By Robert Strong, Published in PortlandMetroRotary.org

Each year, the Rotary Club of Metropolitan Portland organizes an international trip open to all. In October 2018, they will travel to Poland and Belarus, visiting Warsaw, Krakow, Grodno, Nowograd, Miru, and Minsk. This year's trip has special significance to them because we will participate in the Rotary Peace Conference to be held in Biala Podlaska, Poland where they sponsored the host Rotary club. You can be a part of this historic event.

By Ryan Hyland, Published in Rotary International

Horrified by stories about an online suicide game called Blue Whale, Gabriel Kenji of Brazil decided to create a game to counter the dangerous online trend, and hopefully, save lives. The Blue Whale Challenge is a chilling suicide game allegedly run by a social media group. The game preys on vulnerable adolescents and teenagers, who are instructed to complete a set of challenges over a 50-day period. The tasks begin harmlessly but become increasingly more dangerous, including self-punishing, and end with the teenager being urged to take their own life. 

Published by PeaceDays.ca

First Contact is a film series that is part of the Rotarian and Friends inspired 9th annual Peace Days Festival of Peace and Compassion that launches September 11, 2018. Peace Days begins with a raising of the Peace Days Flag with the Mayor at City Hall in Winnipeg at 9:00 AM, and culminates on September 21st,  the International Day of Peace 2018. Rotarian inspired and co-created with Indigenous Peoples, Honouring Indigenous Peoples (HIP), and the Rotary Club of Winnipeg, they are using this transformative education film series to be a catalyst and inspiration for an informed dialogue between Rotarians, friends, supporters of Rotarian service, and Indigenous Peoples in Canada and beyond. The goal is to build understanding, goodwill, and peace. And to inspire others to do the same. 

By Wes Granger and Christopher DiRosa, Published in Rotary International

In June 2017, with the help of the Rotary Club of Longmont in Colorado, USA, and in partnership with the non-profit, The Inclusion Collective, we along with three other community members from Colorado volunteered in Kiev, Ukraine, in specialized settings for children with disabilities. By every measurement, this project was a success. This opportunity never would have happened without the life changing support of Rotary members.

By Sharon Bay, Published in Rotary International

I had only been a Rotarian for a year, and was eager for another opportunity to serve, when I was asked by the committee chair of District 5340’s Music Camp Youth Exchange if I would be interested in hosting two talented musical students for three weeks that summer. My husband and I had hosted an exchange student from Bolivia several years prior and had enjoyed the experience. This would only be for three weeks, and we felt we knew what to expect, so we enthusiastically said yes. 

Published in mediaterre.org

“The role of women in conflict resolution and in the construction of a lasting peace in Cameroon”: This was the theme of the program “Ladies Hours” held by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung for Cameroon and Central Africa in Bastoson July 24, 2018. The program is a platform for exchange, information and training of women on the issues of the hour. Twenty-five women decision-makers from the government, political parties, civil society, cultural and professional associations and the media were invited to this quarterly meeting.