car crash million from India, the simulator at locations in the Mahabharata northern Transylvanian city. Traffic deaths “It consists of a driver’s seat worldwide Australia equipped with a seat belt, each year Reveling in a uniquely Australian art form, the Rotary Club of fitted on a moving platform that reaches Gloucester stages readings of bush poetry, which celebrates life a speed of about 18 mph,” says Christian in the less populated hinterlands. “Bush poetry is principally stories Nistor, immediate past president of the from the bush,” the tales suitable for “shearing sheds, cattle yards, club. “The platform crashes into a stopping pubs, etc.,” says club member Grahame Stelzer. “Normally very bar, simulating the accident.” The device funny, sometimes rude, and occasionally serious.” In February, was built by the Rotaract Club of Târgu three poets and a country band headlined the “Bush Poetry at the Mureș Téka. Interact and Rotary clubs have Saleyard” event, held, fittingly, in a livestock arena. “The idea was also helped with the project. During one born at a private dinner when one of the guests just happened simulation event in May, about 200 people to be a current Australian bush poet champion,” says Stelzer. “My were put to the test during the “Drive club was looking for a fundraiser for a nursing home, so it all Safely, Choose Life” initiative, Nistor says. came together that night.” The festivities raised about $3,900 “Drivers are reminded of the importance of for local projects. seat belts and the effect of speed in a car Club of Gloucester crash,” he says. NOVEMBER 2022 ROTARY 19 Club of Bistrit,a Omnia

ESSAY The new math Make more money by giving away more money? It adds up if you have a ‘Generosity Purpose’ By Derrick Kinney 20  ROTARY  NOVEMBER 2022 Illustration by Stephanie Wunderlich

A few years ago, Dave, the community? Is it elsewhere in the world? nomic indicators was important, what owner of a local manufac- What is the cause that you care deeply really mattered was their ability to put turing company, came into about? Connect your cash to a cause, your food on the table and save for personal my office. I was a financial money to a movement, your profits to a financial goals. In other words, what adviser, and Dave was a purpose. That is what changes every- does all this economy stuff mean to me? longtime client. Whenever we met, I thing. That is the Generosity Purpose. It’s easy to think that making a last- always enjoyed his positive, enthusiastic ing impact on the world, or even your attitude. But that afternoon I could tell What’s your Generosity Purpose? community, requires loads of cash. But by his body language that something was Is it helping abolish sex trafficking? that’s thinking like the overall economy. off. “Tell me what’s going on,” I said. Helping your city’s homeless popula- I’m suggesting you make it simple: Do tion? Or is it more personal, like funding what you can where you are right now “The business is going great,” Dave your children’s college tuition or paying as an outflow of your personal economy. explained, “but I’m no longer into it. I’ve for the piano lessons your granddaugh- Remember: Start small and make an lost my motivation. I don’t really feel a ter has always wanted to take? It’s impact on one person at a time. That’s lot of satisfaction.” not about you, but about someone or how you start to change the world. something that you believe can do more As we were talking, a thought occurred good and leave an impact on the world. When you start earning and saving to me. I asked Dave, “Are there any causes After all, the Me Show will one day get with a purpose that excites you, it will or organizations you find interesting that canceled. The We Show always gets high motivate you, lighting a fire within you you would like to support?” ratings and airs longer. that burns so bright that it will lead to success in every area of your life. It will The question caught Dave by surprise, Most people lead with, “I want to make motivate you to do whatever you have to and he sat back and pondered it for a more money.” But what if you led with, do to build your bank account — whether moment. Then he told me that a couple “I want to give more money, and to do it’s being successful in your job, getting a of years ago, he and his family had gone that, I’ll have to make more money”? This raise, or growing your own business. You overseas and visited a little village with is the path that gives purpose to your will acknowledge your power to radically no real school building and no resources money, and to your life, no matter what revolutionize your family’s future and the to properly educate the children. They your job is or your stage of life. future of the world around you. had said to themselves, “It would be neat to do something for these kids.” But then Now you might believe that making You have two paths you can take. they just kind of tucked the idea away, re- a lasting impact on the world — or even Path 1: Keep making money and stay un- turned home, and went about their lives. your local community — requires a lot happy and unfulfilled. Path 2: Make good of money. That’s not even a little bit true. money and lots of it, but do it by adding Hearing all that, I had another ques- Start small. Help one person at a time. meaning to your money. tion for Dave. “What if you did this?” As you do that, you will realize you are I asked. “Over the next 12 months, set changing their world and the world. If you choose the first path, you are a goal to increase your business, and leaving on the table money and a lasting a portion of that increase could go to Regardless of the attitude toward giv- legacy that could benefit you and your building that school.” His eyes got as big ing that you have now, I’m asking you to family. You’re missing out on helping right as saucers, and he sat up with a start. rethink money — to rethink its purpose. the wrongs that bother you the most. It’s Imagine a cause you have felt passion- not enough to say, “I’m going to work Three months later, Dave returned to ate about ever since you were young but now so I’ll have more to give away later.” my office. He had much more zeal for his didn’t think you could do anything about. It means nothing unless it’s attached to business — and for his life. “Derrick,” he Now is your chance. Small or big, just get the powerful emotion that you will feel said, “you’re not going to believe this, but started. This is where the fun begins. when you have made a real impact. our sales are already up 20 percent, and we’ve almost fully funded that school.” As Many entrepreneurs I interviewed for If you choose the second path, you are a business owner, he was reinvigorated. my book emphasized how important it is now ready to start earning with a pur- He had found a way to connect profits to start early to become accustomed to pose. After all, if you don’t have money, to purpose. By giving away more money, both making money and giving it away. you can’t give any away. Dave was actually making more money. That’s because both behaviors become muscle memory, as do their corollaries: I’m asking you to rethink your at- This is the untold secret to making bad earning and saving habits and an titudes about money and giving and find more money: giving it away. I call it the accompanying stinginess. your Generosity Purpose. One person at “Generosity Purpose.” It’s the reason my a time, your money can impact the world. client’s life changed — and yours can too. When I visit with clients, we some- times talk about the impact of the A member of the Rotary Club of Arlington, Now I want to ask you some questions. economy on their money. But I would Texas, Derrick Kinney is the author of What injustice keeps you awake at night? point out to them the difference be- Good Money Revolution: How to Make What really bothers you and makes you tween the overall economy and what I More Money to Do More Good, from say, “I want to do something about that”? referred to as their personal economy. which this essay is excerpted. What wrong do you see in society that For example, while knowing the key eco- you want to make right? Is it in your local Looking for a meaningful Generosity Purpose? Your donation to The Rotary Foundation can have a profound impact on projects to eradicate polio, promote peace, and improve developing communities. Learn more at rotary.org/donate. NOVEMBER 2022  ROTARY  21

