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Rotary International GSE-program

Report of the GSE between District 1580 (The Netherlands) and District 3060 (, ) 2007-2008 Content

Introduction

Profiles of the participants

Itinerary for the GSE team

Our Experiences

About Nature, Archeology, History and Heritage

Rotary and Rotary clubs

Home Hospitality

The Vocational Visits

The Cultural Experience

General Observations

Personal Comments

Titles of Presentations prepared by the team.

Acknowledgement

Introduction

Group Study Exchange is an educational program of The Rotary Foundation wherein Rotary districts in different countries are paired to send and receive professional study groups of four to six non-Rotarian team members and one Rotarian team leader to travel for four to six weeks, staying in the homes of Rotarians when possible.

Goals and Objectives The Group Study Exchange program is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for young business and professional men and women in their initial years of professional life. The program is designed to develop professional and leadership skills among young adults so that they can address the needs of their communities and an increasingly global workplace. GSE offers Rotarians the opportunity to participate in sending, receiving, and sharing educational experiences of study teams that will enhance Rotary’s worldwide mission.

Districts 1580 and 3060 The District Governors of D1580 (Rtn Eduard Kruseman) and D3060 (Rtn Asjok Panjwani) decided to exchange a team in their year 2007-2008. The Dutch team would be in India from December 15th until January 16th.

Selection The selection of team leader and team members in D1580 took place in July and August of 2007 according to the guidelines of Rotary International.

As team leader was selected Dr Jack Groot (RC Heiloo) as team members Mrs. Drs Manon Blokzijl (psychologist) Mrs. Drs Wilma Hommersom ( Tax-consultant and Lecturer) Mrs. Drs Irene de Ruyter (Marketeer) Mr. Ing Vincent van Steijn (Mechanical Engineer)

Preparations The team’s preparation was very much helped by the timely receipt of the itinerary. With the help of books and internet the team could study the characteristics of the 10 locations where it would be hosted during the 5 weeks journey. Starting from the first email send by the teamleader to the GSE- chair in D3060 (Rtn Devendra Shastri) a very efficient email-exchange took place. This helped the Dutch team tremendously in their preparations.

The team met eight times for a mean period of three hours. Included in these meetings were discussions about Rotary and their programs, visits to Indian expats and restaurants, the selection and ordering of formal and informal suits, discussions about required medicines and vaccinations. The team visited two Rotary club meetings (RC Schagen and RC Bergen) and gave presentations about GSE and their expectations of the Exchange. During one of these meetings, the team could discuss with members of the 1999 exchange team to Puna. The team members prepared 10 different presentations. They were discussed and improved during the meetings. Similarly, a brochure was prepared.

Each team member prepared little presents for their nine host families. Dolls in traditional costume were offered by RC Purmerend-Waterland and RC Heiloo to add to the collection of the Rotary Dolls Museum in Rajkot.

Ordering the flight tickets for requested dates of departure appeared to be difficult for Rotary’s Travel Agent. This was because of limited access to online booking facilities for the preferred flights. It was finally done, after formal approval by RI, by the team leader himself. During the official procedure, the contact between the RI-office and the team leader and GSE-chair in D3060 was efficient.

After thorough studies of the local possibilities by the team, a list of wishes was send to the regional coordinators and, as later turned out, was used by the local organizers to add to the already confirmed program elements.

Profiles of GSE team members

Manon Blokzijl

Educational Advisor Government Derde Oosterparkstraat 202B 1092 EH, Amsterdam The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] Phone: +31-204124514, +31-647408698

Sponsor Club: Rotary Club of Alkmaar de Waag, District 1580

My name is Manon Blokzijl (31) engaged as educational advisor to ROI opleiding, coaching en advies in The Hague since the beginning of this year. ROI is a Dutch foundation, which core business is to develop educational programs for the public authorities. My main responsibility is to advise the ministry of defence. Examples of programs I designed concern policy, public leadership end communication skills. Before ROI I worked for the ministry of defence for seven years. I assessed new recruits for the Dutch army. After that I specialized in career management for employees of the ministry of defence and I became responsible for the educational programs of the department of defence. I earned my Master’s degree in Psychology at the University of Amsterdam in 2000. My specialisation is Social psychology. During my studies I researched Tax Paying behaviour of middle class self employed in Exeter (UK), furthermore I studied, organisational culture changes, group dynamics and started training students in communication skills. Nowadays reorganisations, work- related skills, coaching individuals and training management teams have my interest and are my core business. My parents, my brother and sister are living in Bergen, a beautiful village at the west coast of Holland. I have been raised there and still enjoy visiting my family and the coast. After starting my studies, I moved to Amsterdam. I live there for twelve years now. I enjoy living in this metro pole, because it is a tolerant, multi cultural city, which offers many possibilities for self-development and cultural activities. I enjoy the interaction with people, trying to understand their motivation. During a stay in Peru, I coached teenagers, which had no expectations of their future and I worked in an orphanage. In my daily life I work with different kinds of people and try to make them aware of their own possibilities. Multicultural issues have my interest, that’s one of the reasons why I am looking forward visiting India. Furthermore, I enjoy playing handball and meet friends in my spare time.

As a part of my vocational study, I would like to visit places of cultural and historical importance to get an impression of the rich history of the Indian culture. Furthermore, I would like visit the coast of India. Professionally I am interested in the way the is constructed. Especially the army academies have my interest. I am curious about the way the government in general takes care with HRM issues, like recruitment, personal care and education for their employees. Being a psychologist, I would like to learn about the methods used for therapy and social care for teenagers and adults.

Wilma Hommersom

Teuben Tax Advisors, Hogeschool Utrecht Borssenburgstraat 23 huis 1078 VB Amsterdam The Netherlands Phone: +31 6 15 02 79 97 Email: [email protected]

Sponsor club: RC Santpoort District 1580

I am 30 years old, born in Tiel, in the middle of the Netherlands and raised in Hoorn, a former participating city in the East Indies Company. I studied Fiscal Economics at the University of Amsterdam, lived in that city and obtained my masters degree in 2001. After my masters degree I worked for the Dutch tax authorities for three years and lived in The Hague which is the Governmental City of the Netherlands. Now I am back in Amsterdam again. I moved to the other side of the tax system and worked with Deloitte in Amsterdam where I became a tax adviser on Dutch corporate income tax issues. Since September 2006 I work for a small firm called Teuben Tax advisers. I advise international companies on tax matters and their strategic planning and act as the intermediate between these companies and the Dutch tax authorities. Furthermore, since October 2006, I am a Lecturer at the College in Utrecht where I teach several tax disciplines. I also am a member of the committee of examination, coordinate two tax disciplines and supervise four classes. I enjoy the interaction with the students and my colleagues and love to learn more about the subjects I have to teach.

Next to my work I am a member of the Junior Chamber “International Amsterdam”. The Junior Chamber is a Worldwide Federation of Young Leaders and Entrepreneurs. We organize meetings for fund raising, networking and fun. In my spare time I enjoy playing hockey and tennis. I like to travel and meet people of different nationalities. I visited European, African and North American countries. The most exciting experience so far was in Africa where I have climbed the Kilimanjaro (5.895m). I very much look forward to visit India and meet the people of Gujarat. I am very interested in learning about the now-a-days and former culture of India and about the motor behind the tremendous economic activity. I also would like to speak about the Netherlands and our way of life to learn about our differences and similarities.

Concerning my vocational interest, I would like to get in touch with Tax Counselors and learn about the Tax system in India. I also would like to visit Colleges and Universities, learn about the educational methodology, and I hope to get the opportunity to give one or more lectures about international tax in courses about fiscal-economy or tax-law. Apart from my vocational interests, I would very much like to see the places of worship, the daily life in the bazaars, the remains of old Dutch factories. If possible, I like to visit wildlife resorts and bird sanctuaries. I read about the archaeological site in Lothal. Of course, I would like to visit places where Gandhi lived and worked.

