Rotary Itai

At the end of June, I took a bus from Rio to Sao Paulo, to meet my old Rotaract Chicago friends, for the culmination of our year long international service project, in which we partnered with the Rotary club of Itai, located about 3 hours outside of Sao Paulo.

The purpose of our project was to fundraise, in conjunction with the Rotary club of Itai, to furnish and emergency room in the town’s hospital.

Itai is a city of about 25,000 people. Local industry is mainly farming, highlighted by the recent addition of a Monsanto plant, which has brought a large amount of new jobs to the area. The hospital currently does not have an equipped emergency room. When emergencies exist, typically they may need to send the patient to the closest neighboring city, Avare. One of Itai’s 7 doctors will often times need to accompany the patient in the ambulance on the 1 hour trip there and back (leading to long shifts, lack of family time, and on-call emergencies for the other doctors).

At the airport in Sao Paulo, Nelson, president of Rotary Itai, met us, along with 3 other members of the club. For me, this was a great moment. I had met Nelson and his family over 4 months ago in my first trip around to Sao Paulo, and it was just a real pleasure to see him again and catch up.

The following 3 days we spent in Itai were filled with overflowing hospitality and kindness from the Rotary club of Itai. They truly went out of their way to ensure we enjoyed ourselves and had a unique experience. Some of the days events include:

-Having an amazing party for the Brasil-Chile World Cup game at a members house, with a GIANT feast of meats, salads, and drinks. Following the win, we took to the streets with the rest of Itai.



-A trip to a local orphanage in which we dropped off toys and played with the children.



-A tour of a sugar cane enthanol production plant.





-Family dinners each night (fejoida, among other delicious dinners!)






-A tour of the Itai hospital. We were shown the empty room where the emergency beds and equipment was to go.






-A trip to the Rotary radio station, one of two radio stations in Itai. We even talked for a bit! You can listen to Rotary Itai live from the web: http://www.radiorotaryfm.com.br/



-A tour of the Rotary building in Itai.

Rotary Sao Conrado, Rio de Janiero, Brasil

I came back to Rio de Janeiro for the second time in mind June and again, like in February, stayed with Brian. To refresh, Brian is a member of Rotaract Sao Conrado in Rio, and his mom, Dulce, is the incoming President of Rotary Sao Conrado.

Sao Conrado is a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, situated just south, over the next hill, from Leblon. Sitting above it, is Rohina.

Since ti was not Carnival this time around during my time there, I got to see a few more initiatives of the Rotary Sao Conrado club.

One initiative the club had undertake was to promote biodiversity education amongst younger folks. How was this accomplished? I got to see first hand one specific event that had been undertaken to accomplish this.

One day I headed with Dulce to a school, at the foot of a favela, somewhere in between Sao Conrado & Leblon. It was a private school, filled with some of the best students in Rio. And a very large school, as well. Rotary Sao Conrado had sponsored a play, staged in the school auditorium, for the students, with the theme of biodiversity.

The students mostly seemed to be between 8 & 11 years old. The play consisted of 4 actors and actresses, and it was perfect of the kids. The actors acted really goofy, and the kids laughed ALOT. Over the course of the play, the actors discovered the idea of biodiversity, explained what it was, and explained why it was important to conserve the world's resources, such as water, for example. The play lasted roughly 45 minutes or an hour, and whilst teaching the kids a little bit about biodiversity, in the end, made them laugh a whole lot. I think this was a great idea. Very simple, yet made learning fun at the same time. I am not aware of whether the students were taught a thing or two about biodiversity in their classrooms after, but this seems like it may have been a good idea. I must add, as the play was targeted for 9 year olds, I understood maybe 20% in Portuguese. After 3 weeks in Brasil, I understand much more, but still have a long ways to go.











The view from just outside the school:


The other thing I did with Brian and Dulce that week was to attend a farewell dinner for 4 people from Ohio, USA, who were involved in a one month Rotary club exchange. In the previous year, some individuals from Rio de Janeiro had spent one month with the partner club in Ohio. The evening consisted of a nice dinner. Following this, each person from Ohio spoke for a short while, along with a powerpoint presentation, about their experience, where they were from, Ohio, etc. These types of programs are great ideas. Because of the short duration, it get's people who might not otherwise be able to do so, to travel to other places, and all the while, they stay with families, getting a real experience & feel of the place.