OUR WORLD The Rotary where he could help with service Foundation provides grants projects and donate financially. for water, sanitation, and “This is the only foundation that hygiene projects around the globe, gives back as much as you give.” including this Rotary-USAID Munisamy is driven to give back Partnership program in to a society that helped him and Ghana. believes Rotary membership is the best way for him to do it. His father died when he was in high school, and he had to work to support his family. But while serving in the Sin- gapore National Service, he had a bit of good fortune: He learned the trade of land surveying, which tran- sitioned into his long and profitable career in hydrography — surveying and mapping terrain below the sur- face of a body of water. Now, he’s intent on sharing the GOODWILL wealth he built with the world. The multiplying factor The first service project Munisamy Rotary is ‘a calling’ for Singapore participated in was run by the Red benefactor driven to give back Cross Home for the Disabled in Singapore. His Rotary club brought food, and members played with the children there. Being a father himself, Munisamy found the expe- rience eye-opening — and it moti- T he image has stayed with who had felt uncertain about how vated him to do more. Rajamohan Munisamy for far their donations could go. The years: smiling children Rotary Foundation provides an He has been involved with sev- taking sips of clean water 80 percent World Fund match for at a school in northern Thailand. District Designated Fund contribu- eral Rotary efforts since, including tions toward global grant projects. It was the result of the first “There was a multiplying factor be- a global grant-funded project to Rotary Foundation global grant- cause of the Foundation’s match,” funded project Munisamy initiated Munisamy says. “Some members provide pneumonia immunizations on behalf of the Rotary Club of Pan- who were sitting on the fence dan Valley, Singapore, and the first changed their minds.” to people in Singapore age 65 and Foundation-supported project the club had undertaken in 35 years. A Rotary member since 2009, older with low incomes. Another Munisamy served as president of “The school had a well, but the the Pandan Valley club in 2013-14 global grant-funded project to pro- water was not clean enough,” he and has held other leadership posi- says of the project, whose host tions. He received Rotary Interna- vide incubators for newborns in sponsor was the Rotary Club of tional’s Vocational Service Leader- Chiang Rai North, Thailand. “So ship Award in 2016-17 and served as Vietnam will help preterm babies we made a big well, built a filtration governor of District 3310 in 2020-21. system and a tank, and then piped born to mothers with COVID-19. the water to the school.” Munisamy is a member of the Arch Klumph Society, the Founda- 80% He also has an eye to the future The foundation that owns the tion’s highest tier of donors that school agreed to fund system main- recognizes those who have con- The Rotary of the organization. At speaking tenance, ensuring that the approxi- tributed $250,000 or more — an Foundation mately 2,800 students and staff in achievement he points out would World Fund engagements, he emphasizes the Sahasartsuksa School, in Chiang not have been possible without the match on Rai, would continue to have access support of his wife, Leonica Brocal. all District importance of being as welcoming to clean water long after the proj- Designated Fund ect’s completion in 2019. “I saw Rotary and all the good contributions as possible to new members. things it does, and it gave me a good put toward The success spurred Munisamy’s platform,” Munisamy says, empha- global grants Surprisingly, this Major Donor club to fund more global grant sizing the appeal of an organization projects, as it won over members $400,000 almost didn’t become a Rotarian. Maximum “I’m quite an introvert, actually,” he World Fund award for says. As such, he didn’t immediately global grants feel a connection to members of the Pandan Valley club — even though he now calls many of them his good friends. “This happens to a lot of people,” Munisamy says. “When PHOTOGRAPH: KEN TWIST you bring someone in [to Rotary], you must really engage them.” For Munisamy, Rotary is more than just his charitable organization of choice. “It was a calling for me to be in Rotary.” — amy hoak 22  ROTARY  NOVEMBER 2022

CREATING AN INCLUSIVE CLUB CULTURE Removing barriers is the key to inclusion. The new Creating an Inclusive Club Culture course will help you cultivate an environment that’s welcoming to all. Find this course and others in the Learning Center at rotary.org/learn.

GIVE USYOUR BEST SHOT

The Rotary magazine Photo Awards return in the June 2023 issue. The contest is an opportunity to share your vision of the world, be it in glorious color or classic black and white. Not only are we looking for the best photographs depicting any subject, but the judges will also honor the top photos in select categories. Members of Rotary and their families may submit photos between 1 October and 31 December. But don’t wait: Send us your images today. Submit your photos at rotary.org/photoawards. PHOTOGRAPHS: (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT) INHYUK SONG; BRI ERGER; HANSRUEDI FRUTIGER; LUKE STANGO; REGAN MAHARJAN; EDWARD UHALLA; HEINZ-GERD DREEHSEN

Home from war, a hard-won struggle to find peace With Rotary members behind him, an Iraq veteran works through his trauma — and adopts a mission to help others By Kate Silver Illustration by Sean McCabe



Z ach Skiles thought he was fine. He completed his time in the Ma- rines at 22 in 2004 after serving in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. His unit was shelled so many times he’d lost count. He was mourning friends lost in com- bat. But he was home, ready for what was next. “I was just happy to be alive,” he says. Still, the tendrils of war followed him. Skiles, soft-spoken with kind green eyes, found himself waking up to his own screams at night. He had spells where he’d wind up in a public place, like a Walmart, with no idea how he got there. “I didn’t realize that I was in a bit of shock,” he says. “And I continued to just disassociate every day.” For those first few years, he bounced between San Francisco and Los Angeles, worked different jobs, and took college classes. He even acted in local theater, channeling his anger into rage-filled characters. But when that anger and frustration started to consume him, he numbed himself with booze and weed. He fell hard for conspiracy theories about the 9/11 terrorist attacks and found himself using phrases like “New World Order” and “the Illuminati.” He got fired from his job in 2008 when his employer learned he’d been organizing conspiracy-oriented demonstrations in the community. “Then I Clockwise from top left: Zach Skiles enlisted in slowly spiraled and ended the U.S. Marines in 2000 up homeless,” he says. when he was 18 years “My family didn’t really old; the Veterans Home know what to do.” After of California-Yountville, crashing on a friend’s where Pathway Home couch, he started sleep- was located; Marines ing on park benches in at Camp Commando in the Bay Area. Kuwait, where Skiles was deployed in 2003. 28  ROTARY  NOVEMBER 2022



