Rotary Voices扶輪之聲
世界各地的服務故事Stories of service from around the world Why I finally joined a Rotary club
為什麼我終於加入了扶輪社
Posted on October 29, 2020
撰文 Erin Maloney
Until this summer, I had never really thought about joining a Rotary club.
直到今年夏天，我才真正想到要加入扶輪社。
Even though I have been involved with service – from anti-domestic violence issues to giving music lessons – for all of my adult life, I was not interested in the traditional model of Rotary (with weekly meetings).
即使我一直參與服務 — 從反家庭暴力問題到教授音樂課 — 在我的整個成年生活中，我對傳統模式的扶輪社(每週開會)毫無興趣。
Living in Turkey, I was becoming more interested in reducing human trafficking, as I was concerned that female university students from abroad were being “groomed.” After the COVID-19 pandemic, however, it became more difficult to address this issue.
我住在土耳其，對遏止人口販運越來越感興趣，因為我擔心來自國外的女大學生正在「打扮美美嫁個新郎」。但是，在COVID-19大流行之後，解決這個問題變得更加困難。
Meanwhile, I noticed that Rotary was becoming less traditional, open to a “new” kind of Rotarian – someone like me.
同時，我注意到扶輪社漸漸變得不那麼傳統，打開大門歡迎像我這樣的「新」種類的扶輪社員。
Perhaps the opportunities had been there for a while, but I first noticed them while attending the 2020 Rotary Virtual Convention (led by my brother, Mark Maloney, then Rotary International president). I saw three things that convinced me to join.
也許機會已經存在了一段時間，但是我在參加(由我的兄弟，當時的國際扶輪社長馬克．梅隆尼Mark Malony領導召開的)2020年扶輪虛擬國際年會時首次注意到了這些機會。我看到了三件事使我信服可以加入扶輪。
At the Convention’s first general session, I was impressed by a video about how communities like “Anytown” could have more Rotary clubs, if they broadened from the traditional model of meetings to a different sort of model, so that more “people of action” could participate.
在年會的第一次全會上，我對一段影片印象深刻，這個影片訴說的是如同「任何市」的社區如何能擁有更多的扶輪社，假如這些社從傳統的例會模式擴大到另一種模式，那麼就有更多的「採取行動人士」可以參加。
Then, at the Convention’s second general session, I saw an example of a just such a non-traditional Rotary club. I had never seen one like it! It met only twice a month, on Sundays, in a coffee shop – with their children!
然後，在年會的第二次全會上，我看到了一個這樣的非傳統扶輪社的例子。我從未見過這樣的社！每月僅僅兩次在星期天於咖啡店裡開會，還帶著孩子們一起！
Finally, I looked carefully at the “booths” in the Virtual Convention’s House of Friendship. There, I learned about RAGAS (Rotary Action Group Against Slavery), and decided to attend a “Zoom” meeting to learn more about the work of the organization. I was impressed! With Zoom-chat, I asked if there was an international Rotary club devoted to ending modern slavery. I was immediately given contact information for the Rotary Club to End Human Trafficking in Minnesota, with Karen Walkowski as its Rotary Club president.
最後，我仔細看了看虛擬年會友誼之家中的「攤位」。在那裡，我獲悉有一個組織RAGAS(反奴隸扶輪行動團體Rotary Action Group Against Slavery)，就決定參加一個Zoom視訊會議，好了解關於該組織工作的更多訊息。結果令我印象深刻！我透過Zoom-chat詢問是否有一個致力於解決現代奴隸問題的國際性扶輪社。我立即獲得了明尼蘇達州「終結人口販運扶輪社」(Rotary Club of End Human Trafficking)的聯繫資訊，社長是卡倫．沃夫斯基Karen Walkowski。
And the rest is history! I have now been a member of this Rotary club for three months, attending twice monthly meetings, online via Zoom. While a majority of its members live in the US, there are others like me who live around the world. I am impressed with the work and direction of the club.
剩下的就是歷史了！我現在成為這個扶輪社的社員已經有三個月了，透過Zoom線上會議每個月出席兩次舉行的例會。雖然大多數社員都居住在美國，但還有其他像我一樣的社員住在世界各地。這個社的工作與方向讓我留下了深刻的印象。
I am happy that Rotary has broadened its meeting model, to include people of action like me.
我很高興扶輪擴大了例會的模式，使像我這樣的採取行動人士能夠加入。
本文由 台灣扶輪月刊及台灣扶輪出版暨網路資訊協會譯自國際扶輪網站中Why I finally joined a Rotary club (by Erin Maloney)
圖片說明：
Erin Maloney watching a recording of the 2020 Virtual Convention on her laptop. (On screen is her brother, 2019-20 Rotary International President Mark D. Maloney Erin Maloney
正在透過她的筆電觀看2020年扶輪虛擬國際年會。(銀幕上是她的哥哥2019-20國際扶輪社長馬克．梅隆尼Mark Malony)
