District Conference

The Rotary International District 9200 Conference took place over three grueling days from April 29 – May 1. Generally speaking, I’m not a huge fan of large conferences. My jobs haven’t required much conference participation over the last five years, but each one isn’t terribly different from the next.

There were a number of important Rotarians at the conference, several of which gave speeches or lead discussion groups based on their position and vocation. The GSE team was not expected to be present for many of the speeches (phew), so we used the time to meet other Rotarians, get to know our Swedish comrades and reflect on our time in Uganda. And sit by the pool.

Both GSE teams presented information about our lives at home and experiences in Africa during the morning session of the last day. We had a large turnout (~250-300 people), which was a nice surprise. We were each approached by several Rotarians looking to make contacts in the US or simply looking for more information about what we do.

There were evening events each night, which was a good opportunity to relax, chat with anyone who was interested and enjoy different aspects of Ethiopia. One night was a simple mixer with a live musician, appetizers and lots of conversation; the second night was a meal at an Ethiopian restaurant, complete with a local cultural performance group (who were fantastic); and the third night was a banquet dinner at the Hilton.

Overall, I think it was a positive experience. We met several Rotarians looking for business cards who were sincerely interested in our work, which was great. We also got to relax at a nice hotel and make some new Swedish friends. As expected, there was certainly a noticeable amount of chest-thumping, glad-handing and general Rotary self-praise. Rotary does some wonderful projects around the world, no doubt, but there is still a prevalent old-boys-club vibe to many of the speeches and functions. This doesn’t appear to be as big of a deal with the young people of Africa, since their young Rotarians vastly outnumber their American counterparts. But it rubbed me the wrong way.

If we’re asked to give a presentation at the District 5950 Conference next week, it’ll be interesting to compare and contrast…