People closest to him told him he recovering after terrifying events with event was such a hit that it raised more PHOTOGRAPHS: (PREVIOUS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT) COURTESY OF ZACH SKILES; SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES; ERIC RISBERG/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK needed help. But to Skiles, they were the symptoms such as anxiety, nightmares, than $2 million by 2019 for the Pathway ones in the wrong. He’d kept in touch flashbacks, and depression. As the toll Home, drawing more than 2,000 riders with fellow Marines and said everyone of PTSD became increasingly apparent, a year before COVID-19 forced it to go else in his unit was going through similar therapists started to take it more seri- virtual. “The love the veterans got from things. They were all dealing with their ously and tried to understand how to the community was crazy,” says Rose. troubles in their own way. He would too. better support traumatized clients. A fter learning about the Path- I n December 2009, Skiles went to In the early days of the Pathway way Home through the VA, a Veterans Affairs facility in Palo Home, its founder and executive direc- Skiles agreed to check in, but Alto for health services. Now that tor, Fred Gusman, a social worker and not until after the year-end he was homeless, it was clear he mental health specialist who worked holidays. By choice, he spent wasn’t doing fine. A social worker with traumatized veterans for more Christmas alone, sleeping outside on told him the Pathway Home could offer than two decades, spoke to the Rotary a bench. him support and a bed immediately. Club of Napa, California. He told mem- bers about the startling suicide statis- He arrived at the home in January The Pathway Home was founded in tics and described how some veterans 2010, still in full denial. Looking around 2007, initially funded by an anonymous in crisis wait months before finding a the treatment facility, he quickly de- donor’s $5.6 million grant. The private bed in a treatment facility. cided that all the veterans there were facility leased space on the Veterans crazy, except for him. “I don’t deserve Home of California-Yountville campus, The speech shook Napa Rotarian to be here,” he told himself. a sprawling, serene spread of Mission- Gary Rose. A problem-solver by nature, style buildings, dotted with redwoods. he began thinking about ways to help But he stayed, because what else Built in the 1880s, the Veterans Home is and remembered a charity bike ride in was he going to do? Slowly, over those the largest in the country, and more than Napa called Cycle for Sight, which once first few weeks, he noticed how much 600 veterans live in the community. In meandered along the hilly vineyard-lined he had in common with the others. contrast, the Pathway Home worked roads and benefited Enchanted Hills, a Many of them, too, experienced bouts with about 40 residents at a time, pro- camp for blind and partially sighted peo- of rage, confusion, and terror. He at- viding individual and group counseling, ple. The ride had once been popular but tended classes and therapy sessions, educational classes, help accessing VA hadn’t taken place in nearly two decades. participated in yoga and meditation benefits, job referrals, and more. Most What if Rotary were to help bring back groups. He started building trust and would stay four to six months, but some the event to also benefit veterans? friendships, reflecting on his life and remained as long as a year. the steps that got him to that point. Rose and other Rotarians, including Pathway Home’s overarching goal Dorothy Salmon and then-Club Presi- When Skiles joined the military in was to help veterans reintegrate into dent Steve Orndorf (he died in 2020), 2000, at 18, he was a sweet and sensi- civilian life. The vets worked to move started fundraising and figuring out the tive kid with an easy smile and a quick beyond or learn to manage the de- logistics. With the help of other area laugh. He was smart. But he was lost. mons of war, trying to avoid adding to nonprofits and Rotary clubs, including He’d dropped out of high school and was the high number of veterans who die Pacifica, San Rafael, and Brentwood, living in a friend’s attic while working at by suicide, averaging 17 people every they launched Cycle for Sight/Rotary a video rental store. He knew he needed day in 2019. Brown University’s Costs Ride for Veterans in 2008. It drew cy- to get it together, but he wasn’t sure how. of War Project estimated in 2021 that clists from across the Bay Area for pic- That’s when a tall, strapping man in a more than 30,000 people who served turesque 15-, 25-, and 50-mile rides, sharp, blue Marine uniform walked into in wars soon after the 2001 terrorist at- ending with food, music, and wine. The tacks have died by suicide. That’s more than four times the number who died More than 30,000 people in military operations in those wars. who served in wars soon after The researchers attribute the alarming the 2001 terrorist attacks suicide rate to high exposure to trauma, have died by suicide. stress, military culture and training, continued access to guns, and the dif- ficulty of rejoining civilian life. Belittled as “shell shock” or “war neurosis” during World War I, post- traumatic stress disorder was finally rec- ognized as an official medical diagno- sis in 1980 and defined as the difficulty 30  ROTARY  NOVEMBER 2022

the store. “He was such a good-looking dude,” recalls Skiles. “I was like, ‘Oh, man. Yeah. Tell me what you got.’” The U.S. Marine was a recruiter. Whatever he said, Skiles took away from the conversation concepts like outdoors, discipline, respect, educa- tion, direction, positive male role mod- els. Skiles was 5-foot-7 and 110 pounds. He’d never held a gun. He From top: After listening enlisted in the Marines. to a presentation from the founder of Pathway Home, He never found the job easy. Initially, he was the Rotary Club of Napa sent to a unit in Okinawa, launched the Cycle for Sight/ Japan, that was being in- Rotary Ride for Veterans in 2008 to raise money for vestigated because so the facility; the ride drew many of its service mem- more than 2,000 cyclists a bers had died by suicide, year before the COVID-19 pandemic; club members he recalls. The environ- built relationships with the ment felt toxic from the veterans and took them get-go. “The philosophy fishing, hiking, and bowling. was that hate and discontent needed to bleed through the ranks to breed ef- ficiency, and people would stay tough,” he says. On 9/11, he found out about the planes, the towers, the all-consuming shock when an ex-girlfriend called and asked him to come home. The acts of war had struck home. But Skiles, an optimist through and through, told himself he would be OK. Even when his unit deployed to Camp Commando, Kuwait, in January 2003, his understanding was that the situ- ation was a “show of force,” and not war. He’d convinced himself he could talk his way out of any conflict and not have to harm anyone. But on 19 March, President George W. Bush announced the start of the war, and the first Iraqi missile hit the gate of Skiles’ camp, blowing him off his feet. From then on, seemingly every half hour for weeks, PHOTOGRAPHS: COURTESY OF DOROTHY SALMON his unit came under attack. He knew he had to radically shift his mindset. “I was like, I have to fight,” he recalls, “because I’m not going to live if I just sit here talking about things.” As a driver, he delivered fuel, pro- vided convoys security, and helped build infrastructure in Iraq. Along the way, he’d hear Scud missiles approach. “Six to 12 would fire off at once,” he says. “They’ll eventually end up either on top of you or in front of you or behind you.” Late at night, as he tried to sleep, the barracks filled with traumatized screams. NOVEMBER 2022  ROTARY  31

