RCRT Receives Gifts
Gifts From GSE India
Photo Credit Yvonne Crabbe
The Women of Rotary Club of Road Town were specially adorned on Tuesday 28 May during the Club’s weekly luncheon as they displayed their gifts of bindis received from the Group Study Exchange Students of India who were the recent guests of Rotary BVI.
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The forehead adorns are worn in India and other South Asia countries traditionally by married Hindu women as a symbol of female energy and are believed to protect a woman and her husband. More recently, the bindi is worn as decorative accessory by unmarried girls and non-Hindu women to accentuate their beauty.
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The colourful bindis were not the only gifts received from the GSE team. Banners from various Rotary districts in India were presented to District Governor Vance Lewis bearing regional symbols and logos. The Club was fortunate to have as guest speaker the Director of Public Prosecution, Mr Wayne Rajbansie, of Indian heritage, who read and interpreted the messages on the banners received.
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The Rotary Foundation’s Group Study Exchange (GSE) program is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for businesspeople and professionals between the ages of 25 and 40 who are in the early stages of their careers. The program provides travel grants for teams to exchange visits in paired areas of different countries. For four to six weeks, team members experience the host country's culture and institutions, observe how their vocations are practiced abroad, develop personal and professional relationships, and exchange ideas.
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In a typical four-week tour, applicants participate in five full days of vocational visits, 15 to 20 club presentations, 10 to 15 formal visits and social events, two to three days at the district conference, three to four hours per day of cultural and site tours, and three to four hours per day of free time with host families.
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District 7020 participated in two Group Study Exchanges in the 2012/2013 Rotary year. The first was Jamaica/India exchange and the other the BVI/Galveston Texas exchange. The Indian GSE team visited the BVI in May 2013 to participate in District 7020 conference that was held here.
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The Indian GSE team (which unfortunately could not be on hand to make the presentation) was comprised of Team Leader PP Shyam Pansari who is involved in Cold Storage & Food Processing Units in India, Professor Sanchita Choudhary, Kapil Khurana a Bike dealership operator, Smitha Athreya, a teacher and Pramod Mahapatra an employee in the Pharmaceutical Industry and professional Dancer.
GSE Team from India With District Governor Vance