The Object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and foster:
FIRST: The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service;
SECOND: High ethical standards in business and professions; the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations; and the dignifying of each Rotarian’s occupation as an opportunity to serve society;
THIRD: The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian’s personal, business, and community life;
FOURTH: The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.
On Tuesday, August 14th, we had the pleasure of being addressed by Mr. Joseph ‘Reds” Perreira during our lunch meeting at the Sandals Golf and Country Club. Reds is a well-known cricket commentator whose career spanned forty years.
However, this was no traditional dissertation. There was no laptop containing PowerPoint slides, no projector. There was just the man and his memories and passions. He sat next to his neighbour, Past President Gene and addressed us in the way West Indian grandparents do; using inflections to set the mood.
He was born in rural Guyana and lived on a farm on a river bank. He described how the mosquitoes were especially menacing and how his family had to spray their house with pesticides every night. He mentioned that that was of course years before we knew of the negative health and environmental effects of these chemicals. In his late teens, the family moved to Georgetown. They traveled on a boat to get there. Reds said that at first the city was intimidating, as he was not used to street lights and other city facilities.
He would go on to commentate on 145 test matches and 300 One Day International matches during his illustrious career which ended in 2016. But how did he go from a farm in rural Guyana to the formidable voice that brought cricket into houses all over the world? He attributes his success to determination, luck and friends. Reds stammered badly as a child and joked that as a teenager he could not ask girls to dance because by the time he managed to get the words out, the particular song would be finished. He had no speech therapist. What he had was his love for sports and a vivid imagination. He would fantasize being at a boxing or cricket match and ‘commentate.’ Reds started his broadcasting career at a radio station in Guyana. In 1975, he got his big break. He and the late Tony Cozier were selected to cover the West Indies tour of England. Reds got very emotional when he described how at Lords, he feared that his speech defect would return. There was awe and triumph on his face as he told us that he got through the commentary with no hitch.
Another sticky wicket that Reds overcame was a stroke.
He said, “I wondered why me and then I said, why not me? It has happened, now I have to fight.”
He attributes overcoming this potentially debilitating event to the support of friends. For example, on his arrival home from Sydney, where he had the stroke, he found food in his refrigerator that had been prepared by Past President Gene and his wife.
Mr. Perreira has been residing in Saint Lucia since 1984. While working in Barbados, he received a call offering him the position of heading the OECS sports desk. He accepted the job immediately. Reds told us how challenging it was to host the first OECS tennis event. He had to rely on the public to house players and had to find creative ways to raise money. Reds is the author of an autobiography, ‘Living My Dream. He is married to Zandra and has one daughter, Kimberly, who is presently in medical school.
By the end of his discourse, it was clear that his tenacity and friendships were instrumental in his success and his ability to overcome adversity. But what of luck? Mr. Perreira was asked to draw the winning raffle ticket. He drew his ticket. How’s that for a six?
All in all, Reds’ story is amazing. He overcame a stutter to become a world-class cricket commentator. He refused to be stumped out by a stroke. He is truly an inspiration.
An action packed week at Rotary Club of Gros Islet drew to a close with a small but high impact fellowship organized by PP Matt Render. Let us take a look at the week in reverse order, well - just because we like to be different!
Our fellowship took place at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground on Friday evening. We, well except for Rtn. Lenny, who by his own utterance, is always late, met at the Marina at 8.30pm , rationalizes our coolers and transport and headed to the Ground, arriving after the Saint Lucia Stars had lost their first wicket.
Cricket Fellowship
Left to Right: Matteo; President Emmaunelle MARIE AGNES; (photographer Maggie, missing); Yours truly; Rtn. Becky; and PP Astrid
Matteo, aged six,started to get sleepy from the excitement of the cricket and the Carib dancers!
PP Matt and Ravs managed to avoid PP Astrid's "waving stick"?? And Lenny eventually arrived.
PP Astrid truly believes that her presence caused the Stars to win their first game in sixteen attempts.
We had a great time, poking fun at each other and of course the odd beverage and food purchased from the concessionaires below the stand. The blistering 80 runs from Andre Fletcher and the sizzling 104 from captain Kieron Pollard set an unassailable target of 226 for the visiting Barbados Flying Fish. The ball was deposited in our stand on a number occasions causing some around us to look lively to avoid getting struck.
President Emmanuelle and Matteo were great sports! Emmanuelle is president of RC Basse Terre, Fort St. Charles, Guadeloupe. They are visiting Saint Lucia for a short holiday, staying at Marigot Beach Club.
On Friday afternoon, the Rotary Club of Saint Lucia and the Rotary Club of Gros Islet signed a memorandum of understanding with the Tourism Enhancement Fund for the purchase and distribution of a container load of wheel chairs. The TEF handed over a cheque for $40,000 at the RCSL lunch meeting with an agreement to pay the balance of the funds required for the container by the end of November (slight technical hitch, as no one from RCGI was available to sign the MOU but this will be rectified shortly).
Thursday, the Satellite Club in the South was addressed by Leslie Cosgrove, a Peace Corps volunteer who is focused on combatting child abuse in Saint Lucia. Leslie appraised the gathering (which was attended by the president and vice president of Rotaract South) on the initiative to build a transition home for abused children between the ages of three and ten, in the South of the Island. She detailed the processes that have to be followed before the home can be commissioned. The governmental processes and procedures have to be adhered to in order for the home to take in the children. As there are no funds available from Government to pay the approved personnel, it is uncertain as to when the home will be opened. Members agreed to continue discussions with Ms. Cosgrove to explore possible Rotary input into the project.
