IT IS an award for "outstanding service to humanity" and only six women throughout the world earn the accolade each year.
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Tomorrow in New York, Wingham resident Lucy Hobgood-Brown will be presented with the Rotary 'Global Women of Action' award at its Rotary Day at the United Nations.
Lucy is a community development specialist and educator with more than 30 years of experience living and working in nine countries.
She is the co-founder of HandUp Congo, a non-profit organisation that strategically links existing and potential collaborators with grassroots community initiatives in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where she grew up. Working with Rotary clubs, she helped raise funds to support public health infrastructure for Ebola containment in the Congo in 2014.
Lucy has lent her skills to community projects for the Rotary clubs of Taree and Wingham and was part of the team that organised the cultural connections festival, Africa Comes to the Manning Valley.
Rotary International president Ravi Ravindran said "through hard work, dedication and selflessness, Rotary's 'Global Women of Action' embody Rotary's motto, service above self, and I extend my warmest congratulations for the outstanding service to humanity."
"Every day at Rotary I see first-hand how our members work to change lives and make significant impact around the world," Mr Ravindran said.
The other 'Global Women of Action' are:
- Kerstin Jeska-Thorwart from Nuremberg in Germany: A member of the Rotary Club of Nurnberg-Sigena, Jeska-Thorwart is the creator of the 'Baby Hospital Galle' project, which she launched after surviving the devastation of the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka. With a budget of USD 1.8 million and the support of 200 Rotary clubs and 6000 members, the project rebuilt and equipped the Mahamodara Teaching Hospital in Galle, Sri Lanka. In the 11 years since its inception, the project has helped more than 150,000 children and provided healthcare services to more than 2.2 million women.
- Dr Hashrat A. Begum from Dhaka in Bangladesh: A member of the Rotary Club of Dhaka North West, Begum has been at the forefront of women's health in Bangladesh, implementing several large scale projects to deliver health care to underserved communities. She works to organise free weekend clinics for slum dwellers, providing vocational training to girls who have dropped out of school, empowering women to earn livelihoods as seamstresses, and working to raise awareness of social and health issues among young people. Begum also works to fund a clinic for the people of Washpur, a densely populated slum township outside of Dhaka with virtually no access to clean water or health facilities.
- Dr Deborah Walters from Troy, Maine in the United States: A member of the Rotary Club of Unity, Walters, a neuroscientist, has served as the director and supporter of Safe Passage (Camino Seguro), a non-profit organisation that helps to provide educational and social services to children and families who live in the Guatemala City garbage dump. Walters also led an initiative to improve water systems and build latrines for people living in and around the dump.
- Razia Jan from Wellesley, Massachusetts in the United States: A member of the Rotary Club of Duxbury, Jan, an Afghan native living in the United States, has worked for decades to build connections between Afghans and Americans while improving the lives of young women and girls in Afghanistan. She is the founder and director of the Zabuli Education Center, a school that serves more than 430 girls in Deh'Subs, Afghanistan. The school teaches the girls mathematics, English, science, and technology, as well as providing practical skills, preparing them to succeed and achieve economic freedom within a challenging social environment. She was recognized as a CNN Hero in 2012.
- Stella Dongo from Harare in Zimbabwe: A member of the Rotary Club of Highlands, Stella Dongo leads the Community Empowerment Project in Zimbabwe. The project provides basic business skills and computer training to more than 6000 women and youth infected or affected by HIV in urban Harare. She is working to expand the project to serve an additional 600 participants in the region. She has served on the boards of World Vision Zimbabwe and Women's University Africa.