How your T he Rotarians’ involvement “We convinced him, ‘Hey, you’re really PHOTOGRAPH: COURTESY OF DOROTHY SALMON Rotary with the Pathway Home a smart kid,’” Salmon recalls. “You need club can went beyond their fundrais- to go back to school.” support ing ride. Napa club members veterans took the veterans hiking, fish- And that’s what he did. The boy who ing, and bowling. They helped them had once dropped out of high school After working with veterans write résumés and introduced them started down a highly academic path, for more than 10 years, to prospective employers. When the getting his bachelor’s in psychology, the Rotary Club of Napa Pathway Home needed supplies such and his doctorate in clinical psychol- created a guidebook called as blankets, the Rotarians helped out. ogy at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, Serving Those Who Have Napa Rotarian Kent Gardella contacted California. Along the way, he worked Served: Helping Rotarians a quilt business, and it made quilts for in positions that validated that he was Better Serve Veterans. each veteran in their favorite colors and doing the right thing, for him and for each embroidered with a vet’s name, others — first as a peer counselor at the “The goal of this paid for with money raised by Rotary Pathway Home, then starting a PTSD guidebook is to provide a members. One Mother’s Day, Gardella, clinic in South Sudan for veterans and road map for any Rotarian who owns a jewelry store, invited Path- family members of the Sudanese Peo- who has thought, ‘I’d like to way Home residents to choose an item ple’s Liberation Army, then with the help veterans, but I don’t from his store to give their mom or wife Department of Veterans Affairs, where know how,’” says Dorothy as a gift. he further developed a program at the Salmon, a club member Martinez VA Medical Center (located and past club president, Gardella, a Vietnam veteran, tears between Napa and San Francisco) that who spearheaded the up when he reflects on all the times he was similar to the Pathway Home. He guide and produced it with spent with the veterans. The relation- continued meditating and practiced the help of author Suzanne ships with the veterans would grow to mindfulness to calm his anxiety. He Gordon. “It’s intended as a mean more to the Rotary members than wasn’t perfect, but he was better and, gift from one Rotary club they ever anticipated. “We didn’t baby he thought, probably as good as he was in Napa to thousands of them,” he says. “They’re really amazing going to get. Rotary clubs across the young people, and that we get to spend country.” time with them, that’s a privilege.” O n 9 March 2018, tragedy struck again — this time at You can download the T hings were starting to come the Pathway Home. guidebook for free at together for Skiles. After a few Afghanistan War veteran naparotary.org. months at the Pathway Home, Albert Wong rented a car he felt a sense of acceptance. and drove to the facility, where he’d Cycle for Sight/Rotary Ride for Every week, he looked for- lived until a couple of weeks earlier Veterans raised more than $2 ward to bowling night, when the Rotar- when he was discharged for not com- million for the Pathway Home. ians would treat everyone to burgers, plying with regulations. That day, he Members of the Rotary Club fries, and milkshakes. The friendship interrupted a going-away party for two of Brentwood, California, were and time they gave felt more like nor- staff members. He was carrying a 12- among the supporters. malcy than anything he’d experienced gauge shotgun and a .308-caliber semi- in years. “At your lowest, having people automatic rifle. 32  ROTARY  NOVEMBER 2022 who still want to genuinely connect is really special,” he says. “When the rest After ordering the veteran residents of the world has kind of washed their out, he held three staff members hos- hands of you, having people who want tage: Executive Director Christine to enjoy you and be supportive is a Loeber and psychologists Jennifer unique experience that honestly wasn’t Gray Golick and Jennifer Gonzales really in my life.” Shushereba, who was pregnant. When a Napa County sheriff’s deputy arrived, In his free time, Skiles devoured shots were exchanged. Wong killed the books suggested by one of his thera- three women, then killed himself. pists on the psychological toll of combat. During group sessions, some For Skiles to call the shootings dev- clinic leaders recognized he had a gift astating is an understatement — not for therapy. Gusman, in particular, en- only because of the lives lost, but also couraged him to consider it as a career because this program, which treated path. And his Rotary friends agreed. nearly 460 veterans since its founding, was now scarred.

On that day, Skiles was leaving class in San Francisco when he heard about the hostage situation from a friend as it was unfolding. He started to drive to PHOTOGRAPHS: (TOP) ZUMA PRESS/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; Napa, thinking that he could reason (BOTTOM) JOSH EDELSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS with the guy, talk him down. But when he turned on the car radio, he learned it was too late. He went for On 9 March 2018, a former a hike and tried to pro- Pathway Home resident killed cess everything. three staff members and Salmon, of the Napa himself. Although the facility Rotary club, joined the shut down after the shooting, board of the Pathway Napa club members continue to raise money for veterans Home in 2009 and was and have created a guidebook supposed to be at the outlining ways Rotary clubs party that day. On her can help. way, she stopped to have her car ser- viced. She told the mechanics not to wash it when they were done because she was running late. But they did wash NOVEMBER 2022  ROTARY  33