Irene de Ruijter

Mindful Marketing Weesperzijde 29 IV 1031 EC Amsterdam The Netherlands Phone: +31 20 636 5396 Email: [email protected]

Sponsored by Rotary club Santpoort, District 1580

I am a 29 years old female, working in Amsterdam and living together with my boyfriend. I love traveling and meeting new people and cultures. A few years ago, I have traveled one months with a group of 20 students in Brazil. This was one of the best experiences in my student life. So, I am very much looking forward to go to India with our team! Three years ago, after a fascinating travel experience in Thailand, I started my own business called Mindful. With three people, we are now developing marketing plans and strategies for a growing number of customers in the IT and financial services industry. Mindfulness is the basic element of and I strongly believe that it is also the basic element of running a successful business in the service industry. As Buddhism is a spin-off from , I am really interested to see how Indian companies integrated their religion in their work. What effect does their religion have for the way they treat customers, the image that they wish to have, but also for their external communication. Another reason for me to be excited to go to India is because we do see a lot of eastern trends around us these days. Think of spiritual leadership, yoga, bollywood and mindstyle magazines like Happinez and mind. The group of people that’s interested in these trends is growing. As a marketeer I am looking forward to be inspired by the origins of the trends by talking with people and observing culture. Last but not least, I would like to discover how IT-companies in India are working together with Western companies to build IT-solutions. Recently, not only the big corporates are outsourcing IT but also SME-companies are working together with cheaper countries like India. Because Mindful is a company that works a lot for Dutch companies who want to build and/or market new IT- solutions, this outsourcing trend can be important or at least interesting for our customers. I’d love to meet a company that has experience in working with Western SME-companies.

My educational goals for the GSE to India are: Learning more about Hinduism culture, people and country Getting inspired by the source of eastern trends we see in our culture more and more Learning more about the possibilities to outsource software and web portal developing to India. Thinking about how to reach these goals, I would like to undertake following activities: Visiting a marketing department of a real Indian company like a bank, insurance company or production factory. Visiting IT-companies who work for western (especially Dutch) SME companies. Visiting the Faculty of Business Administration of a university to discover how they teach the field of Marketing. I would be very thankful whenever it is possible to arrange these learning experiences.

Vincent van Steijn

Technical Product Manager Curaçaostraat 109h 1058BS Amsterdam The Netherlands Tel. +31 646078215 [email protected]

Sponsored by Rotary club Heemstede My name is Vincent van Steijn and I am the technical product manager of a health kiosk called Wellpoint. This machine measures a person’s weight, fat percentage, blood pressure and heart rate in just a few minutes. Since heart deceases and obesity are the number one killers in many countries, people are becoming more and more aware that prevention is inescapable. For example, the Dutch government, insurance companies and employers are putting more pressure on the people every year to improve their health condition. The Wellpoint is a simple tool to make the people aware of their health status, and our company expects to grow fast within a few years.

I was born in 1975 in Den Helder, a town in the Northwest of the Netherlands. This town is almost completely surrounded by water and located next to the North Sea, which gives it a very strategic position. The Dutch Marine force has been stationed there for a long time, and is one of the largest employers in the town. I grew up there with my two younger brothers.

My interest in technique has been obvious ever since I was young, so the choice of starting my study of mechanical engineering was easy. During the course I did two traineeships of six months: one in England as a mechanical designer and one as an assistant project manager at a robotics system integrator. Robotics have always been fascinating me, so I was happy to do my final thesis at this company, I was lucky to obtain my first job there as a project manager

After six years in robotics I felt the time had arrived for something new. I moved to Amsterdam and started working in a cacao production factory first as a project manager, later as manager of the mechanical maintenance. This mainly involved integrating predictive maintenance in a company that had been working with reactive and preventive maintenance for many years. Unfortunately, I started to miss the engineering part and that’s how I finally found my current occupation.

Out of work, I try to spend my time with friends as much as possible. Amsterdam is a cultural city which brings good food, music and cinema. I play volleyball twice a week, and when the weather allows it, I like to ride my motorcycle or windsurf-board. One of my favourites is a tour through the canals in Amsterdam by boat.

During our visit to Gujarat, I hope to get the chance to visit some engineering and production facilities. The rest of the time I hope to see as much as possible of the cities, temples and beautiful scenery. I think the opportunity to stay at a guest family is a unique and fantastic experience to take a close look in the Indian culture.

Rtn Dr. Jack A. Groot

Biomedical Sciences, University of Amsterdam 1851KN Heiloo The Netherlands Phone: +31 72 5321033 Email: [email protected]

Member of Rotary club Heiloo District 1580

Being selected as the team leader of an excellent GSE team from our District to the appealing District 3060 in India and having the opportunity to be helpful in building a bridge between our countries makes me feel very proud and also very humble. Being a Rotarian for almost 25 years and having served as President of my club and also as the correspondent for Youth Exchange for the multidistrict organization in The Netherlands I got to know Rotary in some of its finest programs. Working now in the Rotary Foundation program GSE is a great honor to me. I am sure that our team will work hard to accomplish the goals of the GSE-program and further mutual understanding.

I was born on the island of Java in Indonesia on a large sugar factory. I spend the first years of my life in that beautiful country which became independent when I was ten years old. For my high school education I was send to the Netherlands where I lived in Amsterdam with a lovely host family. I studied Zoology at the University of Amsterdam and was appointed professor in the Department of Physiology. After my PhD work I started my own research group with a main interest in the transmural transport functions of the intestinal wall. We had a strong collaboration with pediatricians in the largest hospitals in the country and with the local and multinational food industry. This work made the world smaller as it brought me in contact with many scientists abroad. In 2006 I presented my last lecture in which I gave an overview of the research in my group. I was honored by the university with a very special award.

I married Heleen (Haylane) in 1965 and we got two children, a boy and a girl. Heleen is the daughter of a former Rotarian in Amsterdam and both her brothers are active in Rotary as well. Heleen has always supported me in the work for Rotary as it was part of her childhood. She is a very active volunteer in many local committees and in summertime she works as a tour guide on trips to gardens in England, France and Belgium. When I started a Rotaract club in our region, our son and daughter became members and many years later they “rediscovered” other members which became their spouses. Now we are happy with three marvelous grandsons in the adorable age of 4, 3 and 2 years for which we do thank Rotaract.

Our family loves to be together in our little hideaway in the French Alps where we enjoy the ski- facilities. Besides that, we are keen sailors and we do spend the summer holidays on our boat. Heleen and I do sail on the North Sea to England, Belgium and France. In between, we often go to the theatre and love all sorts of music.

Itinerary for GSE Team from R I District 1580, Netherlands Visiting R I District 3060, India

Saturday, December 15: GSE Team arrives at Bhavnagar from Mumbai by Jet Airways Flight No. 9w3411 at 08.20Am Team will be received by District GSE Chair PDG. Devendra Shastri, GSE Area Co-ordinator Sandeep Shah and others. Transfer to Hotel Nilambaug Palace, Overnight stay at Hotel.

Area-1-BHAVNAGAR 16th December, 2007, Sunday 10.30 am : Transfer to Host families for Rest 08.00 pm : Cultural program with the Rotarians and their family members.

17th December, 2007, Monday

09.30 am : Assemble at Rotary Service Centre 09.45 : Visit to Palitana, Lunch in Jains pelgrimage center. 08.30 pm : Joint Regular club meeting with dinner and Presentation by GSE & Exchange At Rotary Service Centre (All Clubs of Bhavnagar)

18th December, 2007, Tuesday

09.15 am :Assemble at Rotary Service center. 09.30 am :Visit to Gandhi Memorial Museum. Visit to our Mega Project ' Light Their Path' School Bench Project. 03.30 pm :Individual Vocational Study Program 08.00 pm :Visit to ' A Ray of Hope' - Child Care Project Farewell dinner with Board members and Host Couple.

