Current Activity
We are reminded that cases of Polio have been identified in Gaza due to the living condition of those in the region.
Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years. Our goal of ridding the world of this disease is closer than ever.
As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, we've reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent since our first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979.
Rotary members have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease. Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort.
Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But it’s crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year.
Explore the history of Rotary and polio eradication
Safe Water Timor-Leste
In 2022-2023 Disaster Aid Australia (DAA) started this project with some pilot installations with three different partners. Through that work and a visit to the country by CEO Brian Ashworth DAA has now partnered with Rotary Projects Timor-Leste East which is a project of the Rotary Club of Kwinana (WA) and run by Rotarian Max Bird. Max has extensive experience in operating in Timor Leste, and a wealth of contacts as he visits the country many times a year for several weeks at a time.
Rotary year 2023/24 was the first full year of installations completed by Max who works with the Salesians, a Don Bosco order in Timor-Leste. The brothers of this order run many vocational schools for boys and girls in an effort to improve their employment opportunities. The sisters run the smaller primary and high schools and installations are completed in both types of schools. As in Bhutan, the installations are located in the school with safe water piped to the kitchen and taps and the local communities can access those taps during school times to fill containers with safe drinking water to take home.
If you would like more information on DAA or SkyHydrants please visit our website https://www.disasteraidaustralia.org.au/
Tenderfoot School
🌍 From 8 Children in a Shack to 320 Students Learning Each Year
For more than two decades, the Rotary Club of Emerald and District has quietly been helping change lives in Kenya.
What began in 1996 with just eight street children learning in a small corrugated iron shack in the Nairobi community of Kangemi has grown into something truly remarkable — Tender Foot Self Help School, now providing education to 320 students every year.
Founded by the inspiring Esther Wamai, the school was built on one powerful belief:
✨ Education can break the cycle of poverty.
✨ Education can break the cycle of poverty.
In 2003, Emerald Rotary partnered with the school through a Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS)project — and since then, our club and generous supporters have stood beside these children every single year.
Because of this commitment, the school has grown from a makeshift classroom into a thriving learning environment with:
✔ Permanent classrooms
✔ Desks and computer labs
✔ Clean water storage
✔ A modern kitchen
✔ Improved sanitation facilities
✔ Desks and computer labs
✔ Clean water storage
✔ A modern kitchen
✔ Improved sanitation facilities
Rotary support has even helped provide school buses, making the daily journey safer for students, and funded new ablution facilities so girls can attend school with dignity and confidence.
But the heart of this program remains simple:
❤️ Student sponsorship
Right now, around 110 children still need support to continue their education.
For just $295 per year, you can sponsor a child through this tax-deductible RAWCS program, helping provide:
📚 Education
🚌 Safe transport
👕 School uniforms
🍲 Daily meals
🚌 Safe transport
👕 School uniforms
🍲 Daily meals
This project isn’t about a one-off donation — it’s about long-term commitment and real change.
From 8 children in a shack to 320 students in classrooms, this is proof that a small community in Australia can make a lasting difference across the world.
👉 You can help change a child’s future today.
Visit tenderfootrotary.org.au to learn more or become a sponsor.
Highlights 2024-2025
Committee Chair: PP PHF Catherine Elfick
Team: Andrew McAllister, Greg Adams, PP PHF John Shaw
This Rotary year under the wonderful leadership of President Kelly McAllister, we have again given financial contributions to deserving international projects and causes. Although we may never personally see the differences we are making, we can be assured that our funds are being spent wisely and received honestly by direct contact through other Rotary Clubs and trusted organisations.
We started the year by giving $1500 AUD to the End Polio campaign in July. Through matching grants and funds, this was ultimately $7500! Amazing! A great kick off to the year!
We contributed $550 to the EarlyAct Club’s “Wheelchairs For Kids” fundraiser, allowing children in developing countries the ability to be mobile, potentially get to school and not be confined to the ground and the life that constitutes.
December saw us giving $500 to a group of St Margaret’s Berwick Grammar students who went on a service trip to Cambodia. They built a house for lady who had been living in a grass hut and used the money to provide her with cooking equipment etc as well as sporting goods for the village school.
A $1000 donation was given to the Australian Himalayan Foundation through Sue Gregory in January. It was very gratefully received and will be used in an area that does not benefit from tourism; a somewhat forgotten area of Nepal.
We have sponsored 3 students at Tenderfoot School in Kenya so far this year. The $295 per student goes a very long way! It provides education, uniforms, some meals and most importantly, an opportunity for these children to reach their potential and a way out of poverty through education.
Disaster Aid and ShelterBox are projects well known to Rotary. Providing physical help in times of natural and war-torn / human made disasters, these are organisations that continue to need our financial support. We have contributed to these groups most years and this one was no exception.
Towards the end of the year, we have collected unwanted, old prescription glasses in good condition to give to eye clinics in neighbouring countries, such as Fiji and Vanautu. These will be given through Nunawading Rotary who have a close association with some clinics.
Although we didn’t do any ground-breaking, new projects throughout the year, our contributions to all these more regular causes are significant and will make a difference in lives in ways we may never know.
Thank you so much to the International Committee members; Greg Adams, Andrew McAllister and John Shaw for their support and enthusiasm! We made a great team!!
Thank you to the Emerald & District Club Members too. We certainly helped to create Rotary Magic across the world!!
