Governor John Barnes' 2008-09 message

2008 – 2009 will be the year in which we will all “Make Dreams Real” for the children of the world….a theme that sits beautifully in the hearts and minds of us all for the children of the world are the world’s future. 

 

I like to quote from President D.K Lee’s opening address to the International Assembly of incoming governors in San Diego in January 2008, as he talks about his emphases and his theme:

 

:“…in the midst of my research on possible emphases I came across a number. That number was 30000 – the number of children under the age of 5 who die every day from preventable causes. At first I thought that it had to be a mistake. Perhaps there was an extra zero in that number, if not two. Perhaps the number was per month or per year. It was impossible, unthinkable, in the 21st century, that 30,000 of our most precious children could die, needlessly, every day. But there was no mistake. I asked, how can it be possible?

Once I understood this, and I understood the issues behind that terrible number, I knew what I needed to do. In 2008-2009 rotary will keep the service emphases we have had in so many of our past years…….water, health and hunger and literacy. But this year I will ask you to focus your efforts in each of these areas on children, and on reducing the terrible rate of child mortality in our world. In 2008-2009, I will ask you all to “Make Dreams Real” for the children of the world”.

 

We have been asked to focus our support in the areas of water, health and hunger and literacy. The lack of safe water is directly or indirectly responsible for 6000 preventable deaths of children under 5 every day. 7 out of 10 childhood deaths are caused by sickness and globally 54% of all children’s deaths are associated with malnutrition.

 

And then we come to the third emphasis of literacy because many of these issues affecting children’s health are issues of access, knowledge and education.We have been asked to address this issue of child mortality at home as well as overseas and I am asking our clubs, if they will, to look at the child mortality rate in Australia and particularly amongst our indigenous population which is three to four times that of the national average. 

 

To quote again from President Lee:

“..our job is to make dreams real. We will turn those dreams of a safe and happy childhood – a childhood that becomes a long and healthy life – into a reality, because all of the world’s children are our children. And our job is a simple one. It is saving lives with our hearts and our minds and our souls. And if, in 2008-2009, every one of us does this job well, at the end of our year we will all have achieved some thing wonderful”

 

Gaye and I look forward to working with you and for you in providing all the support and encouragement we can to help you all fulfil your Rotary goals.

 

Gaye has as her project “A for A life “ working through Helen Keller International in New York to provide Vitamin A supplementation to children under 5 in Guinea, West Africa and as a consequence save the lives of 70% of those children who die – within one year - after going blind due to a deficiency of Vitamin A – This project of Gaye’s, is in lieu of flowers at our official visits if you wish.

 

This year, through The Rotary Foundation, we will continue the push to rid the world of polio. We will do all that we can to provide around $50000 annually over the next 3 years, our District’s contribution to match the Gates Foundation’s generous grant of $US100 million. In district simplified grants which have been increased to $3000, we encourage clubs to support programs within the areas of rural relief and indigenous health via water and literacy projects.

 

Best wishes

 

John Barnes