International Service

Program Summary: Emma Le Du, Technology for Teachers in Rural Guatemala (TINFA) Update, March 11, 2021

Here is a link to the actual recorded presentation.

Emma Le Du is the Executive Director and Administrator of TINFA.  She has an Engineering degree in Robotics and Electronics and a Master of Public Administration from the Kennedy School, Harvard. 

Her program shared our club’s involvement with the schools in Guatemala that we have helped sponsor.

Since 2015, our club has partnered with TINFA (Technology and Information for All) to bring technology equipment and training to teachers in underserved communities in rural Guatemala.

Our club donated funds of $30,000; partnered with other Rotary clubs that donated a little over $20,000; we applied for matching district funds and RI grants and our total funds of $146,479 have help support 10 schools, train 45 teachers, and teach  1,125 students to date.  We logged on to one of the classrooms in Guatemala and watched children learning the vowels.   

The mission of this local non-profit, co-founded by Executive Director, Emma Le Du, is to empower teachers to bring 21st century skills to students in Rural areas of Latin America, bringing hope for the future.

Emma brought us up to date on the progress of our latest Global Grant project involving the schools, Escuela Belen, Escuela Estancia y Pinales, Escuela Calauache, and Escuela Las Marias. She covered the current conditions in Guatemala, particularly the impact of Covid-19 on the teachers and students, the progress of training at the four schools, and TINFA’s focus for the future.

Emma is the Executive Director and founder of TINFA. She has been in Information Technology for over 15 years, at Microsoft and at Amazon.com in various positions in International and Program Management. She has been Senior Technical Program Manager at the Grameen Foundation, dedicated to helping people in poverty, worldwide. She spent two years in Lao P.D.R, as a computer consultant to the European Union and UNDP.

Emma holds an Engineering degree in Robotics and Electronics (ESIGELEC in Rouen, France) and a Master of Public Administration from the Kennedy School (Harvard University) with a focus on Leadership and International Development.

Rotary Peace Fellow Applications

Rotary Peace Centers

The 2022 Rotary Peace Fellowship application is now available, and we need your help finding the next cohort of global peace and development leaders.

Club members are encouraged to use their professional and social contacts to find potential candidates. They can also support the program by coaching candidates through the application process and connecting them to districts that can endorse their applications, a required step in the application process.

These resources can help you recruit candidates for 2022 Rotary Peace Fellowships:

Candidates have until 15 May to submit applications to their districts. Districts have until 1 July to submit endorsed applications to The Rotary Foundation.

Send any questions about the fellowship program to rotarypeacecenters@rotary.org. Thank you for your dedication to the Rotary Peace Centers and your help educating Rotary members and your community about the fellowships.

Sincerely, 
Rotary Peace Centers

Rotary Peace Centers are made possible by the generosity of donors.

AFRICAN REGION CERTIFIED WILD POLIO-FREE

Rotary.org
Dear Rotarians,

It our pleasure to announce to you that the African region has just been certified wild poliovirus-free.

Rotary members have played an invaluable role in the effort to rid the African region of wild polio. We should be proud of all the hard work that we’ve done to eliminate the wild poliovirus throughout Africa and in nearly every country in the world. 

This progress is the result of a decades-long effort across the 47 countries of the African region. It has involved millions of health workers traveling by foot, boat, bike and bus, innovative strategies to vaccinate children amid conflict and insecurity, and a huge disease surveillance network to test cases of paralysis and check sewage for the virus. 

Over the last two decades, countless Rotary members in countries across the African region and around the world have worked together to raise funds, immunize children, advocate with local and national leaders, and raise awareness about the importance of vaccination, enabling the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) to effectively respond to and stop polio outbreaks. 

This milestone is an incredible public health achievement for Rotary members, the African region, and our GPEI partners, and a huge step forward on the road to global polio eradication. But we still have important work to do in order to eradicate wild polio in the last two endemic countries.

We have faced many challenges in our journey to eradicate polio. But we’ve made remarkable progress, and the polio infrastructure that Rotarians helped build will serve as a lasting legacy that will continue to help protect vulnerable children against other diseases for decades to come.

We are calling on you today to recommit yourselves to ending polio. We need each and every one of you to help finish this fight and continue raising $50 million each year for PolioPlus. The eradication of wild polio in the African region shows us that polio eradication is achievable, and shows how our hard work, partnerships and financial commitment continue to propel us forward, even during a global pandemic.

Thank you for your continued efforts, for achieving a wild polio-free African region, and for remaining committed to fulfilling our promise of a polio-free world.