19th December, 2007, Wednesday

08.00 am :Assemble at Rotary Service Centre Leave for Wadhwan City.

Area-2: WADHWAN City Lunch with the respective families. Dinner with Coordinator President/sec./host families at farmhouse.

20th December, 2007, Thursday Early morning sight seeing Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary. Visit Wood furniture factory Visits to Vikas Vidyalaya. Orphanage and help to girls and women. Joint Meeting of Rotary clubs-GSE Team to present Program.

21st December, 2007, Friday Early morning sight seeing to Rann of Kutch (Desert) Afternoon : vocational visits Dinner with host families in Boston Lodge.

22nd December, 2007, Saturday 8.30 am visit the Rotarygarden and leave for Jamnagar.

Area-3: JAMNAGAR Time :11.30 am Arrival from Wadhwan City Place :Rotary Community Centre To be received by Respective Host Families, Board Members Rest till 5 pm. 05.00 To 06.00 pm : Visit to Toilet building and Rotary Disaster Management building 06.00 To 07.00 pm : Visit to Bala Hanuman Mandir () Eve : Annual Cultural Program of the Haria School followed by Dinner

23rd December, 2007, Sunday. Early morning excursion to Coral reef with Rotarians and families Afternoon : Visit to Brass Extrusion Plant & Brass Component Mfg Units. Dinner : Dinner hosted by IPDG Bipin Vadhar

24th December, 2007, Monday

Early morning : Visit of Institute for Yoga and Naturopathy, join Yoga class : Visit to Ayurveda University and Solarium 01.00 pm :Lunch (Host to arrange) 03.00 To 05.00 pm :Visit of the old city of Jamnagar Eve : GSE Team to present Program at the meeting of Rotary club of Jamnagar Night : Christian Church for Christmas Eve mass

25th December 2007, Tuesday Am : Leave by Road to Rajkot

Area-4: RAJKOT Noon: Arrive at Rajkot and transfer to Host families. Pm: Visit to Rotary Dolls Museum, Rashtriya Shala, Cottage Industries, Patola Weaving, Gandhi Highschool Celebrate Christmas with all religions at Christian Church.

Wednesday, 26th December, 2007

Am: Visit to Rotary Midtown Dam Lapasary. (3H grant project), Watson Museum, 150 year old Lang Library with Rotary Midtown Children’s Library. Rotary Midtown Modern Library and computer center. Pm: Vocational Study Day Eve: Dinner at Chowky Dhani (Radjasthan farmhouse)

Thursday, 27th December, 2007

Am: Breakfast at the house of one of the Rotarians, Visit to World Class Machine Tools Factory, Jyoti CNC Automations P Ltd. and Balaji Wafer Manufacturing Unit. Pm: Rest/Program of Individual interest. Eve: GSE Team to present program at the joint meeting of Rotary clubs in Rajkot area.

Friday, 28th December, 2007 Am: Leave Rajkot for Ahmedabad

AREA-5: AHMEDABAD (rest weekend) 12.00 Noon: GSE Team arrives from Rajkot. Transfer to Hotel. Lunch at Conference venue.

04.30Pm : Attend Inaugural Function of R I District 3060 District Conference followed by Dinner and Entertainment Program.

Saturday, 29th December 2007. Pm Team did Heritage walk in inner city. Visit Gandhi Ashram Eve: Attend Entertainment program at the Conference.

Sunday, 30th December, 2007 Am: GSE Team to make presentation at the Conference Pm: GSE Team leaves for Anand

Area-6: ANAND Pm: Team arrives at Anand, transfer to Host families. Eve: Attend marriage at Shri Rajan Patel Residence

Monday, 31st December, 2007. Morning - Visit to Rotary Deaf and dumb School, RC Nadiad Disabled Training Workshop RC Anand Sardar Patel Memorial Trust, Karamsad

Noon: Individual vocational visits Evening/Night - function at one of the Host's residence to Welcome 2008

Tuesday 1st January, 2008: Am: Visit to Amul Dairy, NDDB and IRMA Campus, Amul Chocolate Plant in Anand Pm - Rest/ Program of Individual Interest Evening - Rotary meeting with surrounding clubs- GSE Team to present Program.

Wednesday, 2nd January, 2008: Am: Leave Anand for Baroda ()

Area-7: VADODARA Arrival Baroda @ 11:30 Am and transfer to Host families.

Pm - Laxmi Vilas Palace/Weaponry Museum and Palace. Museum Of Baroda in . 8:30 pm – Dinner at the fellowship dinner hosted by Rtn Satish and Manju Gupta on the occasion of the wedding of their son. Thursday, January 03, 2008

Am and PM: Visit to IT Industry (Rishab Software) Rotary Projects Arpan, Navidharti, SSG Hospital, Jaipur foot, Sunderpura, lunch at Factory Universal Medicap Night – Dinner at District Chairman-IYE Dr. Mrugank Merchant’s residence jointly with the Inbound IYE Students of Baroda

Friday, 04th January 2008

Am: Vocational Visit of individual GSE Team Leader/Member – Arranged by Respective Host Club. Pm – Visit to the Police commissioner of Baroda and the EME temple.

8:00 pm - Presentation by GSE Team. At joint dinner meeting at Hotel Surya Palace of all 6 Clubs of Baroda i.e. RC of Baroda, Baroda Cosmopolitan, Baroda Jawaharnagar, Baroda Metro, Baroda Sayaji Nagari & Baroda Sunrise.

Saturday, 05th January 2008

Am – Introduction to World Heritage Site – ‘’ by Karan Grover and visit of Champaner Dinner with Hostfamilies

Sunday, 06th January 2008. 10:30 am - Departure for Bharuch .

Area-8: BHARUCH/ ANKLESHWAR

Pm: Cricketmatch RC Bharuch-Surat-West Golfclinic Visit Swaminarayan Temple Visit Craftsfair Dinner in Chinese Restaurant owned by member RC Bharuch

Monday, 07th January 2008 Am: Vocational Study Day PM: Visit of old Harbour and Dutch Tombs. Drinks at the Mansion of one of the members at the shore of Narmada River. Medical Diagnostic Center Dinner at Host families

Tuesday, 08th January 2008 Am and Pm: Visit Sardar Sarovar Dam at Kevadia Colony. Eve : GSE Team to present program at the joint meeting of Rotary clubs of Ankleshwar, Bharuch and Kharach Kosamba in Ankleshwar

Wednesday, 09th January 2008 Am: Visit of oldest temple of Bharuch and Leave Bharuch for Vapi.

Area-9: VAPI Eve: Visit to Daman Town (Portuguese Church) and drinks at the “Bungalow” of one of the major Donors in projects of RC Vapi and RC Vapi-Riverside. Dinner at Beach Resort, Deoka

Thursday, 10th January 2008 Am: Visit to Rotary Management College and Rotary Hospital Pm: Visit joint (Indian-Hungarian) Pharma industry Eve: GSE Team to present program in the joint meeting of Rotary Clubs of Vapi and Vapi Riverside.

Friday, 11th January 2008 Am: Visit to scenic place of Silvassa and Dudhni Pm: RC Sarigam Hospital project

Saturday, 12th January 2008 Am: Breakfast at the coordinators house, Leave Vapi for Surat Noon: Reach Surat and transfer to Host Families.

