Rotary in Action

A major part of our GSE program includes attending Rotary meetings in all the cities we visit and also attending the District Conference for our host Rotary district.

The District Conference actually occurred early in our exchange, held January 10-11 in Bhopal. This was a great opportunity for all the team members to learn more about Rotary as an organization, as we are all currently non-Rotarians and have had little exposure to the more formal governance and structure of Rotary at the District and International level. We especially enjoyed attending the District Conference at the beginning of our journey as we were able to meet many of our future hosts. The highlight of the event for our team was an evening cultural program, where dancers exhibited a variety of classical Indian dances and musicians played a combination of modern and folk songs. Our team was asked to share an American cultural performance and since no one on the team is a talented singer or musician, we tried to win over the audience with a comedic display of popular American dances. As we’ve continued our travels throughout Rotary District 3040, we receive repeated requests for encore performances.

The Rotary Club meetings have many similarities to the Rotary Club meetings our team has attended in the U.S. , especially the recitation of Rotary’s 4-Way Test. The meetings also include signing the Indian national anthem. We initially were also asked to sing our own national anthem until it became very clear that our group is rather tone deaf. Most of the Rotary Clubs we’ve met have evening meetings where the entire family attends. The Club Rotary meetings also give us all the opportunity to learn more about the many service projects of Rotary clubs in India.

The Rotary motto is “Service Above Self” and nowhere is it more apparent than in India. The Indian’s believe that anything is possible and they work hard to achieve the best for their communities. From Bhopal to Ujjain to Ratlam, the team has witnessed the impact that Rotarians can make in their respective communities. In some communities the Rotarians prefer to give money while in others they prefer sweat equity to money. The unmistakable and unifying theme is the desire to improve the communities and the world in which we all live. Some such as those in Ratlam prefer to raise money in the community instead of requesting matching funds from Rotary International; while others such as some clubs in Bhopal prefer matching funds to provide wooden benches to government schools.

Hospitals and education are among the most popular beneficiaries of the Rotarians in District 3040. These also happen to be the fastest growing industries in India due to the large population. The population demands education and healthcare, yet the government cannot keep up with the demand leaving much room for improvement of infrastructure in the form of building structures such as water wells at government schools and services such as kidney dialysis centers name only a few.

It is very apparent to the team that Rotary is a critical asset to the communities in which they serve, especially in District 3040. The work is impressive and we all are inspired to learn more about what the Rotary clubs in our District are doing and what more they can be doing in our communities and abroad. In a nutshell, India, and the world, is fortunate to have Rotarians who strive to make the community strong in spirit, mind and body.