Rotary International needs another cause

Rotary International needs another cause. Forgive my presumption if I say that the cause should be HIV/AIDS, and Rotary Canada could well be the advocate body that makes the case at the international level. And if you want a focus, in addition to the inevitable work on the ground, perhaps that focus can be on a vaccine. I know that there are already Canadian members of Rotary who are pursuing the international possibilities.

But I can add, in an intensely personal way, that you are also making an extraordinary contribution to the Foundation which bears my name. When my daughter and I decided to establish the Foundation in March/April of last year, we had no idea that Rotary, and the unions and the churches, and what feels like a legion of individuals would be so profoundly generous. The Foundation has now received in that relatively brief space of time, over a million dollars, with minimal solicitation, and we're getting the money out as responsibly and quickly as possible to a number of grass-roots projects in several countries, addressing issues of palliative care, and orphans, and yes, grandmothers, and associations of people living with AIDS . fundamentally all of the groups who are so vulnerable and so incredibly poor, and yet can perform miracles of human intervention with a few thousand dollars.

It makes me proud to be a Canadian. There's a real yearning in this country often expressed through Rotary to extend a hand of help to the uprooted and disinherited of the world. People are so intensely caring, so intensely generous, wanting to make a personal difference as a kind of antidote to the cynicism about governments. I hope that that cynicism changes, and quickly, but until it does, all of the wonderful Canadian NGOs and Foundations, who make such a difference in the lives people lead in developing countries, are truly worthy of support.

In terms of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, I can't thank you enough. I'm 66 years old; I've had the privilege of working in politics, diplomacy and multilateralism: I've never encountered a cause more consuming than
the battle against HIV/AIDS.