The Rotary Club of Bendigo Market Place
MY ROTARY​
People join Rotary for all kinds of reasons and with all kinds of personal motivations. Some find great fulfilment in organising a BBQ to raise funds for local community needs, some are committed to helping organise major events and projects.
Rotary funds are used in life saving commitments both locally and all over the world.
You bring the passion, we can help with the purpose.
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Check out some 'Rotary Moments' that have inspired members to pursue their passions with a commitment to the Rotary mantra of 'Service above Self'.​
My Rotary Moment whilst working in Nepal.
On a trip to a hill village in Nepal as part of a Rotary Club of Bendigo Water Tank Project, a little boy was identified who was not joining in with other children. An assessment of the little boy, Sushil, by a visiting ENT surgeon, subsequently revealed he was profoundly deaf as a result of infantile meningitis. His only hope of 100% hearing was a Cochlear Ear Implant at a cost of $20,000. Through many fantastic people, the Rotary Club of Bendigo, Inner Wheel, Ausnep Foundation, the Foundation in Nepal, the surgeons in Kathmandu and private benefactors, the money was raised.
It was decided that Sushil was a bright boy, very inquisitive and eager to learn which made him eminently suitable for the implant. Sushil had the operation and after a period of recovery, the implant was switched on!
Sushil could hear sound!!
The process of learning what the sounds were and how to speak began, but a problem arose with his father having to return to their hill village to work their plot of land and feed the family.
Further money was needed to keep Sushil in Katmandu.
If Sushil went back with his dad, all would have been for nothing. The Speech Therapy was vitally important. With much discussion with a local Foundation it was decided that Sushil would live at the Foundation boarding school where he has an assistant who helps with his learning and takes him to the speech therapist and then go home at the weekends.
The scarves and goods from Seven Women of Nepal that Bendigo Rotary are selling are raising funds for Sushil's board and lodgings, speech therapy and schooling. Bendigo Rotary is trying to raise $2000 in total and $1200 has just gone into Sushil's account at the foundation
Through Rotary we have changed the future for a little boy in a hill village in Nepal!!
Who knows what he will do with his life, but now he can hear birds sing, dogs bark and people laugh.
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Nepal’s first cochlear implant outside Kathmandu took place at the Ear Centre, at INF’s Green Pastures Hospital, Pokhara.in 2020.
Cochlear implants have been proven to be beneficial for children who are born deaf and have been a boon for those who cannot hear completely.