the car, making her even more late — participate in the therapy himself, for mid-2022, he held a research position and possibly saving her life. a deeper understanding. Under watch- at a lab at the University of California ful observation, he took 5-MeO-DMT, San Francisco that studies psychedel- After the shooting, the Pathway a psychedelic found in plants and se- ics, called the Translational Psychedelic Home shut down. But Salmon, who creted by the glands of the Sonoran Research Program. served as the home’s president from desert toad. 2013 to 2018, was determined not to Skiles says many people with post- let the shooting be the end of the story. On the top of a mountain, look- traumatic stress experience a kind “I said to the Rotary club and to the ing over a beach, surrounded by wild of “over-activation” in parts of their Pathway Home board, are we going to horses, he felt his stress and worries brains, and some brain structures can let this be our legacy, after years of in- lifting. Some mental scars of Iraq dis- atrophy over a long period. Psychedel- credible success?” says Salmon. “This sipated. He felt levity for the first time ics affect the brain’s serotonin recep- cannot be the story. The story needs to in as long as he could remember. “The tors, and Skiles describes the effect as be about how everybody — especially only way I’ve been able to describe it helping to restore the chemical balance. Rotary clubs — can jump in and make is that I’m not carrying things that I this partnership amazing.” thought I would carry for the rest of At the UC San Francisco lab, Andrew my life,” says Skiles. “I think it’s com- Penn, a psychiatric nurse practitioner To this day, the Rotary Club of Napa parable to 10 years of meditation in a and an associate clinical professor at raises money for a program called Post matter of minutes.” the university’s School of Nursing, Deployment Assessment Treatment that studies psilocybin-assisted therapy works with veterans at the Martinez VA He wanted to share this experience in areas such as treating depression. Medical Center’s outpatient clinic. with others and set out to learn more The lab is testing the hypothesis of about the science behind psychedelic whether psilocybin — the hallucino- Salmon also hired a writer to create treatments and PTSD. His timing genic compound from so-called magic a guidebook outlining how Rotary clubs couldn’t have been better. Across the mushrooms — causes brain structure can support veterans. It decodes what globe, universities and hospitals — in- changes, allowing people to be more the VA does and explores how these cluding the Johns Hopkins Center for flexible in their thinking and to navi- partnerships can offer a path to serve Psychedelic and Consciousness Re- gate their thoughts, emotions, and be- veterans. search, Massachusetts General Hospital haviors differently, when coupled with Center for the Neuroscience of Psyche- intensive psychotherapy. T he Pathway Home tragedy delics, and the Centre for Psychedelic jolted Skiles. But it didn’t Research at Imperial College London “The brain creates these sort of shake him from his path. — have launched programs dedicated grooves, if you will, of thought and emo- As much as ever, veterans to studying the field. tion,” Penn says. “It’s like if you’re ski- needed help. ing at the end of the day, you have to ski While in doctoral-level clinical train- Skiles earned a certificate in psyche- in other people’s tracks because you’re ing in 2018, he received an invitation delic-assisted therapies and research forced into these slots. But if it snows through a friend that intrigued him: to from the California Institute of Inte- overnight, that same hill is like fresh travel to Mexico to serve as a clinician gral Studies, and from late 2021 until powder; you can go anywhere you want. for an organization called the Mission Within, which provides therapy using Skiles set out to psychedelics to veterans with PTSD, learn more about traumatic brain injuries, anxiety, and the science behind other conditions. Psychedelics, used psychedelic medicinally since ancient times, are ex- treatments periencing something of a renaissance, and PTSD. as scientists try to better understand what kind of promise they might hold in treating conditions such as depres- sion, substance abuse, and PTSD. Many veterans have been vocal advocates for the broader use of treatment with psy- chedelics, which have been decriminal- ized in some states and towns in recent years, and the VA itself is investigating psychedelic treatments. With his science-minded curiosity piqued, Skiles traveled to Ensenada. He planned to be an observer but agreed to 34  ROTARY  NOVEMBER 2022

Psilocybin is like the fresh powder.” Penn calls Skiles, who helped design and run studies, “one of the stars of the lab.” He brings experience, wisdom, and integrity. Plus, adds Penn, “He’s just a heck of a nice guy.” Skiles now works as a therapist at the Portland VA Medical Center for vet- erans seeking therapy with psilocybin and MDMA (better known as ecstasy) through the Veterans Health Adminis- tration in Oregon, the first state to le- galize psilocybin. The Food and Drug Administration designated MDMA as a breakthrough therapy for PTSD, which is meant Right: Skiles at the Esalen Institute, a retreat in to speed up the approval California. Below, from left: process, and final-stage Skiles in Ensenada, Mexico, safety testing is underway. where he saw the potential of using psychedelics to Skiles, who proudly treat PTSD; Skiles works attaches PsyD to his with other veterans name for his psychology using psilocybin-assisted doctorate, feels like he’s therapy; with his friend doing exactly what he Nate, also a graduate of Pathway Home. PHOTOGRAPHS: COURTESY OF ZACH SKILES should be doing. In the military, he learned to operate as a part of a unit. Now, nearly two decades after his service, he refuses to leave his fellow Marines behind. Spiritually speaking, Skiles has a theory that he’s been put into places and situations that are about to take a turn for the worse. It happened when he became a warrior. And it led him to his path as a healer. “My duty,” he says, “is to make things better.” NOVEMBER 2022  ROTARY  35



After loss, a writer goes in search of post-traumatic growth By Michaela Haas Illustrations by Maguma Bofournwcae rd According to Tedeschi and Calhoun, 30 percent to 90 percent of people who W hen I drove out to rural Ken- included nearly all the elements psy- go through major difficulties report post- tucky to meet retired Army chiatric manuals list as likely causes for traumatic growth in at least one of five surgeon Rhonda Cornum at post-traumatic stress, and yet, after her areas: personal strength, deeper relation- release, she surprised Army psycholo- ships, new perspectives, appreciation of her 690-acre horse farm, I gists by focusing on the things that had life, and spirituality. “In brief, people’s improved. “I became a better doctor, a sense of themselves, their relationships wasn’t sure what to expect from a war better parent, a better commander, prob- with others, and their philosophy of life ably a better person,” she told me. changes,” Tedeschi says. “Perhaps one hero. I certainly didn’t expect this: a pe- of the most common growth experi- In particular, Cornum was aware of a ences triggered by a major stressor is an tite woman, at 5-foot-5 and 112 pounds, brief existential out-of-body experience increased appreciation of life.” after the crash. “I think it was a decision with blazing blue eyes and a bright smile, to have life re-enter that body,” she says. This does not happen immediately The doctor who had always focused on or easily, and rarely by itself. I embarked surrounded by Gordon setter puppies. the physical aspects of humanity was on this research after my own world had now open “to at least the possibility of a been turned upside down. I was griev- I wanted to meet her ostensibly to re- spiritual life.” ing the unexpected loss of my partner of five years to a devastating illness — and search a book about resilience, but more Only a decade later did she find a I had been diagnosed with a debilitat- name for her experience when she ing virus that had left me bedridden for out of a keen personal interest in learn- discovered research by University of eight months. I was just crawling my North Carolina at Charlotte psycholo- way back into something resembling a ing how she made it through a trying gists Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence “normal” life. Nothing irked me more Calhoun on post-traumatic growth. The than well-meaning people sharing tropes experience without breaking down. term refers to the surprising benefits that some survivors from all walks of life find Her Black Hawk helicopter was shot after traumatic events. down over the Iraqi desert in 1991. When she regained consciousness, she won- dered, Am I alive? She crawled out of the wreck to see five Iraqi soldiers tower- ing above and aiming their rifles at her. Cornum, dazed from blood loss and with both arms broken, was helpless when her captors subjected her to a mock execu- tion, sexually assaulted her, and kept her prisoner for a week. Her experience NOVEMBER 2022  ROTARY  37