Additionally, at the meeting, Rotary Sao Conrado gave me the unexpected pleasure of speaking about why I was in Brasil, and about Rotaract Chicago's project in Itai. First I started off in English, when they found out that I knew Spanish and a small amount of Portuguese, they jokingly heckled me to switch, and I did! So I spoke for a few minutes, in Portunol, about Rotaract Chicago's project to help raise money for emergency services in the hospital in Itai, Brazil. Best part of all, they understood me! Mission accomplished.

The dinner:


Me with Brian and Anderson, president of Rotaract Sao Conrado:


In total, I did end up spending nearly 3 weeks with Brian, Dulce, and Manuel (but at 3 different times). Their hospitality was amazing, and I am very thankful for this (like a second family!). I even spent my 26th birthday at their place, and Dulce cooked and showed me how to make fejoida, for Brian, me, and many of his friends, which will certainly was an unforgettable birthday. In addition, during that time, I had several lunches with Anderson (ate ALOT of chicken hearts!), president of Rotaract Sao Conrado, and even got to go to a great barbecue at his place. I have a feeling I will be back sometime to see everyone again!

With Brian and Sergio, from Rotary Sao Conrado, at Anderson's barbecue:


Chef Anderson!


The view from Anderson's place in Rohina, another incredible experience:


Dulce shows how to cook fejoida (delicious!!!! muito muito bom!):


Manuel, Luiz, & Catarina with the fejoida for my birthday:


Watched a few world cup games with Brian and his friends!

ERAUP - Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay

I have visited quite a few Rotaract clubs in these three countries over the past few months.

Buenos Aires, Argentina
Mercedes, Argentina
Rosario, Argentina
Mendoza, Argentina
Montevideo, Uruguay
Asuncion, Paraguay

One thing that has been mentioned at most of the meetings I have been at is an annual event between the three countries, called ERAUP.

Each year, there is a weeklong volunteer event, the culmination of a year of preparation, held in one of the three countries. In fact, the duration of the event is the longest of any event coordinated annually within Rotary International. Usually, about 400 Rotaractors (Rotaractians, as they say!) convene from all the countries to the location for the event.

The event has conferences for the Rotaractors on a variety of professional development topics, from marketing, conflict resolution, to personal growth.

Of course, the week is a great way for Rotarators to meet other Rotaractors, and network with different clubs and people from neighboring countries. There are formal dances, parties, and presentations by clubs that are made.

In addition there is usually a volunteer focus in the community in which the event takes place.

The event is much similar to the event I went to in December in Mexico (see blog on this), but on a large scale, comprising 3 countries, and focusing also on professional development.

Due to this event, I was able to meet Rotaractors in Paraguay that knew people I had previously met in Argentina and Uruguay, and vice versa!

Here is a video of the 2009 event:

Rotaract of Asuncion, Paraguay

I stayed in Asuncion for about a week, which gave ample enough time to attend a Rotaract meeting here. I contacted the presidents of a few clubs using the directory a few weeks before I arrived. I began talking with Angela, President of the Rotaract club of Asuncion Sur, through email. Angela informed me that on Saturday the 29th there would actually be a joint meeting between two Rotaract clubs. Rotaract Asuncion Sur, and Rotaract Asuncion Catedral.

The meeting was held in one of the member’s houses. Since it was pretty far from where I was located and there was no busses running, Angela picked me up with another member, Diego, and we headed to the meeting. The meeting was quite nice…there was coffee, chipitas (small Chipa, a Paraguayan food), and some other food. The meeting was pretty relaxed. We all sat around the table and chatted until everyone showed up. The meeting lasted a little over an hour.

Between the two clubs there were probably about 15 people at the meeting. The main reason for the joint meeting was that the clubs have a project together that they have been working on since about November or December 2009. They are fundraising to purchase books for kids in Asuncion. If I recall correctly, the goal was 300 books. During the meeting, they discussed an upcoming fundraiser for the project. They rented out a movie theater in downtown Asuncion for one night for the showing of Prince of Persia. Angela told me it was not too expensive to rent out, so they should make some money to help out their project.

I spoke a bit about Rotaract Chicago, and that concluded the meeting. Everyone was really friendly, and I enjoyed meeting all!

