Sokny has emailed us,
  “This is the last (12th) year of my high school life and I always got the top rank in my class. Before, I studied and lived in the countryside, and the school was 6 kilometres away from my home. I went to school by foot. The time I spent in school was only in the morning. Therefore, I used this free time for self-study and extra classes with the teachers in the afternoon and evening. In addition, I took a little time to help with household chores. (Click Read More)
International Projects
With Rotary Clubs established in 220 countries, we are ideally placed to identify the areas of greatest need, and the most effective ways to take action.  Each of the 35,000 Rotary Clubs selects its projects.  Some projects are run by individual clubs, others are partnerships locally and internationally. 
Some areas RC Keilor East is supporting in 2023-24:
Cambodia:
 On-going support for the rural Siem Reap Province, with an emphasis on improving health and education.
Fiji:   An exciting project is solar electricity for schools on remote islands. 
Timor Leste:  Rotary in Australia has supported our newest neighbour since its inception, and we continue to back projects around Balibo. 
Tonga:   We are partnering with other Rotary clubs and benefiting for their long-term relationships.  Tonga has a small population of around 100,000, and our help has a significant impact.
Global: Rotary started the world on the path to eradicate Polio and we continue towards this goal.  We also back Malaria eradication through Rotarians Against Malaria.  And Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children provides major surgery treatment for children in our region.
For detail see the stories below on the page.
For close to a decade Keilor East Rotary has supported the Essendon Team of Days for Girls International. This involves our members in sewing, preparing, and distributing environmentally friendly menstrual health kits to girls and women in countries where access is limited due to family, economic, social or geographical circumstances. Without such help, girls in Timor Leste and similar countries miss schooling and fall behind, creating personal loss and slowing national advancement.
RCKE members combine with other volunteers on the last Wednesday of the month for working and sewing bees at the Essendon Baptist Community Church Hall in Buckley Street (see Events, RHS of webpage).  The sessions are from 10.00 am - 1.00 pm  and 1.30 – 4.30 pm including morning and afternoon tea. Visitors and new members are always welcome by contacting the team.
 
Other aspects of the international program are
# menstrual health education in the field, including for men and boys
# Helping local leaders establish sustainable businesses that produce and sell Kits, and provide health education and
# Policy and Advocacy with health coalitions and awareness campaign groups to advance global menstrual equity.#
 
 
 
 
 
  Many Siem Reap high schools lack access to clean water, with students having to bring their own drinking water in plastic bottles.  In 2022 we piloted a program for sand filters to provide clean water at four schools.  The potable water is now running for the school and its local community.  Apart from the convenience to students, this project will save 40,000 plastic bottles from landfill. This fiscal year we are working to bring more high schools into the project.
 
Wheelchairs for Kids is a great Rotary Partnership Project that provides tailored wheelchairs for children that can be adjusted and modified as they grow.   Our Cambodian partner Safe Haven Medical Outreach is the authorised Wheelchairs for Kids fitting specialist in Cambodia.  We have shipped a container load of 140 wheelchairs and the distribution will be complete this year. There will soon be a lot of happy families.
Further details click HERE  
One of Rotary’s most exciting projects in Fiji is the provision of solar electricity for schools on remote islands.  It is a great example of the strength of Rotary with many Australian Clubs combining to support It's Time Foundation and provide a great outcome.  Last year we helped provide solar panel systems for 2 Schools.   This year our goal is to continue with this great environmental initiative. 
 
It’s also a project that any individual can support by buying a raffle ticket. Get one HERE.
 
 
Some high schools don’t have enough toilets. They included the Hun Sen Ankor Thom High School with 900 girls and 600 boys. The toilets were totally inadequate for so many teenagers.  It particularly affected the young women, who regularly choose not to attend school when they were having their period.  The new 11 stall toilet block we provided last year via the  Project W team in Cambodia and a Rotary Foundation Grant has solved the problem.
"Because of your support, we have enough toilets to use in the school, and the girls feel comfortable and safe to use the toilets,"  one Grade 12 student told us.
In 2023-24 we will add further toilets  to deprived schools.
This is one of Rotary Australia’s key projects.  Rotary “Donations In Kind” warehouses in most mainland States - including the convenient West Footscray depot -  have shipped more than 400 containers to Timor Leste in the past 21 years A team based in Dili receives the Rotary containers and handles distribution.  Rotarian Helping Timor works with the local Rotary Clubs and collates aid requests.  Keilor East Club is helping to ship a container load of goods for the most urgent requests from Timor.
 
Timor Leste is the poorest country in our region and our support makes a significant difference.  With our partners Essendon Days for Girls, we’ve shipped thousands of reusable sanitary packs to enable every girl in the Balibo region to attend school every day.
Read more
With Rotary, we backed the Balibo Community Learning Centre and its House Trust for many years. When we visited in May 2023 we found the Centre’s back-up generator had been destroyed in a fire. The Centre was suffering blackouts that disrupted and harmed its work. We’re now working with the House Trust to buy and ship to Dili a new generator. The Trust will collect it and get it installed.
 
 
Rotary International was a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Starting with vaccinations of Philippines children in 1979, the program in 40 years has led to a 99.9% reduction of cases. We are very close to ridding the world of this scourge, just as smallpox was eradicated early by dedicated programs. Rotary Keilor East in 2023-24 will again focus our support on the campaign in the developing countries of the Americas.
Read more  link PolioPlus website  https://www.rotary.org/en/plus-polioplus
 
Our club is heavily invested in this project. One of our members is the national coordinator and another coordinates for the 63 Rotary Clubs in our District9800.  We help bring children in our geographic region to Australia to receive life change surgery. This includes removing facial disfigurations that are too difficult and expensive in their home countries. .