Eira Braun-Labossiere grew up on a farm south of Winnipeg. She can not ever forget the beauty of where she grew up and the loving family that supported her. From high school she went on to the University of Manitoba where she loved the freedom of the experience. The critical thinking and discovering oneself was fantastic. Eira obtained a 4 year degree, B. of Arts with a major in English and minor in Linguistics. However, the highlight of her University experience was meeting Martin L. < Insert smart-@$$ remark by Martin here>….. // Eira’s response was “24 years of this!!” Back to serious, they had shared interests and even had their wedding on campus.
They moved to Edmonton after university. They have actually had 9 moves to 5 different provinces over 24 years of marriage. The moves were to allow for advancement of Martin in his employment path, for the most part. They were happy to experience new cultural differences in the different parts of the country.
They do not have any children but have devoted their family life to dogs. Greyhounds are the dog of choice for them. They have helped a greyhound rescue operation in Edmonton over the years.
Eira`s career has been mostly administration jobs. She did have a customer service position as well as sales in Duha Color Services. When they moved to Toronto, Eira got a job with a great female boss that owned two companies. One was a graphic design studio and the other a co-packing company (store static displays). With the move back to Winnipeg, she has been able to continue with this job as a home operated position. This involves sales, social media and blogging.
The choice to get involved with Rotary was filling a desire that existed for years. To be involved in a service group that was not religion based but would be acting locally as well as internationally. It was Martin that exposed her to Rotary initially. She has found Rotary to be a wonderful group and she is especially looking forward to working with the H.I.P. group with-in Rotary. She will also be working with the Public Relation committee / social media with Martin.
Q/A
1.-Lloyd Talbot asked Eira for an example of the cultural differences that she has experienced from one community to another.
A.-Eira recalled an experience in Toronto where the community that they were living in was lacking caucasians. On one trip to the local mall, she found herself feeling like a minority. It was a strange feeling that she had not experienced in the past. Another was that in Toronto everything and everyone is moving at twice the speed that people in the prairies move at. Eira found the pace exhausting.
Rohit (Roh) Goenka moved to Canada from Calcutta, India (50 million people) 12 years ago. He has 2 sisters and was living in a ‘joint family system’. A large multi-generational, extended family all living together. This was a middle-class family in India. In 2016 he visited India with his girlfriend. He had forgotten how crowded people live there compared to Canada.
Roh wanted to be an engineer but he did not have the grades to allow that to happen in India. They have to take extra exams after high school to prove that they can complete the education that would be made available to them. The only option was to leave and travel to Canada. His grandfather gave him the money to make the trip a reality. He was actually in New Delhi with his mother attending a presentation that included the University of Manitoba. The option to sign-up was closing rapidly. He called his grandpa and advised him that he was leaving India and going to Canada for university. The decision was made on Saturday and he flew to Canada on Monday. He had two bags and a backpack. All he had to base his future on was the fact that he had seen some U.S. television shows.
In 2010 he was watching hockey and decided that the Montreal Canadians were going to be his team to cheer on. He lived in Winnipeg, so when the Jets 2.0 came back to the city, he bought a Jets cap. He was and is in a conflicted state regarding hockey. He is a good skater but too old for Team India Hockey (founded 2013), he is 31 years old. Roh owns one of very few Team India, National Hockey Team jerseys. He had it mailed to him from a connection in New York City.
He was admitted to University One at the U. of Manitoba. He did that year twice!...Too much partying, not enough study. He limited the number of times that he would speak to his parents to once a month. He still wanted to get into the Faculty of Engineering, he still didn`t have the grade point to qualify. In 2012 he graduated with a degree in math. After graduation he was looking for a connection to get employed. A professor helped out by getting him funding to work in the Composite Innovative Centre (C.I.C.). He had a work partner that did all the work. The work project was a speaker horn. They would hopefully market it to Saskatchewan Roughriders. Roh is not sure how that worked out. He has also worked for the U. of Manitoba Mini-U program. He would supervise students from ages 4 to 18 years of age. He was busy applying to hundreds of companies for a multitude of positions. He eventually got hired for a temp position in the U.of Manitoba. That turned into a stream of term positions in 8 different departments. He is now working with the university in the area of ‘business analysis’. This is not what he really wants to do. While his grandpa is still alive, he wants to move on to economics and business courses. He is a member of the Winnipeg Young Associates, involved with Cancer Care Hockey as well as political interests.
Q/A
1.- Jack Wilson, do you see yourself staying in Winnipeg?
A.-No, dream is to move. Winnipeg is home to him now. His girlfriend would also like to move.
2.-Bob Eilers asked if Roh would like to go back to India?
A.-Yes, but his future is moving ahead – not going back.
Nancy Hansen advised both presenters tonight that they need to continue looking forward as she had no idea that she would be in the position that she is now compared to 15 years ago.
