Rotary Meeting

As a member of Rotary, I decided to take the opportunity to visit a Rotary club in Addis.  The only one that fit into my schedule was the one on Monday evening at the Ghion hotel.

The staff helped arrange for the taxi driver we used to go to AHOPE to come back that evening to take me to the hotel. 

In Addis, there are 7 (I think) Rotary clubs.  One is conducted in French, one in Amharic and the rest in English.  Well, I attended the one that was conducted in Amharic.  They were very polite.  The incoming President, a man named Abebe, was very kind to translate a lot of the information covered.  Much of the meeting was spent discussing issues that came up in the District recently held.  The focus of the Rotary for that District (Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and a few other countries) is environmental issues.  The massive influx of development, ahead of environmental regulation, is going to have long-lasting impacts on these areas.

I was also asked to talk to someone from a local radio station about what volunteerism is about.  I'm pretty sure I did a terrible job, but…oh well.

Abebe also arranged for another member to drive me home (via a stop at the care center to pick up my son). 

It was really great to intermix with non-adoption-related Ethiopians who are committed to improving their community.