Area: 10- SURAT Pm: Lunch and Dinner with host families Sunday, 13th January 2008 Am: City tour/ Dutch Cemetery and visit to Diamond Industry Pm: Meet the outbound GSE team and team leader Visit to Textile cloth Manufacturing Unit Am and Pm: Enjoy traditional Kite Flying Festival Eve: With Host families

Tuesday, January 15, 2008 Am: Vocational Study Day/ International Kite Festival in Surat Drinks at the house of Districts GSE chairman PDG Rtn Devendra Shastri followed by Lunch in the Raj Gateway Hotel. Eve: Farewell meeting for GSE Team hosted by Rotary clubs of Surat Area. With DG Ashok Panjwani and first lady Meera,

Wednesday, 16th January 2008 . Am: GSE Team Leaves Surat for Mumbai by train Paschim Express: dep. From Surat: 1050 Hrs. Farewell by host families and Area and District coordinator

Our experiences

Some Notes on Nature, Archeology, History and Heritage By Jack Groot

Rotary District 3060 is mainly located in the economically boosting State of Gujarat. The economical heart is in the so called Golden Corridor, the stretch of land along the west coast from Baroda to Vapi. It is heavily industrialized and that is something one can smell. In the last years the waste disposal in the rivers is much better controlled and modern sewage plants are in operation, but the chimneys blowing out breath-taking black smoke are still abundant. As a consequence of industrial activity, the infrastructure in this region is better than in the Northwestern part, the peninsula Saurashtra. It is also much greener, many rivers, including the Narmada river do flow through this part to the sea. Saurashtra, except for a few spots we have seen, is a brown colored and dry part of the district, it can, however, boast on several magnificent wildlife parks.

People are more down to earth in this harsh part of the district. The main crop we saw in Saurashtra is cotton and there are many ginning factories where cotton lint is separated from the cottonseeds and where the cotton lint is pressed for transport to cotton mills, e.g. in Indonesia. The number of ginning factories has increased sharply in the last years but the harvesting of the raw cotton has not increased that much. Gujarat is very much the textile center of the area, from where skills of weaving, brocade, block printing, bandhani work and ikat seem to have spread out to the adjoining areas and the rest of India. Indigo blue is often seen but many cloths shine brightly in primary colors and are often embroidered with beads and small mirrors.

Recent history of India is mainly written by Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi and his non-violence, non-cooperation movement. Gandhi is born in Porbandar in Saurashtra and his life is closely related with Gujarat. He studied in Bhavnagar and in Rajkot. And later he lived in Ahmedabad where he established two Ashrams. From here he persuaded his countryman to not buy British or foreign goods but to use the local supply of materials as his vision of self reliance. His well known spinning wheel is the example he set to supply the individual need for cloth to spin the cotton into yarn and weave the yarn into cloth to make “Khadi”, the name for handspun cotton cloths.

Not amazing, in many cities in Saurashtra we found Gandhi memorial institutes. We visited in Bhavnagar the Gandhi Smriti Library where his writings can be studied but also the many books he did read. There is also a large and interesting collection of pictures of Gandhi on display. In Ahmedabad we visited Gandhi’s Ashram at the banks of the Sabarmati river where many of his originals are kept. There is also an interesting and well annotated display of pictures. Gandhi left this Ashram in 1930 for the well known salt march swearing not to return before India got its freedom. This march was to protest against the British Salt Tax. The Salt Tax made it illegal to sell or produce salt, allowing a complete British monopoly. The Salt Tax made it illegal for workers to freely collect their own salt from the coasts of India, making them buy salt they couldn't afford.

Gandhi’s family acted for many generations as prime ministers of the ruling Maharaja of Porbander (later Rajkot) who reigned under the eye of an English political agent. The man in charge in Gandhi’s youth, Colonel Watson, had his office in Rajkot and was a student of Saurashtra’s history. His historically interesting collection is brought together in the Watson museum in Rajkot. Worth a visit, also because of the building itself. But do not expect modern lighting or display. In Baroda (Vadodara) we had the pleasure to visit the large and very diverse collection in Vadodara’s Museum and Picture Gallery. The objects were housed in a beautiful building but sparsely illuminated so the unique paintings, also from Dutch and English painters, were not shown in their full splendour.

Saurashtra’s long coastline has many salt farms where sea salt is harvested. Nowadays this salt is to a certain extend purified to meet the demands of the nearby chlorine factories. One of our hosts took us to the salt farm of his family.

The fish and crustaceans in the salt ponds are food to many migrating birds. The reddish color of the water indicates the high amount of salt resistant shrimps and matches the beautiful colors of the flamingos. The increase in monsoon rains and the better irrigations makes it more difficult to hire enough labor for harvesting the salt. The laborers are mostly small farmers. Now that there is more water, they can stay longer at their farms. Our host, therefore, has plans in progress for labor extensive mechanized harvesting. (Interestingly, the father of our host, whom we met in the office, told us about the Dutch long term exchange student from Almelo he had hosted, initially against the will of his family which was afraid of the consequences of hosting a Dutch girl in their house. However, due to this contact and the many visits between the two families our host has developed a wide view on the world. Now this family is very much in favor of Rotaries Youth Exchange programs!)

Salt is not only harvested along the sea shore, also inlands in the desert area of the Wildlife Park Little Ran of Kutch we saw small salt farmers which make a living from collecting the salt from the salt encrusted desert. This area is also home of the wild ass and during our visit with a local guide we saw the Indian gazelle, a blackbuck, a desert fox, many birds of prey and beautiful pelicans and flamingos. The dance of the pelicans in the air was a breathtaking view. Another unforgetable experience was the visit of Nal Sarovar. A wetland where migrating birds from more than 50 countries stay during the months of October to February. This lake is filled with saltwater during high tide and during the monsoon the salinity is brought down. The many fish and prawns form the catch of the Padhars, an ancient tribe, nearby living in the village of Ranagadh. These tribal people also keep buffalo’s for their high fat containing milk and their droppings. The people of Ranagadh have to walk large distances for fresh water. This is done by the girls and women, wearing colorful cloths, beautifully contrasting with the brown colored land. The man, in white outfits and turbans, take care of the buffalo’s. It was great to see that the preservation of nature and wildlife was high on the agenda of the State and the Country.

Jamnagar, our third city in Saurashstra is a very old place where the Castle reminds the rulers from before independence and where the famous British architect, Sir Edward Lutyens, created some beautiful buildings. But like nearly everywhere in Gujarat the buildings do badly need cleaning and restoration before they are totally gone. Together with many Rotarians and family members we enjoyed a Sunday morning walk on the coral reef where a guide showed us the poisonous puffer fish, sea anemones, octopus and living coral.

Little Ran of Kutch

Jamnagar is famous for its Ayurveda University and Hospital. Ancient medical science of India is teached and practiced here. Affiliated is the Institute for Yoga and Naturopathy. An amazing building was brought to our attention: A Solarium where in former days natural sunray therapy was practiced. Developed by a French architect, this is the only remaining Solarium in the world. But it badly needs repair to keep this as a world heritage curiosity of medical practice.

Ahmedabad, the city where the district conference was held, is also the site of magnificent old Hindu and Jain temples and Islamic Mosques and many carved wooden houses in the old inner city. Recently the Municipal Corporation started to organize a “heritage walk” through the narrow streets, over the small squares and along the temples of old Ahmedabad which was founded in 1411 by Sultan Ahmed. This was our “free day”. So we had to negotiate our fare with the Taxi and Rickshaw drivers ourselves (all of a sudden their meters stopped working), and of course we paid too much.

Near Anand, in the village named Karamsad, we visited the Sardar Patel Memorial. Sardar Patel joined Gandhi in his nonviolence, non-cooperation movement and later got the name “iron man” because of his success in bringing the 565 princes in India to step down and hand over their reigns to the people. Bhavnagar’s prince was the first. His former palace (Nilambag Palace) is now a heritage hotel where we stayed the first night in Gujarat.

