Rotary Friendship Exchange (RFE)
| Chair | Club |
|---|---|
| Susan Hanner | Eugene Southtowne |
Are you interested in fellowship with Rotarians overseas?
How about broadening your Rotary horizons by developing international friendships? If so, the District 5110 Rotary Friendship Exchange Committee cordially invites you to let us know! The Friendship Exchange Committee encourages and coordinates district-to-district friendship exchanges between district Rotarians and Rotarians from other parts of the world.
To learn more about Rotary Friendship Exchange, read the Rotary Friendship Exchange Handbook, go to the RFE page on the Rotary International website or contact Susie Hanner, the 2011-2012 RFE chair.
The RFE committee met on January 15, 2012. Read the minutes here.
Current and Future Exchanges:
- Turkey (District 2420) - Photos and trip wrap-up; the Turkish inbound team will visit June 2012
- Scotland (District 1010) - The team has been selected for the July 2012 outbound trip
- India (Districts 3040 and 3230) - need statements of interest
- Argentina (District 4850) - need statements of interest
- Ireland - need statements of interest
- San Diego, CA (District 5340) - need statements of interest
To express interest in any of the proposed exchanges, please contact Susie at susieh@efn.org.
From Chair Susie Hanner: The District 5110 RFE Committee met on January 15, 2012, primarily to select the outbound team for Scotland. We had a new challenge, in that eighteen people (9 couples) applied for the twelve spots. Of the seven couples deemed eligible, we used a simple lottery system to determine which couples would be selected.
Those couples are:
- Rick and Emily Francona
- Don Arkell and Laurie Power
- Lew and Alice Marks
- Ron and Terrie Welty
- Larry and Sandi Wilkins
- Ted and Barbara Thom
Our stand-by list is:
- Bill and Jeannette Maier
- Camille and Jim Ronzio
- Dick and Sally Briggs
Rotary International has directed RFE programs to incorporate service into the friendship exchanges. Our district RFE committee today decided to, in the future, collect $100 per outgoing team member (in addition to the $25 that's collected to help with costs of inbound teams) that will be available for service projects that we encounter in our travels. The committee also discussed: 1) the need for a separate account for collected monies; and 2) the idea of using a simple point system to select team members in the future, especially as we expect an even greater abundance of applicants in the future.
The dates of the outbound Scotland trip are June 30-July 14, 2012. The inbound team from Turkey will be visiting our district from June 5-June 14, and the team from Scotland will be here in early September of this year. Even if you can't be a traveler with an exchange, you can still experience Rotarians from some place else in the world by hosting. If that's of interest to you, please contact Susie Hanner at susieh@efn.org.
The committee is considering doing exchanges with Ireland, Argentina, India, and perhaps San Diego. If any of these is of interest to you, please contact Susie at susieh@efn.org.
India - 2012
Our district has been offered the possibility of Friendship Exchanges with District 3040 in Madhya Pradesh and District 3230 in Chennai.
District 3040
District 3040 has 79 Rotary clubs and approximately 1850 Rotarians. Located in the central India, Rotary District 3040 covers part of states of “Madhya Pradesh” & “Gujarat”. It covers a large and diverse geographical area. There are unspoiled forests, rivers and mountains. Many historical places are situated here. This area has a rich tradition of art, handicrafts & tribal arts. It has ancient monuments and heritage places. It provides visitors with a broad overview of Indian culture. People are friendly here and are known for their hospitality.
Best time for visiting our district is between November and February. The temperature during this period is 18º to 27ºC (64º to 81ºF). These months have the most activities and festivals. Our district conference will be held in February 2012. Rotarians in our district are friendly and love to make new friends from different parts of the world. We look forward to welcoming you to our district.
The main cities in the district 3040 are Bhopal, capital of Madhya Pradesh combines scenic beauty, history and modern urban planning. It is situated on the site of an 11th century city. Bhopal today presents a multi-faceted profile; the old city with its teeming market places and fine old mosques and palaces still bear the aristocratic imprint of its former rulers; equally impressive is the new city with its verdant, exquisitely laid out parks and gardens, broad avenues and streamlined modern edifice.
Sanchi near Bhopal is known for its Buddhist Stupas, monasteries, temples and pillars dating from the 3rd century B.C. to the 12th century A.D. It has been included by the UNESCO as one of the heritage sites of the world.
Indore is the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh. Planned and built by “Rani Ahilyabai”, the brave Holkar queen, it is a bustling and vibrant city, an important educational & industrial center of India. Travel to Indore city will present a blissful blend of the past and the future. Indore is known for its architectural splendor. Apart from being a historical city, Indore is also the commercial capital of the state of Madhya Pradesh. It is famous for its food, festivals and handicrafts.
Ujjain is an ancient & holy city. It has even been mentioned in 6th Century B.C. Buddhist literature. The world famous observatory constructed in 1719 is situated here. Modern Ujjain is situated on the banks of the river Shipra.
Omkareshwar, the sacred island, has drawn to it hundreds of generations of pilgrims at the confluence of the rivers Narmada and Kaveri. And here, the works of Nature complement those of man to provide a setting awe-inspiring in its magnificence.
Maheshwar was a glorious city at the dawn of Indian civilization. This temple town on the banks of the river Narmada finds mention in the epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Today, Maheshwar is also known for its distinctive hand-woven fabric called Maheshwari.
Mandu, perched along the Vindhya ranges at an altitude of 2,000 feet is a very old city. It was known as the 'city of joy’ in the past. Its rulers built exquisite palaces, ornamental canals, baths and pavilions, as graceful and refined as those times of peace and plenty. Each of Mandu's structures is an architectural gem; some are outstanding and which provided inspiration to the master builders of the Taj Mahal centuries later.
District 3230
District 3230 - Chennai (formerly Madras) is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. Chennai being the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the fifth most populous city in India, it is also the world's 36th largest metropolitan area. The urban agglomeration of metropolitan Chennai has an estimated population over 8.2 million people. According to an A.C. Nielsen survey, Chennai is regarded as one of the cleanest cities in India.
Chennai's economy has a broad industrial base in the automobile, computer, technology, hardware manufacturing and healthcare industries. The city is India's second largest exporter of software, information technology (IT) and information-technology-enabled services (ITES). A major portion of India's automobile manufacturing industry is based in and around the city, which leads it to be called 'The Detroit of Asia.'
Chennai is an important center for Carnatic music and hosts a large cultural event, the annual Madras Music Season, which includes performances by hundreds of artists. The city has a vibrant theater scene and is an important center for the Bharata Natyam, a classical dance form. The Tamil film industry, one of the largest film industries in India.
If you are interested in being on one of these teams - traveling to India and hosting an Indian team - please contact RFE Committee Chair Susan Hanner.
Argentina - 2012
Our district has been offered the possibility of a Friendship Exchange with District 4850 in northeast Argentina. Our District has recently completed a water well World Community Service project in District 4850, and conducted a Group Study Exchange with District 4850 in 2008.
If you are interested in being on this team - traveling to Argentina and hosting the Argentinian team - please contact RFE Committee Chair Susan Hanner.
Committee Details: FriendshipExchange
