Our year started with a Hail and Farewell Curry Night - to thank members moving to other committees for their contribution and to welcome new members. Yes, we work hard organising events and projects, but Rotary is also fun !

January 2010 - The Story so Far….

In past years we have supported water and sanitation projects in Mbondongo and Jalira, remote villages in Malawi. We have also funded seed for crops and the purchase of livestock.

In November Rotary International Headquarters in Evanston USA confirmed that final accounts for our joint project in Malawi had been approved and they considered the project successfully completed. We thank the Raven Trust and our partner clubs for making this magnificent project possible. 

Thanks also go the Rotary Club of Mzuzu in Malawi for overseeing the project. They invited Rotarians from Carluke to see the wells and the difference it has made to their remote communities. Carluke Vice President, Allan Smith, hopes to accept this invitation whilst visiting Malawi with incoming District Governor Allan McLaughlan in 2010

Fundraising

In November we welcomed Rotarians and guests to the International Committee cabaret and dinner dance.

Thanks to the generosity of business contacts and local companies the programme sponsorship and tombola prizes were exceptional again this year, despite difficult economic times.

The tombola was enthusiastically supported by Rotarians and guests - thanks to star prizes like colour televisions with built in DVDs,  a patio heater and garden furniture.

Guest at events often ask - “What does Rotary Do?” so this year the televisions were used to show videos about the work of Rotary, pictures of our projects displayed and a copy of our new information leaflet was given to everyone attending the event.

The night went very well thanks to the staff of the Masonic Hall, our caterers the Crown Tavern, our comedian/singer Paul Phillips and the Cameron Baxter band.

New Projects

This year the committee is considering a micro finance project already proven overseas by other Rotary clubs.

A Trust Bank provides small loans to fund the purchase of tools and machinery, to individuals wanting to start micro businesses. This small investment allows people to take control of their own futures.

Mentoring and peer group support means the success rate is an amazing 95% and the small amount of interest collected, means the project is self sustaining.

We aim to invite a speaker from Opportunity International to address a club meeting in coming months and answer questions from Rotarians.

Subject to gaining support we would hope to start a project in Kenya or Uganda, possibly in partnership with another local club and Rotary District

The Club's major fund raiser now heads for it's 27th annual dinner.

This particular event takes a lot of organising and under the expert chair of Michael Arthur, undertaking his 5th turn at the helm, provides good natured entertainment from first class speakers at a first class venue.

It is such an undertaking that Michael and his team have to start the job as soon as the  previous evening's successful speakers leave the stage involving not only his committee but all available members of the club to assure its continued success!

These dinners have raised well over £140,000 over the years, which the Club has disbursed locally, nationally and internationally.

Fund Raising

Cabaret and Dinner Dinner Dance Friday 28 November 2008

Fiddlers' Rally Friday 1 march 2009

Both these events raise funds for International Projects

Mercy Ships.  On the weekend of District 1020 Conference, President Jim Spence and Junior Vice President Allan Smith took part in a sponsored abseil of the Eden Court Theatre and with support from many Carluke members they raised over three hundred pounds for “Mercy Ships”.   The event District wide rose over £10,000.  Not strictly an International Committee project this event emphasises the extent to which the entire Club membership become involved in all of the Club's activities, supportting in time, effort and by dontations to any of the ventures the Club becomes involved in.

Supporting "Well Wish" Project .  The Rotary Club of Motherwell and Wishaw, our mother club, have embarked on an ambitious project aimed at refurbishing wells in the vicinity of Blantyre, Malawi.  Over the years several well-intentioned projects have installed wells but have not followed through by providing training or spare parts to maintain the mechanics of the pumps.  This initiative intends to develop or repair existing wells, thereafter maintain a stock of spare parts and provide training to local engineers who will, long term, provide the necessary regular servicing of the pumps.  The Project, covering a period of 10 years, will concentrate its financial input in the first five years in getting the wells up (or is that down?) and running.   Carluke have set aside funds to assist this project.  