Nilambag Palace in Bhavnagar Lukshmi Vilas Palace in Baroda

In Baroda, we had the great privilege to meet Karan Grover, now a world famous architect. When a student, his professor asked him to help him in his archaeological work in Champaner. This is a concentration of largely unexcavated archaeological and historical heritage properties, cradled in an impressive landscape. Champaner includes a hill fortress of an early Hindu capital, and remains of the 16th century capital of the

Champaner state of Gujarat.

The site also includes, among other vestiges, fortifications, palaces, religious buildings, agricultural structures and water installations, from the 8th to the 14th centuries. On the slopes of the hill, many temples and fortifications were build by Hindus and Muslims. In many temples, one can see the influence of Islamic as well as Hindu architecture. Mr. Grover succeeded in getting this site on the Unesco Heritage list in 2004. He explained to us in which way he had unraveled the buildings and their relation. He also explained that many buildings are kept covered with earth to prevent them from atmospheric destruction. The visible parts are amazingly beautiful as we could see for ourselves during our visit to the Champaner- Archaeological Park.

In Bharuch, a former trading post of the Dutch , we visited the old Dutch cemetery. The tombs and graves from the seventeenth century should be restored. Our Rotary friends were not aware of this heritage site so near to the shore of the river Narmada. They will plan action for restoration. On this shore, we also visited the beautiful houses (palaces) of Parsi families, overlooking the once broad river. (Parsis came from Iran as religious refugees).

They still form a more or less closed community with regard to marriages, but they are fully incorporated in the daily Indian upper-class life. Also due to the building of the huge Narmada Dam in the Sardar Sarovar project, the river is nowadays nearly dry. The harbor where Dutch merchants once bought, indigo, cotton and spices is no longer existent. More old Dutch graves where, among others, the famous Merchant and Botanist Van Reede van Drakesteijn was buried in a huge tomb in 1692 were visited in Surat. The Dutch cemetery is near the old Portuguese and English cemetery but one requires the help of local guides to find the Dutch. Again, Rotary friends were so kind to help us to find the place and we found that some sort of restoration or excavation work was taking place.

Taking into account that the Country and the State of Gujarat has so many poor people to take care of, that one cannot be surprised that money is not yet used to restore the impressive treasure of heritage buildings. However because many of these heritages are areas where the poor live, the work to increase the health and living conditions of the people in these areas may serve more than one goal. Preservation should be high on the agenda as it is an investment in the well-being of future generations and future tourism. When we look back to the history of some, now restored and famous, old living quarters in the cities of The Netherlands we hope that the wheel of history will turn in a similar way in those inherently beautiful places in Gujarat.

Rotary and Rotary clubs By Manon Blokzijl

We visited nine different areas/clubs. There are many differences between the clubs and the way they managed the GSE visit. The most important thing is that they all put a big effort in the program. Although some programs were really busy, most of the time there was the possibility to make some changes in the program. Many clubs had their own Rotary home, which gives good opportunity to welcome us as a GSE team and which provides a good place to get together before leaving for projects or other visits.

Comparing with the Rotary clubs in The Netherlands, there are some differences. First of all, there are a lot of young Rotary members of around 30 years old. There is much activity in the clubs related to projects and meetings. The young members also fulfill board functions in the clubs. For example, one of the presidents was 28 years of age. Because of the large number of projects, the president ship is a time consuming “privilege”. The compliance of the families of the Rotary members is impressive. In most of the meetings at least two family members joined the meeting. There were also differences in the proportion of male and female Rotary members. For example in Baroda, there were a lot of female Rotarians. In most other clubs there were, like in the Netherlands mainly male members. Many clubs have more than 50 members. It is great to see them all pictured with their partners in the Districts Directory.

Like in other countries, each club has sleeping members and projects are usually the outcome of the efforts of just a few members. Since being a Rotarian gives a status in India, there are sleeping members, who only donate their money and don't join the meetings. There are also members where the family tradition of being a Rotarian, is the main reason.

In most of the cities we visited, there were many Rotary clubs. For example, in Surat there are nine clubs and in Baroda there are 6 clubs. It was nice that the clubs participated in the receipt of the GSE team. But, sometimes, the program became overloaded because of showing projects of all clubs. Due to action of DG’s to change India from net receiver to net donor of The Rotary Foundation (TRF) many clubs in District 3060 are 100% Paul Harris clubs and many members have donated for their whole large-family.

Meetings Meetings are formal with long speeches to welcome all Rotary-dignities and guests. Usually guests were offered a flower-greeting and at the end of the meeting a memento. As a consequence of the speeches and all formal ceremonies, no club managed to end the meeting at the scheduled time. Sometimes this meant, that the time available for our presentation was less than 10 minutes. A master of ceremonies usually acts as the meetings-president. In general, the meetings did end with the presentation of nice presents, mementos, from the club to the GSE team. (For future teams, maybe it is good to realize, that there is a limited amount of luggage you can take with you in the airplane. The weight of gifts of 9 clubs in 5 weeks may cause some problems at the airport.) Because most of the meetings were joint meetings, in general the audience was around 60 listeners. Some meetings were visited by more members, for example in Vapi, where the open-air meeting was attended by more than 100 people. All the meetings included a buffet-dinner. Eating with one hand, carrying a plate full of food and meanwhile having a decent conversation was something we managed after a few meetings.

The team wearing the memento’s of RC Bhavnagar

District Conference Ahmedabad The District conference was a great feast during three day. The conference was a nice possibility to meet our past host families and to meet the next regional coordinators and host families. Furthermore it was great to meet the Longterm Youth Exchange students, to share experiences. The more, because we met them also later in their hostclubs at the Rotary-meetings. I think it was very good for all of us that we could share some experiences. In general the program was interesting, but the speeches and formalities took so much time that the time schedule could not be maintained. This weekend was meant as our rest-weekend. However, arriving in Ahmedabad it turned out that the hotel was overbooked. We were rebooked in another hotel, which could not stand comparison with the conference hotel. There was no water for 24 hours, the whole night telephones were ringing, and the servants made phone calls. We had to bargain about getting rooms with windows. The night before our presentation the program ended much later than scheduled and one had decided to start the next day at a later hour. This was not known to us, so we hurried to the venue and found out that the program was postponed for more than an hour. It was difficult to get our coordinator to understand that we did want to change our cloths after our presentation and that the team members liked to use the swimming pool of the conference hotel instead of staying in the conferencehall during the presentation of medals and awards to clubs and individual Rotarians.

Districtconference D3060 (two full days and nights, 2300 participants)

The presentation at the conference of a GSE-team is more or less a symbolic act. It is a one-way performance, no questions no comments. Although we had several types of presentations, the main item, telling about ourselves was the same. So part of the audience had heard this already and others would hear this in the next weeks. In our spare time, we enjoyed the old city of Ahmedabad where we took the guided tour, the Ashram of Gandhi. This and the nice encounters during the time we spend at the conference was a rewarding experience, but “rest and reenergizing” was not part of this weekend.

Projects Our team visited a large number of appealing projects. The projects differ in size from a toiletblock in Jamnagar to the Lapasary Dam in Rajkot. But all project had their local importance. Some examples of project-visits: - the orphanage in Whadwhan, - the school for deaf and dumb in Anand, - Jaipur foot in Baroda - The Rotary-hospital in Vapi, which is like the College fully sponsored by local donors. Since our district adopted the schoolbench project for the whole district 3060 as a matching grant project, it was very special to visit in Bhavnagar a schoolbench project which stood example for the districtsproject. We saw the direct result of the donations. In general it was impressive to see the importance of the work of the Rotaryclubs in Gujarat by visiting the many projects. We became very much aware of the great importance of the function

Schoolbench project RC Bhavnagar In need of the Districts Schoolbenches

Rotary fullfills in Indian society. Because of the differences between India and The Netherlands in governemental economy and society Rotary in India can be a most important NGO for helping the development of modern Indian communities. We saw in the newspapers that this role is acknowledged by the governement of Gujarat.

