Hardy headed to Africa for Rotary Exchange
Danielle Hardy, the Orofino Outreach Center coordinator, will be leaving Sunday,
March 23 for four weeks in Africa as a Rotary International “Group Study
Exchange” (GSE) team member. Danielle will be visiting three different countries
in the north-western part of Africa: Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Togo. She is
scheduled to return on April 20.
Rotary International provides this opportunity to professionals for the purpose of promoting global awareness and world peace. Rotary provides exchange programs for students, too, but this particular exchange program is only for individuals who are established professionals between the ages of 25 and 40. With the exception of the team leader, who must be a Rotarian, all team members are non-Rotarians.
The team members will experience the host country’s culture and institutions, observe how their vocations are practiced abroad, develop personal and professional relationships, and exchange ideas. Rotary pays all expenses other than the team member’s personal items, souvenirs and gifts for family and friends back home.
A friend familiar with the Rotary GSE program encouraged Danielle to apply. “When my friend encouraged me to apply, I was flattered and thought that it wouldn’t hurt to say, “Yes” and to apply, so I did!” According to Danielle, after she officially applied to the Orofino Rotary Club she was chosen as the club’s nominee and her name was forwarded to Rotary District 5080 for consideration.
She was among those chosen from a pool of 32 and went for an interview in Spokane. A committee of Rotarians from the US and Canada were on the interview panel.
Danielle was then chosen as a team member along with one other American and two Canadians.
Because the exchange program focuses on each member’s profession, vocational visits will be tied into Danielle’s job as an Outreach Coordinator. “I will be visiting campuses and rural centers that provide higher education. I will be going to the University of Ghana first, which has a student population of over 28,000.
While this is huge compared to LCSC, I can’t wait to see and learn how they offer education to the rural parts of their country. I am sure that they face the same obstacles I face here in Orofino...lack of services to provide technology, for instance.”
Another part of the exchange is to present to the Rotary groups. The team will be doing twelve presentations in the three countries they are visiting. “We have uniforms we wear to the presentations and each of us will have about ten minutes to present where we live and what we do professionally, so I get to share about my position as LCSC’s Orofino Coordinator.”
According to Danielle the itinerary is packed every day and she has been warned that the team is going to be so busy chances are she will only get six hours or less of sleep at night.
By providing this opportunity to professionals world-wide, Rotary International hopes to teach, one by one, that all people are equal and share the same aspirations and face the same obstacles.
It is a noble goal, but Rotary is committed to creating a world that will continue to come together in peace.
Pictured: Danielle Hardy points to Ghana, where she will soon begin her four week tour of west Africa as a member of the District 5080 Rotary Group Study Exchange.