The Rotary Club of Banbury

The Club delivers these books to Camberwell, where they are sorted and selected. Books that are out of date, or not strong enough to make the journey in a tropical climate are disposed of.

Books should be less than 10 years old, except for fast-moving Fields where they should be less than 5 years old.  Medicine, Law, Computing, and Technology are Fast Moving Fields.

Book Aid International will only distribute books that match or exceed the quality required by the receiving countries.

Those that are selected are then packed and shipped overseas.

Doctor Bank - To provide doctors on a short term basis to save lives and alleviate suffering in some of the poorest communities in the world, such as Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Nepal.

Shelter Boxes  These boxes contain basic necessities for the victims of disasters, the contents are collected by members of the club they are kept in a central storage until required.

Hope and Homes for Children is an international children's charity working with orphaned and abandoned children in Eastern Europe and Africa.  Since 1994 it has helped to secure the lives, and future livelihoods, of more than 7,500 orphaned or abandoned children in 14 countries. Its pioneering childcare programmes are being implemented by Governments and organisations, and have helped establish Hope and Homes for Children as an international leader in this field. Now in its 10th year it has launched an appeal to secure the future of the children it cares for, and to expand its work to make a positive and long lasting change to the lives of the world's most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.

FACTS: In 1994 an estimated one million people were killed in 100 days in Rwanda. By the end of 2001 there were 613,000 orphans of which nearly 300,000 were orphans of the AIDS epidemic. In South Africa by 2005 approximately one million children under the age of 15 will have lost their mothers to AIDS.  Every 14 seconds, AIDS turns a child into an orphan.

Disability and Development Partners (DDP) - the new name of the Jaipur Limbs Campaign - Physical, economic, and social rehabilitation of amputees and polio victims in many countries in Asia, Africa and South America.

Western-style artificial limbs are impractical for those who like to squat, or sit cross-legged. Furthermore they seldom suit a wearer who must walk on rough and stony ground, or through mud or knee-deep water!

The Jaipur Foot consists of three sections of micro-cellular rubber, a wooden block, and rubberised fabric. It is then placed in a metal mould and vulcanised - like a retread tyre for a lorry, the product looks like a pinkish rubberised foot that is very strong, flexible, and slightly springy.

A cast is taken from the stump, and a positive cast is made from that, A length of high-density polyethylene drainage pipe is heated till malleable and then moulded to the positive cast, the foot is then attached.

The resultant limb gives excellent grip and can be used on a stump as short as two inches. The wearer can walk without a stick, ride a bike, or work in a paddy field.

Nepal Trust  Providing health, education and community development facilities in the Hidden Himalayas.

The project is based in Humla, a culturally unique and fragile Himalayan region 400km NW of Kathmandu. People live in rocky terraced enclaves, and subsist from inter-village trade, livestock and food grains.

The nearest hospital is 14 days walk south, and child mortality is 20-30%. Most of the fatalities would be avoided with simple health care.

The Nepal Trust, founded in 1993, is asking for help on seven specific projects:-

1.  Building Health Centres

2.  Women's Welfare Service

3.  Treks to Build Health and Community

4.  Computer Education in Durbar

5.  Education and Development of Clean Water, Health and Sanitation

6.   The Redevelopment of Simikot Hospital

7.  50KW micro-hydro power project at Gothi Khola

The Nepal Trust have built four out of the seven planned Health Centres.  With local villagers trained by the Nepal Trust as health workers, much of the suffering caused by ill health and lack of education is being avoided.  Each Health Centre has clean water, latrines and electricity from solar panels.

A micro-hydro scheme is being planned using the abundant fast running water.

The Women's Welfare Service works with women on literacy, health education and community education, helping to find alternatives to living in poverty.

The Treks to build Health and Community take trekkers through some of the most remote routes in the Himalayas to help build the Health Centres, encouraging a different kind of tourism.

The Durbar High School Computer Project develops IT skills and a means of contacting students in other parts of the world for what is a geographically remote country.

Polio Plus In 1985, Rotary launched the PolioPlus program to protect children worldwide from the cruel and fatal consequences of polio. In 1988, the World Health Assembly challenged the world to eradicate polio. Since that time, Rotary's efforts and those of partner agencies, including the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and governments around the world, have achieved a 99 percent reduction in the number of polio cases worldwide.