like, “Maybe something good will an injury,” he says. “Same with trauma or a life-altering car crash. One survey come of it,” or, “Everything hap- survivors; they have been injured — found that 19 percent of U.S. adults have pens for a reason.” So, I was a little psychologically injured, maybe morally suffered the death of a child. This year suspicious that Rhonda Cornum injured. They aren’t disordered; they’re alone, an estimated 1.9 million people in could not only survive such a hurt by what has happened. That makes the U.S. will be diagnosed with cancer. violent experience but claim to have more sense to me.” We cannot always control what hap- grown from it. Could she be faking pens to us, but we can master what it because, as a retired brigadier Our understanding of trauma has matters most: our response to it. “If an general, she thought she needed to evolved much over the last few decades, earthquake has shattered your world, appear tough? Or did she have tools and while many people might have once why not build something better instead to deal with trauma that I and others thought of it primarily as a consequence of the same old crappy buildings?” asks could learn from? She spoke openly of war, we now know that only the lucki- Tedeschi, whose own understanding about her ordeal in the war (and other est people go through life untouched by of trauma evolved after working with difficulties that followed, such as her it — from major capital-T traumas such thousands of survivors. recovery from breast cancer), and just as the loss of a child to severe illness like the Army psychologists, I couldn’t detect anything phony. With much relief, I learned that she regards the path to re- silience as a road map that anyone with the right support can follow. In fact, Tedeschi cautions that post- traumatic growth is not the opposite of post-traumatic stress but often happens simultaneously with it or even because one has embraced the pain. The way be- yond suffering leads through, not around. He hardly ever introduces the concept of post-traumatic growth to his clients, but rather it’s his patients — bereaved parents, cancer survivors, veterans, and prisoners — who keep sharing this perplexing insight with him: While they were not happy about what had hap- pened to them and wouldn’t wish their experience on anyone, they emerged from the hardship with valuable insights. Trauma is the Greek word for “wound.” We have been hurt. We are hurting. Psychiatrists classify PTSD as a mental disorder, but Tedeschi wonders if it might be more accurate to recognize the condition as “an expression of our humanity.” “When someone crashes their car against a wall at 60 mph, they’ll have many broken bones. Do we say they have a broken bone disorder? They have 38  ROTARY  NOVEMBER 2022

During an interview with Tedeschi for The best ally on the road to recovery is the ability my book, he talked about a client of his to connect. Support can come from friends, family, who had terminal cancer. Despite the support groups, church, Rotary, or professionals. diagnosis, this client felt his life’s most traumatic event was his divorce. “He When I participated in an Army get it together” on your own can be fatal. almost never talks about the cancer; he resilience boot camp in Philadelphia Resilience training is mandatory for always talks about the divorce,” Tedeschi for my research, I was stunned to watch told me. “In his world, the divorce shat- the soldiers start the day with mindful- every U.S. Army leader, but the psycho- tered his life. Trauma is in the eye of the ness meditation. Dozens of soldiers in logical tools taught there, such as the beholder, the experiencer.” fatigues closed their eyes and listened importance of seeking support, could to their breath and the instructor’s benefit anyone. Because trauma often For some people, a divorce is a relief. calming voice. Breathing in, breathing tests our trust — in humanity, in God, For some, a life-threatening diagnosis out. Because the most common post- in ourselves — the best ally on the road is a challenge they are willing to take traumatic stress disorder treatment to recovery is the ability to connect. on. For some soldiers, combat is one of — medication and psychotherapy — Support can come from friends, fam- the most exciting missions of their lives. isn’t always effective, the U.S. Army is ily, support groups, church, Rotary, or For other people, any of those scenarios experimenting with alternative methods, professionals. What’s important is not could drive them over the edge. There is and meditation has proved to be one of the number of friends but the quality of no universal scale for judging another’s the most promising pathways to signifi- the connection. pain. Pain is as piercing as we feel it. We cantly alleviating stress after trauma. never know what will etch itself indelibly Psychologist Emma Seppälä, a Yale When psychologist Ann Masten, who into our hearts. University lecturer and science director grew up in an Army family, looks back at at a Stanford University research center, decades of research, she notes a glaring Just as our understanding of trauma was able to show that breathing-based truth. “I cannot think of one person who has evolved, so have the psychological meditation reduces post-traumatic did it by themselves,” she says. “Resilience and scientific insights into how we can stress, anxiety, and startle response, and depends on the systems we are connected help survivors. In my interviews with a study found that U.S. Marines with to, the military as a whole, our families. dozens of survivors, therapists, and mindfulness training recover faster after A lot of what makes the difference for scientists, one common thread kept combat stress. people is the support they are receiving.” coming up: the importance of support. That’s why Cornum made it a mission Even more importantly, the resilience Nothing is as powerful as knowing to help other soldiers heal from trau- training that Cornum helped introduce we are not alone. This is significant: matic experiences. Staggering numbers calls for a tectonic shift of perception. We can help our soldiers and our fellow of U.S. soldiers come back from combat The Army has ditched much of its old survivors to not just bounce back, but to depressed, angry, anxious, and suicidal, Rambo rhetoric that a soldier needs to bounce forward. so we urgently need to figure out how to be invincible. In fact, a significant part help them. of training includes teaching soldiers to Michaela Haas, PhD, is an author and communicate openly, admit fears, and award-winning reporter. She adapted Together with resilience specialists, reach out for help. Trying desperately “to this essay from her book Bouncing Cornum initiated the Comprehensive Forward: The Art and Science of Soldier Fitness Program in 2008, shifting Cultivating Resilience. from primarily focusing on physical skills to putting a greater emphasis on training soldiers in psychological resilience. Psy- chologists now train soldiers in strategies such as self-awareness, self-regulation, optimism, mental agility, and connec- tion. Tedeschi helped design a module on post-traumatic growth. NOVEMBER 2022  ROTARY  39



A capital destination The host city of the 2023 Rotary International Convention is multiple cities rolled into one. You’re going to need to start planning now to make the most of your visit. By Meagan Martin Photography by Rhys Martin The vibrant and stately city of Melbourne is an Australian capital city in every sense of the word. Now, I understand that Canberra is Australia’s federal political capital and Sydney its financial center. But if you dig into Melbourne’s rich history and look closely at its many tourist attractions, you will discover that the home of the 2023 Rotary International Convention might easily claim the crown as Australia’s culinary, cultural, sports, and shopping capital, in addition to being the capital of the state of Victoria. In the leadup to the 2023 convention, we asked two Australians — Rotary Down Under magazine Editor Meagan Martin and her husband, creative director Rhys Martin — to test those claims. They got a friendly assist from several local Rotary members, who provided insider intel on their much-loved city on Australia’s southeast coast. If their generosity is any indication, Melbourne may very well deserve another accolade: the capital of hospitality. Join us in Melbourne 27-31 May 2023 and find out for yourselves. — WEN HUANG

