A Write-up By Syed Rabius Shams
The Group Study Exchange (GSE) program of The Rotary Foundation (TRF) of Rotary International (RI) is a unique vocational and cultural exchange opportunity for young professionals and businessmen/women in their initial stage of career. Reciprocity is the key to GSE. Each of the paired Rotary District sends and receives a team to each other’s district consisting of five to six persons for four to six weeks. For the GSE program of 2009-10, Rotary International District (RID) 3280, Bangladesh is paired with RID 5240, California, USA.
The program is designed to develop professional and leadership skills among young people to better prepare them to address the needs of their communities and an increasingly global workplace.
We, the five GSE team Members from Bangladesh visited California, USA during October 15 to November 13, 2009. The four-week exchange tour included a Rotarian team leader and four non-Rotarian young professionals team members. The team was led by Rtn. PP Syed Abu Sayeed, PHF of Rotary Club of Metropolitan Khulna, professionally a Homeopathic Doctor and among the selected four team members, it was me Syed Rabius Shams nominated by Rotary Club of Dhaka North West, serving as Assistant Secretary, Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Managers of Bangladesh (ICSMB). Others members were Khondker Emdadul Haq (Sagor) of Bank Alfalah Limited, nominated by Rotary Club of Dhaka South, Rotary Club of Dhaka North West nominated Sajjad Haider of Standard Chartered Bank and Officer of Dhaka Bank Limited Shamim Azad nominated by Rotary Club of Dhaka Central. We had been selected after serious of in-depth interviews and scrutinizing our academic and professional backgrounds.
The Districts were well matched which was an important factor contributing to the continued success of both exchange visits. A similar team of five members from the other side selected by RID 5240, California is now contemplating to visit Bangladesh on January 11, 2010 for completion the exchange.
D-5240 covers the reverie state of California’s mid-southern part also known as the Central Coast. California was once famous for gold mining in the mid 1800’s. That era was also known as the “Gold Rush”. The region is famous for its wide-ranging agriculture, tourism and diverse landscape. California, the 3rd largest State of America, is also known as “The Sunshine State” because of its nice bright climate. Celluloid’s centerpiece of the world the ‘Hollywood’, the Entertainment Capital of Los Angeles, situated in California also makes the state a tourist’s propulsion.
In this vocational and cultural exchange program we visited our related vocations, such as Schools, Universities, Banks, Chamber of Commerce, Private Companies and Hospitals etc. We also attended various Rotary Club meetings, Rotary clubs’ Projects and specially the District Conference held on October 23 to 25, 2009 at Ventura, CA. Though most of the clubs in this District have lunchtime meetings but some other clubs have morning meetings. We also had the opportunity to tour different places of interest such as Universal Studio, Hollywood, Malibu Beach, Hearst Castle, various Spanish sculptures, Missionaries, Libraries, Historical Museums, US Naval Museums of Armament and Technology, Stearns Wharf, Sea Center, World Garden, Rodeo Drive, Santa Monica Pier, Presidential Library of Ronald Reagan & Air Force One and Civil War Re-enactment etc. We had also the opportunity exchanging our nominating Rotary Club banners and gave & took lots of varied token gifts. We also received various Rotary Clubs Court-pens which was really excited us. We had lots of fun, entertainments and most lucrative sight seeing, really unforgettable!
Our GSE team enjoyed Kayaking, Quad Biking, Boating, Ice Skating and also watched the American Football match in a high school play ground. I don’t want to miss to include our experience of eating diversified food items in various restaurants like Mexican, Italian, Japanese, Greek, Thai, Indian and specially Bangladeshi.
The D-5240 GSE Committee prepared a detailed itinerary for us earlier. It provided great variety, covered a wide range of relevant educational and vocational experiences and presented a valuable insight into the American culture and lifestyle of the people of south California. There was ample time for our GSE team Members to interact with the Interacts, Rotaracts, Rotarians, Community Leaders and there were also a good number of social events that included all of them. These social occasions were an excellent opportunity for us to get acquaintance with the local people and to develop stronger ties and friendships among us. A significant advantage that we had during our visit was the interaction with the forthcoming D-5240 GSE team. We informed them valuable insights to the Bangladeshi culture, heritage, historical places, religious behavior, international achievements and specially the lifestyle.
We stayed sometimes in groups but most of the time individually in American families. We covered D-5240 area of central coast of California including Santa Barbara, Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo, Ojai, San Luis Obispo, Moore Bay, Arroyo Grande, Cambria, Pismo Beach, Bakersfield, Ridgecrest, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks etcs. In total, we all were hosted by 42 families whereas I was hosted by 9 families. All families were very welcoming and did everything possible to make the stay of their guests as comfortable as possible. Warm hospitality and caring of the hosts were really exceptional and ever memorable.
We attended totally 18 Rotary meetings and several reception parties. We as part of our vocational visit, had the opportunity to visit 4 Museums, 3 Universities, 3 Banks, 2 Art galleries and 1 Fire station, Police station, Local Newspaper house, Radio & TV station and many other places of professionals’ interest.
As per rules and regulations of GSE program, we had to give presentations to various Rotary meetings & Social events and in the District Conference which was attended by close to 500 people. We also provided a five minutes video presentation captioned “Positive Bangladesh” at those events. There were many Q & A sessions after video show, where we highlighted the achievement of Bangladesh i.e. victory of ’71, Language Movement and International Language Day, largest Mangrove Forest “The Sunderbans”, longest unbroken sea beach in the World “Cox’s Bazar”, achievement of our Army personnel to the UN Peace Keeping Missions and Nobel Peace winner Prof. Dr. Muhammad Yunus & Grameen Bank and its poverty eradication strategies through micro loan etc. Our presentations were highly appreciated by the audiences. Rtn. Frank J. Devlyn, the past RI President was invited to attend the District Conference as key-note speaker while RI Director Rtn. Ekkehart Pandel graced the conference as RI President’s Representative. We had exclusive interaction with both of them.
Luz Maria Ortiz-Smith, District Governor, RID 5240 California provided a high level of support to the team both prior to and during the exchange. The GSE Chair Tonie Valdez and Co-Chair Max Copenhagen put-together a tremendous demonstration in organizing and conducting the program. They were always available to assist us to ensure the program progressed according to the plan. The co-operation and involvement of District Governor AKM Shamsul Huda, PHF and GSE Chair Syed Waseque Md. Ali, PHF from our District were most valuable, enormously well supportive to us and it helped to ensure the successful completion of the exchange.
It is to note that The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International provided us the travel grants for the team’s inter-country travel while the host districts provided the accommodations, meals and local travel requirements to us.
The goals and objectives of the Group Study Exchange were achieved to a high degree. We are benefited from exposure to our respective vocations and clearly enhanced our leadership, teamwork skills and Rotary ambassadorial conscientiousness. We are very grateful to The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International for giving us such kind of opportunity to explore each other among the two Rotary Districts. Programs like this will definitely help to make the world smaller and reduce the distances between peoples and their cultures thus providing the gift of friendship and understanding for one another. And finally we believed that the “THE FUTURE OF ROTARY IS IN YOUR HAND” is really in the hand of young professionals.
In Picture (above): The Bangladeshi GSE Team in a reception at Rotary meeting at Santa Barbara, CA.
[The writer is serving as Assistant Secretary, Institute of Chartered Secretaries of Bangladesh. He may be digitally reached at shamsdhk@gmail.com
