Rotary Community Heroes of Hope
Introducing "Rotary Community Heroes of Hope" - a podcast dedicated to showcasing the profound impact of Rotary in District 5330 and beyond. Join us as we explore the remarkable stories of rotary heroes and initiatives that are transforming communities and creating hope around the world.
Rotary Community Heroes of Hope
EPISODE 33 - VTT Tours a Mission of Water and Empowerment in Thailand
Embark on a stirring journey with us, as we share the riveting tales of Rotarians embodying the spirit of 'Heroes of Hope'. Our latest episode captures the heart of true service, featuring the remarkable Stephen Gale, Dan Cortese, and Nicholas Campbell, who bring their water system expertise to the beautiful but challenged landscapes of Thailand. Tune in to hear how their mission isn't just about providing clean water but also fostering a ripple effect of knowledge and empowerment that spans continents.
Our Vocational Training Team's adventure in Thailand wasn’t just about hard work; it was filled with moments of human connection and cultural celebration. We recount the warm embrace by local Rotarians and the exuberance of the Songkran Festival, drawing you into a narrative that blends purpose with the joy of cross-cultural fellowship. Through our narrative, experience the contrast between Western water systems and the Thai approach, and the promising path toward sustainable practices sparked by the team's efforts.
Concluding the episode, we reflect on the profound personal transformations that come from engaging in international service. These aren't just stories; they're calls to action that inspire both local and global initiatives, encouraging listeners like you to become ambassadors of change and hope. Your support fuels our collective journey to make a lasting impact on communities worldwide, and this episode is a testament to the power of combined efforts and the enduring compassion of the Rotary community.
Welcome to the Rotary Community Heroes of Hope. I'm your host, judy Zulfikar, and I'm thrilled to be joined by my amazing co-host, jamie Zinn, district Governor of Rotary District 5330. Together, we will take you on a journey to discover the incredible impact Rotarians have on our community and around the world. Get ready to be inspired by our Rotary Heroes of Hope, by our Rotary Heroes of Hope. This episode is very exciting because we're going to talk about some of the things that Rotary does all around the world and our local District 5330 Rotarians that have traveled there to do that. So we are going to be welcoming our VTT team and we'll talk a little bit more about what that means. Jamie, how are you?
Speaker 2:doing today. I am doing great and I am so excited to hear about their travels and what they're bringing back to us and how we're going to be able to reach out to our communities and help with water issues that we have going on.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. Welcome to Rotary, heroes of Hope, and I would like each and every one of you guys to introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about being in Rotary, and then we're going to get to the actual trip itself, and I'm going to go ahead and start with Stephen. You're on my screen at the top left, so you get to introduce yourself first.
Speaker 3:Okay, stephen Gale. I'm president of the Palm Springs Sunup Rotary Club. I've been in Rotary for five years during this period. My original introduction to Rotary was in 1982, when I was selected for a group study exchange to the Philippines, spent five weeks over there in a life-changing experience, and I was hooked on Rotary ever since.
Speaker 1:Wonderful Welcome to today's episode. How about you, Dan?
Speaker 4:My name is Dan Cortese and I am from the Rotary Club of Hemet. I have been with Rotary for about six years now and I'm a past president, past AG, current district PR chair. Actually, when I got involved in Rotary originally, the idea of going on a VT team was brought up to me and, because I have a water background, that's what I do for a living. I deal with a lot of water quality issues and compliance issues around our city and past district governor Bob Deistamars actually introduced this type of opportunity as something that we could get involved with as Rotarians. So it's kind of amazing. In a few years I was given the actual opportunity to travel around the world and it was an amazing experience.
Speaker 1:Wonderful and welcome back, nicholas Campbell. We talked to you a little bit about your trip to Ukraine and we're looking forward to talking to you about this trip.
Speaker 5:Yeah, my name is Nicholas Campbell. I'm grateful to be here with you all today. I'm also from the Sunup Rotary Club of Palm Springs. I am the current vice president. I have been in Rotary only for two years, so it's still very new to me. I'm still learning a lot of it, but I am just amazed by the dedicated individuals that I've found in Rotary. They are definitely community leaders, as I like to say, people of action. I got my degree, my bachelor's, in science and environmental engineering, so that is water quality analysis, wastewater and water and that was my focus, and so I was very lucky and excited to be a part of this team and tried to help contribute as much as I could.
Speaker 1:Wonderful. Well, Jamie, this is your vocational training team that you sent out during your district year. Can you tell our audience what is a vocational training team and what was this specific project? What did it have to accomplish?
