The Rotary Story

TRF Trustee, Rtn. Jennifer Jones addressed the Rotary Club of Bombay on Rotary in the global context

JENNIFER JONES was the Rotary International Vice President 2016- 17 and, currently, is Trustee of The Rotary Foundation, 2019-23. She is the President and CEO of Media Street Production, Windsor. She is currently the co-chair of End Polio Now, Make History Today campaign to raise US$ 150 million. She is one of The Rotary International’s recognised communicators.

“This is a wonderful opportunity,” Jennifer said to members. “Gulam has shared that the Past Rotary International President took it upon himself to declare that this is the best club in the district, then I believe his words were perhaps ‘the best in the world’. So, a great applause for the work you have been doing, in water and sanitation; I saw the museum, illuminated, last night. Thank you for all of your efforts and hard work.”

“Let me begin with a couple of things: you did not have to own an iPad or iPhone to feel and respect the passing of the company’s founder, Steve Jobs. So, when he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, he was asked to address the graduation ceremony at the Stanford University. His address was called: ‘How To Live Before You Die’. Three stories from his life, no big deal, and that is because Steve Jobs not only understood how to create great products but also understood the power of harnessing a great story. This is so fundamental for a great institution like us so share the great work that we are doing so that other like-minded people can join us.”

“My youngest brother and I had an opportunity to sit and chat. I was preparing for media interviews. One of the best things that you can do is sit and think about the messages that you want to convey, think of the questions in advance and keep the answers prepared. This was an interview I was going to do on humanitarian service. So, I was sitting and chatting with my younger brother, and he said: “In order to live in the kind of society you want, you have to help build it.” I loved that, and I asked him, ‘who said that?’ He said, “I said that.” So, indeed, I attribute the quote to him. But it ties hand and glove into Rotary’s new vision statement: ‘Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change across the globe in our communities and in ourselves.’ Those last three words are the most important: the change within ourselves. Who, here, is not a better person because you are a part of Rotary, because of the opportunities it has given you to give back, to do service and fellowships?”

“A couple of years ago, my husband and I got an opportunity to travel to a district conference in Ma’an, Jordan. The opening evening was a spectacular event in an open amphitheatre overlooking the sea. There were a few speeches followed by lovely outdoor dinner buffet underneath the beautiful tapestry of stars. I was just about to begin my dinner and the Governor brought a gentleman, Dr Mark Turpentine. He was in the country because he was participating in the ‘Gift of Life Mission’. It is an open heart surgery for children who won’t be able to access this procedure in any other way.”

“Many surgeons are going out of their way, giving their time to Rotary and other generous donations. We are able to help a lot of these children. So we had a lovely chat. Now cut to the end of the week, the Governor came up and said, ‘Dr. Mark is starting a surgical rotation today, would you like to go to the hospital and see?’ I said, ‘Yes of course’. So we got into the car reached the hospital. Seconds later I was in the changing room in hospital greens, seconds later the doors open and into the operating theatre.”

“I was standing still and watching as the doctor stitched with great precision. As I was looking forward, I could see the patient lying on the table completely covered from head to toe with a sheet and only a square opening in the area where the doctor was performing the operation. There was an anaesthetist on one side and a nurse on the other. As he was stitching, every once in a while he would take his hand and put it underneath (the patient) and he would jiggle it, then he would look up to the anaesthetist and he would say, ‘warm it up a little’, then he would go back and stitch. This jiggle-warming-stitch continued. At this point, he turned and said, ‘Jennifer when did you come into the room come on here I will show you what I am doing’.”

“It was at that moment that he introduced me to the patient, six-yearold Zelma, a Syrian refugee. He stitched and stitched and also chatted about it, and finally he tied it and at that time he really gave a hard jiggle and looked over to the anaesthetist and said ‘ok, warm it up’. And, in that moment, little Zelma’s heart started to beat… At that moment I got to see her come back to life, what a privilege to see something like that. And then, going back to the hallway and meeting her parents and saying that I saw her heart beat, she is going to be great and a happy little girl. There were happy tears all over. That day I realised I received a very big gift too. I realised I am a better person. The change within ourselves that is what moves us.”

