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 Friedel Liebe-Elser recently captivated Rotary Club members with her extraordinary experiences during her 33-year residence in Nairobi, Kenya. Being the first female Honorary Rotarian of the Rotary Club of Nairobi was a milestone in the early 1980s when it was still a gentlemen only organization. During her 40-year journey through her Rotary Sliding Doors she crisscrossed not just East and Southern Africa, where District 920 covered 4,000 miles of the length of the Continent and included remote islands such as Mauritius - 2,000 miles from Nairobi -, Madagascar, and even the Seychelles more than 1,000 miles out in the Indian Ocean. Attending a District Conference could mean days of travel, entering areas where English, French, Creole, or Malagasy was spoken in some of the 66 Rotary Clubs scattered over 12 countries. Sometimes the Conference organizers sent a telegram: “Bring your own Toilet Paper and Sugar.” Other obstacles could be political unrest, lack of fuel, natural disasters, or simple communication issues. With overseas calls taking up to 48 hours to get connected and fax machines – costing a prohibitive $20,000 in 1982 – connecting with the Rotary world was not easy. Therefore, after an ambitious idea was conceived by German Rotarians in and around Marburg – a tongue-twister called Kenya Rural Blindness Eradication Project – the excitement in Kenya to organize Cataract Surgery for dozens of blind people in the rural areas knew no bounds. Thanks to those kind Rotarians from 37 clubs offering to fund these surgeries, the lives of uncountable families could be changed. But the excitement died when word was received in Nairobi that the project was canceled. No reason given, although Kenya's reputation for corruption had just plummeted. Friedel’s husband John was the incoming President of 1985-86 and decided that her next trip to her native Germany should include a visit to Dr. Zimmermann, President of the RC Marburg Schloss, the father of this eye-camp idea. Despite the ‘strictly no ladies’ rule of his club, Dr. Zimmerman invited her to their meeting. Fortunately, one of the most senior members was the Head of the renowned Behring Institute, who remembered Friedel well from her work at the Institute years earlier. He stood up, greeted her like a long-lost friend, and announced without hesitation ‘The project is back on track’. Thus started one of RI’s longest-lasting initiatives which has since restored sight to almost 20,000 patients, thanks to the tireless efforts of Dr. Mukesh Joshi – the leading eye surgeon in Nairobi and his team with the continued help of myriad members of the Rotary Club of Nairobi and around Europe. Her husband’s year at the helm had only just begun when they received a phone call from Sweden late one night. District Governor, Kjell Magnusson, announced that “We Rotarians of District 239 in Malmoe want to give you an airplane”. On a crackling phone line Kjell explained that this Cessna 206 Skywagon was to fly doctors to treat patients in the remotest areas of rural Kenya. But “Everyone here is so excited about this plane called THE HELPING ROTARY, that we hope you will attend our District Conference on 26th-27th of April 1986 as our Guests of Honor.” After this conversation nothing could stop them from accepting the kind invitation to Malmoe for an experience of a lifetime. They were embraced by the warmest Swedish hospitality and true Rotary generosity and owing to Friedel’s hastily arranged crash course in Swedish she was able to convey the heartfelt gratitude from the people of Kenya for this extraordinary gift in a 20-minute speech, applauded during a standing ovation. However, a ‘gift’ of a totally unexpected kind came from Russia where, still unbeknownst to the world, on the first day of the conference, the Nuclear Plant in Chernobyl exploded, sending a huge radioactive cloud across to Sweden – ultimately engulfing most of Europe. A few weeks later saw John and Friedel in Las Vegas attending the RI Convention of RI President Ed Cadman, who, earlier in 1986, was hosted by the RC Nairobi and other clubs in Kenya. A year later, all of John and Friedel’s Rotarian friends from Sweden, Marburg, or anywhere else in the world enjoyed a memorable reunion at the RI Convention in Munich in June 1987. Although Friedel started navigating her Rotary sliding doors in 1984 - long before she ever became a Rotarian – her dedication was recognized as the RCN made her an Honorary Rotarian and their club Historian. In her walk down memory lane Friedel presented more highlights than we could mention here – some shining brightly, others gruesome and tragic. They will live on in the minds of everyone listening to her that morning. And we haven’t even heard the half of it so she will continue her presentation on September 24th. |