Speaker 2:So a vocational training team is a group of Rotarians and also non-Rotarians that have expertise in whatever area we're studying at the time, and so these individuals were interviewed by a committee and chosen based upon their experience and, of course, their interests and what we feel that they could lend to the team, and so what they do this particular project. We have worked in Thailand before with water quality issues. We gave Thailand instruction on how to create wells, how to bring water to the different areas, villages within Thailand, but the water needs to be safe drinking water, and so one of the main objectives of this team was to go out and to assess the water situation and how it can be improved upon, and then, of course, learn what they're doing over there and see if there are things that they can bring back here to us. We have a severe water issue in the Coachella Valley, and so we're looking to see, as Rotarians, how we can help solve that problem. So it was a twofold attempt in this VTT trip.
Speaker 1:A true sharing experience and a really emphasis on how Rotary is a worldwide organization and how we worked together to solve problems. So, VTT team who wants to jump in and tell us a little bit about the formation of this team and what your goals and objectives were as you headed out to Thailand?
Speaker 4:I can jump in on that. So basically the team itself. We've all got some sort of expertise and experiences with Thailand. So we had Stephen, who's basically our world traveler and guide, had a construction experience. He's built a lot of stormwater related projects, water filtration projects and of course we had our environmental scientists, nick, who definitely led the charge in testing our water quality, or their water quality, and testing our water quality or their water quality.
Speaker 4:The goal on this trip was to basically complete a needs assessment. So we got information from the Water Foundation in the Concan Province that they had already put together the system that they felt was best suited for their water quality situation and it's a reverse osmosis system and the location that they wanted to place these were at their hospitals or clinics in these rural villages and a part of that filtration system was giving access to the local villagers through a dispensing machine. So most of these villagers are forced to purchase bottled water because the water is just not drinkable, even if it's boiled. There's still some concern. So having these filtration systems placed at hospitals rotary fills like that would be the best situation as far as the maintenance part of it, making sure that it's actually filtering their water and I think a lot of the villagers feel safe and they trust the public health system out there.
Speaker 4:So, yeah, basically we wanted to make sure that we identified what the issues were about and I know Nick can go into more detail about that, but we were able to do that. We were able to take water samples, we were able to ask questions to fulfill the requirements and the needs assessment and obviously, connect with that community. They want, you know, we wanted to make sure that they trusted us to help them, and now we're in the process of trying to fund a grant to satisfy the need at 15 different locations, which essentially impacts around 100,000 people.
Speaker 1:It is. That is what a great project as well. So, Nick, tell us a little bit about your experience there and what part you played in this project.
Speaker 5:Yeah, well, before going, I tried to think what's something that we can do on the ground while we're there that we're not be able to do from here in the US? You know, getting to the purpose of the trip, and so as a team we got a lot of testing equipment together and we I spoke with Drew before the trip, and so as a team, we got a lot of testing equipment together, and I spoke with Drew before the trip, and so we decided to take water samples and do water quality testing while we were over there, and so a lot of these parameters you can only do on site. So we tested for turbidity, ph, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, but the most important factor, it was definitely the biological, the coliform bacteria. So we visited 15 rural hospitals. None of them have a filtration system on site. Some of them are connected to public distribution water and a lot of them were on a well right there on groundwater, but none of them had any kind of filtration system, and so 13 out of the 15 water samples had coliform bacteria in the presence. And also we cultured some petri dishes and they had heavy contamination.
Speaker 5:The standard here in the US is to have zero none. You have to have it disinfected to drink. So the local population was definitely right to not feel safe about the water. It will definitely. It could make you sick, especially if you're a young child or an elderly person. It kills tens of thousands of people every day Most of us. It would just cause us to have a stomach ache for a couple of days, diarrhea and things like that. So I'm really supportive of this water filtration system. I think that it's a great project for us to get on board. I think, as Drew was saying, that by having it coin operated, that will bring in revenue, so that way it will pay for the ongoing maintenance cost and will help support it in the long term.
Speaker 2:So tell us I know you brought back some samples and I think Stephen was the carrier of those samples. What is it that you are planning to do with the samples once you bring them back here? And then, what are the next steps that you're moving forward to identify how many of these filtration systems you need and how we're going to go about raising funds for that?
Speaker 5:Well, most of the testing was done over there on site. We used a variety of test strips also to test for a bunch of constituents. The testing here in the US is to try to see any particular constituents that might be of concern. Heavy metals metals are something else that we're going to be testing for, but the bacteria was the biggest factor that we had to test on site over there in tiling and because of that um, everything else is kind of secondary. If the water isn't is going to make you sick, that's the first indicator that you'd want to test for um. So by using a reverse osmosis system that's going to remove all of these other constituents as well, it's going to become the highest level of filtration possible.
Speaker 3:I find it, yeah, I think I would just add sorry, Judy, I'd just add to that that maybe, on the question of the listeners here is what do they do for water now?