Rotaract Mercedes, Argentina

May 10- May 15, 2010

I stopped in Mercedes, Argentina, on the way to the nature reserve Esteros del Ibera. As luck would have it, I got sick when I arrived Monday, so I had to stay in Mercedes for much longer than anticipated.

By Tuesday, I decided I needed the rest of the week to rest. I looked in the Rotaract directory, and found that there was a club there, great! I sent an email to Sergio Honorato, president of the Rotaract club of Mercedes on Wednesday. That evening, he replied and informed me that there would be a meeting Wednesday evening (1 block away from my hostel), and that they would come by to pick me up. Perfect!

So on Wednesday, Sergio drove by in his truck, and we went to the meeting at 9pm. The meeting is in the same building that Rotary Mercedes has their meetings. In fact, they own the building. The room is decked out in Rotary gear, awards, and flags.

The club has about 15 members, and most of them were at the meeting. In the beginning of the meeting, we raised small Argentinian and Rotaract flags. They had me do the honor of raising one of them. I also sat at the head of the table.

Sergio and the club presented me a pin!:








I learned about various things the club is doing. For the bicentennial anniversary of Argentina’s Independence, May 25th, the club decided to put on several events for kids and people in the week before the 25th of May. They also talked about the annual multi country Rotaract event between Paraugay, Uruguay, & Argentina. I'll have a separate blog about that later.

The club had people of all different ages, from between about 20 and 30 years old. They were really interested in hearing about Rotaract Chicago, so I talked for awhile about how we are organized and do things.

Because I was going to stay in Mercedes for awhile longer to recover from my cold, on Thursday during the day I walked around Mercedes with two Rotaractors and go the official tour of the town. Then, that night, I ate dinner with as well with a Rotaractor and her friends.
Friday, again, I was picked up in the evening by a few Rotaractors. We walked to a restaurant which was playing music typical to the area, and where we met more Rotaractors for dinner.

In the end, I am glad I got to spend extra time in Mercedes. It was a real treat to meet such a nice group of people that I felt went out of their way to show me their city while I was there.


Friday went out to dinner with a group of Rotaractors. Here is Ileana & I:


They had typical music from Mercedes:


Thursday night I went out to dinner with a Rotaractor from the club and a few of her friends.


Walking around Mercedes, check out the vests:

Rotary Easter Island

I went to Easter Island (Isla de Pascua/Rapa Nui) for a week in March. I had done a quick search for Rotary/Rotaract clubs and didn't turn up much, so I concluded there wasn't one.

On my last day there, I was walking back to the house I was staying in, and decided to take a shortcut through a street and then a pathway through some trees. Well, on the street, I was amazed that I passed right by a giant Rotary stone. So there was a club. There were also 2 men outside, so I started a conversation with them. It turned out I was talking to the President, Richard Gallois, and one other member, whom unfortunately I can not remember the name of.

It turned out, their club was supposed to have a meeting shortly, what timing! I began talking about Rotaract Chicago and also about what I was doing. I also learned about a bit about their club.

Their club actually meets in the former prison of Easter Island! Now that is unique. One of the two members I met was a dentist, and the club had a program on the island to help improve the dental health of various people. They also explained about the various student exchange programs that they participate in, bringing students to the Island, to Chile, & to other countries.

Unfortunately, many of the members were working that evening, so the meeting was cancelled, and I did not get to spend more time with them. But it certainly was unexpected and a pleasure to chat with them!

This is me and Richard, President of Rotary Isla de Pascua:


A photo of the Rotary Building, the former penitentiary of Isla de Pascua:

Rotaract Rosario Oeste

From Buenos Aires, I had planned to head north to Paraguay to visit a friend in the Peace Corps there (eventually making my way back to Brasil to meet Rotaract Chicago in Sao Paulo). I thought it would be good to make some stops on the way, beginning with the city of Rosario.

Rosario is situated about 4 hours by bus from Buenos Aires. As I understand, it has kind of always been in the shadow of BsAs. Still, there are over 1 million people. It is quite a beautiful city, set on the Parana River.

I used the Rotaract directory to contact the district representative (4940), Sebastian Arri Trincado, about a week prior to, and he informed me about a meeting of one of the clubs. I also went to Rotaract Rosario Oeste's facebook page, and posted a message, and one of the members (Noelia!) promptly responded with the time and location of their meeting. I decided to depart Buenos Aires in time to make it to the meeting.

