Rotary’s relationship with the Global Partnership for Education is already having an impact, as incoming district governors learned at the International Assembly in January. “Together we are changing the lives of girls and other vulnerable children in the poorest corners of the world,” said Alice P. Albright, the organization’s chief executive officer, in her remarks about the relationship, formed in April 2020. “Rotary has a unique voice and standing on the global stage and in virtually every country. You can use that voice to advocate for more resources and then work with government leaders to ensure that they are distributed equitably.”

GPE is a multi-stakeholder partnership and global fund that facilitates improved outcomes and gender equity in education and supports large-scale changes to education systems around the world. In Rwanda, for example, GPE helped increase access to early childhood education by funding training for more than 5,500 teachers, developing teaching kits and play-based instructional materials, and building 400 schools. In Kenya, the organization helped implement a plan that included making primary education free, which increased enrollment from 72 percent in 2003 to 88 percent in 2012 and closed the gender gap, achieving nearly equal numbers of boys and girls in school. And in Pakistan, GPE provided funding for a distance-learning program that uses social media platforms, as well as radio, TV, and mobile phones, to keep students learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program may even help reach the 19 million children who were not attending school before the pandemic.

Editor’s Note: Jeremy Opperman is a member of Rotary’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion taskforce and a regular contributor to this blog on issues related to disability inclusion.

By Jeremy Opperman, Rotary Club of Newlands, Cape Town, South Africa

I had just finished keying in my pin number on the card reader at the supermarket checkout counter recently when the cashier turned to my friend and asked, “how does he know which buttons to press.”

Being completely inured to this sort of thing, I watched with interest to see how my friend would react. It is peculiar that when encountering a person with a disability, many people very often address the person accompanying them rather than addressing us directly.

As I expected, my friend, being worldly and level-headed, responded perfectly. She smiled (with her eyes, as her mask would have hidden her actual facial alteration) and said, “Why don’t you ask him, he is standing right in front of you.”

To her credit, the cashier did exactly that, although with some hesitation.

I enthusiastically explained the apparent magical mystery of how a blind person can key in their pin number into a card reader. The cashier was particularly fascinated to learn that every keypad has a raised dot on the 5 button allowing us to orientate to the other numbers on the keypad.

Top Photo: Jamie F. De Jesus Sr. and Natraj Shanker spoke to our club this morning on the Rotary Community Corp program on Formerly Incarcerated Individuals Rehabilitation Services. Pictured from left are Jamie F. De Jesus Sr., Natraj Shanker and club President Matt Wolf. Photo by Bob Blazich.

Bottom Photo: We also inducted our newest member Matthew Wolak during this morning's meeting. Pictured from left are Stacy Wolak, Matthew Wolak and Brian Monroe. Photo by Bob Blazich.