The New Social Worker Vol. 20, No. 4, Fall 2013 | Page 31
Making Connections
With purposeful work also came
connections we’ve made with people,
especially those from Liberia who were
involved with the school directly or indirectly. In the beginning of a project like
this, it’s imperative to find a host Rotary
Club in the country you are doing work
in. Immediately, staying true to our generation, our club turned to Facebook. We
found the Monrovia Rotaract Club and
made connections, but this still was not a
definite contact with the Rotary Club of
Monrovia. It wasn’t until we were presenting our new project to a local Rotary Club
that we made the connection. During
this meeting, a Rotarian told us that the
former president of the Rotary Club of
Monrovia was now a member of their
club. We contacted him and within weeks
were connected with the Rotary Club of
Monrovia.
One of the most rewarding benefits was learning about Liberia as a
country. One of the biggest learning
factors was seeing what a civil war can
do to not only a country, but also to its
people. How people react, improvise,
adapt, and overcome to such atrocities
was very intriguing to every member of
our club. Every person that we talked
to from Liberia had been affected by
Liberia’s years of civil war. As a club,
we would try to understand and empathize with what that meant for them
now. We were exposed to and learned
the effects of social trauma as well as
the resiliency factors that kept and keep
them going today. We held movie nights
and watched documentaries about the
years they endured and have classmates
from Liberia attend. We would ask them
questions about their country, their years
living in Liberia, and the war. Learning
about Liberia as a country was useful but
there were also aspects of completing
an international project that we weren’t
aware of and found out along the way.
Coming into this, we were blind. We
had never done a project like this before
or worked with Rotary International on
this large of a scale. There are parts that
we look back on, realizing there were
most likely better ways to do certain
things. Finding a network of people
before we started fundraising would have
been extremely helpful. As a club, we
never formally sat down with the main
people in the project and came up with
a solid plan and timeline. In short, we
just started brainstorming all aspects of
the project from all angles. Having that
solid plan could have potentially been
very beneficial. We went through a grant
process, and in the last few months, our
grant was “allocated elsewhere.” Upset
and not sure where to turn next, we emailed the highest Rotarian in our district,
the District Governor. She immediately
sent an e-mail to every Rotary Club in our
district, and suddenly help started pouring
in. If we had found that set of supports
in the beginning instead of finding them
when we almost felt depleted, our project
time could have been cut down.
We would have also tried different modes of communication instead of
solely e-mailing back and forth. Showing
emotion or expressions through e-mails
is often hard if not impossible, especially
crossing cultural lines. Words would
be taken the wrong way, and time was
wasted trying to figure out what each
party really meant. Toward the end of
the project, Amos and I started texting.
We found that this was easy, simple, and
much faster than e-mail. Amos would
have to travel about a mile to a café
every time he needed to e-mail us. If
we had started texting in the beginning
(keeping cost in mind), communications
could have been faster and the process
might have gone more smoothly. Overall, the four main learning points were:
1. Increased cultural competence
2. How to expand your professional
and social network
3. Increased awareness of international
issues
4. Importance of persistence and perseverance
Overall, the lessons we learned were
invaluable. We now have the ideas and
experience to move forward and use
in our futures. Hopefully, the club will
use our experience and start a rippling
effect of good will and build friendships
all over the world. Last year, Rotary
International’s motto was “Building
Communities and Bridging Continents.”
This year, it is “Peace through Service.”
Our project exemplifies both.
For more information about this
project, please contact Tierny Ulmer at
[email protected].
Tierny Ulmer received her BSW with a
minor in peace and conflict studies from West
Chester University. Tierny interned at the
Nationalities Service Center in the Survivors
of Torture Program as well as the Delaware
Department of Justice as a Victim/Witness
advocate intern. Tierny was president of the
Rotaract Club, the 18-30 year old version of
Rotary International, on West Chester University's campus for two yea '2?6V???"?V ?6?R&V6?RF?RF?7G&?7B&?F&7B&W&W6V?FF?fRf?"F?R&?F&7B6?V'2??F?Rw&VFW ????FV???&V?f?"gW'F?W"??V?&W0?&Vv&F??rF?Rt5R&?F&7B6?V"?R?????F?W&??V??W$v????6???F?R?Wr6?6??v?&?W ??f??#0??#????