Rotary International president visits Kingdom

AMMAN — President of Rotary International Ravi Ravidran on Sunday commended efforts exerted by the Rotary clubs in Jordan, which he said come as a “genuine” response to local community needs. 

During his visit to the Kingdom, Ravidran toured two projects carried out by the Rotary Jordan at the Dead Sea and in Southern Shuneh.

The first scheme includes distributing bicycles to students in Southern Shuneh as a way to enable them to reach school faster.

“I don’t see this as a gift of bicycles, but a gift of education… it helps support literacy and education in Jordan,” said Ravidran, who described the Rotary as a service foundation rather than a charity.

The other project implemented by Rotary clubs in Jordan entailed cleaning the Dead Sea’s tourist beach with the participation of club members. 

According to Ravidran, the main purpose of the global network of 1.2 million volunteers is to strengthen efforts to work towards the betterment of communities. 

“We deal with every religion in the world. Our purpose is simply to mobilise the people who are successful and channel their work into areas that benefit their communities,” he said, noting that each country sets its own priority for action. 

Present in more than 200 countries, the Rotary is “about to eradicate polio”, which only exists in Pakistan and Afghanistan now. 

“More than $11 billion has been put to fight polio so far,” said Ravidran, noting that Rotary “will not shift its focus on polio until it is fully eradicated”. 

Ravidran said he decided to pay a visit to Jordan upon a recommendation from Rotary board member Safak Alpay, due to the “distinguished” activity of the Rotary clubs in Jordan.