International

Since 1995 we have been twinned with a French club, the Rotary Club of Maisons Laffitte, located about 20 miles outside Paris in the town of Maisons Laffitte. The two clubs are similar in size. We meet socially from time to time, both in France and in England and collaborate occasionally on international projects.

Much of our work is local but in the true spirit of Rotary we make an international contribution ranging from sending financial and other assistance to help with natural disasters such as the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and the 2010 Haiti Earthquake.

We also work with other Rotary clubs around the world in a variety of projects helping to establish improved medical facilities, proving equipment for orphanages, schools and hospitals in poorer countries. Examples include:

Help for Belarus

The St Annes Children’s Hospice in Minsk was desperate for operational medical equipment and through the facility of a Matching Grant available from Rotary Foundation (Rotary’s own charity) the club was able to spend £9,000 on the purchase of medical equipment to treat the children in the hospice. The sum raised was through the joint efforts of our Club and the Rotary Clubs of Maison Laffitte (our twin Club) and Minsk City, with a donation also, from the Rotary District 1260 Designated Fund. Many children will gain life extensions from the use of the equipment purchased.

We acquired a retiring ambulance complete with equipment from the local NHS hospital trust, overhauled it, and then three of our members drove it to Belarus packed with blankets and medical supplies as part of a relief convoy. John Collier, Brian Lindsay and Stuart Nicholls were the intrepid travellers who delivered it safely to the hospital at Hoiniki. The previous ambulance was falling apart and most unreliable. The new one gave them a much needed sound patient service not before available.

At the same time we took over a vacant shop in Friars Square Aylesbury with kind permission of the management, collected and transported a fantastic volume of public donations of children’s toys, clothes and school equipment, and filled a shipping container that was sent in the same convoy as the ambulance.

Village Water in Zambia

A matching grant shared by ten clubs in our Rotary District bought water pumps for a number of villages in Africa. The wells dug and built by volunteers, guarantee fresh water to the village. Water borne disease is eliminated and families can improve their lifestyle in many ways through the availability of fresh clean water. The Club contributed £400 to the scheme and shared the cost of an installation of a well in the village of ‘Siyamwa’.

Help for Nicaraguan street children

Working through the Peace and Hope Trust we funded ovens and some baking equipment for a mini-bakery project providing bread for the street children of Nicaragua. The children scavenge on rubbish dumps and the ovens now supply them with the only wholesome food (bread) they are likely to receive.

Shoe Boxes

The Rotary Shoe box scheme was set up in 1994 and the Club has been involved twice in co-opting local primary schools to fill the boxes which are sent out to children in Central and Eastern Europe. Most recently at Bedgrove Infant School in Aylesbury children completed 70 boxes which were sent overseas to families in time for Christmas. The boxes contain toys, toiletries or household items.

Group Study Exchange

The Group Study Exchange (GSE) programme is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for business people and professionals between the ages of 25 and 40 who are in the early stages of their careers. The programme provides travel grants for teams to exchange visits in paired areas of different countries. For four to six weeks, team members experience the host country’s culture and institutions, observe how their vocations are practiced abroad, develop personal and professional relationships, and exchange ideas.

In a typical four-week tour, applicants participate in five full days of vocational visits, 15 to 20 club presentations, 10 to 15 formal visits and social events, two to three days at the district conference, three to four hours per day of cultural and site tours, and three to four hours per day of free time with host families.  For each team member, the Rotary Foundation provides the air fare. Rotarians in the host area provide for meals, lodging, and group travel within their district.

Aylesbury Hundreds has been responsible for selecting two members to join a GSE team and we regularly receive presentations from visiting GSE teams, most recently from India and USA.

Ambassadorial Scholarships

Ambassadorial Scholarships, Rotary Foundation’s oldest and best-known programme, was founded in 1947. Since then, nearly 38,000 men and women from about 100 nations have studied abroad through this scheme. Today it is the world’s largest privately funded international scholarships programme. Nearly 800 scholarships were awarded for study in 2005-06. Through grants totaling approximately US $500 million, recipients from about 70 countries studied in more than 70 nations.

The purpose of the Ambassadorial Scholarships programme is to further international understanding and friendship among people of different countries and geographical areas. The programme sponsors several types of scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students as well as for qualified professionals pursuing vocational studies. While abroad, scholars serve as goodwill ambassadors to the host country and give presentations about their homelands to Rotary clubs and other groups. On returning home, scholars share with Rotarians and others the experiences that led to a greater understanding of their host country.

We regularly enjoy presentations from Amabassadorial Scholars most recently from Italy and USA, who were both studying at Oxford University.