On Wednesday, April 27, it was a great day to be a Rotarian as RCAA celebrated the Robert S Northrup Humanitarian Awards. Dr. Henry Maicki and Manish Mehta, PhD told inspiring stories of how their humanitarian service improved the lives of others.
Dr. Henry Maicki, Marlenn (wife), Sandra (daughter), Rick (son), Henry (son) and friends as well as fellow Rotarians from West Bloomfield Rotary joined us in person and on Zoom.
Dr. Maicki thanked many of his fellow volunteers from Orphan Medical Network International (OMNI) for the opportunity to serve the people of Zambia for the last 20 years. He thanked RCAA for this recognition and described his work as his passion that brought him so much joy. He shared stories from his many trips to Zambia and the wonderful people, many of whom live in very small “houses” with no running water or toilets. He spoke proudly of the OMNI George School in Ndola that started from one man teaching with a chalk and blackboard to the modern building now proudly serving 360 students with an excellent passing rate. He shared that his next challenge is to help OMNI establish the first domestic violence shelter in Zambia after caring for a woman in the clinic that showed evidence of domestic violence and was in the care of her husband and mother-in-law. It was most inspiring to hear how much good can be done in the world.
Manish Mehta, Varsha (wife), Vishal (son), Anshul (son) and Shreena (daughter-in-law) as well as friends and many Rotarians from Rotary Club of Ann Arbor North joined us in person and on Zoom. Many of Manish’s international project partners joined us on Zoom from Africa, Singapore, and India.
Manish is a second-generation Rotarian, and his son was in Interact at Huron High School, so he shared that Rotary has been a part of three generations of his family. His father’s work took his family to many countries, Singapore, Malaysia, Africa, to mention a few, so his international interest started early in life.
He spoke passionately about his work in the Sundarbans, India where Rotary global grants provided over 1300 home toilets as well as vocational training for rural women-run households to raise their families out of poverty. A Global Grant project with Rotary Clubs of Chandragiri, Nepal and Singapore that built four school sanitation system and a pond restoration project after the 2015 earthquake in Nepal.
His most recent global grant (May 2020-December 2021) was a $90,000 Pandemic Relief Grant for Detroit which provided PPE and food assistance to 20 area hospitals, nursing homes, dental clinics, and food banks.
Manish thanked his fellow Rotarians locally, nationally as well as around the world for their support in meeting the needs of others to improve their health and lift them out of poverty.
Everyone left with a smile knowing that each of these awardees had made a difference in the lives of others!!
