Chasing Dreams and Curries: Rotary One Day

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Rotary One Day

With DG 3350 on Rotary One Day

We were excused from class one Monday morning to volunteer with Rotary’s One Day program at a local school in downtown Bangkok. And in the early morning of February 6^th, I realized that although Rotary is based in over 200 countries with 1.2 million members its international volunteering transcends all geographic, cultural and linguistic barriers.

Perfect smiles but Jon Grant: How did we do with our brushing?!

Rotary One Day is an event held six times a year by District 3350 where Rotarians travel to a school and offer incredible services such as dental, medical, eye and ear exams, haircuts, cooking and public speaking classes, and a plethora of carnival games. Both Megumi and I (Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar from Yokohama Japan and fellow MAIDS classmate) were able to get the complete tour, assisting with teeth, eyes, ears and more! It was wonderful to see so many Rotarians taking off their Monday morning to help with the event.

Yikes! In the Rotary mobile dentist's office!

I got to spend time with over 400 children playing games racing carts (blindfolded!), popping balloons with darts, bowling, and shooting basketballs. I helped demonstrate how to properly brush my teeth and got to help with an eye exam. I even held one student’s hand through an anemic blood test – which for those of you who know me, blood is NOT something that is easy for me to do!

It was an amazing day. I am so thankful that I was able to participate, and learned a lot about Rotary and its work worldwide. While there are certainly many world hardships left to face, I am confident Rotary will continue to provide quality and effective programs to achieve a better world.

1 comment:

GregFebruary 13, 2012 at 5:09 AM
This may be one of the cutest pictures I've ever seen.
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What You Didn't Know about Thailand

#6: An estimated 300-400 babies are born in Bangkok each year in taxis and tuk-tuks en route to hospital because of slow traffic.
# 5: Longest Name: Bangkok currently holds the Guinness record for having the longest name of a place. Apparently “Bangkok” is just the short version because the city’s ceremonial name is “Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit.” Say what?
#4: Paparazzi: According to the Thai media, the estimated public gathering of 1 million people on 9 June 2006, to celebrate HM The King’s 60th year – was the largest public gathering in history to celebrate a royal event. Take that William and Kate!
#3: Flower Power: The Orchid is Thailand’s best flowering export. Exports of the Orchid are valued at US$250million per annum.
#2: My Kind of Greeting: The Thai greeting “sawatdee” was invented during the Second World War. Before that, people greeted each other by asking if they had eaten yet.
#1: Hot! Hot! Hot! Bangkok was named the hottest city in the world by the World Meteorological Organization. It may not be the hottest city in the world every single day but you can be sure it’s pretty consistent!