Sincerely,
Holger Knaack                                                                                K.R. Ravindran
President, Rotary International                       Chair, The Rotary Foundation

Rotary International President Holger Knaack and Nigeria National PolioPlus Chair Dr. Tunji Funsho congratulate Rotarians on eradicating wild polio in the African Region. Watch here.
ONE ROTARY CENTER 1560 SHERMAN AVENUE EVANSTON, ILLINOIS 60201-3698 USA ROTARY.ORG

A Final Message from Rotary District 5030 Governor Bill McElroy

“Failed plans should not be interpreted as a failed vision. Visions don’t change, they are only refined. Plans rarely stay the same and are scrapped or adjusted as needed. Be stubborn about the vision, but flexible with your plan.

John C. Maxwell

We cannot always control everything that happens to us in this life, but we can control how we respond and keep our vision in focus. As Rotarians, we do what only Rotarians do, we walk the talk: Service About Self!

No one will remember how we responded day-to-day, week-to-week, or month-to-month about the decisions during this time. But we do know that what we did what was right, and there are thousands of our fellow Washingtonians and people around the world that have benefited from the work that we do.

As District Governor, it was a privilege to sign approximately 180 global and community grant requests which includes 110 Covid-19 related grants that benefited our local community directly. From food banks, PPE’s, supporting first responders, children in need or Seniors, the list is quite extensive. Club and District funds have donated over $350,000 in the last 3 months alone.

We should all be proud of the work that we do, but it would never have happened without your contributions to the Rotary Foundation.

Good news, as the year ends, the District is #1 in the Zone for Foundation giving and #24 in the world. We are #1 in per capita in the Zone for Foundation giving and #19 in the world. We are #2 in the Zone for giving to Polio Plus (just $1,500 behind). I would like to have us be #1!

To ensure our future efforts in community and global activities, we need to be consistent in our giving to the Foundation. This will allow us to continue to do the work that we do so well. Every Rotarian Every Year (EREY)!

I have so many people to thank but instead of having a long list of names, we are having the Peace and District Awards Ceremony on June 17th at 6:30. It’s another Zoom meeting. Grab your favorite adult beverage and tune in. Look for the link in this newsletter.

It has been an honor and a privilege to be your District Governor this past year and I look forward in seeing everyone in person.

Yours in Rotary,

-Bill

William McElroy

University Sunrise Rotary Supports TINFA: Global Grant-$53,000

In early October, three schools and their communities in the Retalhuleu district of Guatemala celebrated the delivery of new computer equipment and the beginning of two years of training to bring the wealth of information and educational resources available on the internet to their classrooms. Teachers in each of these schools, Escuela Recuerdo de Perez, Escuela San Jose and Escuela Sector Aguilar, will learn to use the equipment and to access the internet to harness the resources there (“Think of being able to access the information in all the libraries of the world”) to dramatically enrich classroom instruction in each of their schools.

This enhancement, beyond the limits of teacher lectures, whiteboard exercises and well-worn textbooks, will enable teachers and their school communities to improve students’ motivation to learn and will support greater student achievement. Internet sourced materials on a wide range of subjects, math, social studies, language, music, to name a few, have been implemented in the curriculum at prior schools participating in the TINFA program and we expect much success for the three new schools as well.

The training program, equipment and internet access are being delivered by TINFA and are made possible by a grant from participating Rotary clubs, University Sunrise Rotary, Mill Creek Rotary, University District Rotary and UW Rotaract (Seattle). The clubs’ contributions were multiplied by matching funds from Rotary District 5030 and the Rotary International Foundation, bringing the total to $53,000, . The effort was assisted by Club Rotario Guatemala del Este.

Univerisity Sunrise Rotary Supports Enactus

Univerisity Sunrise Rotary supports Enactus, a student organization that brings together a diverse network of college students, academic professionals and industry leaders from around the world to focus on a shared mission of creating a better, more sustainable world through the positive power of entrepreneurship. Team members contribute their time and talent to projects that improve the lives of people around the globe. Each participant demonstrates that individuals who are armed with information, a passion for people and business know-how can be real agents for change.

Powerful life lessons are attained outside of the classroom because Enactus tackles projects that are tied to real targets with the help of real professionals. The outcome of each project can change the lives of Enactus students and the lives of the project’s beneficiaries in real and substantial ways.

