THE BEGINNING
When in November 1989, representatives of the Paris Rotary club attended the Charter night of the Warsaw Rotary Club, they did not come empty handed. A crate full of medical equipment destined for a Polish hospital went with them but their long term aim was not Poland, it was Bucharest Romania. Then still under the grips of dictator Ceausescu. On 29 December 1989, the downfall of Ceausescu occurred , and not long thereafter a Paris club member departed for Bucharest as a "scout " to see how French Rotary could assist in the immediate post Ceausescu days. It is a matter of record that a certain Andy Bolsakov was a critical contact man for the Frenchman, Andy introducing him to a number of people in Bucharest, most of whom turned out to be future charter Members of the Bucharest Rotary club. Those were very sensitive days and the Parisian was taken to the centre of Bucharest and shown the flowers and crosses erected for all the young who had died to regain true independence for Romania . It became immediately obvious that the libraries were bereaved of good reference books , both at the central and University libraries. Upon his return to Paris the club immediately set out to restock the libraries and to reestablish the cultural links which for so long had existed between Romania and France. An amazing 22 tones of books comprising some 60,000 books left for Bucharest , where after arrival , Andy Bolsakov arranged to exhibit the sheer size of the gift .
It did not take much in order to get the entire District 1660 behind the Romania project, and as our picture shows in January 1990 , everyone got on board . The Rotarians found or purchased medical equipment and medicines for a Bucharest hospital, Rotaractors and Inner Wheelers wrapped, packed and loaded the gear into a truck, and thus began an era of close support by French Rotary for their Romanian friends.
Parisian Rotarians and Rotaractors loading a truck with medical aid for a Bucharest hospital
On 12 May 1992 with R I President Rajendra Saboo and Minister of state Adrian Nastase and a number of Paris Club members in attendance, the Charter was handed by the French Governor to Charter President Andrei Aubert-Combiescu, Director of the Medical Research Institute Cantacuzino. This gentleman also headed the Romanian "Polio Plus" campaign, and received the French decoration of "Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur" (Knight in the Legion of honor) to mark the occasion.
Rotary was reborn in Romania …..
Polio Plus campaign in Romania in March 1996
And they come bringing their kids for Polio vaccinations 1996
| Rotary Projects in Romania |
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