Mukund Nori Practices the Rotarian's Motto: Service Before Self

Mukund Nori tries to live according to the Rotarians’ motto: Service Before Self.

This recently sent Nori, the former president of the to South Africa to aid a local man who is caring for 130 AIDS orphans.

Nori said a few years ago he purchased a safari package donated every year by a South African game park owner. The donation allows the North Branford Rotary to raffle off the safari trip with the condition they share the proceeds with the game park owner.

He said he finally got around to taking the trip in November and took advantage of the opportunity to visit Pastor Shedrick, a man from Johannesburg who sold all of his possessions and used the money to open an orphanage for children whose parents died from AIDS.

"Now that’s real service," Nori said. He added he looks up to people like Shedrick. "Those are my heroes."

Shedrick’s orphanage is aided by donations through the Rotary Club of Johannesburg East.

Nori, who has lived in North Branford since 1998, was born in India and went to high school in Zambia before the end of apartheid in South Africa. "I’ve lived all over the world, however," he added.

He said it was interesting to go back and see how much things have changed in South Africa. He also got to visit the former home of South African President and civil rights leader Nelson Mandela, another one of his heroes.

Nori is a scientist by training, with a Ph.D. in genetics, and previously worked on research on cancer and diabetes. Now he works as a medical writer for a Southport company that prepares technical articles about pharmaceutical research.

He tells how he was on a New York subway one day when he saw a woman who appeared to be in distress. Although his friends always told him not to make eye contact with people in New York, he paused to ask her what was wrong.

Surprisingly, she poured out her heart to him about a conflict with her teenage daughter’s behavior.

Could it be, he asked, just a matter of a lack of communication. Nori suggested that she listen to her daughter’s point of view and maybe things would work out.

He didn’t expect to see her again, but a week later he was on the same subway and they saw each other again. She thanked him profusely for his help, which startled Nori’s companions because it seemed to come out of nowhere.

The story amused Nori, but he saw a moral in it about helping others. "There’s a joy and an energy that you gain that is not easy to explain," he said.

He is also working on a Rotary project to eradicate the disease polio. He has spent time in Mumbai, India, helping to deliver polio vaccine.

"One dollar for a lifetime of immunity. That’s a great return on an investment," Nori said.