Home Hospitality By Vincent van Steijn

From the moment we arrived in Bhavnagar it was very clear that the people in India know how to give their guests the feeling to be very welcome. In most of the cities we arrived, there was a large welcome committee where we were presented a ‘tilak’ (red dot on forehead), flowers, and sometimes presents. After a short introduction of the programme and city in the club accommodation or in the house of one of the Rotarians, we were taken home by the host families.

Welcome at Bhavnagar airport

Communication Since all team members were housed in five different hostfamilies, the first conversation started in the car while driving to the hosts-house. Almost every host started apologising about his terrible English. This was to my surprise because every host spoke very well English in my opinion. Our difficulty was to get accustomed to the Indian accent which was sometimes very strong, making communication rather difficult, also because they had difficulties in understanding our Dutch- English accent. In many colleges we found languagecourses where Indians could learn to speak with an Oxfordian accent. Most of the Rotarian kids in India go to so called Englisch medium schools”, where English is the first language and where they start learning English at a very young age. Hindi and Gujarati are considered as second languages here. For us it was great to communicate also with the boys and girls because we learned many Gujarati words and sayings from them.

Host families Religions of our hostfamilies varied from Jain, Hindu, Sikh or agnostic. Most houses have separate rooms for worship with a temple and statues or portraits of In India it is common that people take personal care of their parents, which means large families living together in one house. Normally, the wife takes care of the householding, spending a lot of time on preparing the food. Most Rotarian families have one or more servants for cooking, cleaning, driving and gardening. Many lots and appartment-buildings have guards.

Housing There was a great difference in the housing of the host families. From small apartments to huge modern palaces with unique designed furniture. When the space was limited, we were usually staying in the bedroom of one of the children. Occasionally, one of the team members was placed in a common room. When travelling this long and to so many different families, it is important to have some privacy, so fortunately in that case other accommodation could be arranged.

For some reason, the Indian people do not care about maintaining their homes in a way we do in the Netherlands. I have seen houses of 50 years old which had only seen a paintbrush once. The paint was literally falling from the ceiling and walls, but the owner showed me around like the house was just brand new. Also at the outside, the buildings get very dirty and are not maintained. As far as I can tell, this is not a matter of money, it just does not seem important to Indian people. To us it is a pity that the beautiful characteristic houses and buildings in, for example Ahmedabad, are not being maintained. The occupants of the houses do not care and do not have the money to maintain them. But if no one steps up against this, this beautiful heritage will be gone in a few decades.

Houses in historical Ahmedabad

The hygiene and cleanliness of the restaurants and residents was very good, better than expected from the stories of friends. Most bedrooms were airconditioned, but regarding the high price of electricity in India, I did not feel comfortable using it. Fortunately it was winter. All rooms had fans and by moving the air one can reduce the number of mosquito-bites. I found that the best way to keep the mosquito’s away was to spray my skin with a repellent and use a good old fashioned mosquito-net whenever possible.

Food As we travelled through Gujarat, the varieties in food differed. The type of food does not only depend on the area, but also on religion of the hosts. Gujarati food is predominantly vegetarian and basically consists of roti (bread), rice and a dish made up of different combinations of vegetables and spices. Typical are the buttermilk and the daal, which can be eaten as a soup or mixed with rice. The more we travelled to the south, the more fork and spoon were used. This was kind of a pity since we just learned how to eat with (only) our right hand. Trying to their best to spoil their guest as much as possible, Indian people tend to be insistent with their food. Before their guest has finished his plate or just one of the many dishes, they will make sure the plate keeps filled with food. The only way to stop them is to shout ‘buzz!’, which means something like ‘enough!’.

Old-fashioned cooking in a modern kitchen Plate full of food, waiters took care it stayed full

Vocational-visits by Irene de Ruyter

Jack gave a few lectures about his research topics at the University of Amsterdam for students in Science and for students in Nutrition in Baroda and Bharuch. He also met the staff of the Dept of Physiology in Bhavnagar and answered questions about Physiology-teaching in the Netherlands. He visited several Hospitals, some of them (Rotary Hospital in Vapi and Wockhardt in Rajkot) were very well equiped and looked after. Others were, with respect to housing and equipment, at the mid 1800 level and require the help of NGO’s to better. Deep respect for the physicians working under these conditions.

Vincent visited a few plants where they produce different copper and iron half products. The circumstances were different than in the factories he knew from The Netherlands. Especially safety regulations seem to be less strict in India. Absolutely better conditions he saw in a few high tech companies where they produce high standard, modern machines. In one of these companies he was actually shown a few robotic arms in which he was very much interested as he used to work with this technology. He also recognized a lot in a chocolate factory we visited together. As he used to work in a chocolate factory in The Netherlands he could explain the others a lot about the production facilities.

Manon gave a lecture about Psychology and HRM at the university of Baroda. The students discussed with her the cultural differences in culture and relationships between men and women in India and The Netherlands. Manon talked about the HRM-policy of Amul, one of the biggest Indian dairy companies with the marketing director. In Baroda she spoke with a Psychologist about the psychologic health of Indian woman. She also had a talk with an ex-army officer about the coaching of army officers.

Wilma met many Charter Accountants during her stay. In the Netherlands Charter Accountants and Tax Advisors are two different professions but she discovered that in India Tax advise is given by Charter Accountants. Estimations of these people that more than 50% of the income is not declared in India was a big shock to her. In her turn, every one she told about the 52% rate of income tax in The Netherlands was shocked by this high percentage. Wilma is also a teacher and visiting some universities and talking to the students was really interesting for her.

Irene started her vocational visit by giving a lecture about marketing in the Netherlands to marketing students at the university of Bhavnagar. She also visited a small Marketing Consultancy Company in Rajkot where she learned that network marketing is most important in India as the biggest way of doing business here is via the people you know. With the marketing director of Amul she spoke about the big success of Amul, taste of India. The impressing business model showed that a lot of small farmers totally own this company. In this way they are able to make themselves a good living. A very interesting visit she paid to Rishab Software where she is now working together with, in the field of software outsourcing.

Cultural experience by Wilma Hommersom

Religion One of the things we have observed, is that everyday life is intertwined with the spiritual.

India’s major religion, Hinduism is practiced by approximately 80% of the population. The second largest religion is (13%). The other natively Indian religions, Buddhism, and Sikhism taken together account for less than 3%. About 2% of Indians adhere to .

We stayed with host families who were mostly Hindu, but also Jain, Muslim and Sikh. I describe here Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism.

Hinduism Hinduism is an extremely diverse religion. Prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include Dharma (ethics/duties), Samsāra (The continuing cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth), Karma (action and subsequent reaction), Moksha (liberation from samsara), and the various Yogas (paths or practices).

Hindus believe in Brahman, who is eternal uncrated and infinite. Everything that exists emanates from Brahman and will ultimately return to it. All Hindu are regarded as a manifestation of Brahman, who is often described as having three main representations, the Trimurti:

Brahma: Only during the creation of the universe Brahma play an active role. At other times he’s in meditation. His consort is Saraswati and his vehicle is a swan. Vishnu: the preserver or sustainer. He protects and sustains all that is good in the world. He is usually depicted with four arms, holding a lotus, a conch shell, a discus and a mace. His consort is Lakshimi and his vehicle is Garuda, a half-bird, half-beast creature. Vishnu has 22 incarnations, including Rama, Krishna and Buddha. : the destroyer. Shiva takes many forms.

