International Service

International.
Shelterboxes are an important example of rotary help to world crisis.
Birstall Luddites sponsor two students in India with their schooling.

Birstall Luddites RC INTERNATIONAL SERVICE --------------------- Birstall Luddites are sponsoring two Indian students. International Past Chairman Rotarian John Logan has an update from the International Children's Trust which place the students. (Big thanks to John Logan for his long standing work with ICT in India)
A Mohanapriya.is now living in the Barbara Kelly Home which is in partnership with the Inner Wheel Club of Madras.India.	P Rakesh joined the Boys Town Sponsorship scheme in GUMMIDIPOONDI Tamil South India. which is supported by the Madras Rotary Club.

A Mohanapriya.	P Rakesh
Mohanapriya's family are supported by her fathers income working as a carpenter but this can be irregular and is not sufficient to maintain the family and support the education of the children. Mohanapirya is now living at the Barbara Kelley Home and is studying in the 8th standard. She enjoys Tamil, English and gardening and enjoys playing shuttle and skipping with the girls at the home. By sponsoring Mohanapirya we contribute to the necessary funding which enables the Barbara Kelly Home to continue providing a safe, structured and supportive environment to encourage her as she continues with her studies. In addition to attending school she will be given access to develop talents in sport, arts and crafts, singing and dancing - all helping to build confidence and help to enjoy school and gain qualifications to develop a better future. The girls are encouraged to help maintain the kitchen gardens at the home and prepare the produce ready for eating. The girls celebrate many festivals and special holidays at the Home.	Rakesh comes from a very poor family, who live in a small hut in Amarampedu, near to the Boys Town. His parents work as agricultural labourers but their daily wages are very low and their work is seasonal (around four months of the year continuously) so they must find alternative work for the rest of the year. Rakesh joined the Boys Town sponsorship scheme in 2013 and has settled in well, has made new friends and is helping to welcome new students in the home this year. He has made good progress in his education so far this year The Boys Town will continue to provide all the support necessary to help and encourage his achievements at school. By sponsoring Rakesh we will be helping our Partner, The Rotary Club of Madras, at the Boys Town to continue providing clothing, a school uniform, nutritious meals and additional activities to enhance his academic work and social development. The boys have responsibilities within the home helping with gardening and cleaning and participate in daily exercise and yoga sessions in addition to being encouraged to read English and watch current affair programmes.
Update John Logan AGM june 2016 One of the boys we sponsored at Gummidipoondi left for university, and it was decided in future to sponsor a girl at the Inner Wheel of Madras Barbara Kelly Home as well as the boy still at the Rotary Club of Madras Boys Town at Gummidipoondi. There have been some changes in the personnel we liaise with at ICT through which our sponsorship is administered, but things seem to have settled down and we have resumed receipt of cards and letters of thanks from the children and progress updates. The Club sent a donation with Robert for use at his discretion when he visited Sri Lanka and appraised the situation at the school provided by Clubs of the District following the tsunami. A further fundraising band concert was held at St Thomas’ Church, this time by Gawthorpe Brass, to give the Club a start-up fund on which to base donation of a shelter box in response to or anticipation of an international disaster.
LINK www.ictinfo.org.uk	LINK Read more about ICT Rotary Club of Wrexham
LINK Barbara Kelly Home	LINK Boystown video

International Peace Scholar Lydia Kroger.
Mon 6th Nov 2017 Birstall Luddites were
honoured to host Lydia who is studying at the
Bradford Rotary Peace Centre at Bradford University
for 6 weeks as an International Peace Scholar.

Lydia is 26 and she was born in Leipzig in what was then East Germany.She now lives and works in Berlin after graduating from University in Bavaria where she studied
Global Business Management.
After finishing her studies, she has worked for NGOs in Brazil, Southeastern Europe and Germany in the areas of education, inclusion of minorities and youth activism as well as volunteered in several refugee camps in Berlin. Her experience has swayed her towards working with smaller hands on groups rather than the "brand" names we are all with.
Lydia talked about how Germany had changed after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. She talked about the old East Germany and her life with her parents in GDR. She told the,now humouress , tale the about the STASI and how it affected not only her father but the entire family was tainted by unsubstantiated "black marks" as recorded in secret police documents discovered after the fall of communism.
Lydia gave three examples of how these tales plus the systems inflexibilty influenced her entire family.

One; because her father was a butcher ,she explained,almost inevitably required him to employ assistants,which made him potentially a threat as an aspiring middle class employer - and Lydia was barred from school trips. Her Mother was blocked from attending University and none of them were encouraged to travel.
Back to the present, she remembers the sheer euphoria of reunification, the physical rush of excitement at the possibilities opening up. However the reality is that there are still fewer opportunities in the East than in the West, even after 30 years of reunification.

This could partially explain the worrying rise of the far right ESB party who are mostly from the east regions in Germany. She shared with us maps showing attacks against refugees as they are blamed for everything from low wages to lack of jobs.

Lydia said she had enjoyed her 6 weeks studying in Bradford especially working with students from a wide variety of nations -in her class were fro The Yemen, USA, Burundi Rwanda, Congo and Zambia ,most of which are conflict countries in need of reconciliation.
Lydia hopes to start her own organisation for promoting peace and conflict resolution .
Ken also gave a short speech supporting Lydia. He spoke of the 6 centres run by the Rotary International Charity ,2 in USA and one each in Australia ,Japan ,Sweden and Bradford. The cost of half a million pounds per year per class (average 15 students per class) is then magnified by the messages that go out from each student all over the world.All the students are encouraged to keep in touch with their University long after the've qualified, hence our statement of where they all are and what they are doing.
Robert Jackson gave Lydia a vote of thanks
for her talk and wished her all success in her future career.
Pictured left to right above Robert Jackson, mentor Ken Robertshaw, Lydia Kroger peace scholar and President Helen.
Bill Fox thanked Lydia for her talk and wished her all success in her future career.

LINKS Lydia Kroger at Bradford University

LINKS Rotary Peace Centre

ShelterBox is an international disaster relife charity that delivers emergency shelter, warmth and dignaty to people affected by disaster worldwide

AquaBox U-Tube Video

Aquaboxes

link to aquaboxes & their contents

These boxes are life saving boxes which are capable of providing gallons of fresh clean water where there is no other supply.

INTERNATIONAL
COMMITTEE 2023/24

David Mullins
Chairman

Peter Wait-Wright
Committee
Member

John Logan
Committee
Member

Mackham
Committee
Member

Terry Edwards
Committee
Member

Contact David Mullins about this page:

International Service sub-pages:

International Committee Brass Band Concert at St Thomas Church Sunday 16th Feb. In aid of SHELTER BOX APPEAL.

more International Committee Brass Band Concert at St Thomas Church Sunday 16th Feb.

Club Speaker Peter Swinscoe - Rotary Jaipur Limb Charity

more Rotary Jaipur Limb Charity- Bringing affordable artificial limbs to developing countries

Brass Band Concert 2016

more International Committee present Gawthorpe Brass '85 at St Thomas Church Batley, CONTACT STEVE for tickets 07813821997.Can pay on the door.

CEILIDH

more CEILIDH Friday 20th at Batley Old Peoples Centre. £10. Plus Pie and Pea supper See John Logan for tickets

Indian Meal Evening out June 2011

more INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE, Aakash restaurant.

Brass Band Concert

more Brass Band Concert at St Thomas Church.7:00pm for 7:30pm