Greetings Rotary District 6900!

My name is Molly Wilson and I had the honor of being the 2017 recipient of the Global Grant Scholarship. I spent a year in the brilliantly cloudy and uniquely welcoming city of Edinburgh, Scotland completing a Masters of Science in Global Health Policy at the University of Edinburgh.

In true Rotary fashion, my year as a Global Grant Scholar was a truly community-driven experience. Not only did I attend traditional Scottish dinners and dances (cèilidhs) at several area Rotary clubs, but I became part of an incredible group of international scholars sponsored by Rotary clubs around the world.

A favorite activity (aside from rigorous studying) during my year as a Global Grant Scholar was hiking the Scottish Highlands – or bagging Munros as they say. In fact, I’ve just returned from two weeks hiking in the Trossachs with my housemate from Edinburgh.

Thanks to the generosity and support of Rotary, I gained an incredible network of friends and colleagues while furthering my academic and hands-on understanding of maternal and child health in developed and developing. I independently travelled to Malawi to conduct field research with the Family Planning Association of Malawi to support a comprehensive policy analysis of the Mexico City Policy (Global Gag Rule) regarding The Family Planning Association of Malawi’s experiences and responses to the 2017 policy expansion.

Also in true Rotary fashion, I have stayed connected to Rotarian endeavors and am a communications assistant for an inaugural partnership between CARE and Rotary in Amman, Jordan. Through marketing and entrepreneurial business training, this project is empowering 170 Jordanian and Syrian refugee women to turn existing skills into sustainable small businesses. With nearly 9 million refugees in Jordan, fostering economic independence is essential to ease the social and cultural pressures of integration.

September heralded the commencement of the business training courses for the first group of 85 participants excited to build their skills of manual embroidery, sewing, handicrafts, cooking, and sweet making into thriving small businesses. This project will create opportunities for the most vulnerable households, both impoverished Jordanians and refugees to support themselves and their families by creating and accelerating local business.

The business and networking capacity of Rotary partnered with the longstanding organizational and social development acumen of CARE make a formidable team. In March, Rotarian donors, perhaps yourself, will spend a week in Amman, Jordan teaching workshops and sharing their own business knowledge with the project participants. I will be joining the trip as well to interview participants and sharing their stories across CARE and Rotary communities.

I am continually grateful for the doors that being a Rotary Global Scholar have opened, the people around the world that I have met, and the depth of knowledge I have gained.

Without a doubt the support of the Rotary community is an incredible force of good – whether supporting scholars such as me or funding projects to help women lift themselves and their families out of poverty.