Rotarian and Past District Governor Bruce Golden told us about some Rotary projects in India done in conjunction with Pragathi Annual Donor Updates. While he was at the Rotary Club of Austin, Bruce and his wife Sharon headed up literacy project that was part of a global grant in conjunction with clubs in India. He showed as numbers regarding the progress of the students in both their own language and in English. He also showed their improvements in math. The global grant helped with 1320 community libraries and involved 140 villages; it was a 2-year project. The goals of project were to learn to read, learn to read during COVID, learn to speak English, learn the communicate, and to practice with mentors. Learning English helps the children get better jobs. The State of Banglore where to the project took place is promoting learning English to help its children.
Bruce also told us about COVID relief in India. He discussed a project that contributed $100,000 to procure Oxygen concentrators, Bi-pap machines and to conduct a vaccination drive. The Rotary Club of Austin was involved along with Rotary District 5870 Keyway Disaster Relief Fund and other Rotary clubs. They had to find the equipment all over the world. Bruce showed a list of places that received the equipment and pictures of them being distributed by local Rotarians.
Finally, Bruce discussed Pragathi Scholarships/Mentors, which assist with education at either college or technical schools. The top scholarship is $2500 for four years. They are based on financial need and merit – also looked both in urban and rural areas. The big donors to this project were out of Houston. Technical mentors helped to pick the recipients. Bruce showed us list of scholarship recipients and what they wanted study and what their parents did.
It was great to hear about this wonderful Rotary projects!