This month in Rotary history -- Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland

Rotary International News - 2 May 2008 

In May 1914, Rotary clubs in Great Britain and Ireland met in London and agreed to form the British Association of Rotary Clubs. They elected R.W. Pentland as the first president of the organization, which was to have its own constitution. The next month, at that year’s Rotary convention in Houston, the International Association of Rotary Clubs recognized the British group as a legitimate extension of Rotary, and clubs in Britain agreed to affiliate with and pay fees to the international organization.

In his convention address, RI President Russell F. Greiner said: “Feeling that we were not familiar with local conditions in Great Britain and Ireland, I strongly favored the forming of an association of the clubs. . . . It has done splendid work in knitting into a closer union the Rotarians of the cities of the United Kingdom.”

Even with limited communication among international clubs during the World War I, the British association managed to keep the clubs in Great Britain, Ireland, and some mainland European communities connected. By 1921, more than 50 clubs were active in the region.

Other historic developments occurred at the 1922 RI Convention in Los Angeles. The International Association of Rotary Clubs changed its name to Rotary International, and a principle was established that allowed any country with 25 clubs to become a territorial unit with representation on the RI Board. At the convention, Great Britain requested and received territorial status as Rotary International – Association for Great Britain and Ireland (RIBI).

Rotaractors from the University of New South Wales in Australia will travel to India and Mongolia in July as part of Habitat for Humanity’s Global Village Youth Program, which sends volunteers ages 14-25 to other countries to help needy people build new homes.

Since 2004, the Rotaractors have traveled on the program to Cambodia, Fiji, the Philippines, and Thailand. They’ve paid their own travel and lodging expenses with help from corporate donations and eight Rotary clubs in New South Wales.

Rotaractor Yiling Cheah went on the Philippines trip in 2005 and led another trip in 2007 to Cambodia. There, she and 10 others built two houses in six days and donated money to build a home for a blind elderly woman and her grandson.

Covered with mud and sweat, the volunteers in Cambodia mixed cement, laid bricks, and hauled soil in wicker baskets. The work was exhausting, but the bigger problem was the ankle-deep water caused by flooding. “The soil we carried was wet, meaning that it was a lot heavier to carry. It also meant that we had to work with things hidden in the water, whether it was our tools or parasites,” Cheah recalls.

The hard work seemed worthwhile when the homes were presented to their new owners in a special ceremony. “The homeowners were in tears of joy. They were also in tears of sadness because we were about to leave, and they never really got to know us due to language barriers,” Cheah says. “The homeowners didn’t know how to thank us for what we had given them, and we didn’t know what to say. It was only then that our team members realized what a huge contribution we had made to two families’ lives in a matter of six days.”