Rotary District Governor pleased with local clubs, urges dyslexia awareness

This country’s Rotary Clubs have received top marks from visiting district governor Milton Inniss.

Here on a visit last week, following his appointment to the position on July 1, Inniss, a Barbadian, lauded the Rotary Club of St Vincent, the Rotary Club South, and the Rotary Club {{more}}Bequia for the programmes that they have implemented and are involved in in their various communities.

Speaking at a press conference last Thursday, Inniss declared that he was impressed by their accomplishments and encouraged them in their projects for the upcoming year.

This country was the first stop on his planned calls on the 69 clubs in his district, which stretches from St Kitts in the north to Suriname in the south.

“This visit to Rotary Club of St Vincent ends my visit to St Vincent and I must say I have been very impressed by the breadth of projects the Rotary clubs in St Vincent have undertaken in past years and that they would continue to undertake and future projects that they have and I wish them all the very best in their endeavours.”

As part of his tenure, the district governor has encouraged the groups under his care to take up the challenge of coming to the aid of persons with the learning disorder dyslexia.

Inniss said dyslexia is a disorder that sometimes is not recognized, but which puts many of the region’s schoolchildren at a disadvantage.

He indicated that approximately 20 per cent of people in the world suffer from some form of the disorder and has asked that the clubs take a three-pronged approach to tackling the issue.

“One is to bring awareness to the communities by letting people know what dyslexia is, what is available in their community to help, and where to find help.

“The second approach is to adopt a child. Quite often children who have dyslexia or have a disorder might not be able to afford to have the treatment or they need to have the test. So I am asking clubs to look at that approach.

“And lastly we have not many people who are trained in special education in this district, people who could recognize when a child may have symptoms and so on and people who could train and assess, so I’m asking them also to look at that avenue as some way of helping.”

Local Rotary Club St Vincent president Shafia London, who hosted the press conference, indicated that her organization intends to make dyslexia awareness one of the Club’s priorities, during the upcoming year.