Destination: Bangkok

With friends from District 9125, Nigeria.

So why go halfway around the world to attend a Rotary Convention? The prime reason has to do with reveling and appreciating the sheer inter-nationality of Rotary.  I reconnected with old friends from Mali and Nigeria and the Philippines, met new friends from europe, and swapped stories with my classmates and friends from across North America.

Another reason is to hob-nob with the movers and shakers in Rotary.  For all its fancy titles, Rotary is a remarkably egalitarian organization — we are all volunteers, after all — and it’s remarkably easy just to introduce oneself to a Rotarian in senior office and express appreciation or ask a question.

Another reason is to learn more about the “other” Rotaries — the Rotary of Rotaract, of the Cadre, and other Rotary programs that we don’t know much about in District 7780.

Then there is the opportunity to hear keynotes of what is current and avant in the Rotary world.  Here’s the place to get the best, the latest information.  This last proved less powerful this year, at least for me, since, along with my classmates I had equal benefit in the International Assembly in San Diego in January.  On the other hand, it doesn’t hurt to hear things twice …

And somewhere in there is the change to be introduced to yet another corner of the world.  Neither Frank nor I have ever before been to Southeast Asia, and I have always wanted to come to Bangkok.  We did that, plus a week in Cambodia! (Join Rotary and see the world!) And as always happens when one allows oneself to absorb new experiences, Cambodia turned out to be so much more.

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