DISCURSOS - Rotary International

The Family of Rotary
Jonathan B. Majiyagbe
Past RI President
Most of you are familiar with the general saying that a stranger is the friend you have not met.
In Rotary, the development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service goes beyond ordinary
friendship.
You may not have said hello to the person who stands cheek by jowl with you this morning, but
I assure you that after your time here in San Diego, parting will be filled with such emotions
as only members of a family experience. Such is the powerful spirit of Rotary, which binds us
together and enables us to display the core values of our organization in service, fellowship,
integrity, leadership, and diversity. And, as the late Rotary International President Hiroji Mukasa
reminded us in his theme, Mankind Is One, we have different cultures, speak different languages,
even wear different hats, but we all share the same Rotary emblem.
For more than 107 years, men and women who have embraced the idea of Paul Harris have conveyed
the humanitarian spirit of Rotary through meaningful community and international service
projects, today in more than 34,000 clubs. The Rotary idea, like a pebble tossed into a pool, has
spread in ever-widening ripples from Chicago to the latest nation to join — Bhutan — resulting in
a global reach of more than 200 countries and geographical regions and a numerical strength of
over 1.2 million members.
The concept of the family of Rotary is not a new idea. It is an old practice — the interaction of
Rotarians — that received its name as a result of the presidential emphasis in Rotary year
2003-04.
Rotary is more than just personal or professional advancement. All clubs strive to promote diversity
in membership, but equally important is the need to encourage personal relationships similar
to those of a functional family. Clubs should support members who are experiencing problems,
respond to families in bereavement, follow up on members who stop attending meetings, and
make new members feel part of the family. And to emphasize the importance of personal relationships,
the Board in 2003 designated December as Family Month.
Some clubs hold fireside chats in the homes of Rotarians and invite new members for mentoring
in a family environment. In my Rotary Club of Abuja Metro in Nigeria, a group has just been created
on BlackBerry Messenger. We update club members about committee activities, plan individual
events, and allow Rotarians to get information on social gatherings. The aim is to reach out
to one another and to make Rotary family-friendly!
We belong to a large global family, and as we work together to solve common problems and assist
those in less-privileged parts of the world, we get the satisfaction that we are improving the
lives of members of our family.
When Rotary embarked on the eradication of polio in 1985, the entire world was involved in fighting
a common enemy, and as country after country eradicated the disease, they did not sit back
and pat themselves on the back. No, they joined forces with the remaining endemic countries
to fight the disease, because as long as one member of the family is still not free of polio, the
whole family is at risk. And so, we see Rotarians leaving their comfort zones and going into
remote parts of the world to take part in National Immunization Days, giving of their time,
resources, and expertise to support their Rotary family.
20 International Assembly Speeches 2013