Rotary- The best business in the world

In the last two weeks that I have been in Venezuela, I have come to realize what a difference being a Rotarian ambassador makes in the experience of studying abroad. A few nights ago, my new apartment-mate Idalmis asked me what benefits and advantages one enjoys upon joining Rotary International. Why become a Rotarian? I was able to thoroughly answer her questions as a direct result of a speech given last week by the Rotary District 4370 District Governor, Pedro Pablo Puky to Rotary Club Petare and other experiences I have had with Rotary so far.

On Tuesday, September 15, I attended a Rotary Club Petare meeting with Dr. Aracelis Ortega, my temporary host counselor. I was nervous because it would be the first time that I would meet most of these Rotarians. So far I had only met Nelly Meléndez from Rotary Club Las Mercedes, and Aracelis. I shouldn't have been worried, because from the first moment I walked into the room, I was welcomed by the Rotarians, who had been looking forward to meeting me just as much as I was excited to meet them. DG Pedro Pablo Puky and I had emailed back and forth and he greeted me as he would an old friend, which made me feel at ease with him immediately. We had found common ground in our Hungarian ancestry a few months back. I found that Rotarians here love taking photographs as much as I do and had no problem getting everyone together for a group shot before the events began.

Some members of Rotary Club Petare.
The first on the left is Petare's assistant to the District Governor, Dr. Jaime Bolaños. The District Governor, Pedro Pablo Puky (not a member of RC Petare), is seated to my right and wearing a yellow tie. Dr. Aracelis Ortega is second from the left, next to Dr. Jaime Bolaños.

I was asked to hold the Venezuelan flag out while the Club sang the national anthem.

Before I continue, I want to stress that this meeting was significant for Rotary Club Petare because the District Governor is required to visit each local club one time during his year as DG and this was his first visit to the club.

The meeting started with reports to the DG Pedro Pablo Puky about the status of the club. I was particularly interested in learning about the service projects that the club is carrying out. One of their projects involves paying tuition for children in children's homes to attend private schools each month. The members of the club also visit the children and assist the centers in maintaining the building. The member commenting on this project stated the need to improve many of the facilities, including the bathrooms.

Another project was directed towards those who have poor vision and require glasses, but perhaps cannot afford them. Rotary Club Petare's goal is to help 1,000 locals get the glasses they need, whether it is by subsidizing the glasses or giving them to the needy outright.

The third project that was discussed was "Operación Kilo," a food drive for the needy. Throughout the month, donated food is gathered and stored at the Club president's house and once a month, members of the Club deliver the food to children living in the streets and other homeless persons.

In January, a chapter of Rotaract was formed in Caracas. Rotaract is a Rotary Club for young men and women aged 18-30 who want to make a difference through volunteer service. The club is still "in formation," as they have not yet reached the minimum number of members necessary to officially become a Rotaract club. I met Rodrigo and Yohana, current members of Rotaract. Although the club is still in formation, the members are involved in different service projects already, from a lottery to benefit children with cancer to assisting Rotary scholars who came from Mexico to Caracas to learn about Social Responsibilities for Businesses.

After giving a few suggestions and commenting on the projects that were presented, District Governor Pedro Pablo Puky began his speech that would provide the answer to my apartment-mate's questions. According to Pedro Pablo, everyone is concerned with helping his fellow man/woman. But why don't we just give money to beggars, why should we get together as a group rather than making individual contributions? His answer was that if each one of us helps out separately with a part, we still might not be able to achieve the goal. However, if we combine our efforts, strengths and abilities, we can multiply those individual parts and make the sum of the group's efforts much greater than the sum of the individuals' efforts. After all, one person can help a child, but a group can build an orphanage.


Combining efforts to carry out service projects is an important part of Rotary, but it is not the only reason to be a part of Rotary International. There are people that we see every day at work or at the store, but real friendship is hard to come by. Rotary offers the opportunity to meet people we may not have otherwise. In my case, I would never have met the majority of the people that I have met so far in Caracas. Most of them are Rotary contacts. The weekly meetings serve as a way to stay united and develop strong friendships. Rather than being a member of a homogenized group of persons in a service group (such as one formed through a workplace, etc), the contacts and friendships made through Rotary are diverse. In one night I met a surgeon, a lawyer, a pharmaceutical teacher, a chemical engineer and an architect! This diversity allows Rotary members to combine their skills and enrich each other, as well as be a more effective service group.

Pedro Pablo discussing Rotary International's theme for this year: "The Future of Rotary is in Our Hands"

Another unexpected advantage of Rotary is the improvement of public speaking skills. Even back in Ohio as a future Ambassadorial Scholar, I was put to the test and asked to give a speech before I left to my sponsor club, Rotary Club of Cleveland. During the meetings, at which there are usually at least 20-25 Rotary members present (sidenote: any Rotary member from any part of the world can attend any other Rotary Club meeting as a guest), one must lose his/her fear of speaking in front of a group to ask even the simplest question. Pedro Pablo told us about a very shy woman who became a member of his local Rotary Club who made an incredible transformation and now is one of the chattiest members. Through Rotary, one has the opportunity to better both him/herself as well as better the world around him/her.

Pedro Pablo ended by commenting that Rotary International is the best business in the world- the demand (for service/volunteerism) always exceeds the supply. That said, there's a lot of work to be done in the world to make it a better place for all. Consider visiting your local Rotary Club to see what Rotary International is all about- Rotarians love visitors and will make you feel welcome from the start!

