100 YEARS OF ROTARY IN INDIA
Paul Harris, I think, must have said, “I am asking you to believe. Not in my ability to make change, but in yours.” This change is what has made Rotary sustain itself as a movement of service minded volunteers for the past 115 years in the world and 100 years in India.
This belief, this faith in the ability of the members of Rotary in India 100 years ago, has been the guiding principle of how Rotary has grown in India. Those who established Rotary in India knew that the hard work of making Rotary grow in India began not with the charter members of the first club, but with every member who joined or formed a club over the next several years and decades.
Rotary in India is a working, living movement for service. The eradication of polio and the courage that success has given the Rotary members to take up mega projects in health, sanitation, clean water, education and human development, is a strong statement of how Rotary has grown in India.
What has Rotary taught us? It has taught us that good citizens care about others, about causes bigger than themselves, understanding that helping others be stronger helps everyone, including themselves. Rotarians know that citizenship is about having a deep love for one’s community and the willingness to be engaged for the greater good.
We have work to do. Rotary in India will be a product of our ideas together. A lot has changed in the past 100 years but the constant will always be our fundamental commitment to progress. Rotary in India is helping people use their voices to change their communities.
For Rotary in India, it has been an era of listening, learning and experimenting to design the most effective way grow.