Rotary

The International service organization Rotary International has had quite a positive impact on my life. While my parents are not at all linked to Rotary, my sister got in touch with them as a teenager on the professional fair for 17-18 year olds in my hometown that intended to help these teenagers with their study/professional choice.  Somehow my sister didn't know what to choose very well, but started chatting with the fair organizers and learned about the Rotary Youth Exchange program

...and that changed our lives. 

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My sister applied and got approved for a youth exchange and went to live one year in the north of Canada when I was 11 years old.  Her airmail letters were full of exotic adventures to me.  In the same year, we hosted an Australian teenager for months in our house which was a wonderful experience. She was an exotic wind in our house and after more than 35 years we are still frequently in touch.  She was a 3rd daughter to my parents.  My sister's absence only overlapped half a year with my host sister's presence in town, so both of them had the opportunity to meet, hang out and share "exchange student" experiences and become friends.

With the great examples of my sister and my Australian host sister, I had my mind made up pretty young that I was going to be an exchange student too.  I applied to the local Rotary club 2 years in advance, and at the age of 17... I left for the adventure of my life. (read about my travel trip in part 1, 2 and 3!!).  I received a second home country that sits under my skin.  I'll always feel partially Canadian, I'll always have great people that I consider as relatives, regardless the lack of biological link. 
To be transparent, my parents were hosting an exchange student again during my absence, but the girl from California was never a good match. I don't think she's ever been in touch with any of her host families or Rotarians anymore after she left, and I have never met or spoken with her.  So not every exchange is a success. 

Mine was, however.  For a year, I attended every single Tuesday morning the local Rotary club meeting. The contrast with my sponsoring club was big.  Rotary in Belgium has an elite reputation, and the contrast in approach in the little town was refreshing. No posh restaurant (since there are none in such a town),  more down-to-earth mix of membership professions (if not you can't build 2 (!!) active clubs in a small rural town). Instead of a champagne concert with an award-winning pianist in a historic setting as a fundraiser from my hometown, we were selling raffle tickets in our jeans at the exit of the local supermarket.  
I've seen their efforts in building community infrastructure through town. 

The community park in Wynndel, my 3rd host father Gordon had organized for and which was realised posthumously

I had learned from my Australian host sister to say yes to any opportunity (even if it doesn't seem fun at first) as it gives you connections, friendships that trigger great new opportunities.  So I very consciously took her advice, and participated at any Rotary activity and got invited in the end for helicopter flights, a 2-deck plan flight, a truck ride across the American border, school district visits further up the valley that gave me ample opportunity to do sightseeing and visiting, participated a day up on the mountain top with the avalanche team experts there, went hiking, etc.  
In the (only) local high school, we were 3 Rotary exchange students, so I hang out with a Japanese girl and a Chilean boy. The school was used to always have 3 foreign students, while each year also 3 local students left abroad.  I gathered multiple times a year with all the other foreign exchange students from the Rotary district, and we engaged in a superb trip through California together at the end of the year. 

Goofing in Yosemite valley

camping with my Japanese friend at the Grand Canyon

During my exchange year, I participated with some school friends in a trial teenage leadership camp TALK where I'm still friends with some leaders. It was a spin-off of the RYLA concept that teaches leadership skills to young adults. Knowing a lot of Rotarians organizing the RYLA camps, I actually managed to get myself elected as a participant for my Canadian host town 3 years after my return in Belgium.  So 3 years after my Rotary Youth Exchange, I returned to Canada for a summer and went to Idaho to participate in the district's RYLA camp of 99 .   RYLA has left its seeds that still boost some of my current professional motivation and attitude.  

Rotary has done so much for me.  When I return to Canada, I show up at the local Rotary meeting again like the good old days, I visit my friends and host families of whom several are Rotarians.  My host sister and a classmate have even recently joined Rotary.  Then I get the question if I am a Rotarian too.

Honestly, it has never seriously crossed my mind to join. I guess my experience with the Belgian club that funded my application didn't leave me any appetite to join a Belgian Rotary club.  I never felt part and truly connected with their corporate nature, while the Canadian clubs felt so open, warm and accepting. The contrast seemed big. Rotary isn't targeting young professionals anyhow, so upon my return, as a student or as a starting professional, I had nothing to reach out to them. Later on, I doubted that I met their vocational requirements and I assumed that you needed to get invited but could not invite yourself.  And I didn't feel the motivation to meet the requirement of attending a weekly meeting and to actively participate in community service, as a mother with young children and a husband that is often travelling. So I never considered it. 

After we returned from our last vacation in Canada, however, it was Jan who surprised me in expressing interest in joining a local Rotary club.  He reached out to the local clubs and was greeted with a lot of enthusiasm and support to go visit and get to know them.  Each club has its distinct character, social composition that can be different, approach to activities and activism etc.   He was invited to actively visit and participate in some activities from several clubs to get to know if there was any fit. 

In all honesty, they seem to suffer the challenge like almost any organization in society, with an aging group of members and lack of new volunteers that are willing to take up the active involvement.  So they love fresh blood.  The strict attendance rules seem a lot less strict since I remember, and they have become more diverse, although white old males still dominate.  Due to their search for active participation in society investments, the population is probably still predominantly business leaders, academical, entrepreneurs and managerial members, but I can't find that to be an official requirement anymore. 

Anyhow, after several months of exploration, Jan has become an official Rotarian last Tuesday.  It feels a bit ironic that he is now a Rotarian and not me.   I feel there might be a Rotarian future for me too, but in a decade or so when our children are grown and independent. We'll see.  I already notice his new club has also a lot of activities and involvement of the spouses, so I'll be regularly invited too. That seems cool.
I already attended once last month and ...it was the evening the local exchange students came over with a presentation and I learned the club is organising a RYLA event next year. The circle seems round.