“These experiences that we have – like, through the clean water and sanitation projects, and I truly believe that water is life – offer the opportunity for young children to go to school. They allow families to grow healthy and happy. It provides life.”

“Tom Ferguson, Past Vice President of our organisation and currently Chief Strategy Officer at the headquarters, Evanston, tells a very small story of when he was in the Dominican Republican, Haiti doing some water projects. He and one of his colleagues went back to check on those projects. His friend came face to face with a woman who said, ‘When the well was built, the children stopped dying’. How profound. It’s these moments that help us understand why we are Rotarians and why we, as a collective, have the ability to move the needle in a very big way. No bigger way at the moment than polio eradication.”

“Samuel, one of our senior colleagues, made an incredible statement. He said, ‘If we had gone to Rotarians and asked them to raise US$ 1.9 billion and immunise 2.5 billion children and said that it would take 30 years to eradicate polio, would we have done it?’ Probably not. But we don’t think small, we are Rotarians. We know that we can tackle the world’s most pressing challenges and we are going to cross the finish line. In August, Nigeria came out with an endemic list, which means in the spring, there will be a certification process where they are taken out of the endemic list meaning that the entire continent of Africa will be polio free with only Pakistan and Afghanistan remaining. There have been hurdles but the Pakistani government and Health Minister are working more closely with us than ever before. In Afghanistan, they have banned one of the best techniques that we had been using in the field, that is mother to mother, door to door saying, ‘Can I immunise your child? Can I give them the two life-saving rops.’ But, three weeks ago they lifted the ban and said, ‘no more door to door but now we will allow in health clinics’. So now, our challenge is getting children and their families to the health clinic. We need to harness this opportunity and bring down the numbers to zero. We have to get rid of this disease once and for all.”

“Some exciting news to share – in the October Trustee’s Meeting, we decided that the environment is something that needs to be prioritised for our organisation. There are children in this world with a louder voice than our organisation, collectively. Well, for us it means that we are taking a study group to look at how we include environment in our areas of focus. Do we add to one of the six? Or create a separate? I think it is very exciting and Rotarians are already putting forth their efforts towards change. When you harness 1.2 million members to do individual tasks, we can change the world. We can.”

“So, when I was going to become the District Governor, travelling back and forth across the border between Canada and the USA frequently, I pulled up to a custom’s officer who was not having a good day. He looked at me, crossed his arms and barked, ‘Citizenship?’ I said, ‘Canadian’. He said, ‘Where are you going?’ I said, ‘I am going to a Rotary meeting’. He asked, ‘What is Rotary?’ I asked him, ‘long version or short?’ He just said, ‘Tell me what it is’. I told him, ‘We are a humanitarian service organisation of 1.2 million men and women united under the motto of Service Above Self, doing good work in our own communities and around the world.’ He said, ‘What do you really do?’ So I told him about my own club, the fund-raisers, the kinds of projects. He wanted more. So I told him about health and sanitation, clean water projects, about hunger and polio. He said, ‘Polio? Polio is gone’. I said, ‘Yes, sir, from many countries in the world but it remains endemic. Countries and Rotarians are working tirelessly to ensure that these two life-saving drops are placed in the mouth of every child so that this disease can be eradicated from the face of the planet.’ At this point, he started to change; he asked, ‘What else do you do?’ So I told him about other things, like our work with malaria, tuberculosis and others. Then he paused and said, ‘You mean to tell me that there are that many people with so much free time?’ I said, ‘No sir, there are that many people with no time in their hands who are committed to this incredible work’.”

“And he said, ‘You have made my day!’ I said, ‘No Sir, you have made mine.’ He had tears in his eyes, and he said, ‘Please thank the people!’ So, thank you to each and every one here for what you are doing to make our world a better place, for understanding that you are the leaders of our organisation.”