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International Work

Health, Education and Economic development

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The Banbury Rotary Club International Committee works to give help and assistance directly to those individuals and countries where major disasters have happened throughout the world such as earthquakes and floods etc. It also carries out work with other humanitarian and educational projects often in developing countries, which are working to improve food production and dietary intake and Educational programmes etc.

Sierra Leonne Schools Project

In 2005 Rtn Alan Wolstencroft visited Sierra Leone, for 11 days, as a volunteer for the Charity Mercy Ships believing it would be a “one off” life experience, he has now been 13 times. He identified ways that he, with the support of the Club, could “make a real difference” working directly with communities.

Since 2007 Banbury Rotary Club has supported this project and it has become the Clubs preferred international project. During this period, we have supported development at 9 schools which has included the building and equipping of 41 new classrooms (21 with water harvesting & 9 with mains electricity), 9 toilet blocks (7 with water harvesting & handwash facilities), installation of 3 wells and a gravity fed water system and building a 2 bedroomed house for a severely disabled teenager and his carer. We have also undertaken refurbishment projects at several of the schools including the upgrading of a well and refurbishment of 18 classrooms.

You can read more up-to-the-minute information about this project here at the Alan’s Africa website


Help for Ukraine

Both as an individual club, and as part of the wider Rotary network we have providied help Ukraine with over £6m in cash and kind, and given more than 100,000 volunteer hours

  • sending notices to keep children away from minefields
  • several large generators to keep the lights on in Ukraine operating theatres
  • A fleet of 40 ambulances and medical supplies
  • Prefabricated buildings to accommodate Ukranians made homeless by Russian bombing of civilians


The Guru Asara Trust

Support for Guru Asara Trust

The Trust was founded by Mrs Kulbir Kaur Dhami to care for girls whose fathers had been killed by the Indian Police in a period of political troubles.

Banbury Rotarian Surinder Dhesi became aware of the Home through a YouTube video. A hundred girls were living in a small building which had been built as a 3 bedroom family house.

In 2018 Surinder visited to see the conditions for herself. Some girls slept on the floor, others on bunk beds (3-4 girls to one single bed). The dining room was so small that half the girls sat in the park next door to the Home to eat. Surinder shared information about the Charity with fellow Banbury Rotarians, who all supported the idea of educating and helping these children in a new larger building.

They now have a new building where they can house more girls of all backgrounds. Some of the girls are from families that are too poor to afford to care for them, others are of families where the main males are drug addicts or children that have been abandoned by their birth parents for the simple fact that they gave birth to a girl (rather than a boy). They have also purchased a bus which they use to transport the girls to their respective schools.

Banbury Rotary Club contributes towards the Trust further to improve its provision.

Keynan Kids Concert

The Club has also given concerts to raise money for a charity called Keynan Kids which supports child protection and the education of children – especially but not exclusively girls and strives to offer a them a future for example by purchase of land and creation of farms from which they can develop a sustainable self-reliant lifestyle.

Polio Eradication

In normal (non-pandemic) times the club runs major events to raise money in what is called the ‘Purple 4 Polio’ campaign which is part of Rotary’s global campaign to eradicate polio across the world.
When a child receives their life-saving polio drops on mass polio immunisation days, their little finger is painted with a purple dye so it is clear they have received their polio vaccine.
Rotary’s pledge for a polio free world was made in 1985 when there were 125 polio endemic countries and hundreds of new cases every single day. In the past few years, only two countries have reported cases of polio caused by the wild poliovirus but no child anywhere is safe until every child has been fully vaccinated.
Thanks to Rotary, and the support of our partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, there are now just two countries still classed as endemic: Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Shelter Boxes

At the time of writing, more than 104 million people around the world have been made homeless by disaster and conflict. Shelter Box provides emergency shelter and tools for families robbed of their homes by disaster, transforming despair into hope. Banbury Rotary both supports and helps publicise Shelter Box.

Most recenly we purchased these for use in the Syria Earthquake.


Aqua Box

Provide in the wake of both man-made and natural disasters a rapid response provision of safe drinking water and welfare aid items.

This comprises of a rigid re-enforced plastic container and a single Filter/Purification set with an 1100 litre capability. The box comprises of 75 litre containers, 30 Filter/Purification sets with a 33,000 litre capability.

Banbury Rotary supports the AquaBox Project.

Anniversaries: Happy & Sad – 23 Feb 2024

Speaker Report – European Exchange – 9 to 12 May 2024

Speaker Report: Alan’s Africa Update – Dec 2023

Alan’s Africa Report – Dec 2023

Donations in lieu of Cards – Dec 2023

Alan’s Africa Report – Nov 2023

Purple for Polio – Crocus Planting: Nov 2023

Rotary statement on Gaza – Oct 2023