eClub Rotarian Dan Smith, live in the Ukraine
I am in Lviv today, here for PETS. It is so busy there is not much I can do so back to the hotel to play catch-up.
By Monday I will have a lot of stories posted on the website, Facebook, etc. It has been challenging. I have been without internet, which can be scary when you are traveling in between place. Hotels have Wi-Fi so that helps. They tell me Russia is blocking all foreign services. I finally bought a Ukrainian mobile phone to use as a hot spot. Now I'm a two fisted mobile dude.
Such incredible stories from remarkable people. North of Kyiv we visited Moshchun where the Russian invasion was stopped. Devastated the village. Talked with a doctor whose husband and son were shot and taken to Belarus. The son is still there. Visited the Rotary "village" temporary housing, and clinic. Met with the club, the hub where they distribute humanitarian aid and much more.
Then to Cherkasy and meet with Tatiana Ocheret, a journalist, and her team. Had the most incredible encounters. Visited and presented to students at the University. It happened to be the celebration of Taras Shevchenko, a poet from the 19th century, with songs, displays, flowers, poetry. He is the Ukrainian hero. If you want to know about the heart of Ukraine, read his poetry.
Went to several volunteer centers where they support orphans, the elderly, and their solders, who are their children. Which is an important fact. Rotary tends to get caught up in this "we will not support war" but what would you do if your husbands and sons were fighting just a few miles away to protect you from a truly evil army? Somehow, the Rotary position seems hollow here.
Just by chance, we had a concert by some Ukrainian students in the parking lot and an incredible spontaneous singing of the national anthem by the volunteers. I guarantee you these stories and things we experienced will move you and give you goosebumps. They even invited me to go on a medical supply run to Bakhmut. Can you imagine what would happen to an American on a military first aid supply run behind Russian lines. Thanks, but a bit too much risk just now.
Meet with the Rotaract and Interact clubs to talk about helping us collect the "voice" of Ukraine by reaching out to the people and asking for stories, poems, songs, short videos. The Library of Congress, Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, and the Hoover Institution, Stanford University are putting together an archive to capture this moment in Ukraine, wouldn't it be great to have Rotary be a part of this archive. Some differences in approach. Here they want more "produced" presentations to put the best face out there; I want the raw unedited voices. What do you think?
Well, have to get back to posting so you can see this all.
Thanks,
Dan
Want to Experience What It’s Like to be in Kyiv?
We hear stories and watch the news, but what is it really like to be in Kyiv? To live under the constant threat of being attacked again and bombed?
Here is a proposal for those who really want to share this experience with the people of Kyiv.
- Download one of these apps.
- Set the location for Kyiv
- Every time the alert sounds, stop and just imagine what is going on. Do you go to the shelter? Do you just go on with your day?
- Send a prayer or a thought to the people living there, they just got the same alarm.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ukrainealarm
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ukraine-safety-alerts/id1613373267
If you are in a store or business, they will ask you to either leave or go to their bomb shelter.
In my trip to Ukraine I had the privilege of delivering humanitarian aid from the Rotary Club of Springfield to the Rotary Club Kyiv. It included crank flashlights, that never need batteries, and emergency Mylar Bivvy or sleeping bags. The club will distribute these to the people in Moshchun and Eastern Ukraine.
It turns out the Bivvy bags will not only provide warmth for sleeping but also save lives. One of the problems they have is keeping patients warm as they transfer them from the front to hospitals where they can receive emergency care.
Thank you, your donations truly save lives.
AND
Stories, not stats, attract people to Rotary
By Joe Otin, governor-elect of Rotary District 9212 (Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan)
I gravitate naturally to statistics despite the negative feelings some people have about them. I think that information is the fuel that our world runs on and without it our systems will sputter, stall, and shut down. That is because statistics are significant in decision making.
When I joined the Rotary Club of Nairobi East, Kenya, 19 years ago, I was told that good Rotarians were defined by the regularity of their attendance, the frequency of their gifts to The Rotary Foundation, and most importantly by their ability to introduce new members to the club.
In my quest to be a valuable member, I turned to statistics as a way to demonstrate the credibility of Rotary to family, friends, and neighborhood skeptics. I learned all the important stats by heart and would spit them out at the slightest provocation. If someone happened to notice my membership pin, they would get a barrage of information enough to weigh down even the strongest weightlifter.
A different way
Only a bolt of lightning would get my victims to wake up again by the time I was done talking. I thought I was promoting the club but instead I was boring them to death.
Looking back, it shouldn’t have been a surprise to me that my recruitment efforts led to naught. Not a single person that I targeted with my facts and figures joined the organization. Yet other members invited guests to our lunches every week, and these guests eventually joined our club within a month or two.
One day I got a call from a business journalist who wanted to discuss the results of a survey that my company had recently published. This was not unusual because in those days I worked for a research company and media executives regularly called me for insights and information.
The human and relatable stories we tell are the ones that fire emotional triggers and create the special connections we have in Rotary.
We met at a popular restaurant and after trading personal stories, I casually brought up a Rotary event I had gone to over the weekend where we’d commissioned a sports arena in a school that was situated in a nearby slum. That story captured her imagination so much that by the end of our meeting she asked for an invite to my Rotary club. She eventually became the first person that I successfully introduced into membership without having to twist their arm.
The business journalist I speak of is none-other-than Carole Kimutai, who went on to become one of the most celebrated past presidents of the Rotary Club of Nairobi-East.
I learned something from that experience. Nobody really cares about statistics and data; they are more interested in what the experience means to you and me. People tend to follow the passion and the feelings that they see in us, which creates an emotional connection that is more powerful than a rational thought process.
Telling stories
I learned to tell stories about my Rotary experiences. I spoke about the members and the interesting things that they did. I spoke about the people that we worked with on various projects who seemed to have a deeper understanding of life because of their service to mankind. I spoke about the social interaction, new relationships and old friendships, and the impact that they had on my life.
I also described those ripples that oscillate in my soul whenever I see happy faces of needy children who receive new books or toys, and the joy of mothers who bring their children to medical camps for free health checkups.
The results speak for themselves. In my first three years of spewing statistics, I didn’t bring in any new members. In the following 16 years, I have introduced over 30 new members, and together with Jim Wilson and George Mathenge, launched a new club with over 35 members. This club has gone on to form another club with a similar number of charter members.
The human and relatable stories we tell are the ones that fire emotional triggers and create the special connections we have in Rotary. Whether it is through face-to-face interaction, on social media, or even when presenting a speech to a large audience, we can make our clubs appealing by defining and articulating what is truly meaningful to us.
You are not authorised to post comments.