Rotary Club Malta was chartered on 6^th October 1967. The Charter Certificate was presented to our founder President Anthony Miceli Farrugia by Luther Hodges International President of Rotary International. The charter dinner was held at the Phoenicia Hotel. 

Several distinguished guests were invited to attend, inclusive of Sir Maurice Dorman, the then Governor of Malta, Dr. George Borg Olivier, Prime Minister of Malta and Archbishop Mgr. Sir Michael Gonzi. Several foreign Rotarians also attended the Charter Celebration.

 

As was Rotary policy at the time, Rotary Club Malta held a low profile on the services the club provided to the community for many years after it was formed. 

 

Throughout the 52 years since the club has been founded, the Club has received recognition for its community services in Malta and overseas. In November 1991, during the presidency of William Caruana, the Club was involved in the setting up of Dar il-Kaptan, a respite home for the disabled.

 

In 1992 the club was involved in the setting up of San Blas Rehabilitation Centre for Drug Addicts, providing the highest levels of care and assistance to those needing help.

 

Rotary club Malta members have also been prompt to support and help areas hit by disasters and poverty. In 2004 a school was built and furnished in a small village in Sri Lanka that was hit by the devastating tsunami. It was also the time that our club contributed towards the building cost for a boys’ home for orphans and poor children in Tamil Nadu in Southern India. This area was also badly hit by the same tsunami where many lives and homes were lost.

 

The club has supported a Gozitan priest of the Missionary Society of Saint Paul in Arequipa, Peru with building and furnishing of four classrooms for poor children, a school for which the State provided the teaching staff.

 

In 2008 our club also set up a Telecentre in Ankober, Ethiopia, where there was a great shortage of Electronic Equipment. The Telecentre we provided was powered by solar panels, supported by a diesel-powered generator. We also supplied five computers, a printer, a photocopier, a TV, a projector and screen. We also paid for the training of a manager to run the centre and to teach the locals how to use the equipment.

 

We then moved to Uganda and installed five solar panels at a childrens home and a PV electrical system to provide electricity to a small section of the village, where electricity supply was very unreliable.

 

We did not stop there and set up a primary school with boarding facilities in a small poor village on Nkose Island in Lake Victoria, Uganda  where there  was no school for the children. At present, there are more than 100 children attending this school. Our contribution was a joint effort together with a generous donation from the Malta Government Overseas Development Aid Budget, and Kids of Africa, a Swiss based orphanage near Entebbe, Uganda, which provided local support to erect and complete the project.

Our club has also made donations to support earthquake victims from time to time depending on available funds at the time. In 2017 we contributed towards equipping an ambulance of the Malta Red Cross, and decorated it with nursery rhyme  pictures, to be used specifically to transport sick children. 

 

Our present premier project is the construction of another school: Rotary Kanjukia School, in an impoverished area in Luwero, Northern Uganda, with the combination of club funds and those of the Malta Government Overseas Development Aid Budget. Funds from the Rotary Foundation will be used to equip the school.  

 

Work started in May 2019 and is overseen by Kids of Africa and the Rotary Club Bwebajja, Entebbe. So far, a six-classrooms block and a four classrooms block have been built, and roofed over. The toilet block is nearly completed, and the administration block has just started to be built. The school is expected to be completed and functional by the first quarter of 2020. Due to additional works approved by our members to install running water in the Toilets and kitchen there is a shortfall of funds that still need to be raised. 

We are now in the process of another large project. Our club, together with Rotary Club La Valette and an international club in Italy, are in the process of launching a joint scheme to finance the furnishing of 16 bedrooms at the new Malta Hospice building still in construction at Santa Venera, and to be completed by the first quarter 2021. 

 

Our club together with clubs worldwide contribute annually towards financing the eradication of polio worldwide.  The Rotary Foundation, together with WHO and UNICEF set up a Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988 to combat and eradicate polio. Rotarians also administer the vaccine when medical services are not adequate in third world countries. Since the campaign was introduced, the number of worldwide cases has been reduced to nearly extinction.

 

Rotary Club Malta and Rotary Club La Valette have provided scholarships through the Rotary Foundations to graduates to further their studies internationally in areas that match the Rotary Foundation's Areas of Focus. 22 students have benefitted and received grants that have assisted them to achieve their goals. 

 

Our club has sponsored the setting up of Rotary Club La Valetta and Rotary Club Gozo, and we all form part of District 2110, Sicily and Malta. Our club has had the honour of having five District Governors with John de Giorgio being the last in 2017/18.

Our club welcomed lady members in January 2018, and our first member was Sue Simons.  We have since had a number of other lady members joining our club.

 

We are always on the look out to recruit younger leaders as prospective members for our club to help continue to provide service to our communities.

 

Another important aim of Rotary is to foster friendships and fellowship locally, and worldwide. It is therefore important for our participation at club meetings and events.

 

Our club has an interesting history, and has achieved a lot, however we must strive to practice our motto “Service above self.” And always be on the lookout to support worthy causes. May we continue to retain the standards set by us so far.