In 2005 Rotary celebrates its own centenary and also stands at the brink of a great victory and look forward to celebrating the global eradication of polio.

Eradication Status

There are significant reasons to be optimistic about achieving our goal of global polio eradication by the end of this year.

1. The number of polio cases has been reduced by a projected 99 percent since Rotary and partner agencies formed the global polio eradication initiative — from 350,000 in 1988 to fewer than 1300 in 2004.

2. Three of six regions of the world are free of the wild poliovirus.

3. Despite intensive surveillance efforts, one of the three types of viruses (Type II) that cause polio has not been seen since 1999.

Could it be that it has already been eradicated?

The World Health Organisation will continue to promote active surveillance to determine this possibility.

Nevertheless, significant challenges lie ahead, including immunising all children, even those in remote, conflict areas, maintaining political commitment to polio eradication.

Given the tremendous progress so far achieved, the prospects of achieving global polio eradication are high.

Rotary looks forward to providing all children with a permanent gift, a world free of polio.

Sight saversTo act in time to prevent loss of sight, and to restore sight to curably blind people.

The programme in India provides Outreach Eye Camps, at which local people can have a free examination, allowing simple problems to be treated. In the event that there is a problem that needs hospital treatment, the patient can be referred to a purpose built Eye Hospital, run or supported by Indian Rotary Clubs.

The extent of need in India is staggering. The Budge Rotary Eye Hospital near Calcutta last year ran 46 Outreach Camps, treated nearly 20,000 patients, and performed 1,266 sight restoring cataract operations, through SSI, this story is repeated throughout India.

There are however an estimated 10,000,000 blind people in India, with over half of them suffering from curable blindness in the form of cataracts.

£250 Pays for a Screening Camp and surgery for Cataract Patients.

Rotary organises Eye Camps in India and elsewhere, to carry out eye surgery such cataract removal etc.

Rotary's African Vision (RAV) concentrates on training, equipping and deploying essential eye care workers.   Active in Uganda, Ghana and Malawi, RAV helps to fund an additional year of training for qualified and experienced nurses to become ophthalmic paramedics.

Vision Aid Spectacle Collection - To fund assistance in developing countries for those blighted by not being able to get adequate spectacles, or by other eyesight problems.

Rotary collect unwanted spectacles from whatever sources are available spectacle cases are not required.

Rotary arranges for them to be delivered to Vision Aid Overseas in Crawley.

From there, the spectacles are sent to prisons, where prisoners trained by VAO determine their prescription and sort and label them. They are then packed and shipped overseas, accompanied by volunteer groups of trained optometrists. The volunteers each pay up to £600 towards the project costs.

In the target countries, which include Zambia, Ghana, Malawi, Swaziland and India, the teams establish clinics and carry out eye tests for people in need.

They then dispense the correct spectacles.

VAO also trains nurses and other health workers in the target countries as well as donating optical instruments to enable the countries gradually to do more for themselves.

In the receiving country, the Vision Aid Overseas teams travel for two weeks at a time, holding eye clinics, and dispensing spectacles as required.   As a result of the collection and re-cycling, someone is able to make far more of their life.

VSO  Voluntary Service Overseas - Tackling poverty by sharing skills and helping people to realise their potential.

VSO enables people aged 17-70 to share their skills and experience with communities and organisations across the developing world.

Volunteers make a very real difference in tackling poverty by passing on their knowledge and experience and helping people to realise their potential.

There are currently 2,000 VSO volunteers in 74 developing countries working with local communities.

Water Aid is the UK's specialist development charity dedicated to the provision of safe domestic water, sanitation, and hygiene promotion to the world's poorest people.

In all its projects Water Aid:-

• Uses low cost technologies appropriate to local conditions.

• Involves communities in planning and constructing their new water supply.

• Provides solutions that are long term by training villagers in repairs and maintenance.

• Works in partnership with local organisations who are best placed to understand villages' needs.

• Integrates safe water with sanitation and hygiene education to achieve lasting health improvements.

To date, Water Aid funded projects have enabled over 6.1 million people to gain access to safe water.

Funds are still needed for Water Aid to continue its work, as 1.4 billion people in the world still do not have access to safe water.

Every 8 seconds a child in the developing world will die from disease caused by unsafe water.

Many Rotary Clubs have paid for the installation of bore holes, and wells, bringing safe water and effective sanitation to a village.

Water Aid works in fourteen countries in Africa and Asia.