Karin: One year ago I participated at the Rotary institute in Tammerfors, where I took part in the membership group. We were discussing how to get younger people interested in Rotary. One idea was to catch up where the young ones are and that is on Facebook. We said that we should start a group there when we went home. It didn´t go well, because our Rotarians were very suspicious about it, which made me feel sorry because I believed in the idea of being active in Facebook. One day I got a friend request from Tim Mason, Swindon in England and I felt very happy. Now the big adventure started to get friends all over the world. As Tim said, we were both new on Facebook and we helped each other to get new friends. In springtime Tim asked me if my club would be interested to be a twin club. When I talked to my club, they thought this would be fantastic! We felt very honoured that a big and old club wanted to be friends with our little club. When David phoned me the first time for a time for an appointment I felt this was a historical moment. The possibility to get friends via Facebook shows that it´s possible to make our world a little friendlier when you get friends all over the world. Peace is a very important word for Rotary.
Tim: What a fantastic trip. Our first evening in Sweden was a family meal with Karin and Gunnar, where we discussed the programme for the next day which included our visit to the Rotary Club of Degerfors, plus ideas around the twinning including not just social visits, but how we could work together as two Rotary Clubs. Karin this year is an Assistant District Governor and she was telling us about how she had helped to form and charter a new Breakfast Club.
Karin: Last autumn the District Governor asked me to help him to start a new club in my area. Soon I found people who were interested in to start a breakfast club. For young people it´s easier to have their meetings at the beginning of the day. This club now has 27 members and the average age is 45! The name of this new club is Karlskoga Möckelns Bodhar in district 2340.
Tim: It was to meet the following morning, so we asked if we could attend this as well. After a really exciting first evening in Sweden we retired to bed and sleep, looking forward to a packed programme ahead. Our visit to the Breakfast Club, chartered in January 2009 was amazing. It started with a greeting from the manager (a Rotarian) of the Bofors Hotel, who instantly recognised me as a friend on Facebook – my Rotary world now has so many friends. Then followed a meeting with the usual greetings and exchanges, but with a talk we couldn’t understand from a young woman who had been on a Youth Exchange to New York. This 14 year old gave a mastery presentation, which was impressive and really showed the power and experience gained by those who have the opportunity to take part in this Rotary programme. Although we didn’t understand we could feel her confidence and knowledge through the reaction of the Swedish members around the table. This was followed by some sight-seeing around the local area seeing the town of Degerfors, before we went to our main object of the visit, the lunch meeting of the Rotary Club of Degerfors and to meet President Gunnel Elfman-Ericson and give our President John’s greetings.
Karin: After a very pleasant presentation of Swindon and the Rotary club of Swindon we discussed that some type of project with young people would feel good for both clubs. Gary is very interested in football and Roland, one of our members, took him to our football museum. There they got the idea of youth exchange in sports. A wonderful idea to let young people come over and meet other young people in order to get new friends and to learn other cultures too. We do hope this idea will be realized soon.
Tim: The highlight of our visit for me was the fellowship and friendship offered by members of the Rotary Club of Degerfors and their enthusiasm for this new relationship, as well as our visit to the Alfred Nobel House Björkborn in Karlskoga where I
learned so much about this man, his vocation and his legacy to the world. For all of us the way in which Karin and Gunnar made us feel like old friends and part of their family was really special and will not be forgotten. We can’t wait for the return visit by friends from Degerfors to Swindon and of course our continued visits to Sweden as the twinning progresses.Karin: It was very exciting when I and my husband were waiting for our visitors from Swindon. But the very moment when they came out from the car we felt that these three guys were our friends! It has been very interesting to hear how Rotary works in England. We always learn of each other. As a matter of fact Tim and I play scrabble on Facebook. We are looking forward to come to Swindon a make a progress in the twinning.
Tim: The outcomes and future plans are for us to build the foundations of this relationship slowly and strongly with encouragement of small numbers of Rotarians to visit each other for short periods. Plans are also to develop practical projects together which may help others through Rotary’s good work, we are particularly interested in Environmental Awareness, End Polio Now and a Youth Exchange. Finally we want this to be an example of how Rotary friendships on Facebook can really help Rotary to meet some of its objectives and encourage a greater friendship and fellowship throughout the world.
Tim Mason, Hon. Secretary, Rotary Club of Swindon
Karin Sköld, Hon. Secretary, Rotary Club of Degerfors