Supporting Joint Rotary - Leonard Cheshire Disability Project Schools 4 All in Africa.  A staggering UN statistic suggests that 90% of children in Africa, who suffer from a disability, do not go to school.  Throughout Africa disabled children are born into a life where their disability is often regarded as a curse, which brings shame upon a family.  Hidden away and treated as pariahs, not given access to basic education, these children suffer and by extension so do their greater communities.  Add to this the pressures of poverty; distance from educational establishments; lack of transport and disabled facilities at schools, the plight of these children can easily be appreciated.   Even those attending schools can suffer the problems of teasing and bullying from children.  The lack of teacher training in dealing with children with disabilities can greatly exacerbate these problems.
In recent times LCD instigated and supported a project, which led to improvements in access and attitudes to disability affecting children in 100 schools in Kenya. Basic aids such as crutches, orthopaedic footwear, wheelchairs, adapted toilets and school transport have improved the practical problems of getting children to school.  Programmes instituted within the communities and at teacher training level have improved the attitudes of all towards people suffering disabilities.  Iain advised the audience the LCD project in Kenya is being extended to another 400 schools by the Kenyan government itself, proof positive that they recognise the benefits to their communities in better access and attitudes towards provision of education for disabled children.
Rotary have recently embarked on a nationwide partnership project with LCD, “Schools 4 all in Africa”, with the aim of providing £ ½ million over a two year period to allow LCD to extend these programmes to Uganda, supporting access to good quality education that meets the needs of children with disabilities.

Water and other Aid for Malawi.  For many years both the Currie-Balerno and Carluke Clubs have wished to engage in a beneficial and practical project for one of the less fortunate areas of Africa.  After a lot of research both Clubs joined forces to maximise their contributions to complete a water aid project.  Before this could go ahead the Clubs had to identify an area which was not war torn, had a well structured community and had a host Rotary Club (and other organisations) which could manage the project on the ground.  They were fortunate enough to benefit from the experience of the Irvine Seagate Club and made contact with the Rotary Club of Mzuzu in Northern Malawi, the Raven Trust and Cadecom, the latter two being Christian based Aid Organisations who provided or sourced aid for the local communities.  With these contacts the Clubs identified two communities namely Mbongondo and Jalira who would benefit from the aid on offer.
Why these two communities? Mainly because both had strong women’s groups, they were some distance from District administration yet had good village governing structures.  The nearest water for both villages was a 4Km journey by foot, time consuming and energy sapping.
The immediate aims of the projects for both villages were simple:  To provide boreholes for each village and uncontaminated drinking water for 500 villagers; To provide 50 goats for the village of Mbongondo; To provide seed for crops for both villages and; To provide the necessary training to ensure the success of both projects.
Boreholes had been provided to many villages in the past, these were often too distant to be of maximum benefit, often were not drilled deeply enough, were uncovered and allowed penetration of water borne diseases, and were not serviced regularly.  It is estimated that of the boreholes previously drilled, 80% were not serviceable after 5 years. The projects' boreholes will be drilled to a depth of 40, 60 or 80 metres, the depth of the water-tables, they will be covered to prevent contamination and materials and training will be provided to ensure the effective continuing operation of these simply constructed and easily maintained hand-operated pumps for years to come.  The seed will provide a kick start to villages who in times of famine have had to eat next year’s seed corn, the goats as they apply to  Mbongondo will in turn provide, milk, meat, manure, through husbandry further stock and ultimately a means to barter for items the villagers cannot produce for themselves.  Training, in addition to the maintenance of the water supply, will bolster techniques to improve food production and health.
These well-considered projects have benefited from the mutual funding of the Rotary International Foundation, which each Rotary Club contributes to.  From an initial investment of £3,000 by the Rotary Clubs of Carluke and Currie-Balerno, this was increased to £6,000 by a matching District 1020 Grant and was further increased to £10,000 by a successful application to the Rotary Foundation.
Initially, these projects were intended to run for 3 years, but in all likelihood will extend for a much longer term, have been designed to minimise any opportunity for corruption, maximise the benefits to the recipients and the local economy and will be managed and monitored by the lead Club, in this instance the Rotary Club of Carluke. 
Mercy Ships.  On the weekend of District 1020 Conference, President Jim Spence and Junior Vice President Allan Smith Took part in a sponsored abseil of the Eden Court Theatre and with support from many Carluke members he hoped to raised over three hundred pounds for “Mercy Ships”.   The event District wide rose over £10,00 for “Mercy Ships”.