Rotarians in District 6220, as well as other parts of the country are responding to a chronic serious shortage of medical equipment, blankets and supplies in southern Africa. The program consists of collecting salvageable medical materials and shipping them for use where they are needed so desperately. The idea is the result of a visit in 1991 by the Group Study Exchange (GSE) Team from Rotary District 9250. The team of five women included two medical doctors from Zimbabwe, Dr. Elizabeth Gibson and Dr. Dawn Reeler. In their visits to Rotary clubs in District 6220, the doctors freely discussed the shortage of the simplest medical supplies and equipment and the high incidence of AIDS. The following year PDG Dick Calder and RT Jerry Otteson visited the area and confirmed the tremendous need. It was then that the district-wide project was initiated . . . to collect reusable medical supplies from our district for shipment to southern Africa. In April 1993 the first shipment of nearly 6000 pounds of excellent supplies was sent to Harare, Zimbabwe. There was district-wide support from hospitals and doctors and Rotarians. The project also received help along the way from other organizations and individuals across the country. The Southern Africa Medical Project is a recycling program for the salvage of reusable medical equipment, blankets, supplies and pharmaceuticals. These materials are being collected by Rotary District 6220 in northeastern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan . . . and are being sent to Rotary District 9210 in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia. This effort is designed to support the Rotary World Community Service mission in third world countries.

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