Group Study Exchange to the Philippines
Posted by Roseanne Morissette
My Group Study Exchange in the Phillipines was a "trip of a lifetime," notes Jean Armitage.
The following is a summary of Jean Armitage's address to the Rotary Club of St. Catharines South on her GSE team leader experience in the Phillipines this past April 2005.
Group Study Exchange (GSE) is a Rotary Foundation Educational Program wherein Rotary Districts in different countries are paired to send and receive professional study groups of four to six non-Rotarians and one Rotarian team leader for four to six weeks in the homes of Rotarians where possible. The purpose is to develop professional and leadrship skills among young adults so that they can address the needs of their communities and the global workplace. There are four facets of the GSE: vocational visits, cultural experiences, fellowship opportunities, and Rotarian involvement. During our trip, all three objectives, excluding vocational visits, were met fully.
The team leader for GSE must be an experienced Rotarian, not a current, past, or about-to-be District Governor and must be able to handle the leadership responsibilities. Team members may not be Rotarians or related in any way to a Rotarian. They must be 25 to 40 years of age and work or live in the sending District. All participants must be physically and mentally fit and have proficiency in the language of the country. In our case, the language was English.
The team members who accompanied me on this trip were Kristi Lockyer, who teaches math and physics at Governor Simcoe Secondary School; Murray Odesse, who just completed his MBA prior to the trip and who is the Human Resources Manager at the Brain Injury Re-Entry organization for Niagara and a part-time lecturer in the Business Program at Niagara College; Kate Verge, who is a Montessori teacher for children ages three to six years at Wheatley School of Montessori Education; and Jenn Horwath, who is a Cybrarian at Mohawk College responsible for the library's website and other electronic services, and who was sponsored by the Hamilton a.m. Club. The team was a great emissary for our District.
We met over a period of three months to familiarize ourselves about Rotary International; the Rotary Foundation; Rotary's ideals and achievements; the cultural, geographic, and demographic background of the Philippines; and to prepare a presentation about ourselves and the area and district we represent.
I want to give you a brief overview of the Philippines. The country is composed of 7,107 islands in the South Chine Sea situated between Taiwan to the north and Borneo to the South. Only 2,000
of the islands are populated. The country was under the control of the Spaniards initially and then the Americans. The influence of both cultures is evident today--the Spanish through the nearly universal conversion to the Roman Catholic faith and the creation of the landed elite; and the Americans for introducing universal education and literacy and for the proliferation of fast food outlets. Of the population of 84,000,000, only four per cent are older than 65. The birthrate is 3.1 children, which is double that of Canada. They have a life expectancy of 70 years and the diseases that affect them are typhoid and hepatitis as well as dengue fever, malaria, and rabies. There is a high literacy rate, but 40 per cent of the people live below the poverty line. Natural resources consist of timber, petroleum, nickel, cobalt, silver, gold, copper, and salt. Unemployment is at 11 per cent.
Our stay was in District 3790, which is located just north of Manila in the west and central region of the country's largest and most populated island, Luzon. We moved 14 times, staying mostly in the homes of Rotarians.
The Filipinos are one of the most generous, easy going, thoughtful, kind, and fun-loving group of people that I have ever met. Besides the hospitality of the people, the things that impressed me significantly were the poverty, the amount of people and traffic, the underdeveloped health care, the privately-owned educational and social service systems, and the will of Rotarians to make a difference.
There are projects to help the poor, including a number of orphanages; charity run schools and hospitals; as well as projects to help make their communities a better place to live. They help bring food and water and education and health care to those in need. I heard of a number of worthwhile projects that they hope a club in District 7090 will partner with them in order to qualify for a matching grant. I have asked them to send me proposals so that I can share the information with our Rotary Clubs. I hope that your club will consider helping out a fellow Rotary Club in the Phillipines.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share some of my impressions of a "trip of a lifetime."
--Jean Armitage
The Rotary Club of St. Catharines a.m.
Group Study Exchange (GSE) is a Rotary Foundation Educational Program wherein Rotary Districts in different countries are paired to send and receive professional study groups of four to six non-Rotarians and one Rotarian team leader for four to six weeks in the homes of Rotarians where possible. The purpose is to develop professional and leadrship skills among young adults so that they can address the needs of their communities and the global workplace. There are four facets of the GSE: vocational visits, cultural experiences, fellowship opportunities, and Rotarian involvement. During our trip, all three objectives, excluding vocational visits, were met fully.
The team leader for GSE must be an experienced Rotarian, not a current, past, or about-to-be District Governor and must be able to handle the leadership responsibilities. Team members may not be Rotarians or related in any way to a Rotarian. They must be 25 to 40 years of age and work or live in the sending District. All participants must be physically and mentally fit and have proficiency in the language of the country. In our case, the language was English.
The team members who accompanied me on this trip were Kristi Lockyer, who teaches math and physics at Governor Simcoe Secondary School; Murray Odesse, who just completed his MBA prior to the trip and who is the Human Resources Manager at the Brain Injury Re-Entry organization for Niagara and a part-time lecturer in the Business Program at Niagara College; Kate Verge, who is a Montessori teacher for children ages three to six years at Wheatley School of Montessori Education; and Jenn Horwath, who is a Cybrarian at Mohawk College responsible for the library's website and other electronic services, and who was sponsored by the Hamilton a.m. Club. The team was a great emissary for our District.
We met over a period of three months to familiarize ourselves about Rotary International; the Rotary Foundation; Rotary's ideals and achievements; the cultural, geographic, and demographic background of the Philippines; and to prepare a presentation about ourselves and the area and district we represent.
I want to give you a brief overview of the Philippines. The country is composed of 7,107 islands in the South Chine Sea situated between Taiwan to the north and Borneo to the South. Only 2,000
of the islands are populated. The country was under the control of the Spaniards initially and then the Americans. The influence of both cultures is evident today--the Spanish through the nearly universal conversion to the Roman Catholic faith and the creation of the landed elite; and the Americans for introducing universal education and literacy and for the proliferation of fast food outlets. Of the population of 84,000,000, only four per cent are older than 65. The birthrate is 3.1 children, which is double that of Canada. They have a life expectancy of 70 years and the diseases that affect them are typhoid and hepatitis as well as dengue fever, malaria, and rabies. There is a high literacy rate, but 40 per cent of the people live below the poverty line. Natural resources consist of timber, petroleum, nickel, cobalt, silver, gold, copper, and salt. Unemployment is at 11 per cent.
Our stay was in District 3790, which is located just north of Manila in the west and central region of the country's largest and most populated island, Luzon. We moved 14 times, staying mostly in the homes of Rotarians.
The Filipinos are one of the most generous, easy going, thoughtful, kind, and fun-loving group of people that I have ever met. Besides the hospitality of the people, the things that impressed me significantly were the poverty, the amount of people and traffic, the underdeveloped health care, the privately-owned educational and social service systems, and the will of Rotarians to make a difference.
There are projects to help the poor, including a number of orphanages; charity run schools and hospitals; as well as projects to help make their communities a better place to live. They help bring food and water and education and health care to those in need. I heard of a number of worthwhile projects that they hope a club in District 7090 will partner with them in order to qualify for a matching grant. I have asked them to send me proposals so that I can share the information with our Rotary Clubs. I hope that your club will consider helping out a fellow Rotary Club in the Phillipines.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share some of my impressions of a "trip of a lifetime."
--Jean Armitage
The Rotary Club of St. Catharines a.m.