I went to the meeting, at 8:30 on a Monday evening, which was attended by about 12 members. They have around 15 or 20 members in their club. The meeting was in the basement of a really nice building, in a classroom. I learned about one of their project to help rebuild a plaza (my group Spanish skills are still coming along so I didn't get all the details). They also seemed to have a decent amount of volunteer events. There was a conference planned for the coming weekend, which, regrettably, I may not still be in Rosario to attend. The club was actually composed of a variety of people, some students, but mostly seemed to be working.

I spoke about Rotaract Chicago for awhile, about how our club is structured, the types of events we have, volunteer, social, etc, as well as our project in Brazil. The general concensus reached was that our clubs were pretty similar. I am getting better at talking about Rotaract Chicago in Spanish. At the end of February, I really struggled in Montevideo, but now, I can rapid fire pretty well with plenty of mistakes.

So anyeays, after the meeting I went to dinner(on Argentinian time (11pm)), with about 7 of the members. Such nice people!



This is the National flag memorial in Rosario, commemorating flag creator Manuel Belgrano:

Rotaractors of Buenos Aires

Here is a photo log of meeting many different Rotaractors in Buenos Aires. So many clubs here. Plus they all have like 20 people.

Rotaractors from at least 3 clubs! Deborah from Montevideo, Uruguay. Tincho, Vicky, Rivero, and Carmen, are from 2 different clubs in Buenos Aires.



I went to dinner with a group of Rotaractors from Rotaract Buenos Aires. This is Florencia and one other Rotaractor whom now I can not remember the name (sorry!).:


I went to a meeting of Rotaract Libertador Recoleta. After, we went out for some drinks:



Met a bunch of Rotaractors & Rotarians at the District Conference:


District Conference:

So I went to Mendoza, Argentina, for about 10 days in total. I had used the directory to contact people in a bunch of clubs, and Ana from Rotaract Mendoza Norte replied. So we talked via email for awhile before I arrived.

They had a meeting one Saturday morning that I was able to attend. They have about 8 or 9 members in their club. They seemed to have a decent amount of projects going on as well. This as much as I gathered with my Spanish skills only understanding about 50% of the meeting.



That night I was able to go out and enjoy some Mendoza nightlife with one of the Rotaractors, Ulises. We went to a birthday party, which was great for me to meet alot of local people from Mendoza and get a better perspective on things. Ulises has been in Rotaract for quite some time, and seems to know Rotaractors all over Argentina, Uruguay, & Paraguay (The three countries have a large event every year).

This is Ulises from Rotaract & I at a birthday party. They gave silly string to everyone, and it turned into a big mess!


Another day, 4 of the Rotaractors took me to a church at the top of a cerro overlooking Mendoza, then we drove up to the highest peak for a view of the city at night. They were all genuinely friendly and I thank them for showing me Mendoza in unique fashion. Hooray for new friends!

Rotary & Rotaract Montevideo

I went to a meeting in Montevideo of the Rotary club Uruguay, Montevideo - Ituzaingo Maronas. Great People!

Fui a un reunion de socios de el club de Rotaray - Montevideo - Ituzaingo Maronas. Todo el mundo eran muy amigable!

Here is their blog:

http://rotaryituzaingo.blogspot.com/



Gerardo Gomez, on the left, the president of the club, was REALLY accomodating for my 3 days in Montevideo. I had contacted him about a month in advance. Below is me with his family, whom with I had lunch with several times. Gerardo organized for his kids to show me around Montevideo, and I also stayed with a different Rotarian each night! One Rotarian (sorry, I am bad with names and can't remember!) took me around the Rambla, to a Uruguayan Parilla, and around different spots in Montevideo.

Gracias a todos en Rotary Ituzaingo Maronas para su hospitalidad!



Sharing some Mate with Gerardo; Compartiendo Mato con Gerardo:


At the Puerto Mercado en Montevideo, Con un Rotarian de Ituzaingo (Mario, si recuerdo correctamente).


Con los hijos de Gerardo. Veronica, un socio de un Rotaract club en Montevideo. Y tambien, Gonzalo. Veronica introduced me to Deborah, president of her club, and the next week I met Deborah in Buenos Aires with some Rotaractors from Buenos Aires! Always great people!