[D9640general] [eFlash_Rotary] Digest Number 570

[Garry & Anne Krischock]

There are 2 messages in this issue.

Topics in this digest:

   1.  1163: Rotary E-Club of Verkkorotary    
         From: "Sunil K Zachariah" sunilkzach at yahoo.co.uk
   2.  1164: Mia Farrow pays tribute to Rotarians    
         From: "Sunil K Zachariah" sunilkzach at yahoo.co.uk

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Message 1 
    From: "Sunil K Zachariah" sunilkzach at yahoo.co.uk
    Date: Mon May 22, 2006 4:50pm(PDT) 
Subject: 1163: Rotary E-Club of Verkkorotary

E-club's only boundaries are time and technology

By Bettina Kozlowski
Rotary International News

Two years after Europe's first Rotary e-club was chartered, the 
members of the Rotary E-Club of Verkkorotary (which means Rotary on 
the Web) in Finland say they're so tightly knit that one member 
recently participated in the online meeting while on a flight from 
Teheran, Iran, to Frankfurt, Germany. 

The charter president of the club, Matti Kejikola, says the 
fellowship among Verkkorotary's 30 members is strong because no 
member has to miss a meeting, even if he or she is thousands of miles 
away from the club's headquarters in Finland. 

"Our only boundaries are technical connections and time," says Matti 
Kivinen, a past district governor. As a septuagenarian, Kivinen says 
he's the opposite of a computer geek, but he finds the technology 
easy and fun to use. 

On three out of four Tuesdays every month, the Finnish e-club members 
from District 1420 meet online at 9 p.m. (Finnish time) in a virtual 
conference room, logging on from anywhere with an Internet 
connection. 

Equipped with microphones and Web cameras, the participants can see 
and talk to one another, while simultaneously chatting online. They 
can click on a smiley face symbol to express laughter and on a 
clapping hands symbol for applause. The meetings are very lively, 
says Kivinen. "Seeing and hearing one another makes all the 
difference. Otherwise, it would just be an online chat." 

To avoid online chaos, the electronic-meeting chairman decides who 
gets the microphone at any given time and whose Web camera image to 
post for all to see. A maximum of four faces can be displayed at 
once. "It's not like you can leave and make yourself a sandwich. You 
better be prepared to have the camera switched on to you," occasional 
chairman Hannu Aronsson jokes. Meetings are recorded and can be re-
experienced at any time. 

Many Finnish Rotarians admit Verkkorotary.fi would not be the same 
without the once monthly in-person meetings. That's where the members 
bond, says Aronsson. "The personal contact builds the online 
community," Aronsson says. 

But thanks to the available technology, those who can't attend the 
terra (in-person) meetings can participate online, which results in 
an original mix of live and online meetings. 

The Verkkorotary club members see partial e-clubs as Rotary's way of 
the future. They believe Rotarians may want to remain a part of their 
original Rotary club, even if living abroad. Partial e-clubs allow 
these ex-pats to do so, while exposing the at-home club to members 
who bring a fresh, international perspective to the club. 

The cost, however, for an online club's infrastructure — consisting 
of a server, the conference software, and the access portal — is 
high, an estimated $US65,000 per year. A Verkkorotary member's 
employer sponsors the cost, however. 

This club benefit allows these Rotarians to bond in ways that may not 
otherwise been possible. "The whole world should participate in 
international meetings online," says member Tomi Laamanen. 

Source: R I Website
Courtesy:eFlash_Rotary


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Message 2 
    From: "Sunil K Zachariah" sunilkzach at yahoo.co.uk
    Date: Mon May 22, 2006 4:55pm(PDT) 
Subject: 1164: Mia Farrow pays tribute to Rotarians

Mia Farrow pays tribute to Rotarians

By Kelly Nolan 
Special to The Rotarian

During her visit to District 7230's New York City conference in 
April, Mia Farrow only had one parting request: That she could come 
back and celebrate with the group when polio is completely 
eradicated. Though the award-winning actress has been linked with 
celebrities such as the Beatles, Frank Sinatra, and Woody Allen, she 
couldn't have been happier to pay tribute to New York and Bermuda 
Rotarians for their efforts in eradicating polio during the past 21 
years. 


"I'm so honored to be here to salute you in the work you've already 
done," says Farrow, who was honored by the district with a Paul 
Harris Fellow award. "It's extraordinary. Because of the work you've 
done, we're now looking at the finish line to eradicate polio."

While Farrow has campaigned for the past several years to eradicate 
polio as an ambassador for UNICEF, District 7230 Rotarians have 
raised $850,000 since 1985 to help immunize 1.4 million children in 
developing countries.

Farrow says that she felt compelled to fight polio because of her 
personal experience with the crippling disease. 

"Many people do not know that I was diagnosed with polio when I was 9 
years old," Farrow explains. "I think the fact that I'm a survivor 
has really heightened my awareness and impacted the choices I've 
made. I know what it is like for these children to be stigmatized."

Furthermore, Farrow also has 13 children, including one adopted son, 
Thaddeus, who contracted polio and is paralyzed.

District 7230 Rotarians have also engaged in several other 
humanitarian projects of their own as well, including a water project 
in Honduras, delivering new computers in South Africa and more 
locally, setting up an AIDS clinic in Manhattan's Harlem neighborhood.

"Through the medical clinic we set up, we were able to significantly 
bring down the number of transmissions from mother to child in the 
area," says Mats Ingemanson, the district secretary.

The district's 42 clubs also continue to be avid fundraisers for the 
Gift of Life program, which helps children receive much needed heart 
surgeries, either by bringing them to the United States or funding 
the surgery in their own countries. 

Look for more about this event in the September 2006 issue of The 
Rotarian. 

Source: R I website
Courtesy: eFlash_Rotary

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_______________________eFlash is an electronic newsflash on Rotary edited by PDG Sunil K Zachariah, D 3200, India.

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