GSE Team Visits Pal-Mac Rotary Club
Our guests at tonight’s meeting were the members of this year’s inbound Group Study Exchange (GSE) Team. The team traveled from Rotary District 2410, which consists of 49 clubs in Sweden and 19 clubs in Latvia. The team consists of 3 men and 3 women, mostly from Latvia. (One member is from Sweden.)
Club President Dianne Sloan (l) with the GSE Team (l-r): Erik Östman, Karīna Kopmane-Račko,
Indra Kļaviņa, Inese Vētra, Normunds Strods, and Kaspars Gailītis.
The team leader is Indra Kļaviņa, and architect and planner from Latvia. Together with her husband, she designs residential and public buildings. Additionally, they help develop master plans and local development plans for coastal municipalities. Indra is the charter president of the Talsi Rotary Club and has been active in Rotary since 1997.
The team members in this exchange are:
• Erik Östman, the only Swede, is a tax officer in Swedish Tax Agency. He serves on his City Council and is running for Parliament.
• Normunds Strods, a shipbroker from Sigula, Latvia. He is the manager of the cargo handling terminal in Riga.
• Kaspars Gailītis, “the Lawyer.” Kaspars is the Assistant to the Judge at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia. Additionally, he works as a freelance translator for the Court of the European Union.
• Karīna Kopmane-Račko, DDS. Karīna works at one of best, most modern dental clinics in Latvia. She also lectures on dental radiology and teaches a pre-clinical course in operative dentistry.
• Inese Vētra, a marketing director for the Pizza Lulu restaurant chain.
The team members took turns telling us about the governments, cultures, and economies of Sweden and Latvia, as well as listing some notable figures from the two countries. Their slideshow included scenes from their hometowns and pictures of their families. As this was their first day with our club, they weren’t able to share any stories about their adventures with their hosts yet. (Perhaps the hosts will share with us next week.)
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.
We are very fortunate and happy to host this group of people. Their presentation at tonight's meeting was informative and very entertaining. We look forward to spending more time with them over the holiday weekend before they leave for home on Monday.
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