The The culture capital MELBOURNE GAVE RISE TO Australian Impressionism and culinary Australian cinema — The Story of the Kelly Gang, often consid- capital ered the world’s first feature-length narrative film, was pro- duced there — and in 2008, UNESCO selected it as a City of V I CTO R IA’ S EC O N O M I C H U B , Literature. A 2017 census of live music venues in Greater Mel- Melbourne has been defined by de- bourne found that it boasts one venue for every 9,503 residents, cades — no, make that centuries — of making it arguably the live music capital of the world on a per immigration. The city says it is home capita basis. Its grand heritage architecture, dating from the to some 140 cultures, from the state’s earliest years of European settlement, stands elegantly side by original Indigenous population to a side with bold, contemporary neighbors. multitude of migrants from coun- tries in Europe, Asia, and Africa. As Those ingredients combined give Rotary Convention at- of 2021, about 36 percent of Greater tendees their first look at Melbourne as an Australian cultural Melbourne’s residents had been born capital. Lift the curtain on your visit to the East End Theatre overseas. District and perhaps the city’s most spectacular landmark, the Princess Theatre, which dates to 1854. (“It has no equal Such diversity has contributed in London,” gushed one British critic after the Princess was to a lively, varied, and ever-evolving rebuilt from the ground up in the 1880s.) Nearby, Her Majesty’s culture, which you notice most in Theatre has a Victorian-era facade and an art deco auditorium, the city’s dining and drinking scene. while the Regent Theatre, a former movie house, has been re- Melbourne has more than 2,000 imagined as a venue for some of the world’s big-name theater cafes and restaurants. Mix in lofty productions. rooftop cocktail lounges, congenial Aussie pubs, and hidden bars found Across the street you will find the Athenaeum Theatre, in basements and alleyways, and which hosts performances of the Melbourne Opera and the you get an embarrassment of riches. Melbourne International Comedy Festival. For a more casual experience, Jennie Franklin of the Rotary Club of Melbourne In South Melbourne, Amanda Passport recommends the Sun Theatre’s open-air cinema in Wendt, governor of District 9800 Williamstown. “Looking out across the bay, with a backdrop and a member of the Rotary Club of the city lights, this is a wonderful place to catch up with of Melbourne, recommends a long friends,” Franklin says. lunch in the chic European bistro Bellota. Adjoining the Prince Wine Jamie Robertson of the Rotary Club of Footscray recom- Store, the restaurant says it has one mends State Library Victoria, which “has enough grandeur and of Melbourne’s longest wine lists. quirkiness to please the most jaded traveler,” he says. At the Ask a knowledgeable staff member center of the historic Carlton Gardens sits the ultramodern to walk you through the 3,000-some Melbourne Museum, which will host the convention’s signa- options to find the perfect selection. ture cultural welcome event on 27 May. “With its dinosaurs Lounge the day away over boards of and dugout canoes, its stagecoaches and science exhibits, the charcuterie and cheese, platters of museum provides a different perspective on Victoria’s natural oysters, and larger plates spanning environment, cultures, and history,” says Dennis Shore, a vice European cultures. chair of the convention’s Host Organization Committee and a member of the Rotary Club of Hawthorn. “Bellota never disappoints,” Wendt says. “Everything on the To learn more about local history, Michelle Crawford of the menu is amazing.” Rotary Club of Central Melbourne recommends a visit to the Koorie Heritage Trust, which promotes the art and culture of We’ll let that whet your appetite. Aboriginal Victoria. Or cruise down the Yarra River to Wil- Watch for more on the city’s foodie liamstown, Melbourne’s first port settlement; you will find the finds in an upcoming issue and on Seaworks Maritime Museum, and the Newport Railway Mu- rotary.org. seum is in an adjacent suburb. “The views of Melbourne from Williamstown are spectacular, particularly as the sun sets on the city,” says Crawford. Generations of Melbourne residents and visitors from around the world have enjoyed Royal Botanic Gardens Victo- ria, established in 1846. Nearby, the Shrine of Remembrance offers moving insight into Australia’s wartime history. Ascend the stairs to the balcony to enjoy panoramic views of Mel- bourne’s skyline beyond the 250-plus memorial trees of the Shrine Reserve. Register now at convention.rotary.org. 15 December is the last day for the early registration discount. 42  ROTARY  NOVEMBER 2022

Top Row: Melbourne Museum, Italian cafe Brunetti, Hosier Lane street art Middle: Regent Theatre, Coombe Yarra Valley, Punch Lane Wine Bar & Restaurant Bottom: A busker in Melbourne, Thai restaurant Cookie, National Gallery of Victoria NOVEMBER 2022  ROTARY  43

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The WITH MORE THAN 20 profes- sports sional teams in the metropolitan area, Melbourne is sport crazy and has a dazzling array of venues to capital indulge that passion. Nine of these teams play Australian-rules foot- ball, invented in Melbourne in the late 1850s. In Melbourne Park, the Rod Laver Arena, where the Rotary Convention’s general sessions will take place, is the center court for the Australian Open, the first of four annual Grand Slam tennis tournaments. The mighty Melbourne Cricket Ground is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere and arguably Australia’s sporting mecca. Flemington Racecourse is home to the Melbourne Cup; known as “the race that stops the nation,” it’s the richest 2-mile handicap thoroughbred horse race in the world in terms of prizes. Albert Park is the location of the Formula One Australian Grand Prix, a four-day motor sport extravaganza that uses everyday sec- tions of road that circle Albert Park Lake. The rest of the year, locals and tourists alike enjoy this lakeside oasis. “Surrounding the lake are a number of picnic spots and restaurants, as well as the Albert Park Golf Course,” says Matthew Proctor, a member of the Rotary Club of Albert Park. “It’s a popular location for a relaxing walk or cycle. It also has a number of boating and fishing activities.” And it’s just a short tram ride or walk from St Kilda Beach, which Aviv Palti, president of the Rotary Club of Melbourne Passport, calls “one of the city’s most vibrant and eclectic spots.” Opposite: A sampling of dishes at the Red Emperor A 10-minute drive south of St Kilda will bring you to Brigh- restaurant Right, from top: Signs ton’s Dendy Street Beach, a highlight for Maria Hicks, the Mel- point the way at the Melbourne Cricket Ground bourne Passport club’s charter president. “Over 100 years old, (MCG); Trent Rivers of the Melbourne Demons the beach’s colorful bathing boxes evoke times past,” Hicks in action during the 2022 AFL Second Qualifying says. “Walk south towards Green Point, and you will find a hid- Final match against the Sydney Swans at the den beach called Holloway Bay, a quiet, sheltered picnic spot.” Cricket Ground; the MCG is the largest stadium in If you prefer your motor sports on two wheels, head to scenic the Southern Hemisphere Phillip Island for the site of the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix. For something completely different, check out the Phillip Island Penguin Parade, where thousands of little blue penguins dash home across the sand at sunset. PHOTOGRAPH: (MELBOURNE DEMONS) DYLAN BURNS/AFL PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES NOVEMBER 2022  ROTARY  45

