Fallbrook Rotary making a difference in South Africa

After being inoculated and taking malaria pills, Dave Breeding, past president of Fallbrook Rotary, and his wife Marilee flew for 36 hours to reach Durban, South Africa, where they spent 10 days.

The Rotary Club’s motto is “Service Above Self” and the Breedings are living that motto. They accompanied a group of Rotarians from the San Diego District to do what Rotarians do best: work! They are part of the San Diego District group that is trying to alleviate some of the pressure from the Rotary groups in South Africa. “We were looking at projects that <African> Rotary groups are doing and partnering with them,” said Dave.

The group selected South Africa because they were concerned about the Zulu Tribe’s orphans of the AIDS epidemic. Dave explained, “Almost a whole generation of parents are dying. There are a million AIDS orphans in South Africa right now, but they project two and a half billion by the time the epidemic peaks in 2010.”

Larry Rothacher of Fallbrook Rotary explained that the ‘Matching Grants’ program couples local Rotary Clubs with Rotary Clubs in the Zulu Nation. “That way we are certain the project is needed, and the money, the people’s time and other assistance goes directly to the project, not through, or between, governments.”

The Breedings were impressed with the city of Durban. “It is very beautiful – the buildings are very modern and there are good roads,” said Marilee. “In the rural areas you start to see the small huts and block houses, but it is still very clean and neat.”

“The kids in the schools have clean uniforms and, for the most part, they looked happy,” said Dave. “They didn’t have books or desks for every child, but they still looked happy.”

“There is a lot of hope in the community,” Dave noted. “In South Africa you don’t see the rampant starvation, but the AIDS epidemic is setting the country back. It is a massive and overwhelming project to the government.”

Dave noticed that, since there are few men, women have risen as leaders in the community. The San Diego group took food to one woman who has taken in 52 orphans. Another woman feeds 500 out of food from a garden that she tends. “It illustrates the power of a single person,” said Dave.

“They are doing pretty well with building and staffing schools but are not planning on constructing many orphanages,” Dave explained.

“Their philosophy is to try to keep the orphans in the homes, and many of these children are heads-of-household at twelve years old,” said Marilee. The government gives them some support to help them complete school and care for their siblings. The homes are one-room huts, but the government feels that it is better for the children to stay as a family than to be raised in an institution.

In many cases they will give a stipend to a grandparent to care for two children, but if there are more children, the grandparent must choose which grandchildren to support. “Grandparents are put in an impossible situation to choose the children to support, and as a grandparent myself I don’t know how I could choose,” said Marilee.

The Breedings visited hospitals where they saw dying infants. Mothers sat by their children’s cribs on two-foot-long wooden benches until the children died. The hospital gave the mothers food and allowed them to take showers, but the floor was the only place to sleep.

“The trip educated us so we could come back and tell others… it is overwhelming, but you have to start somewhere,” said Marilee. “We don’t know… the child we help may turn out to be the next Nelson Mandela.”

Upcoming projects in Durban include sending a Cal State University San Marcos professor to the University of KwaSulu Natal to study the burgeoning AIDS problem. An African economic scholar will be sent by Rotary to study at San Diego State and another will be taking classes at the University of San Diego Institute for Peace and Justice.

The San Diego Rotary District will also support the installation of ram pumps to irrigate crop gardens for the communities in Durban. They are also equipping a resuscitation room to stabilize emergency patients in Greytown and improving the water supply for the Jubulani Self Help Centre, which assists the poor and disadvantaged.

Rotarians say that they are world’s largest non-governmental humanitarian organization. For more information on Fallbrook Rotary access the Web site http://www.fallbrookrotary.org. The Rotary International Web address is http://www.rotary.org.