My Dear Inner Wheel Sisters,

Greetings from the National Representative, Bangladesh.

I am humbled and it’s a great honor for me to serve as your National Representative for the year 2020/2021. The day I found “Love & Care” in Inner Wheel I joined the Club “Dilkusha”. It blended with my life as a ‘doctor’. Now, for more than 17 years I’ve enjoyed friendship and fellowship, personal service and the joy of international understanding, from Club to District to National Representative.

Inner Wheel is spread across 103 countries worldwide with more than 100,000 voluntary members. It is a NGO with several representations in the United Nations and one of the world’s largest voluntary organizations for women.

We are delighted to work with the meaningful theme ‘LEAD the CHANGE” chose by this year’s International Inner Wheel President Dr. Bina Vyas. According to her, we need to lead the change in : our thinking, attitude, working, interpersonal relations, communication, publicizing our brand of Inner Wheel, growth of our organization both financially and in membership strength and cooperating with other like-minded organizations by establishing networking. Change is invasive and evasive in that it impacts us in many ways yet we choose what we adopt or not. Our eyes need to be open to what the change means for us and for others. Change has challenges (always), and we just need to know we need to sweat a little more to make it happen. Our change is supported by others, more than we imagine. Confidence in our change should grow by this fact.

2020-21 begins & we’ve already passed four & half months. When a new year starts, we hope and we are hopeful. Hope delivers a fresh page to write a renewed story of our life.

Though from the middle of March – COVID-19 –occurs & our world was turned upside down. All visits, meetings, social activities or even just meeting a friend for a cup of tea or coffee was put on hold and we were all in lockdown, confined to our cities and villages – where we stayed at home. But the Inner Wheel didn’t stop moving its wheel! I am so proud to be part of this organization whose members have found such strength to face new challenges. We have embraced technology, new to many of us.  We have used Zoom and other online programs to conduct formal business meetings and to enjoy fun and friendship. We have not been idle in lockdown but we have kept busy using our skills to help out those working on the frontline in the crisis.

As individuals, we’ve had to make changes – both big and small – to our everyday lives. But while physically distanced, the internet and social media have allowed us to reach into each other’s homes over the past weeks. Social relationships for many seem not to have suffered. They have also allowed us to explore hobbies and interests we might never have had before – like the people turning to social media to solve real-life mysteries from their homes. Overall we are adopting new normal. It proves nothing is impossible.

I know that many of you are struggling to keep your clubs going and it seems an uphill task but please see the value of maintaining all that is so good in Inner Wheel. There is a lot of truth in the old saying “every cloud has a silver lining”. COVID 19 has presented us with many challenges if we can find a way forward our Organization can emerge from these difficult times with renewed vigor and enthusiasm.

My sincere Commitment to attend each NR’s Meeting and passes to all concern the messages from IIWP; to monitor correspondence between Clubs and IIW; Information from IIW is sent to me to pass to all Clubs/members. I have to submit one report to IIW on general survey of work undertaken by members implementing the Presidential theme and/or relating to the UN Committees for the following year; I have to urge that all necessary forms should be completed and should be returned to IIW by the due date, or the Club will not be entered in the IIW Directory nor receive voting papers.

As this year closes, I reflect on my own hopes and list of changes to make. This past year has blessed me in ways I did not imagine over 360 days ago. Equally, this past year has frustrated me more than I would have imagined. This is life though. Within the frustrations and challenges, energy increases within to do things differently, learn more, and do more.

We cannot control everything that happens, but we can control how we react & act. Within this, the rhythm of hope and change creates a strange, meaningful melody. We need to keep our hope alive. We need to keep our changes alive. We need to lead with hope and change. We need to embrace the community around us with our love & care. We need to take on the year ahead with a refreshed mindset and a durable spirit.

My hope for all of us is to understand the changes we want (need) to make, the corresponding new actions to take, and then enter the new year with a lasting spirit of what is possible.

May your hope and change be well-balanced and purpose-filled in the year ahead!

My best wishes to all CHANGEMAKERS Leaders of both Districts –D345 & D328, for a challenging yet a successful year.

Yours in Inner Wheel Friendship

Sharmin Hossain
National Representative.
Bangladesh.
2020-2021