Rotary Australia World Community Service

A guiding hand for Rotary.

Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) has played a crucial supporting role for Australia’s Rotary clubs since 1987. Here, Friends of Himalayan Children Project Manager Rita Zappulla shares how RAWCS has helped bring clarity and momentum to the initiative.

International service is the fourth of Rotary’s five Avenues of Service. About 60 years ago, a group of Australians, led by Past District Governor Keith Hopper of Inverell, NSW, rebelled against what they saw as a general lack of energy towards facilitating meaningful change overseas. They formed a group called ‘Fourth Avenue in Motion’, trying to overturn the sentiment of ‘there’s nothing we can do’ when it came to faraway issues. Their first project was the repair of the Indonesian orphanage that had inspired the movement. Soon they were rebuilding hospitals, advising on crop development in Java, shipping surplus medical equipment to developing countries, and working on village water supply projects. If something needed doing abroad, FAIM tried its best to be there.

These origins soon grew into a much more ambitious model. Re-incorporating as Rotary Australia World Community Service in 1987, they began to take on problems of scale in an advisory capacity, consolidating their expertise in overseas project work to assist clubs throughout Australia.

And so RAWCS established itself as a comprehensive engine room, available to help any project that fits within certain categoric parameters (viewable in the ‘Rotarian Centre’ on the RAWCS website). It also reaches right to the top of Australia’s Rotary structure. All district governors are members, and they select the Board of Directors.

RAWCS-guided projects now span the globe – much further than just Indonesia and Java.

Incoming District 9560 Governor Rita Zappulla’s project takes place in Nepal, working with a local non-profit. Friends of Himalayan Children is an independent humanitarian organisation founded in 2007, with a focus on improving education for Nepalese youth. They have already successfully expanded the Batase Village school and increased the range of grades offered.

In 2016, however, a devastating earthquake struck the village, leaving behind infrastructure damage and casualties that have had a lasting impact.

This partnership, between the Rotary Club of Cairns Sunrise, Qld, the Rotary Club of Balaju, Nepal, and Friends of Himalayan Children, hopes to raise the necessary $500,000 to build a complete school accommodation block.

This one hostel will have huge follow-on effects. Currently, students must walk upwards of two hours each way to attend school, which leads to fatigue and high drop-out rates. Girls in particular are encouraged to simply stay home and attend to domestic tasks. Skilled teachers are also more likely to stay with the school for longer if given suitable living spaces.

Rita explains that, currently, many girls are at risk of being trafficked due to losing one parent in the earthquake and the other remarrying, and so safe, reliable accommodation for students is instrumental to their futures. It’s a project that Hopper’s Fourth Avenue in Motion would have been very proud of.

Rita, who has officially selected this as her 2026-27 partner project as district governor, is thankful for the help RAWCS has given so far. In helping her team establish tax-deductible status and completely managing their accounts, RAWCS has been instrumental in helping the initiative get to work.

“The paperwork to register the project turned out to be much easier than expected. Following our visit to Nepal to inspect the site, the Rotary Club of Cairns Sunrise is motivated and re-invigorated to see this project succeed. Hearing the impact of our help and FHC’s sponsorship has touched our heart and inspired us,” Rita says.

• To read more about Rita’s partner project, visit rotary9560.org/fhc
• For more information about RAWCS, visit rawcs.org.au/about-rawcs
• Download RAWCS’s resources for overseas aid initiatives at rawcs.org.au/operational-guidelines-templates