Global fellowship through webinars at RID 3011
Covid fears and the extended lockdown have curtailed the service projects of RAC Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, RID 3011, Delhi, but the Rotaractors are not sitting idle as they are networking with Rotaract clubs around the world through webinars. Project Sanskriti extended a virtual platform for showcasing India’s rich cultural heritage to Brazilian and Mexican Rotaractors through a power point presentation. “Around 200 Rotaractors including those from South America took part in a three-hour programme. We will hold two such online cultural exchanges with Rotaractors from South Africa and the US which will have more participation from Delhi colleges and Rotaract clubs, RID 3011,” says Suyash Jaiswal, club secretary.
A series of webinars on menstrual hygiene, de-addiction and cybersecurity have given opportunities for the club to tie-up with local NGOs to distribute sanitary pads, stationery items and other utility items to beneficiaries, says Rtr Piyush Narnoli, head, international wing of the club. “We are planning monthly episodes under Project Kissa Goi (storytelling), the first one held on Sept 15 was a big success with Rotaractors, professionals and authors narrating stories to around 80 delegates. In the coming months, there will be international speakers to entertain with their storytelling abilities,” he says. Also, Sanskriti will be held more often for broader exchanges with foreign students and Rotaractors, “but we are looking forward to attend college from January so that we can plan and do field projects.”
In the second week of July, they uploaded a campaign poster for their Project Feeding strays on Instagram which got tagged to a large number of stories, pictures and posts on social media handles. “Through this manner, we get more engagements and volunteers to our cause,” recalls Narnoli. On Diwali Rotaractors will be forming teams to “spread cheer and optimism in the community under Project Ulhas, an annual event during the festival of lights,” says club president Anubhav Singh. “This is not a project in strict term, but an effort to create social bonding in the public space.”
Doubling membership
With 50-plus Rotaractors in all, the club will be inducting a large number of college freshers, come January, and “we are confident of doubling our membership by the first week of February next year,” says Jaiswal, a final year BCom student.
Having grown up in Kanpur, “I was amazed by the mega Rotary projects which create a buzz in our colony during my childhood. At that time, I wanted to join an Interact club, but no schools in my city had such a social group.” Though he had not interacted with any Rotarian so far, Jaiswal is keen to join a Rotary club either in Delhi, “if I stay put in the national capital after finishing my UG”, or become a member of a Kanpur club, “after going back to my native place.” His two-years of Rotaract experience had “motivated and taught me to take up service projects for the cause of humanity,” he says.
