VIAJE DE SERVICIO INTERNACIONAL A AFRICA

From: "Rotary" < Rotary@howardtours.net >
To: "Rotary" < Rotary@howardtours.net >
Subject: Rotary - West Africa Project Fair & Village Immunization Trip - Accra, Ghana

Dear District Governor:

Congratulations on the beginning of a new and hopefully successful year of Rotary Service as a District Governor.  I sincerely hope it is a wonderfully productive and satisfying experience for you.

Have you ever heard Rotarians speak about their personal experience participating in a polio eradication exercise?  These trips have a profound effect upon the individual.  If you ever have a chance to go on one, you should; it will change you forever.  Can you imagine what the clubs in your District could do if you could get ONE person from each club to have such an experience?  It would have an extraordinary effect on the expression of Rotary in your District.

You get up early in the morning, travel with local Rotarians to a village, health clinic or impoverished neighborhood, and for the next few hours, you change.  Small children come up to you and throw open their mouths with the trust that you will help them.  Mothers and fathers smile at you knowing that you are giving their child a chance for a better life.  It is hot; it is dusty; it makes you uncomfortable; it is exquisite.

Fortunately, Rotary has almost eradicated polio.  However, Africa is still challenged by public health issues that can be addressed by special immunization efforts. When polio is gone, millions of children still need our help This program is designed to offer an identical experience to participating in a polio eradication day.  The people who take this trip will have the same experience as participating in a polio immunization trip; the only difference will be what is in the dropper.

The purpose of this e-mail is to offer to the Rotarians in your District, such an opportunity. From November 3-12, 2010, Rotarians will travel to Accra, Ghana, West Africa to attend the 6th Annual West Africa Project Fair, participate in village immunization program modeled after the polio NID programs, and to engage with the local Rotarians in a community service program.  The West Africa Project Fair is an official program of Rotary's Reach Out to Africa Program.

Attached to this correspondence is a detailed folder describing the trip to Ghana, summarized as follows:

Trip Dates:                    November, 3 -12, 2010
Travel to:                      Accra, Ghana (West Africa)
Program includes:         Hotel accommodations, transfers, most meals, hands-on immunization field work, visits to local communities to experience and explore and to provide service to Rotarian humanitarian programs, West Africa Project Fair registration, special Rotary and fellowship events, sightseeing, etc.

In addition to the immunization program, participants will spend time with Ghanaian Rotarians to explore their communities and see the service and experience fellowship that only Rotary can provide.  Further, participants will attend a two-day West Africa Project Fair, where Rotarians from 15 West African nations will present possible humanitarian grant projects.  It is an extraordinary event that will expose your members to new cultures, projects, friends and opportunities.

As District Governor, you can change lives in your community and throughout the world.  It also gives you a chance to change the lives of the Rotarians in your District and clubs.  Involvement in Rotary gives the ordinary Rotarian extraordinary opportunities to do things that they could never do anywhere else. This trip is just such an experience.

Please announce this program in your District over the next month, post the attached on your website, include it in your newsletter, and your Rotarians to represent your District and take a trip of a lifetime.  Ideally, you should make the trip and them to join you!

Let me know if you have any questions. Because of limited space, we expect this program will sell out in the next few weeks.  I hope that you will join fellow Rotarians to provide service, fellowship and a wonderful highlight of your year as District Governor.  We hope to hear from you soon.

Best regards for a successful Rotary year,

Bradford R. Howard, PDG
Rotary District 5170
West Africa Project Fair Committee, 2007-10

516 Grand Avenue
Oakland, CA  94610
Phone:  (510) 834-2260
FAX:  (510) 834-1019
E-mail: Rotary@HowardTours.net<mailto:Rotary @HowardTours.net>