Both the Rotary Club of Alice Springs-Mbantua and the Rotary Club of Alice Springs have committed to joining the national Rotary End Trachoma campaign to end trachoma in Australia and to coincide with the World Health Organisation's End Trachoma 2020 campaign.
Australia is the ONLY first world country in which the bacterial eye infection trachoma, which can lead to blindness if left untreated, is still endemic.
In 2016, the Rotary Club of Melbourne took up the challenge to create a national Rotary campaign to end trachoma to celebrate 100 years of Rotary in Australia in 2021.
We have responded to that challenge and continue to look for opportunities to support the broader initiative by committing to being the champions for Central Australia.
Although the 2020 target has passed, Rotary continues to push to rid Australia of this debilitating condition in the vulnerable remote populations.
The Rotary End Trachoma campaign is strongly supported by Past Rotary International President (and Australian) Ian Risley and his message to all Rotarians from 2017 is below.
For years, Angalia Bianca had slept in abandoned buildings throughout Chicago. She stole. She did drugs. She spent time in and out of jail for forgery, theft, trespassing, and possession of narcotics. But after she landed in prison for the seventh time, something changed -- Bianca knew she wanted a better life. She just didn’t know how to make it happen.
Throughout India and around the world, Rotary clubs are celebrating a major milestone: India has gone three years without a new case of polio. The last reported case was a two-year-old girl in West Bengal on 13 January 2011. To mark this historic triumph, Rotary clubs illuminated landmarks and iconic structures throughout the country with four simple but powerful words, "India is polio free."
What is it like taking a large team to Africa? It has probably been one of the most rewarding experiences in my life. In mid February, I began leading Rotary members from all over the East Coast of the United States through Ghana. I’ve tried to give the team a warm Ghanaian welcome like I’ve received on my earlier trips. A large trip is a real blessing because each person sees Ghana and our work in a different way.
Service Above Self
Deck Bar
Alice Springs, NT 0870
Australia