Charity doesn’t begin at home but where it is needed most - Susan Dalgety

Our natural human instinct may be to take care of our own, but if the world is to flourish, we surely must accept our responsibility to people we may never meet, but whose lives matter just as much as those of our friends and neighbours.

The Princess Royal held a Charities Forum at Buckingham Palace

I have been privileged in the last ten days to spend time with people who do just that, who dedicate their spare time – sometimes their whole life – to caring for strangers.

First I attended a seminar in Buckingham Palace, hosted by HRH The Princess Royal, on the challenges facing charities today.

I was there representing the Scotland Malawi Partnership – Princess Anne is the network’s honorary co-patron – and once I had recovered from the shock of being in the palace, rather than seeing it on TV, I learned a lot from the four impressive speakers, including Her Royal Highness.

Perhaps the biggest lesson I took away was the importance of the charity and voluntary sector in society, whether it is supporting survivors of spinal injuries or helping girls in Africa complete their education.

And as the government’s spending cuts start to bite, charities will have an even more crucial role to play.

Then last Thursday, I was the guest speaker at Grangemouth Rotary, where I spoke about the work I do for the McConnell International Foundation and its scholar-ship programme for girls in Malawi.

Until recently I knew very little about Rotary. I had heard of it of course, but had not fully understood the scale of its work. It is one of the largest and most successful humanitarian service organisations in the world, with 1.4m members in 34,000 clubs around the globe.

And while it was founded in Chicago in 1905 by Paul Harris, a lawyer, his wife Jean was from Edinburgh. In fact, their house in Chicago was named Comely Bank and Jean returned to live in the Capital after Paul died, and she is buried in Newington Cemetery.

Rotary supports many good causes across the world, including education, protecting the environment and saving mothers and children. Remarkably, since 1985 it has also led global efforts to eradicate polio around the world, raising over $2 billion to immunise three billion children.

And the thing about Rotary is that it is made up of people just like you and me. Some may be experts in their field, but the one thing that unites every member is their commitment to service, fellowship and diversity.

On Thursday night, I heard of the Grangemouth club’s generous work with CHAS, Scotland’s children’s hospice, and recently the Edinburgh club made a donation to the McConnell International Foundation which will keep ten Malawi girls in school for a year.

Rotary members are an example to us all. Their philanthropy has no borders. Their efforts are directed at charities here in Scotland, as well as countries most members will never visit.

As the world becomes more unsettled, we should all be very grateful that organisations like Rotary continue their life-changing work.