The Rotary Balwyn Centenary Grants program (https://balwynrotary.org.au/centenary-grants/) was started in 2021 with the objective of delivering one million dollars of grants to Australian Rotary clubs over a 5-year period. The latest round of grants saw a total of $119,000 awarded to five projects in four countries – Uganda, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Nepal. Rotary’s theme for the 2022-2023 year was ‘Imagine Rotary’ and it was very easy to imagine the difference that these projects could make.
Grants were awarded to:
Rotary Canberra: $50,000 for repair and restorations of dilapidated classrooms in the greater Masaka region of Uganda. This will transform these structures into safe, effective and secure learning/teaching spaces and provide toilet facilities for students and staff. Many primary schools in rural Uganda have no water or sanitation, requiring girls to spend many hours in the school day walking to a river and back to collect water and back. Lack of private toilet facilities contributes to girls’ absenteeism during menstruation.
Rotary Rowville – Lysterfield: $24,000 for a community-based vision care and blindness prevention program. Twenty-five day-long, community-based eye camps will be held in northern Bangladesh. A specialist Ophthalmologist, aided by a professional nurse and other support staffs will provide free screening for 3,000 people to identify cases of refractory errors, cataract, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. Simultaneously, leaflets will be distributed through community gatherings in an awareness campaign targeting 30,000 people.
Rotary Albert Park: $20,000 to build 20 washrooms for disabled children who live in rural villages in Siem Reap province of Cambodia. The children have been diagnosed with various health conditions by Safe Haven Medical Outreach, including cerebral palsy. The washrooms will include a toilet, as these children need to use a wheelchair for mobility. Each washroom will be customized to the child’s needs by Cambodia Clean Water & Toilet Project – a charity managed by a Melbourne Passport Rotarian.
Rotary Northbridge: $15,000 to build WHO-standard toilet facilities in a K to 12 school in Dhulikhel, a town with a population of 34,000, 30km from Kathmandu in Nepal. The town has ample good water supply, but as in Nepal generally, toilets are a rarity, and open defecation is common. Currently, there are 214 boys and 143 girls at the school, utilising one toilet; with one open urinal for each group in the same building. The lack of private facilities contributes to absenteeism for girls during menstruation. The project will also provide training in hygiene and basic facilities maintenance for the students.
Rotary Richmond: $10,000 to equip a birthing center in a recently built Health Post facility in Kangel, a remote area in eastern Nepal. The plan is to convert and equip three existing rooms in the Health Post as follows: Room 1 for assessment and preparation; Room 2 as a birthing area; Room 3 for postnatal care and rest. Other planned activities in the centre include maternal education about proper nutrition for mother and baby, and postnatal baby care.
Prior to the latest grants, a total of $252,744 has been awarded to ten projects, making a total contribution after two years of $371,744.