Also see
First-ever Rotaract Club in the
world for Blind Children
Rotary appeared in the area, now District 3270
(Pakistan and Afghanistan) in the year 1927 when
Rotary Club of
Lahore was chartered on 7th Dec 1927. The second club was chartered
in Karachi on 11th May 1933. The third was Hyderabad which received
its charter on 17th Nov 1938.
In 1942-43 these clubs belonged to the then District 88. It
comprised of areas from Bombay to Delhi. The first District Governor
elected from this district was Rev. R. C. Bartels of RC Hyderabad.
In 1945-46, Hiralal Srichand Bharvani also from RC Hyderabad was
elected governor. Dr. Dev Raj Narang of Rotary Club of Lahore was
the first District Governor of what is now Pakistan. He was the DG
in 1947-48.
Later, the southern area of Pakistan was districted to number 51 and
Rotarian Yussuff Nurmahomed Chinoy remained the Governor in 1954-55.
Re-districting of the area later resulted into two districts namely
310 comprising of areas from Kabul to Delhi and 305 from Karachi to
Bombay. In the year 1961-62 Syed Jameel H. Rizvi (later Justice) of
RC Lahore and Hakim Muhammad Ahson of RC Karachi were the Governors
simultaneously. In the late 60s, the then Pakistan (including East
Pakistan) was formed into one district 307. However, after
separation of Bangladesh the present entity of West Pakistan was
given the District 327 which was then assigned 3270 in 1995.
Since its inception in 1927, Rotary has done many service projects
including helping the earth quake victims of Quetta in 1935 and
helping the famine victims.
On 6 March 1936, Quaid-e-Azam, then Mr. Mohammad Ali Jinnah
addressed the Rotary club of Lahore when the Sikh movement was in
its offing. He said, " Our object should be peace within and peace
without. We want to live peacefully and maintain cordial and
friendly relations with our immediate neighbors and the world at
large. We have no aggressive designs against any one. "
Submitted by Rotary Global History RGHF Committee member
Florence Hui, Macau, 31 March
2006
First-ever Rotaract Club in the world for Blind
Children
INSTALLATION CEREMONY
Ida Rieu Rotaract Club
On second of February 2008, Rotary Club of Karachi made history by
inaugurating the first-ever Rotaract Club in the world for Blind
Children. The club is organized at the Ida Rieu School for Deaf and
Blind which has been teaching these physically-challenged kids for
over 86 years. RC Karachi has long had an association with the
school by helping in creating infrastructure, development of library
and providing hearing aides.
The idea of organizing a Rotaract Club was conceived by PDG Akhtar K
Alavi, who said at the occasion, "we have been helping the children
at Ida Rieu for decades, but they were always at the receiving end.
By organizing a Rotaract Club for them, we will enable them to help
themselves and become a more productive part of the society. It will
go a long way in building their morals and self esteem”.
The club has started functioning with 25 members; all of them are
sight-impaired. The children are very keen in developing community
service projects and are brimming with ideas. “Our first project
will be to create awareness in all schools of Karachi about the
precious gift of Eyes”, says the ambitious Nisar Awan, the founding
President of the Club.
The inaugural ceremony was attended by PDGs Akhtar K Alavi, Mohamed
Akbar, Club office- bearers and members of RC Karachi, members of
Rotaract Clubs of Karachi, Karachi Cosmopolitan and Karachi
Metropolitan, and Board Members of Ida Rieu School who all pledged
to support the activities of this budding Club.
Submitted by RGHF Member
Abbas Lavingia, Pakistan 31 March 2008 |
