January 21, 2019, Published in TheKingCenter.org

During the less than 13 years of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s leadership of the modern American Civil Rights Movement, from December, 1955 until April 4, 1968, African Americans achieved more genuine progress toward racial equality in America than the previous 350 years had produced. Dr. King is widely regarded as America’s pre-eminent advocate of nonviolence and one of the greatest nonviolent leaders in world history.

Story and photos by Levi Vonk, January 3, 2019, Published in Rotary International

In 2015, shortly after finishing his studies as a Rotary Foundation global grant scholar, Levi Vonk went to Mexico to work with migrants. He has written about what he saw, and about the experiences of migrants themselves, for Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, and National Public Radio. For Rotary Foundation Month, we asked him to describe what he has done and learned. Vonk studied at the University of Sussex, England, sponsored by the Rotary clubs of Shoreham & Southwick, England, and Charleston Breakfast, S.C. His master’s degree in the anthropology of development and social transformation led to his becoming a 2014-15 Fulbright fellow to Mexico. He is now a doctoral candidate in medical anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley.

By Frank Bures, Published in Rotary International

When Rajendra Saboo finished his term as president of Rotary International in 1992, he started thinking about how he could continue to help people. And by 1998, after serving as Rotary Foundation trustee chair, he knew he wanted to do something hands-on. “When I was Rotary president, my theme was Look Beyond Yourself,” says Saboo, a member of the Rotary Club of Chandigarh, India. “I was thinking about service beyond borders. So I thought, ‘Is there anything that India can give?’ I realized that medical science in India is fairly advanced, and there are doctors — Rotarian doctors — who could give something to Africa, where the medical needs are tremendous.”

January 10, 2019, Published in MediatorsBeyondBorders.org

As we continue to witness the ripple effect of the impact of our work, we invite you to welcome another year of peacebuilding by joining us in a conversation on “Resisting Oppression Through Nonviolence” by Mel Duncan, Nadine Bloch, and Daryn Cambridge on Wednesday, January 16, 2019, at 2 PM Eastern Time.  

By Rick Bannan, December 24, 2018, Published in TheReflector.com

The Rotary Club of Three Creeks is looking to build peace by working to reverse the polarization happening in public discourse. The relatively new Clark County club, founded October 2016, has been designated a Peacebuilder, part of the overarching Rotarian Action Group for Peace. Peacebuilder clubs have a focus on conflict resolution and mediation, and Rotary of Three Creeks has a particular asset in one founding member’s drive to see real results. Army veteran Dan Sockle has been spearheading the club’s Peacebuilder efforts, joining forces with other groups set on depolarizing political discourse while coming up with his own ideas to make an impression on youth. 

By Nikki Kallio, November 28, 2018, Published in Rotary International

Since August 2017, nearly a million Rohingya Muslim refugees have crowded into the Cox’s Bazar region of Bangladesh, fleeing violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. Women and children face particularly difficult challenges in the massive refugee camps, including lack of adequate shelter, health care, and educational resources, and an increased risk of sexual violence. Sakun Gajurel worked in Italy and in her native Nepal with United Nations agencies before studying international development policy at the Rotary Peace Center at Duke University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a part of her Rotary Peace Fellowship, Gajurel spent the summer of 2018 working in Cox’s Bazar with an organization called UN Women that provides direct aid to women in the refugee camps.