Enactus is an international non-profit organization that brings together student, academic and business leaders who are committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to improve the quality of life and standard of living for people in need. Enactus comprises of 1600 universities in 36 different countries with over 66,500 students that holds competitions awarding universities prizes for their social entrepreneurial project outcomes.

University Sunrise donated $500 to promote Enactus students developing a green energy stove. Our Green Energy Stove’s differentiating factor is in its clean stove power generators. The power generators in the stove generate electricity during cooking by converting wasted heat energy into electricity. This electricity will be used to charge and power up devices such as cell phones and lamps. Working with established partners, we want to pilot the Green Energy Center Gambia, Nigeria, Gabon, and Ethiopia with 700 units.

August 11th, Emma Le Dû with TINFA update

IMG_8962 IMG_8954August 11th our speaker was Emma Le Dû redux and our hardiest perennial, TINFA. (Technology and Information for all).

TINFA For All_3

 

Her presentation encompassed Project Update and much more, to wit:

  • Connection with a Santa Cruz school (henceforth SCM)
  • The Inherent worth and dignity of every human being
  • Do no harm –Technology is a tool that serves the people who use it.
  • While we don’t know all the answers, technology will never replace teachers.

By way of illustration:

  • It is basic to evaluate teachers’ skills and students’ attitudes.
  • At the end of the process, a teacher is given a career-enhancing certificate.
  • A good connection has been made with SCM. Teachers come for skill training.
  • Photos and VCRs show students in action, specifically in art.
  • The use of equipment was shown.
  • The school director gave an oration of thanks for our support.
  • The transition from old methods to technology is well along in progress.
  • One-on-one training for students; one-on-two for teachers.
  • Teachers perform in front of other teachers; back and forth feedback
  • Model classes occur in front of children.
  • Teachers invited to go to different schools to show techniques

The TINFA Three Year Program:

  • Equipment usage and practice training
  • Advanced training and increased participation in curriculum building
  • To continue being a resource for other schools.

Results:

  • 100% teacher participation.
  • 184% improvement
  • 24% increase in children’s attitude toward education

Comment: As can be seen before our eyes, Rotary changes lives. In this case, it will extend unto generations.

Former Rotaract President Julianne Sloane Visits

IMG_8722At our July 28, 2016 meeting, in addition to the District Governor. his spouse and the Assistant District Governor, we were graced by a visit from Past UW Rotaract President, Julianne Sloane.

After graduating from UW, Julianne was involved in establishing an ex-im business in Brazil. Then  she moved to London to join a startup called Splittable: www.splittable.co a financial services technology company. She seems to be truly enjoying exploring her career path. It was great of her to stop by while visiting family in our area. We wish her much success and hope to see her again, soon!

Ezra Teshome: Africa and Polio Plus Update

IMG_5840 IMG_5827 IMG_5826

This Thursday, August 27th, was a laudable coincidence that compressed Past District Governor Ezra Teshome’s PolioPlus update with the ROTARIAN magazine’s front cover ultimatum to the disease.

Ezra began with a bit of history concerning this scourge–

–It has been associated with poor hygiene, ie., tainted water, sewage, and the like, since 1400 B.C.
–Rotary’s role in its eradication has been in force since 1985.
–The original commitment was for 125 countries, entailing $120 million.
–The Gates Foundation has gotten involved with large stipends.

More progress:

  • Drops, costing 20 cents per dose, have supplanted injections for which refrigeration is essential, and difficult in torrid places, requiring thermos containers…
  • Polio eradication is now down to three remaining countries…
  • Africa is on the verge of being polio-free…
  • The region is highly unstable, but Nigeria has recently been declared free of it…
  • Two more years is the estimate for Africa…The last outbreak was in a Somali refugee camp in Ethiopia…
  • As for Ethiopia, immunizations are given in a stay home or go to the center basis…
  • Somali nomads are difficult to track down, but are successfully followed…
  • Health workers operate at or near mosques with accommodating imams an asset to the vaccinators. Challenges exist in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Rumors have circulated that the workers are either CIA agents or sterilizers of women. Some workers have tragically been shot as a result.
Rotarians see other avenues of health, to wit, water purification, sanitary facilities, and immunization vs. other diseases. There can be no complacency. With continuation of the effort, some two years remain for a polio-free world. The Boko Haram, a legion of aggressors, has even been slowly coming around. The leaders have begun to accept the value of immunizations. The Gates Foundation now matches the effort with $2 for each $1 contributed.
Ezra, to everyone’s accolade and to nobody’s surprise, is set to go to Africa to administer vaccines. Godspeed.