It's Twila, your Roaming Rotarian, reporting from Chiang Mai, Thailand where I met up with Owen Hodgson. He is the President of the Rotary International Club here, District 3360 RI Thailand. I actually stumbled onto this club when I saw an intriguing event called the Annual Expat BBQ and Golf Ball drop. When I saw that this event was hosted by a local Rotary International Club I had to say hello! After the BBQ Owen and Gary Hermann invited me to a local meeting.
While attending the monthly meeting I got updates on a few of their projects including the Children's Water Safety & Drowning Prevention program and the School Vision Screening Project. The vision project provides 3rd and 5th graders at municipal schools free screenings and free glasses along with follow ups each school year.
They also have partnered with district 5230 clubs and the Rotary Foundation funding, CMIRC, the Lanna Foundation, the ITDG (Integrated Tribal Development Foundation) and the Rotary Club of Fig Garden to help bring clean water and sanitation to 21 remote hill tribes villages in Northern Thailand. Amazing work!
As an aside, I didn't know there was a tradition of trading banners when visiting Rotary Clubs! I was able to secure one from them (attached pic) but sadly did not have one to give them from our club.
Lastly, I introduced a new nomad to Rotary International. His name is Eric Smith from Portland, Oregon. We met in Osaka, Japan via Remote Year (now defunct) and consequently met again in Chiang Mai. He was curious about Rotary International like I was and accompanied me to the meeting as my guest.
Here are a few pics of the adventure!
Until next time,
Twila
Mt. Victoria's Roaming Rotarian!
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