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The shopping capital TO SEE SOME MEMORABLE Opposite: Chinatown Melbourne architecture and get a hit Left, from top: Mary of retail therapy, explore the Block Barry, chair of the 2023 Arcade’s high-end retail shops. For Rotary International more shopping options, jump on a Convention Host tram to the “Paris end” of town for Organization Committee, an array of boutique outlets, such as in ACDC Lane; an exterior Louis Vuitton, Bulgari, Hermès, and view of the Queen Victoria Prada. Market; meats for sale at the market At the opposite end of the shop- ping spectrum is the 144-year-old Queen Victoria Market. With more than 500 vendors, the Queen Vic is a hive of activity spread across two city blocks. Begin your visit at the meat and fish hall, two long corridors of carnivorous chaos that offers ev- erything needed to fulfill your wild- est backyard barbie dreams. Peter Shepheard of the Rotary Club of Altona is a manager at the market, and he says the dairy and produce hall is the place to try two must-eat treats. “No Queen Vic expe- rience is complete without a stop at the Bratwurst Shop & Co.,” he says. “Top that off with a savory Turkish [pastry] delicacy from the Borek Shop.” Along the Yarra River is the din- ing and shopping hotspot of South- bank. Some of the best shopping in Melbourne is on hand at the Crown complex, including designer brands such as Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Salvatore Ferragamo. For unsur- passed city views, take the lift up to Melbourne Skydeck within Eu- reka Tower — which bills itself as the highest observation deck in the Southern Hemisphere. A little further along the Yarra will bring you to South Wharf. Walk the promenade, lined with restaurants, bars, cafes, and shops, and admire the historic Polly Woodside tall ship. South Wharf is also the location of the Melbourne Convention and Ex- hibition Centre, where the Rotary Convention’s House of Friendship and breakout sessions will be held. With that, we’ve barely scratched the surface of all that Melbourne has to offer. It would take a lifetime to unearth all its treasures and secrets. But if you are looking for something a bit special to do during your time in Melbourne for the 2023 conven- tion, just ask a friendly local Rotary member and find out firsthand why their city could be Australia’s hospi- tality capital. NOVEMBER 2022  ROTARY  47

CATALYSTS FOR PEACE REMEMBERING QUEEN ELIZABETH II THE POWER OF ASKING LAST BITE OURCLUBS community project and decided to help level, mostly from the lower economic VIRTUAL VISIT in Achiba, a nearby village of about 600 standing,” Driciru says. “We have farmers, people with homes made of mud walls and others run retail and wholesale shops, and Paying it thatched roofs, surrounded by vegetable others are tailors. As members of the sav- forward gardens. Since 2021, club members have ings group, we wanted to contribute some- undertaken ambitious service projects thing impactful to our community, and the Rotary Club of there as a pilot for their community in- best way we would do it is through Rotary.” Yumbe, Uganda tervention plans. In one recent project, the club bought Once a group of enterprising women Rukia Driciru, the club’s charter presi- and distributed systems that turn 5-gallon dent, who runs a boutique shop in Yumbe, buckets into water filters for households in the far northwest of Uganda had lifted says the group’s aim is to empower women in Achiba. “The women were so excited their families out of poverty using micro- and enable them to benefit economically. when they drank water from the buckets loans, they quickly turned their attention To achieve that, members are trying to for the first time. To them, it was a dream to helping others. Their first step? They lower the burden involved in accessing key come true,” Driciru says. formed a Rotary club. services, including safe drinking water, to reduce waterborne disease, improve hy- After a demonstration, 28 women who The Rotary Club of Yumbe was char- giene and sanitation, and fight malaria. are leaders in the community were trained tered in April. But even before that, while to install the buckets and keep them clean. the club had provisional status, its mem- The club is distinctive in several ways. “With the buckets, the women can treat bers were hard at work. Yumbe, a town For one, all members are women, includ- the water instead of boiling it, and it kills of about 50,000 people with a busy main ing some who until recently were strug- more than 99.9 percent of the germs,” street lined with workshops, food stalls, gling financially themselves. It draws its Driciru says. and markets, is located between a branch membership from an existing network of of the Nile and the borders with the women who belong to local village savings Annual membership dues, which fund Democratic Republic of Congo and South and loan association groups. The collec- the club’s activities, are collected from in- Sudan. The surrounding rural region faces tives usually include 10-30 people who terest on loans from the savings groups. challenges ranging from malaria to unsafe pool savings and take out microloans to To make membership more affordable, drinking water. Adding to the strains, the invest in income-generating enterprises. the Rotary Club of Topeka, Kansas, covers nearby Bidi refugee settlement is home The interest is invested back into the the Yumbe club’s Rotary International fee, to nearly a quarter of a million people community. The savings associations are according to Chris Roesel of the Rotary — most of them women and children — supported by TCP Global, a program with E-Club of WASH, D9980, a group focused who fled civil war in South Sudan. And close ties to the Peace Corps and Rotary on water, sanitation, and hygiene. Roesel household incomes in the region amount communities. TCP Global supplies fund- helped the Yumbe club to become char- to a little over a dollar a day. ing to increase the loan pools. In Yumbe, tered. The club is also sponsored by the the women used their initial loans to sta- Rotary Club of Arua, a larger community The club, which has 24 members, put bilize their businesses and ensure their in northern Uganda, whose members at- out a call by radio for proposals for its first children had enough to eat and could go tend the Yumbe club’s meetings virtually. to school. Now in a position to help others, that’s exactly what they’re doing. For its efforts in Achiba, the club teamed with two nongovernmental orga- “The club’s membership is made up nizations, Roesel’s P2P Inc., which works of women of all ages from the grassroots on disease prevention, and a local opera- tion called Care Community Education 48  ROTARY  NOVEMBER 2022