The object of Rotary:

The object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and foster;

1) The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service; 　

2) High ethical standards in business and professions; the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations; and the dignifying by each Rotarian of his occupation as an opportunity to serve society; 　

3) The application of the ideal of service by every Rotarian to his personal, business, and community life; 　

4) The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, peace through a world fellowship of business and professional men united in the ideal of service.

The birth of Rotary:

The Rotary movement was born in Chicago, USA, in 1905, at a dinner party attended by a lawyer named Paul P, Harris and three of his friends. Harris had arrived in the city some years earlier and had found it cold and unfriendly compared with the small town he grew up in.

An idea gradually formed in his mind: that of starting a club where people of different trades and professions could meet, make friends with one another, and explore business opportunities.

His friends - coal dealer, a mining engineer and a merchant tailor - agreed. They resolved to start the world's first Rotary Club. The name was suggested by Harris because it was originally intended that they meet in rotation at the member' business premises.

Response to the new origination was enthusiastic. Although membership was by invitation only, it soon became impractical to continue gathering at members' workplaces, so regular weekly meetings were inaugurated at a restaurant or hotel. Other familiar Rotary customs began back in those early days. Group singing was introduced as a means to enhance the atmosphere of fellowship. The club appointed an Official Greeter to welcome members and their guests as they arrived.

The idea of having just one member from each trade or profession was also adopted right at the outset. This was intended both to provide a balance and variety in members' interests and perhaps to prevent any sense of business rivalry from disrupting the conviviality of the gatherings.

Although the club's original aim was to provide a social and business forum, it was not long before members turned their attention to opportunities for mutual-help and - beyond that - to ways the club - could assist the community at large. The Rotary ideal of "Service Above Self" evolved form modest projects undertaken by the first club. It is a motto that has guided Rotary's development into a world wide endeavor for the betterment of Mankind.

People in other US cities got to hear about the Chicago club. Harris decided to launch a campaign to spread the Rotary idea far and wide.

Club number 2 was founded in San Francisco. California, in 1908 followed shortly after wards by Club 3 in nearby Oakland, Club 4 in Seattle on the US northwest coast and Club 5 in Los Angeles.

Rotarians held their first national convention in August 1910, attended by delegates form fourteen of the sixteen clubs then in existence. This meeting formed the National Association of Rotary Clubs with Paul Harris as its first President.

Three months later the first club was founded outside the United States, in Winnipeg , Canada . The following year saw the birth of clubs in Dublin, London and Glasgow. Rotary began to take roots throughout the world. This international dimension was recognized when the 1912 convention agreed to change "National" to "International" in the Association's title. The name was abbreviated to Rotary International 1942, the name by which the movement's unifying organization has been known ever since.

In one of his speeches, Paul Harris described Rotary as: " A miniature model of a world at peace, one which might advantageously be studied by nations. Rotarians believe that the universal application of tolerance and friendliness would bring about the international peace so earnestly desired by everyone."

The "Four Avenues of Service", officially adopted by Rotary in 1927, can be seen not only as a statement of ideas but also as a concrete plan of action to be fulfilled by member clubs throughout the world. They are: Club Service, Vocational Service and International Service.

On the world scene, the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International came into being in 1928. It has grown to the stage where it is today one of the world's largest bodies granting scholarships for international study.

The Grants for the Health, Hunger and Humanity (3-H) programme was launches in 1979 to commemorate Rotary's 75th Anniversary. Its goal is "to improve health, alleviate to advancing international understanding, goodwill and peace."

Rotary now has over one million members throughout the world. Clubs exist in almost 188 countries. Wherever they live, be it Lagos in Nigeria, Oslo in Norway, Tokyo in Japan or Athens in Greece, Rotarians are putting their ideals into practice, both through the collective efforts made by each club for deserving causes and by the instilling of a sense of good citizenship and high moral standards in each member's everyday business and personal life.