Rotary in India

One thing that is really cool about my town is that we have both a Rotary and an Interwheel club. The Rotary is your typical Rotary club, but with an Indian twist, and with projects that are appropriate for the area. The Interwheel club is all women, and primarily concentrates on only local needs. My host mother is in the Interwheel club, and she often takes me to their meetings and project viewings.
A couple of weeks ago they had their district chairman come out to view the progress of their club, and I received an opportunity to see most of their projects. My favorite one was the school for mentally disabled children that the Interwheel club helped to fund. The school was very impressive, with 64 students some of which had participated in the special Olympics, and played on the Cricket team. Other ways that the school was funded was through craft projects that the students had made, bowls made from recycled goods that the students had made, and inside the school there was a physical therapy center (low cost for the local residents).
The particular day we went to visit the school was the day before Raksha Bandhan, and all of the Interwheel club tied Rakhis on the students. I had so much fun interacting with the students, and it was very special to see what the Interwheel club had done. The next weekend I was invited to attend a polio vaccination outing, but my family had other plans. My host mother said there would be lots of other opportunities to be involved in the Interwheel projects.
The Rotary club also has some very interesting projects, which include helping fund local schools, a hospital for low (or no) income residents, an athletic club, and a bunch more that I haven’t seen yet. I had an interesting conversation with my counselor about community rotary projects, and how much they vary around the world according to need. In a place like India, the need is very great, and all of the rotary projects are very impressive, and make a HUGE difference in the community. In other areas of the world the projects might not sound as impressive, but they are just as important as projects anywhere else. Go Rotary!!! Also thank you to all of the Rotarians who have been sending me such wonderful postcards!!