Chris Bloore was our last speaker and he was telling us about the new Rotary Club, E-WASH.
E-WASH hold their meetings in cyberspace and WASH stands for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. The club has its roots in Dunedin, being sponsored by Dunedin and Dunedin East Clubs. The Club has members from Australia, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Malawi, Spain, USA and Canada as well as New Zealand. There are 25 members in total with 12 being in New Zealand.
There is a definite global element to the club and they face many issues including different time zones and daylight savings etc for the members. The club builds on expertise from water and sanitation from around the world.
Water: 663 million people do not use an improved drinking water source, most of whom are poor and live in rural areas. Even some ‘improved’ drinking water sources may not always be free of contaminants and may not provide a reliable supply of water throughout the year.
Sanitation: 2.4 billion people still lack an improved sanitation facility, and among them almost 950 million people still practise open defecation.
Hygiene: Of the range of hygiene behaviours considered important for health, hand washing with soap is a top priority in all settings.
At least 3000 children die every day from diarrheal diseases – an avoidable consequence of poor water, sanitation and hygiene.
Steve Atkins, ex-President of the Dunedin Club is the brainchild behind the Club and Chris is the president. They strive to have a Rotary feel even without actual meetings. E-club meetings are hosted on a unique website,
www.rotarywasheclub.org . The official meeting time is considered to be when the webmaster or club secretary posts material for weekly discussion, but members may access the site at their convenience at any point during the week. E-club members discuss the item and any other club business through a chatroom feature or other means. To respect the privacy of e-club members, some meeting content or member data is protected from public view.
As all Rotary clubs do, Rotary e-clubs meet weekly, perform service projects in local and international communities, support
The Rotary Foundation, and enjoy fellowship among members. And the keys to their effectiveness are also the same: service-minded members, opportunities for fellowship, and strong leadership.
Another Challenge for the E-Club is getting to know everyone and finding ways to build friendships. Board meetings are done on a group video call and Chris showed us a screenshot of this. Chris also showed us a couple of examples of the online talks including his own new member talk which you can view on youtube!
