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I don’t often get the time to go back to posts I have already published. But the folks at Rotary International’s OrphanAct charity have been keeping me posted on their outreach in Russia and, I am happy to report, it is continuing quite nicely.
You might remember that, back in February, I wrote about OrphanAct, which has been organized by a Rotary chapter in Hawaii to aid children in orphanages in Siberia and the Russian Far East. It was my first post in the philanthropy category, and I have been trying to honor its spirit every week by looking at a different effort to aid the children whose lives will not be changed by adoption.
The effort by the Rotary Club of Kihei-Wailea is gathering steam–and supporters–I am happy to report. The club took a booth at the recent Rotary International convention in Salt Lake City, and convention visitors took notice. According to the Hawaiian club, at least 10 other countries showed interest in starting their own OrphanAct Web site, including Brazil, Bulgaria, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Gabon, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malawi, Mexico, Mongolia, Nambia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Uganda, and Ukraine. That doesn’t have much to do with Russia, but I don’t care. I view my kids as global citizens, and if Russian orphans can inspire efforts to care for orphans in other countries, so much the better. The Hawaii club is going to help these efforts–and offer them a free Web site–and I applaud them.
But the Hawaiian club also reported on a recent trip it had taken to the Russian Far East. At a Russian Rotary Conference in the Altai region of Siberia, they made a presentation about OrphanAct that recruited new members. But they also got to visit some of the regions they have been helping, such as Biysk and Barnaul, both in Altai Krai. One of the club’s active projects with the latter is to raise, in partnership with the Rotary Club of Barnaul, $6,000 to replace dilapidated bedding at the Rebrikha Corrective School in Rebrikha, which is about an hour’s drive from Barnaul.
If you’re not already familiar with Rotary’s efforts on behalf of orphans in Russia, and around the world, I urge you to take some time to read up on them this summer.