Hindus believe that earthly life is cyclical. You are born again and again. The quality if these rebirths being dependent upon your karma in previous lives.

Worship and ritual play a paramount role in Hinduism. In Hindu homes we saw always a dedicated worship area. There are also many worship places on the streets. We have been to many different temples. The most impressive ones were the temples at Palitana. (It was a pity that we did not went up the hill to see the oldest and to enjoy the view). Furthermore the Bala Hanuman Temple in Jamnagar was very special because of the 24 hour chanting of the prayer Shri Ram, Jai Ram, Jai jai Ram since August 1, 1964. Vincent is also blessed at one of the temples.

Jainism The Jains follow the teachings of the 24 Jinas (conquerors). One of the main characteristics of Jain belief is the emphasis on the immediate consequences of one's behavior. Jains are a small but influential religious minority. Jainism stresses spiritual independence and equality of all life with particular emphasis on non- violence.

Jains refuse food obtained with unnecessary cruelty. Many practice a lifestyle similar to Veganism due to the violence of modern dairy farms, and others exclude root vegetables from their diets in order to preserve the lives of the plants from which they eat. Potatoes, garlic and onions in particular are avoided by Jains.

Sikhism Sikhism began as a reaction against the caste system and Brahmin domination of ritual. Sikhs believe in one God and sometimes worship guru’s. Like Hindus, Sikhs believe in rebirth and karma. Sikhism advocates the pursuit of salvation through disciplined, personal meditation on the name and message of God.

Family Along with religion, family is at the core of Indian society. For the vast majority of Indians the idea of being unmarried and without children around 30 (as Manon, Irene, Vincent and Wilma) is inconceivable.

Marriage is very important for Indians. Most of the Hindu marriages are still arranged by mutual parents, but the number of “love marriages” where partners decide for themselves is increasing. We saw three marriages. Two in Anand and one in Baroda. Most of the time a marriage feast is for three to five days. It was very nice that we could join this special and unique occasions.

It is still regular that the wife lives with the family of her husband. We saw this with al lot of host families. Divorce and remarriage is still not accepted in India.

It is important to marry someone in the same caste. Caste is the basic social structure of Hindu society. Living a righteous life and fulfilling your dharma (moral duty) augments your chance of being born in a higher caste and thus into better circumstances. There are four castes:

Brahmin (priests and teachers) Kshatriya (warriors) Vashia (merchants) Shudra (labourers)

The Brahmins were said to have emerged from the mouth of lord Brahma at the moment of creation, Kshatriyas were said to have come from his arms, Vaishyas from his thighs and Shudras from his feet. Castes are divided into thousands of groups.

Traditional clothing Women wear colorful sari’s. It is a skirt with a small blouse and a five to nine meter by one meter piece of cloth that can be draped in different ways. Usually the belly is uncovered. For men they have dhoti, a traditional dress like tunic and trouser combination. We have worn these clothes in different places at the culture evenings. We also bought some traditional clothing for ourselves.

Spare time In there spare time, Indians like to play cricket. This is one of the national sports. They also do walking and yoga, most of the time in the early morning. We had some yoga lessons in Jamnagar at the Yoga University, in Rajkot and in Bharuch. Wilma had some morning walks in the early morning during our stay in Surat. Jack also had mediation session from 5.30 – to 6.30 with his last host.

Indians like to go to the cinema theater to see Bollywood and Hollywood movies. We saw the Bollywood movie Welcome. The movie was in Hindi, but with some help from our Indian friends we could understand the whole movie.

Furthermore, they go with friends for dinner or an ice cream. In every city, we have been to one or more restaurants and we eat a lot of tasty ice creams.

Also dancing is a hobby of Indian people. We saw traditional dancing in colorful traditional clothes during the culture evenings in the Rotary house in Bhavnagar and at the Haria school of Jamnagar. In Bhavnagar Manon, Irene, Vincent, Jack and Wilma danced along with the dancers and Performance in Vikas Vidyalaya used sticks. We also went to an Orphanage in Wadhwan City entertainment park in Rasjkot were we saw traditional Rajasthani dancing.

Kite-festival in Surat

Festivals There are many festivals in India. During our stay, the Kite festival was celebrated in the cities of Gujarat. We went to the kite festival on January 15, 2008 in Surat. Everybody was on the roof trying to cut someone’s kite with the glass powder covered rope of his own kite. Unlike the tradition described in the Kite flyer where the winner is the owner of the last kite in the air, here everybody byes a packet of kites and fly a knew one when his kite is cut. This is multimillion business where most of the money goes to the small kite and rope makers. Jack cut ten kites! The day after the festival, we saw many people with cuts in there hands. But then the International Kite festival was held in Surat, organized by the municipality. Vincent and Jack met people from Denmark, The Netherlands, Indonesia, USA and many more countries trying to fly their kites as show objects. The ceremony to greet the participants was very much like the Rotary ceremonies at club meetings.

Observations of the team

People smile, even when in traffic somebody does something stupid Friendliness and time for contact between each other Colourfull cloths, even with the very poor Elegance in motion, even with many kilo’s on the head Large variety in food Many calories in food Rest after meal (increased uptake of calories) Eating with roti replacing the fork and spoon Hosts try to force-feed their guests Animals on the street, even on highway Camelcars in the night without any lights Rikshaws everywhere and at everyside Stay in lane ?????? Sidemirrors usually not in use, folded to decrease width of the car Please Horn OK !!!!!!! Horning is not to shout but to help and tell that you are there… Saurashtra’s landscape and cities versus Golden Corridor landscape and cities Modern advanced industries versus 19th centuries housing, labour, skills Governemental hospitals versus up to date hospitals (corporate or Rotary) Schools without equipment versus schools with banks and books Wealth versus the Poor Palacelike Bungalows versus Slumps Boys versus girls Man speaking to the man, not to the woman General situation of women in society, no career after study Many bathrooms in the houses where we stayed Curtains closed to keep the heat out Usually fluorescent lamps for lightning Toilets with many taps (which one to use?) Toilet-yets with sometimes very strong waterstreams from the yets Hard beds and pillows Spirituality Belief in guru’s Temples, architectural beauties Many intermediates between the mortals and God Co-Celebrate Feasts from Every Religion Heritage of Mahatma Gandhi in daily life Dirt and litter, no wasteboxes Dust, poor pavement in some cities Pan, the mouthfiller none of us liked To much sweets and to much sugar in beverages Cellphones: Ringing and playing tunes everywhere, everytime Answering the incoming call is the most important The clocks: Ahead for at least 15 minutes but: Indian Standard Time is the real time

Personal Comments

ManonBlokzijl

Before I applied for the GSE-team 2007/2008, I could not imagine what kind of experience I was going to have. Now a month after returning. I cannot even imagine that I have had the great experience of being in India/Gujarat. It was surrealistic, surprising, overwhelming, extraordinary and most of all an experience of a lifetime. I have experienced Indian culture in a very special way. Staying at host families was an intense and overwhelming experience. The hospitality of the Indian people is very great. It was difficult for me, as a western girl, to accept the presents and gifts. It’s impolite to refuse, you have to accept which was hard, because you are already so greatful that the host families were as friendly as they were. On the other hand it was great to experience that they were proud of their visitors and sometimes they even wanted to show off with you. Privacy and private time is not one of the basic needs in India. So, sometimes I really had to pull myself together and bring my smile on the face to join the hostfamily for a visit to friends or doing something else together. The program was well arranged. Of course, each Rotary region had its own program. But, in general there was not enough time to spent at home with your hostfamily or to have some time for yourself. Fortunately, with some coordinators it was possible to change the program. In the first two, maybe three weeks, the busy program is not a problem. But, after the third week, I found that I was getting tired and to stay with host families took more and more energy. Also, the program showed too much similarities. I think a program of three weeks should be enough. The vocational visits were very interesting. Being a psychologist, I have got an impression, how the Indian culture deals with problems. I saw different kinds of HRM departments and I spoke to a major of the army. All these visits were really interesting and related to my daily profession. I think the most impressive all together is that everything in India is different from the Netherlands. From the way people live, their religion, the mentality, the hospitality, the way they eat, they drink to the way they drive in traffic. This is what made the India-experience very intense and special and it will stay with me as a very good feeling. It is something I do take with me for the rest of my (professional) life.

