Rotary International Conference 2008

I arrived in Los Angeles not knowing quite what to expect and much to my amazement some eighteen thousand participants from around the world came together for this year’s Rotary International Conference. I was absolutely thrilled to have been given this opportunity and I doubt that I shall ever be accurately able to express my gratitude to all those who made this possible for me. I owe so much to the many kindnesses and the extraordinary generosity extended to me by the Rotary Organization. ¡Muchas Gracias!

On the first two days of the conference I attended the Alumni Scholar Workshop, which was a great source of inspiration. A previous Ambassadorial Scholar and a panel of Peace Scholars addressed us regarding their work in their respective fields and just how their efforts and achievements were directed towards furthering Rotary’s mission in attaining peace. Overall, I was humbled by their accomplishments, by their experiences and the amazing work that through them, Rotary is continually promoting in the areas that need their help the most.

I particularly enjoyed a session on ethics by Michael Josephson. This session motivated me to examine how the role of ethics plays into my daily life, as a global citizen, a teacher and an Ambassadorial Scholar. I liked that he encouraged discourse and the fact that he stressed the need to be informed, the need for increased tolerance and understanding and the practice of tolerance through respect for all positions and perspectives involved in our interactions with others.

The highlight of the conference was observing all of Rotary’s global efforts with literacy (as you all know, literacy has been a primary focus of Rotary for 12 years). To date, there are 800 million individuals worldwide who are illiterate; as a language educator, I feel that this area of focus is especially important. Dolly Parton, addressed a plenary session via satellite regarding her Imagination Library, that originally started in her hometown of Tennessee on the program’s growth and development and its new and exciting partnership with Rotary. Currently Imagination Library distributes a half of million books to children in three countries each month!

Various plenary speakers and sessions on health in Africa took my breath away and left me speechless. I have always known that Africa is the forgotten continent, but I never realized to what extent until personal accounts of hardship and human suffering were shared with the audience. To say that these stories touched my heart and my very soul would be an understatement and I doubt that I will ever be the same or take for granted the many blessings that I have enjoyed throughout my life. The courage, faith, humility, and daring displayed by so many of these personal accounts moved me to tears and more than ever, awakened in me, even further, the realization of what a tremendous organization Rotary is and what an enormous part they play in alleviating suffering, hunger and ignorance throughout the world.

Once again, thank you for allowing me to share in this amazing work, to be a small part of a movement that certainly is changing the world, one step at a time. I wish I could have taken everyone I know through the exhibition hall to talk with the various project representatives from around the world. I feel this overwhelming need to share with everyone, everywhere all that I have learned and seen; so that everyone can see what mountains can be moved, what miracles can be wrought, how much love and understanding can be shared simply by making yourself aware of what is lacking and making yourself available in almost any capacity. I do so wish that everyone could experience, as I have, the joy of giving, the satisfaction of learning about and understanding the differences between us, the pleasure of sharing and teaching new skills, of making life better and easier for someone by often providing some very small component that just was not there before. I commend Rotary for their caring, for their efforts in making people more aware and giving them the tools to go out there and do whatever it is they do best.

I have witnessed first hand what the power of love and genuine concern and a desire to help can do and yet again, I acclaim the Rotary organization for all its endeavors throughout the world – all of which continue to raise awareness and increase immeasurably understanding and trust in our fellow human beings; both of which will ultimately lead to a less divided world, a world made up of friends rather than strangers.

I am very anxious and eager to incorporate my conference experience into my Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship presentations over the next five months here in an effort to share with Mexican Rotarians, who did not have the opportunity to attend this conference.

”Rotary Shares” and as a very proud Rotary Ambassador, so will I!

Thank you again for giving me this remarkable opportunity to learn, to share, to meet amazing people and to see and feel things that I shall never forget. Thank you for giving me the opportunity as an ambassadorial scholar to broaden my knowledge as a professional and academic in the field of linguists through Rotary’s work with literacy.

Kindest regards,

Samantha
Ambassadorial Scholar 2007-2008
Guanajuato, Mexico