One of the most inspiring speakers at the recent Rotary Australasian Conference was Stephanie Woollard, a social enterprise entrepreneur, a Rotary Peace Scholar, a Rotary International Responsible Business Award winner, and member of the Rotary Club of Melbourne.

Steph's passion for social justice began at an early age, but after her encounter when aged 22 with seven disabled woman living in a tin shed and on the margins of Nepalese society, Steph’s immediate response was to find a way to help the women she met to live a more sustainable, dignified and self-sufficient life.  A fledgling social enterprise was born!

12 years later Seven Women has educated, up skilled and employed over 5000 marginalised women in Nepal.  The ripple effect awe inspiring, and through the hard work of many, the lives of thousands of Nepalese women and their families have been improved.  Today Seven Women continues to grow and thrive. 

Stephanie has written a book called From a Tin Shed to the United Nations which takes you on her entrepreneurial journey and explores how every one of us can make a difference.

As one of the quoted reviewers says: This book is a 'must read' for anyone considering how they might work with the disadvantaged of the world and looking for inspiration and guidance.

At the conference I obtained a copy of this book which I've now read and recommend it to other Tawa Rotarians to read.   Please let me know if you're interested and I'll arrange for it to be circulated.   

At a future rotary meeting we may also show the video documentary 'Bringing the Light: The Story of Seven Women'  -  you can watch the film trailer here https://sevenwomen.org/our-story.

Barry Rassin President 2018-19

Every Thursday morning, I receive an email from the World Health Organization with an update on the status of polio eradication.   It contains a wealth of information, country by country:   where and how immunization campaigns are being conducted, how many millions of children are being vaccinated, and where environmental surveillance has found evidence of circulating virus.   But every week, when that email appears in my inbox, my heart seems to stop for just a moment until I read the first few lines – and learn whether a child was paralyzed by wild poliovirus that week.

That, my friends, is where we are today in the work of polio eradication.   The question on my mind as I open that message isn't how many thousands of cases we might see in a year, as we did not too long ago, or even how many hundreds.   Instead, when that WHO email arrives every Thursday, the single, binary question it answers is: Was there a new case this week, or wasn't there?