Rotary

I had a nice long conversation with the son of my host counselor about Rotary last night. I've known since the first day I went to a Rotary meeting here that there was something a bit different about my host club than other Rotary clubs with which I have had experience. The meetings were incredibly formal. I quickly learned that everyone in the club was part of the elite in society here. Whether they are high up in the United Nations, or own a very successful business here, they all came across as people who were quite important. Laurent, the son of my host counselor, said that it's difficult for the club to involve me in all of their activities because of the way that everything is run. And that was quite clear to me from the very beginning. Despite that, they have been incredibly welcoming. They're very strict about what is talked about at their meetings and they haven't invited me to every meeting because they don't want to bore me when they discuss things that are not pertinent to the project I'm helping them with or when there is not an interesting presentation. They are the oldest club in West Africa and by far the most formal. I learned that their name, Rotary Club Doyen, means the Elders' Rotary Club. The rest of the clubs here are newer, younger, and as I've learned from the other scholars, don't really have a system yet and don’t know what projects they want to work on. I do really like my club, but I also look forward to attending some meetings of other clubs and giving the rest of my speeches to other clubs.