Rotaract club Belgrade

Youth and Profession - Ambassadors of good will

Rotaract is an international project created by Rotary clubs which includes young people aged between 18-30, and it allows its members to grow both personally and professionally through spreading good will and working with one another. Education, success, humanity and above all friendship are the values that tie the young individuals at RAC Belgrade


By SANJA PANJESKOVIĆ
from Belgrade, SERBIA
Translation: ALEKSANDRA ĆOSIĆ


On the occasion of Easter holidays Rotaract Club Belgrade visited the Institute of Oncology and Radiology within the action "Easter Bunny for the kids smile", where they prepared magician and clowns' play for the children suffering from cancer and shared gifts to make every child smile.

- With action "Easter Bunny" we managed, at least for one day, to turn this brave children's thoughts from serious problems. Laugh, joy, and positive energy that we met revived the spirit of Easter holidays, and spending time with these kids we learned a lot about power of life and hard fight - says Milana Jurišić, a member of Rotaract club Belgrade.

Education, success, humanity and above all friendship are the values that tie the young individuals at RAC Belgrade. That which sets them apart from members of other organizations is that they place ethics and service to the community above their personal aims, adhering to the international Rotary motto "Service above Self".

Rotaract is an international project created by Rotary clubs which includes young people aged between 18-30, and it allows its members to grow both personally and professionally through spreading good will and working with one another.

The sound of the Rotaract bell which begins the RAC Belgrade's meetings can be heard every Tuesday in Skadarlija street, the traditional location of congregation for members of this organization. Here these young people put their personal agendas and obligations aside and focus entirely on using their resources and potential to lend a helping hand to those who need it most.

- The prerequisite needed for an individual to become a member of the Rotaract club is that they need to be a prominent member of their profession. After all every one of us feels that our professions give us additional opportunities to better serve the community. At our meetings we devise our projects with the intention of using the knowledge and connections that we gained from our professions to fulfill the special needs of others and to improve the quality of life in our community says Vladimir Mitrović, president of RAC Belgrade.

He points out that before every action members of Rotaract have to pass a test on work ethics, better known as the "Four Questions test" which go as follows: Is it true? Is it fair to all the participants? Does it contribute to distributing good will and enhancing friendships? Will it benefit to all the participants?

The spreading of goodwill is affirmed by the number of charitable projects organized by this club: from socializing with orphans from orphanage "Dragutin Filipovic - Jusa" ( excursions to the zoo, theatre and museum of aviation...), interacting with with children suffering from cancer at the Institute of Oncology (handing out Easter goodie bags and organizing a magician and clown), visiting care home Vozdovac (raffle, film projection, cultural and musical evening) to organizing themed events at which we gathered contributions for various institutions. (women in safe houses, women suffering from breast cancer, people suffering of aids, people with sight impairment and people with autism. As voluntary blood donors, members of the RAC Belgrade supported a number of projects such as "Blood means life" and "We all participate".

In the realization of these projects RAC Belgrade had support from those who care about the society that we live in, such as newspapers "Danas" and "Lisa", publishing house "BIGZ", JAZAS, project Dance4Life, Institute for Oncology and Radiology, theatre "Dusko Radovic" and many more.

Apart from the humanitarian activities, Rotaract club Belgrade also engages in educational activities. An example of such is "Vocational awareness for high schoolars"- a project that will take place in Belgrade's secondary schools. Also an interactive film will be shown on traffic rules for young pedestrians of pre-school age, and preparing a film on the dangers of drug abuse for elementary school students. As a special project of Rotaract club Belgrade will be to raise awareness of the environment.



(Published: 10.04.2010.)