The International Rotary Foundation awarded a $35,770 Global Grant to the Rotary Club of Brunswick for a project to train teachers to recognize common illnesses in Lusaka, Zambia. The local club has partnered with the  Nkwazi Rotary Club of Lusaka as well as “Healthy Kids/Brighter Future,” a local non-profit, and the N’Gombe Health Clinic, in Lusaka. This alliance will bring health screening, health education and treatment for common illnesses to 16,000 of the poorest and most vulnerable children in Zambia
 
The genesis of this project came from a visit to a Brunswick Rotary Club meeting last March from Lonnie Hackett, a Bowdoin College senior. While Lonnie was a student at Bowdoin College, he had an opportunity to travel to Zambia during summer break in 2011 to teach English and math. While there, he noticed an alarming gap in his students’ knowledge of basic health care including common and preventable childhood diseases, sanitation, and HIV/AIDS education and prevention.  
 
Lonnie traveled to rural Nepal in the summer of 2012 where he observed a school-based healthcare model that he believed could be modified to fit the vulnerable children in the N’Gombe district of Lusaka, where the poorest children live and attend school.  
 
During his senior year as a biochemistry major, Lonnie garnered the knowledge of any global health expert who would listen to his goal of establishing a program to train teachers as health care providers within the 50-public schools that serve children who suffer from treatable diseases. He established “Healthy Kids/ Brighter Future” to bring medical services and health education to children in need.  
 
Rotary International is one of the largest not-for-profit service organizations in the world, with approximately 1.6 million members actively participating in thousands of local clubs spread across 161 countries around the world. Rotary International Foundation contributes nearly $100 million every year toward humanitarian programs in which Rotary members participate and voluntarily raise funds.  
 
The Rotary Club of Brunswick was chartered in 1925 and currently has an active membership of 70 community leaders. They meet weekly, except on holidays, at noon on Monday in Brunswick.