Iowa Rotarians were given a unique opportunity Wednesday morning. They learned more about the COVID-19 crisis raging in India and about the goals of international organization’s president-elect – all at one Zoom meeting.
That’s because Shekhar Mehta is from India and will soon head up Rotary International that boosts 1.2 million members in more than 35,000 clubs. Two of those clubs are located in Lee County – in Fort Madison and Keokuk.
The Ames Morning Rotary opened up its regular meeting via Zoom to all Rotarians.
Mehta said India went from “being in the driver’s seat” in terms of slowing the spread of the virus, “to all hell breaking loose” in a matter of weeks.
Authorities have confirmed more than 300,000 coronavirus cases daily for nearly three weeks. On Friday, they confirmed 414,188 new cases, a global record since the coronavirus pandemic began.
The government has been widely criticized for not acting sooner to suppress the second wave, after religious festivals and political rallies drew tens of thousands of people in recent weeks and became “super spreader” events.
“When the country opened up, the numbers went up. Now the borders are closed,” Mehta said.
However, the surge in infections has also coincided with a dramatic drop in vaccinations because of supply and delivery problems, despite India being a major vaccine producer.
In short, Mehta says his homeland is in need of oxygen generators and a supply of liquid oxygen, as well as hospital beds.
Ames Morning Rotary members were the first to step up with a $1,000 donation to purchase bags of liquid oxygen that are being transported by train.
But in addition to the pandemic and its surge in India, Mehta announced his priorities for Rotary clubs once he takes over as president. Areas he hopes to address include membership growth, expanding education opportunities, empowering girls, addressing health issues, and improving drinking water quality and access.
Using the slogan, “Grow More, Do More,” Mehta is challenging each Rotarian – all 1.2 million of them – to bring one new member into the fold in the next year. The additional hands and membership dollars, he says, will allow the organization to do more.
One thing he hopes to do is expand technology in parts of the world to give more children access for educational options. For example, in parts of India, Rotarians worked with government officials to put the entire curriculum for grades 1-12 on 12 television channels.
“Millions of children will grow up knowing the name of Rotary,” he said. “There are places where there was no electricity, but that did not stop us.”
He said the next challenge is to do the same in parts of Honduras.
Empowering girls is also on Mehta’s to-do list. In India and elsewhere girls are seen and treated differently with regard to education options and expectations. In too many countries, if girls are able to attend school, they are expected to drop out by 8th grade to help at home and tend to farms while their male counterparts continue their education. They are often expected to marry at an early age, or sometime fall victim to sex trafficking.
“We need to make noise about this around the world.”
To address this, he challenged Rotarians to provide scholarships, counseling and hygiene facilities for girls living in these environments.
Providing hygiene facilities, such as bathrooms, hand washing stations and in-house water access will also address health issues.
“When a lady has to walk 2 kilometers just to get two buckets of water – not a man, it is always a woman – imagine if she could get water just by opening the tap.”
Check dams, which are small, sometimes temporary, dams constructed across a swale, drainage ditch.
Mehta says one check dam costs $4,000, but will help as many as 25,000 people.
“Not everything can be done by every club. You can pick and choose what you address,” Mehta added.