Wednesday the board of RCGI met and we await the report of the board at the next regular meeting of the club.
As detailed in the article by Rtn Becky, the Regular meeting of the club was graced by the presencr of Joseph "Reds" Perreira, who was our speaker. Also at the meeting were PP Malcolm Charles from RCSL and Ravina Sankar, PP Matt's partner in service. It was wonderful to welcome our visitors to our meeting, and we were captivated by Reds emotionally charged, life story.
Regular Meeting at Sandals Golf Club
PP Judy showing us that she is with the programme by using her mobile to take notes as SAA while PP Indra exchanged messages on hers mobile with an unknown third party.
Rtn Lenny checking his messages while PP Gene threatened to expose Reds for omitting some obscure details of a trip to London where Gene and his band were playing.
President Emmanuelle Marie Agnes form RC Basse Terre Fort St. Charles
President Emmanuelle and Rtn. Maggie exchange banners
Future Rotarian Matteo & his Friend Junior
Emmanuelle and Matteo on their way home to Guadeloupe
Have you asked yourself what the value proposition is for young people joining Rotary? If you have, did you conclude that being a member of our Rotary club is great value for young and not so young alike? So if you invited … call him David, or her, Sue to attend our regular lunch meeting, are you satisfied that they would be eager to return next week? If so, what is the value proposition that would make them wish to return? I assume that the following must included:
Great atmosphere, welcoming to all visitors
Interesting meeting such that the visitors take away a positive message
Warm and friendly members who are interesting to talk to
Information about upcoming events that are exciting including the programme for next meeting
Information about current and upcoming service projects
Information about learning opportunities
Sufficient information that visitors can understand the Object of Rotary
Perhaps you can think of a few more positive things that our visitors and indeed our current members can take away from each and every meeting. We are competing for time, that most precious element in everyone's life; that element that once past can never be recovered. If the competition is more compelling, we will not see those visitors again and we will loose our current members.
Therefore, the message needs to be consistent and strong. The Rotary Brand needs to be marketed, no different from commodities in a competitive market. It is an ongoing effort to sell Brand Rotary. As with any successful salesman you must know what it is you are selling and you must be convinced that what you are selling is the best. To know and understand Brand Rotary is not as simple as understanding widgets, it takes commitment. Let us all be Young at Heart Rotarians, let us commit to knowing our Brand and then we will be able to truly represent the brand wherever we go. Rotary is first, a Membership Organization - let us look out for each other and ensure that no Rotarian is left behind as we present Brand Rotary to the world.
Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change - across the globe, in our communities and in ourselves.
EVANSTON, Ill. (August 15, 2018) — Rotary today announced nearly $100 million in grants to support the global effort to end polio, a vaccine-preventable disease that once paralyzed hundreds of thousands of children each year.
The announcement comes as Nigeria marks two years without any reported cases of wild poliovirus, following four reported cases in 2016.
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“The fact that no new cases of wild poliovirus have been detected in Nigeria points to the improved surveillance and rapid response protocols Rotary and its Global Polio Eradication Initiative partners have established, particularly in insecure and inaccessible areas,” said Michael K. McGovern, chair of Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee. “While this progress is promising, it’s time to redouble our efforts so we can continue to maintain the political and financial support necessary to end polio for good.”
While significant strides have been made against the paralyzing disease, wild poliovirus is still a threat in parts of the world, with 10 cases in Afghanistan and three cases in Pakistan this year so far. As long as a single child has polio, all children are at risk, which underscores the need for ongoing funding and political commitment to eradication.
To support polio eradication efforts in countries where polio remains endemic, Rotary is allocating the majority of the funds it announced today to Afghanistan ($22.9 million), Pakistan ($21.7 million), and Nigeria ($16.1 million).
Further funding will support efforts to keep 12 vulnerable African countries polio-free:
Cameroon ($98,600)
Central African Republic ($394,400)
Chad ($1.71 million)
Democratic Republic of the Congo ($10.4 million)
Guinea ($527,300)
Madagascar ($690,000)
Mali ($923,200)
Niger ($85,300)
Sierra Leone ($245,300)
Somalia ($776,200)
South Sudan ($3.5 million)
Sudan ($2.6 million)
Africa will also see $5.8 million in funding for surveillance activities and $467,800 for technical assistance. Additional funding will go to Bangladesh ($504,200), Indonesia ($157,800), Myanmar ($197,200), and Nepal ($160,500), with an additional $96,300 funding surveillance in Southeast Asia. The remainder of the funding ($6.6 million) will go to the World Health Organization (WHO) for research activities.
Rotary has committed to raising $50 million a year to be matched 2-to-1 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, yielding $450 for polio eradication activities over a three-year period. To date, Rotary has contributed more than $1.8 billion to fight the disease, including matching funds from the Gates Foundation, and countless volunteer hours since launching its polio immunization program, PolioPlus, in 1985. In 1988, Rotary became a core partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative with the WHO, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Gates Foundation later joined. Since the initiative launched, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.9 percent, from about 350,000 cases in 1988 to 22 confirmed in 2017.
About Rotary
Rotary brings together a global network of community leaders dedicated to tackling the world’s most pressing humanitarian challenges. We connect 1.2 million members from more than 35,000 Rotary clubs in almost every country in the world. Their service improves lives both locally and internationally, from helping those in need in their own communities to working toward a polio-free world. Visit rotary.org and endpolio.org for more about Rotary and its efforts to eradicate polio.
