Dear Rotary Leaders
Rotary by any other name
Good news is that the Government of India has approved the plan to mobilise the support of more than 100,000 Civil Society Organisations (CSO) and NGOs to fight Covid 19 surge. The Government think tank, Niti Aayog, has written to the State Chief Secretaries and urged them mobilse all CSOs and NGOs in their area and take their help in ensuring Covid appropriate behaviour amongst the public. This will include spreading messages about the use of masks, need to maintain physical distancing and about the necessity to get vaccinated.
Rotary has been taking the initiative with the Government of India and the various State Governments for the past several months to form partnerships to help to fight Covid. What matters is that now the CSOs (probably Rotary is classified in this category) and NGOs have been invited to join the battle to save 1.3 billion people of the country.
The second wave has taken most of us by surprise. People in the local administration are either confused or terrified, or both. They have many questions on how to defeat the corona virus. May be there is no one place with all the answers. But Rotary has surely a lot of practical knowledge about the advocacy needed in removing vaccine hesitancy and forging rare partnerships with community and religious leaders to spread the message and donate life saving equipment.
People are either suffering from news fatigue or being locked down. Many of them ignored the fear – mongers who said, “Wear the mask, take the jab, keep away from people, good or bad, etc.” and some of them went around the country and later went to their funeral. They are finally isolated! Rotary must spread the message that crowding is bad for health in the present scenario.
Spreading awareness amongst the ‘hashtag’ generation of today is quite easy. The first wave brought into focus the weakness of the society and family life. But Rotary has more than 116 years of experience in implementing emotional health interventions during disasters and virus attacks.
Meet the local Government authorities with the directions given by the Government of India about enlisting our support. Tell them about our ability to strengthen individuals, families and communities in situations however challenging they may be. Use the resources available around you, including the rich spiritual resources of the county to convert patients from victims to victors.
Rotary, by any other name, will be found in the favoured list of the Government to do good. Don’t miss the opportunity to show Rotary Cares. We are all sharing an abiding faith in the possibilities of our Rotary movement. Rotary’s story is part of the larger World Story. Today, we are all together in Rotary and our pride is based on the very simple premise made over 100 years ago, “Service Above Self.” By inviting us, the Government is asking us to reaffirm our values and commitments, to hold them against a hard reality of pandemic and see how we are measuring up to the legacy of our founding fathers. Rotary Service is the belief that we are connected as one people. Let’s do it.