Students respond to a question during the two-day workshop.

By Rajesh Kumar Modi, Rotary Club of Mumbai Borivali East, India

Children are the future of any country. We as members of Rotary have an opportunity to mold them in such a way that they can emerge as efficient and valuable resources for our country. All it takes is changing the way we approach our club activities. Not every project has to be a huge project. Sometimes, size isn’t the only indicator of success.

Big results
In June, my club, the Rotary Club of Mumbai Borivali East, partnered with the Rotary Club of Borivali in District 3140 to organize two day-long workshops on the subject of “How to conduct social activities.” Three dozen students in six grade levels (standard 6 to 12) took part. The outcome was amazing. It was a great experience and made me proud to be chairman of the project.

Our first day started with a motivational speech, followed by discussions of eye and organ donations, skin donation, and garbage management. We passed out pledge forms for anyone who wanted to agree to be skin or eye donors. We also charged them with distributing and collecting additional pledge forms among their friends.

The second day, we gave them tips on Yoga followed by a demonstration on garbage management. They learned about water management, hygiene, and ways to protect our environment. We concluded the entire event with a summary of all the topics we had covered, and gave them an opportunity to help us plant trees. The participants then shared their experiences.

Helping Hands
It was amazing to see that some of the students created a Whatsapp Group named “Helping Hands” and started spreading awareness for water conservation, garbage management, and organ donation. The enthusiasm of the students was just amazing.

It was not a huge project, as only 36 students participated. But it was like spreading seeds on the ground; without knowing which seed will become a large tree in future.

Most Rotarians like to be a part of only big projects. But projects like this one work at mimimum cost. I suggest all clubs worldwide organize a project like ours once in a while. It will help the children become good citizens of their respective countries.