The New Social Worker Vol. 20, No. 4, Fall 2013 | Page 31

Making Connections With purposeful work also came connections we’ve made with people, especially those from Liberia who were involved with the school directly or indirectly. In the beginning of a project like this, it’s imperative to find a host Rotary Club in the country you are doing work in. Immediately, staying true to our generation, our club turned to Facebook. We found the Monrovia Rotaract Club and made connections, but this still was not a definite contact with the Rotary Club of Monrovia. It wasn’t until we were presenting our new project to a local Rotary Club that we made the connection. During this meeting, a Rotarian told us that the former president of the Rotary Club of Monrovia was now a member of their club. We contacted him and within weeks were connected with the Rotary Club of Monrovia. One of the most rewarding benefits was learning about Liberia as a country. One of the biggest learning factors was seeing what a civil war can do to not only a country, but also to its people. How people react, improvise, adapt, and overcome to such atrocities was very intriguing to every member of our club. Every person that we talked to from Liberia had been affected by Liberia’s years of civil war. As a club, we would try to understand and empathize with what that meant for them now. We were exposed to and learned the effects of social trauma as well as the resiliency factors that kept and keep them going today. We held movie nights and watched documentaries about the years they endured and have classmates from Liberia attend. We would ask them questions about their country, their years living in Liberia, and the war. Learning about Liberia as a country was useful but there were also aspects of completing an international project that we weren’t aware of and found out along the way. Coming into this, we were blind. We had never done a project like this before or worked with Rotary International on this large of a scale. There are parts that we look back on, realizing there were most likely better ways to do certain things. Finding a network of people before we started fundraising would have been extremely helpful. As a club, we never formally sat down with the main people in the project and came up with a solid plan and timeline. In short, we just started brainstorming all aspects of the project from all angles. Having that solid plan could have potentially been very beneficial. We went through a grant process, and in the last few months, our grant was “allocated elsewhere.” Upset and not sure where to turn next, we emailed the highest Rotarian in our district, the District Governor. She immediately sent an e-mail to every Rotary Club in our district, and suddenly help started pouring in. If we had found that set of supports in the beginning instead of finding them when we almost felt depleted, our project time could have been cut down. We would have also tried different modes of communication instead of solely e-mailing back and forth. Showing emotion or expressions through e-mails is often hard if not impossible, especially crossing cultural lines. Words would be taken the wrong way, and time was wasted trying to figure out what each party really meant. Toward the end of the project, Amos and I started texting. We found that this was easy, simple, and much faster than e-mail. Amos would have to travel about a mile to a café every time he needed to e-mail us. If we had started texting in the beginning (keeping cost in mind), communications could have been faster and the process might have gone more smoothly. Overall, the four main learning points were: 1. Increased cultural competence 2. How to expand your professional and social network 3. Increased awareness of international issues 4. Importance of persistence and perseverance Overall, the lessons we learned were invaluable. We now have the ideas and experience to move forward and use in our futures. Hopefully, the club will use our experience and start a rippling effect of good will and build friendships all over the world. Last year, Rotary International’s motto was “Building Communities and Bridging Continents.” This year, it is “Peace through Service.” Our project exemplifies both. For more information about this project, please contact Tierny Ulmer at [email protected]. Tierny Ulmer received her BSW with a minor in peace and conflict studies from West Chester University. Tierny interned at the Nationalities Service Center in the Survivors of Torture Program as well as the Delaware Department of Justice as a Victim/Witness advocate intern. Tierny was president of the Rotaract Club, the 18-30 year old version of Rotary International, on West Chester University's campus for two yea '2?6V???"?V ?6?R&V6?RF?RF?7G&?7B&?F&7B&W&W6V?FF?fRf?"F?R&?F&7B6?V'2??F?Rw&VFW ????FV???&V?f?"gW'F?W"??V?&W0?&Vv&F??rF?Rt5R&?F&7B6?V"?R?????F?W&??V??W$v????6???F?R?Wr6?6??v?&?W ??f??#0??#????