CHENNAI: Like a school that reopens after the summer vacation, the year 2022 reopened its doors to new possibilities after fighting the hurdles of the pandemic. Like excited schoolchildren, we walked through the corridors hesitantly during the initial days, barged inside the classrooms after a while, and finally, came together as a community. Unifying the strength of the community were the Rotary and Rotaract clubs, consulates, and other organisations that focussed on the development and upliftment of fellow human beings. As a new year begins, the members of these clubs and organisations cherish the opportunities they had in the year and share a gist of their work in the past year and their vision for 2023.
Young-Seup Kwon, Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Chennai
I am pleased to see the growing presence of Korean companies and their successful operations in south India. We are about to see more investments coming in. It is heart-warming to see how our Korean culture is being accepted, appreciated, and carried forward here.
In 2023, we mark the 50th year of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Korea and India. We see this as a very important occasion and there are many events which are in plans and will be held to celebrate. We believe this to be a great opportunity to expand bilateral relations between the countries. A direct flight between Chennai to the Republic of Korea is what we are looking forward to in the coming years. This will facilitate people-to-people exchange, better trade, and tourism opportunities between both countries.
Dr Deepaa, President, Rotary Club of Madras Mount
Rotary opens up opportunities not only on the professional front but also in reaching out to people in need. Many hands can offer millions of dollars with ease than doing it solo. I have had the opportunity to reach out to people in need with great confidence. Be it in areas of health care, community development, environment, literacy, or education, we could bring about awareness among people. Some of the sustainable projects that made an impact were the RotaDoc series where doctors reached out to people and a breast cancer awareness project called Pink where the city was painted pink with several campaigns.
Ramesh Babu, President, Rotary Club of Guindy
Last year was a fantastic one because we had the opportunity to inaugurate a literacy project called Gurucool through which we are going to distribute 100 smart boards to children to increase their quality of education. We are also going to distribute close to 500 sewing machines through a project called Swasam to the Covid widows. One of our close-to-heart projects was a medical camp for ex-servicemen and family. We conducted a complete health check program for more than 1,600 beneficiaries at Vellore. We have many such visions in the coming year 2023. I thank all my members for their rock-solid support.
Oleg N. Avdeev, Consul General of The Russian Federation in Chennai
Post-Covid, Russia-India activities in south India have been steadily gaining pace. In 2022, we celebrated 75 years of diplomatic relations. Among the notable features were the Indo-Russian Travel and Tourism Fair in Thiruvananthapuram, the visit of the Governor of the Veliky Novgorod region of Russia to India, the Olympiad in physics, chemistry, and mathematics for Tamil Nadu students sponsored by the Russian Atomic Agency. Another memorable occasion was the 550th anniversary of the traveller A Nikitin’s trip to Calicut which is the earliest recorded account of a journey from Russia to India. That trip was a precursor to the subsequently flourishing friendship of the two nations which will be further reinforced with new initiatives in 2023.
Vishal Gopinath, President, Rotaract Club of Chennai Towers
The Rotaract Club of Chennai Towers celebrates its 10th successful year after being a helping hand to the community for the last 10 years. The club has been a constant support to orphanages by supporting their academic needs and the manifestation of cultural practices. Recently, during this Christmas season, the club sponsored the education of 10 underprivileged children and aided the homeless by providing them with essentials as a gesture of goodwill. We have been curating awareness campaigns on health and hygiene. The club has also been a boon of support to the student community and professionals in choosing their careers with their unique initiative called “Vocademy”. The club plans to focus on helping the tribal communities on the outskirts of the city and aims at continuing its efforts for the years to come.
Sona Prakash, President, Rotary Club of Chennai Spotlight
The year 2022 was splendid for the Rotary Club of Chennai Spotlight, as we centred on more than 200 projects. The RCCS successfully raised a lot of awareness about anaemia, which is a hindrance to learning and the development of cognitive skills in India. We organised a series of medical camps with the endeavour of transforming society with a superior quality of life. Forty three per cent of women in India and 56% of women in Tamil Nadu are anaemic. Our goal for 2023 is to provoke a national conversation by staging an “India Reeds” moment. We intend to be the forerunners in bolstering anaemia awareness, much to how Rotary expertly controlled polio earlier.
Shakthi Vairavan, Chairman, Madras Coastal Round Table 162
Madras Coastal Round Table 162 (MCRT 162) is an associate member of Round Table India. It has been in existence for more than 21 years. Our organisation members are dedicated people who share a passion for both community service and fellowship. In total, to date, we have built 38 classrooms for Government schools. Over the years, MCRT 162 apart from classrooms has been involved in infrastructure for schools, medical and healthcare improvements, and numerous community service activities.
In 2022, we continued our work in helping improve school infrastructure and conducting various competitions for the students to showcase their talents. We performed 162 free cataract surgeries. We conducted an event called “SuperHumans,” a sitting volleyball tournament for 150 disabled youth. We also supported the transgender community with groceries and employment opportunities. As we bring in 2023, we would like to create meaningful opportunities to drive impact and promote healthy lives, healthy minds, and healthy communities around us.
Satish Jupiter, President, Rotary Club of Chennai Towers
The inauguration of the Rotary Club of Chennai Towers in 1998 was a landmark in the growth of the Rotary movement in this part of the world. This year, we embark on our Silver Jubilee. We are soon commencing a medical clinic at ECR. A van for non-communicable disease prevention, adopting a village in Villupuram to make it cataract free, a training programme for professionals working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder willing to use Applied Behaviour Analysis principles, donating 10 dialysis units to Egmore Children’s Hospital are among our other projects.