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Rotarians involved in the Nepal Service Projects (December 2024) speak about their experiences of the four projects in Nepal at the Rotary District 9815 Conference 29 March 2025

Rotary KOSHISH Garden Project Nepal:   

One of the projects brought to life through the contribution of Mornington Peninsula's Rotaract 2.0 members during a visit to Nepal in December 2024, and working together with local Rotary Clubs and Rotaractors. 

About the Project:

KOSHISH is a new emergency mental health facility for women in Pharping, a semi-rural location near Kathmandu in Nepal, funded basically from foreign aid mainly from Japan. 

The project will use their 1,500 square metres of usable, gently undulating land inside and outside their gated compound to plant a sustainable fruit and vegetable garden, including 100 grafted fruit trees and vegetables. There is a good water supply, which is gravity-fed from a nearby stream.

Outcomes and Benefits:  The project will add value to the economic viability of the Centre and complement the psychological outcomes for the women patients.   It will

(a)   Reduce the food bill for the Centre, and help make the Centre sustainable in the longer term

(b)   Provide a future source of income once the trees are established

(c)   Improved mental health when working in nature and focusing on caring for the plants, having a purpose and being motivated and organized, thereby leading to higher self-esteem

(d)   Enable the patients to be trained in organic farming techniques and skills that they can take back to their villages – and thus become productive members of their community.

For more information click here

The Club has been closely involved and supported this project through:

• A grant of $3,000 for kitchen equipment in 2022-23
• $12,500 contributed from 2023 to 2025 to create a sustainable fruit and vegetable garden
• $9,500 donated in 2024-25 year 

End Polio Now - supported through the Rotary Foundation

End Polio Now is part of a Global Polio Initiative, run with United Nations organisations and supported 50/50 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 

We are part of an international community who step up to take on the world's toughest challenges. The eradication of polio is one of our longest standing and most significant efforts.  Along with our partners, we have helped immunize more than 2.5 billion children against polio in 122 countries.

Interplast - Changing Futures through Medical Care and Training

Interplast provides life-changing and reconstructive surgery to patients, related medical services and training for staff in developing nations in the Pacific and Asia. 

Through a collaboration with Rotary Clubs across the Peninsula, a scholarship has been provided for a surgeon to study in Melbourne.  Our Club again contributed $2,000 to this project in 2024-25.

Rotarians Against Malaria (RAM) 

In 2019, 67% of all malaria deaths were children under 5 - that's 274,000 children.

Rotary Rosebud-Rye contributed $2,000 in the 2023/2024 year to help provide bed nets and indoor residual sprayers, which are used to protect vulnerable women and children from this deadly disease.

Pictured: A new bed net on its way to a new home.