During November 2006 three members of the Rotary Club of Somerset
Levels with partners made the long journey to see the results of the
above. The Rotary 3060 Dolls Museum is located in the city of Rajkot
in the State of Gujarat, North West India. This unique Museum aims
to give an overview of the culture and traditions of the world at
large through seeing and learning from ethnic dolls. One of the
results of this project is being able to support History, Geography,
Art, Hairdressing and Dressmaking lessons. Another is for the
children of Rajkot to "visit our world" and learn about its people
and cultures without leaving their city boundaries. With the
addition of the Children's Creativity Centre and its Library it now
has a capability to: -
further educate the poor children of Rajkot
help children learn foreign languages, customs, manners
practice Dramatics, Art and Music
deliver some Technology/Computer Education
develop alternative employment opportunities for the poor
children
give awareness to youths about drug related abuse
make available protected cyber space mainly for the poor
children
give unique training to the better off to build future
Rotarians
give further education/finishing school
provide a small cinema where documentaries are shown to the
children who visit the museum. Documentaries include great
inventions of the world, countries, culture, environment and moral
lessons.
Rotary Clubs from over 300 districts across the world have
generously
supplied over 1,500 Dolls to the Rotary Club of Rajkot Midtown. Each
doll received has been placed in one of the purpose built unique
glass show cases. Some of these cases have slanted sides and all
have been positioned at child height. The different shapes of the
cases represent the way children stand or pose. A mirrored
background allows the children to see both the front and the rear of
the dolls. Often children are seen trying to make the same
expression as the dolls face in the mirrored background.
Rotarian Nimit Kamdar created the interior design for the museum
which is absolutely stunning. The Indian Institute of Interior
Design placed it in the top five designs for the year 2005 which
speaks for itself. Thanks to Mrs Preeti Maniar, Rotarian Anns Mrs
Minaxi Agrawal and Beena Sanghani, supported by many others, the
dolls are displayed surrounded with lots of media/models which give
a
truer feeling of being in the region/country the doll represents.
All show cases have plaques displaying details of the Rotary
Club/Region/Country that supplied
each doll. Audio back-up support
in local and foreign languages is available within consoles adjacent
to each of the show cases.
We were absolutely delighted with all that we saw and wish on behalf
of the Rotary Club of Midtown to thank all of those members from
over
550 clubs worldwide who have sent dolls. We can assure everyone that
they are all being given full VIP status.
Literacy is one of the Rotary International emphases for this year's
Presidents. President Dr Ketan Thakker and his fellow Rotarians have
already created within this museum a literacy project that is
appropriate to the local community and all the children living in
the
area of Rajkot. His club members would be delighted to welcome you
to visit and see for yourselves the impact that is already taking
place. We can vouch from experience that their hospitality is second
to none. Literacy empowers us all to reach our full potential.
Breaking the sad lot of the poor Ragpicker children of Rajkot can
only take place by education over a number of years.
The Rotary Club of Rajkot Midtown's next ambition is to be given an
ethnic doll either male or female from all 532 Districts in our
Rotary World. Currently there are 301 districts represented. With
the addition of just 231 of the right dolls, just 15% of the current
collection they could have 100% of our Rotary World under one roof!
This would be the first time that one could visit a museum created
by
Rotarians which represented 100% of Rotary International's
world
presence. What a wonderful tribute to Paul Harris and Rotary
International's Hands Across the
Sea.
Since the official opening of the Dolls Museum in August 2004 over
80,000 visitors have paid to visit it and over 20,000 poor children
have visited free. You can view and read more details about this
Rotary Dolls Museum and Children's Creativity Centre by visiting the
virtual Dolls Museum created by Rotarian Amit Mehta and his company
by visiting
http://www.rotary3060dolls.org/
Written By John Wood District 1200 International Chairman and
President of the Rotary Club of Somerset Levels