Irene de Ruyter

Before telling about my personal experiences in India, more specific Guajarat, Rotary district 3060, I have to mention that I love travelling. Before the visit of India I always travelled on my own, alone or with a friend. The thing I really like about those travel experiences is the freedom to do whatever you want, the adventure, the unexpected and getting to know and understand other people and habits. Being a GSE-member is a totally different travel experience. There is not much freedom because the program was made and fully packed and the host families were instructed not to let us go out alone because of safety reasons. But, on the other hand we have seen so many things that you will never see being a tourist, that I must say: it was an experience of a life time.

The way people welcomed us every time we arrived in a new city was amazing. Sometimes I felt like being a pop star or member of the royal family. The people were so happy and proud that we were there that they showed everything to us and showed us to every one they know! So we didn’t only exchange culture with our host families but also with their neighbours, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, friends and colleagues. I hope that the Indian GSE-members won’t be disappointed by the simple welcome that they will get when they come here.

The experience that I still think about every day is our visit to a house for girls with no parents. About 400 girls staring, waving, singing and dancing for us, was really impressing. Especially with the knowledge that girls in India are, in general, less wanted than boys, I realised that life can be very hard and unfair. Being a girl myself and graduated on a topic of unfairness in economic possibilities in the Netherlands between men and women, this really affected me. It makes me think that unfairness exists on a lot of different levels.

I am really happy that I have been able to spend time in families with different religious backgrounds. Whether they were Hindus, Jains, Muslims or Christians, the people were always very kind and warm to us. Religion should never be a basis of liking or disliking other people.

Friends who have been to India as tourists always told me about the annoying salespeople, following them the whole day, trying to sell them everything. We were in an area that wasn’t touristic at all and we didn’t have this experience. Also we hardly got sick like everyone else that talked to me about travelling in India. You can really say that staying at host families is a totally different experience than travelling by yourself. It’s not better or worse. It’s different and far far far more special. I realize that it takes a lot of work, people and preparation to organise a trip like this. So I thank everyone who has made it possible to give us this experience.

Wilma Hommersom

Now I understand more about the Indian people and their culture including religion and the way of life. Very interesting to visit tax advisors, the tax department and the court. Now I know more about the Indian tax system and the way it works. For example more then 50% of the profit is not known by the tax department. Very nice to live with the host families and to learn more about their daily life. I enjoyed the cultural events like visiting temples, traditional dancing, yoga, marriage. Nine different host families is too much. Every time you have to tell the same story about your back- ground. I think that a program of 3 weeks is enough to learn more about a different culture. In some places the program was too full. Save time for contact with hosts and some free time. We wanted to climb the Palitana hill, but the Rotary leaders were afraid to let us go. We were a very sporty GSE-team. It is to bad that we did not went up. It is very important to have some private time. There was not enough private time in 5 weeks for us.

Vincent van Steijn

Our trip to India is an experience I will never forget. I don’t think that many people have a chance to learn to know a country and its people in the way GSE participants do.

Staying with the host families was a very nice experience. In every city we had a very warm welcome and people did their very best to make us feel comfortable. In nearly five weeks we stayed with nine host families. The four days we spent with each family were in my opinion too short. In the first day it takes a lot of energy to get used to everything and everyone. It’s a pity that at the time you start to feel comfortable, you have to pack and leave already. Due to the very busy program, it sometimes even required intelligent planning to spend a few hours with the host families.

The Rotary clubs really did a great job making us a program. It was good to see they incorporated the suggestions we made before the journey, to see some sceneries or touristic places. The vocational visits were excellent, but is was clear that the clubs did not communicate amongst each other, resulting in visiting similar companies. Some coordinators were very flexible in cancelling visits, some were not. Especially to the end of the journey I found it very hard to keep up. As a technical person, I found it really interesting (and sometimes amazing) to take a look at so many different companies. I was really surprised about the quality of the products people can make without high quality assets.

The people of India have impressed me. Especially the people we met in the slums or villages. Although they live in great poverty, they seem to be very positive, friendly and hospitable. It was also very good to see that the more wealthy people are joining clubs like Rotary in order to make India a better place. Even the rapidly growing population of India does not withhold them to invest in their country. I will certainly return to explore the rest of this beautiful country!

Jack Groot

The GSE-experience will never be forgotten by anyone who has participated in this program. One will never get a chance to meet so many people in a foreign country. Live the life of the hosts. See what people do in daily life and how they participate in society. This is indeed a great Rotary-program. But it asks for the personal investment of time and energy of the participants during the preparation next to the normal requirements of theirs jobs. It also asks from the participants to be able to adapt to uncommon situations during the trip.

I think that my team members have given their utmost while preparing the exchange and during the five weeks in Gujarat. I am proud of them, knowing how difficult it was for them to change from a life where they are in command of their own time and work schedule to the situation of being the guest of people with other habits and accepting their lead. I am sure that this experience also add to the benefits of the exchange-trip. It was good to see that the members formed a team and gave support to each other.

As a Rotarian in Western Europe I really was not aware of the fabulous service Rotary clubs can give in countries like India. Could every Rotarian take notice of what Rotarians do in Gujarat. This is something you cannot understand by reading about it in a Rotary-publication. You should see this! I am very happy that my district has decided to exchange with District 3060 and that the selection committee has given me this opportunity.

It was a great experience to see the enthusiasm of the many young Rotarians in the clubs we visited. As I say, back in the Netherlands, “we talk about a place of Rotary in our communities” in district 3060 Rotary just DO have a place in the community. With skill, leadership, time and energy they succeed in performing huge community service projects and most of these projects are accomplished by Rotarians of the age-group we seldom see in our Dutch clubs.

Great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel and the Tatas are from Gujarat. Maybe it is the shadow of these people and their philosophy that guides the people we met and whom we got to know in these weeks. Their way of life made a deep impression on me.

Presentations prepared by the GSE team:

General presentation, who is who and some views of our district Daily life in the Netherlands Economy of the Netherlands Watermanagement, from enemy to exportproduct Dutch Governement Dutch History From Birth to Death Dutch Painters, Rembrandt and van Gogh Rotarydistrict 1580 Challenges in the Netherlands Cultural differences

Powerpoint presentation converted to PDF files are available on request

Acknowledgement

With this report I want to thank all the friends who made our stay so unforgettable, hosts families, guides, drivers and other chaperones, THE organizer at the district level, organizers at the regional levels and club levels, club members and their partners who came to our presentations and all those people that showed interest in our doings and our wellbeing, many thanks and thank you again for taking us as members of your extended family. Amme aapne mahmangati & dosti ni kadr karye chhe.

I also want to thank my team. Four very different people that came together and matched wonderfully in those five weeks: Irene, whose creativity set the tone in many discussions, Manon, who always found a light touch to clear a heavy situation, Vincent, who always found the quick solution for technical problems and Wilma, whose thoughtful remarks lead us many times in the best direction. Without you, it would have been very different. You had to cope with an exacting leader, and you did well! Fare thee well Jack Groot

Fare you well my own true love And farewell for a while. I’m going away, but I’ll be back For if I had a friend all on this earth, You’ve been a friend to me. And fare you well my own true love And farewell for a while. I’m going away, but I’ll be back If I go ten thousand miles.