A member of Rotary Club Petare, District Governor Pedro Pablo Puky and me after the meeting. Right before this picture was taken, I gave Pedro Pablo an Arch C. Klump medallion as a gift from the Rotary Club of Cleveland. He sends his thanks to the Rotary Club of Cleveland!

My new place- what do you mean, there's no water?!

Just a quick post to "show" you all a little bit of my new apartment. I don't have many pictures of the inside yet, but here is one of the outside. I found it on Google Maps too, so if you want to "see" it, write to me and I'll give you the link!

The fruits of my first trip to the grocery. It only took an hour to get there (it's about 5 minutes away, but I went the wrong direction)!

The lovely news that we would only have water from 12:30-2:00PM and 7:30-9:00PM, until further notice. Apparently some water pipes broke. Hahaha, my future book will definitely be called "No Hay Agua"...

Small Victories

This entry was mostly written on Wednesday, September 16.

Being in Caracas reminds me of when I was in Ecuador for many reasons. I learned life lessons in Riobamba that have served me well over the last 5 years since I came home from my year abroad. It was a difficult year that taught me more about myself than anything else. There would be several days in a row when we simply did not have running water (if I wrote an autobiography about my life up until now, it would be called "no hay agua"-there's no water- for this reason), when the catcalls really got on my nerves, the two months before Carnaval when I got attacked with water balloons, flour or water pistols every time I set foot out of my house (apparently it was more fun to attack the "gringas") and other times when things just didn't go my way. I learned patience, street smarts, how to appreciate the small victories, and how to replace bad memories.

In Caracas there is usually water in the shower, although it's not always hot, and I haven't gotten pelted with flour or water pistols yet (however I have been rained on). But I have already experienced times where things just didn't seem to go my way. The days seem so long because so much happens over the course of the time I'm awake. Actually, even when I'm asleep it's eventful. Someone had the brilliant idea to set the hotel room TV timer to 4:05AM and that was waking me up every morning. The bad part of it was that I would roll over, fumble around until I found the remote to turn it off, and by the time I woke up I wouldn't remember exactly what had happened. I originally thought that I was waking up with the sun or something. Then one morning I awoke to some sitcom and within a few minutes became very sick to my stomach. Needless to say, I remembered what happened a few hours later when I woke up and turned off the timer, especially since the Pepto Bismal tablets that I had taken at 4AM had turned my tongue black (thanks to Khoa for forewarning me about that one). Last night I went to sleep with a satisfied grin on my face, knowing that no sitcom would be trying to make me laugh at 4:05AM. What I didn't count on were my new neighbors. I suppose I should be grateful- they did let me sleep until 6:15, at which point they decided to start their day with energy.... right outside my door. sigh...

Annoyances like this are a part of life. At times it can seem like the annoyances outnumber the satisfying moments. Either way, the small victories must be celebrated. What are small victories? They can be anything. My first small victory after I was dropped off at the hotel was walking by myself to McDonald's (there's really nothing else around here that I can walk to after dark) and getting dinner. Another time it was scrounging up the courage to start making phone calls about apartments. It's nerve-racking to make phone calls in another country to people that you don't know, in a language that's not your own, about something that's handled completely differently than in your native country.

Today's victory was school-related. I had forgotten that I needed to take a Spanish-language test as a prerequisite for entry into the graduate program. Once I found out that I needed to take it ASAP, I called the Modern Languages office and got directions. I walked from the hotel to campus, a route that I finally knew well, and started my search. I had been told that the office was in front of the Pharmacy College building. Well, now if only I knew where the Pharmacy building was! I wandered in the direction of the building where my classes would be held, wandered in another direction, and finally decided to ask for directions. I was pointed in the direction of a “building with a red wall” and some others that I didn’t know. I wandered more, asked more people for help and finally (after doing a few laps around the campus) arrived at my destination. I always look at the posted signs in hopes of finding something interesting and this time was in luck- I found out that Arabic classes are available and who to call. (update: On Friday I was in the building where they’ll be held, in another area off-campus called Altamira, but didn’t have time to find out anything more. I’ll have to call Monday)

After speaking with the secretary and receiving a slip of paper with an account number on it that I was supposed to use when I deposited 75BsF (about $12.50) as payment for the test, I received further instructions on finding the Banco de Venezuela. Apparently there are two branches on campus and the one that I found first (and of course it was the one that was the furthest away from the language office) was closed with chains and a big padlock. It took me at least another 30 minutes of walking and asking and feeling like I was running in circles to find the other branch. Another half hour of waiting in line and I finally got to pay for my test. I paid especially close attention to how people were paying and what they had to do to fill out the form, etc. but luckily I didn’t have too much of a problem because they used a similar system in Spain. However here, you have to “sign” with a thumbprint as well. I’ve never had to put my prints on so many documents in my life! Luckily they didn’t ask for any other ID because I had forgotten my passport. I guess if you want to deposit money for someone else, that’s your own prerogative.

Feeling satisfied, I returned to the hotel and called the language office again to confirm that I had paid the deposit and to ask when the test was. The secretary wasn’t sure I would be taking the test at the same time as everyone else because mine was in Spanish and theirs in English. I got another set of phone numbers to call to ask a professor if I would be taking the test on Friday. His son answered the first number and the professor himself answered the second and said that it was not a problem.

Since Wednesday when I wrote this entry, a lot has happened, many small victories as well as difficulties. I will update again soon and tell a little more about my first Rotary meeting, moving into a new place, finding out that the “no hay agua” does apply here in Venezuela after all, and my disdain for catcalls in the streets, barking dogs and blaring music. Stay tuned for the insanity….