Speaker 3:And what they do now is they have to buy bottled water retail outlets, and you know this is a very poor area of Thailand, and so it's very expensive for families to have to do that, and so there's no. Just based on what we found on our tour over there, there is this need and that all of the facilities are going to require one of these filtration systems, and so, as Dan indicated, you know we're moving into the fundraising mode, but it's a relatively small amount. I mean, it's going to cost $5,000 for these systems for each location, which to us is a relatively small amount to raise, but the impact I can assure you that it's going to have on these communities is huge, and so we're very excited about that fact, and so we're going to be shifting into a mode here of really seeking support from the clubs throughout our district, from the district itself, and maybe generating some DDF money for this.
Speaker 2:So when you have these filtration systems at these sites, the individuals will go there to get their water. Is that correct? Yes, so is there at some future point where these filtration systems or a methodology to get it from these points to their homes is in consideration? Because obviously that means they have to go there maybe multiple times a day or, you know, take a lot of water with them if they're using it for not only just cooking but for drinking, or do they only use it for drinking and they do something else for cooking?
Speaker 5:This is only for drinking water. This is for drinking water for the hospitals and as well for the community members. Right now we didn't visit people's individual homes, but at the hospitals they have a well and they have a holding tank and that's what they use for washing and all other water uses, but for cooking and for drinking they use bottled water and this will be able to supplement that to will replace it, hopefully.
Speaker 1:I'd love that you put into this plan a sustainability factor. With the pay per, you know they're going to be paying less than they would have for bottled water, yet they're still going to be able to have dollars that will be constantly funding any replacements. Are you also doing any training, or is there an intent to do training onsite training for them to be able to do replacements, if necessary, of either the filters or the system itself?
Speaker 4:That's actually incorporated into the cost of the unit. So the vendor that's producing those filtration systems is going to offer up to a year worth of training for each device the training for each device.
Speaker 1:I think that's quite important, because nothing worse than going into an area providing a service that only works for a certain period of time and then isn't sustainable over time. So great, great addition to your plan.
Speaker 2:Well, and that's one of the tenets of Rotary.
Speaker 3:In the context of people's acceptance of this, and this is one of the reasons that these area hospitals and we and they call them hospitals. I think we would more commonly refer to them as clinics, because these are not inpatient facilities, they're outpatient facilities, so the community naturally comes to the facilities on a regular basis for treatments and whatever. Having a medical facility be the purveyor of drinking water, there's a trust factor involved here, right, and so this is one of the theories around why these facilities were chosen.
Speaker 2:So, Stephen, tell us, since your day-to-day isn't involvement in the water world, so to speak what is your perspective and what did you gain from taking this trip and being part of the VTT team, and you know, what is it that you would like to bring back to our district, to our Rotarians and our communities about this project?
Speaker 3:I think it's, you know, it's just a confirmation and validation of the incredible opportunities that exist throughout Rotary. Both you know, both from a local standpoint all the way up to international, and you think about the magnitude of some of the international projects that Rotary does. This is a relatively small project and yet it's going to bring incredible impact on a community of 100,000 residents. Basically, and the sense of appreciation that we felt I think I could speak for all of my teammates we just had an instant connection with the people and every one of these facilities welcomed us with open arms. I didn't feel any sense of skepticism or anything whatsoever. It was all just, you know, glad to have us there. They were interacting with us. It was, you know, glad to have us there. They were interacting with us. It was, you know, the Thai New Year, so they were going on with some of their traditions, splashing us with water and whatever and it was just a real connection. I think that we all felt about being there and being appreciated for the work that we're going to hopefully do.
Speaker 1:Let's talk a little bit about that reception on the other side. So obviously we don't just pop into Thailand and say, hey, we're here, what we're going to, you know, we're going to do some water testing. What was the collaboration and connection that you had in Thailand? Who were you working with to make this program a success there?
Speaker 4:We actually were able to our host. We worked with our host Pastors and Governors, sam. He's from a Rotary Club in Bangkok and so he basically brought us around into all of these communities with. We actually collaborated with the Water Foundation in that Konkan, that northeastern portion of the country, and they assisted us. So, as far as when we entered into these locations, all of these health workers were familiar with the water foundation. Also, we had some the public health officials, government officials, actually work with us as well.
Speaker 4:So when we went into these places, they, they were very familiar with those people and obviously they introduced us as as rotarians and I believe a lot of those people had some familiar from, some familiarity with rotarians and I I think that built that connection right away. So, um, they instantly welcomed us in. Obviously, we had some amazing experiences, like Stephen was just brushing over, but the yeah, we definitely were welcomed in. They performed some traditional things, ceremonial things, on top of everything else we dealt with. So it was, we got immersed in the culture like instantly, and that was that was definitely an amazing part of the experience.
Speaker 1:The power of Rotary right that reaches across the world, working with Rotarians both on this side and that side, to put this, this plan, together. Now let's talk about some of the cultural experience that you had there as part of this trip. Were you staying in homes of Rotarians in Thailand, or did you not do that part?
Speaker 4:No, we actually stayed. We did stay in hotels, but we were basically in a van most of the day driving from location to location. So we spent pretty much three or four days driving around to these different hospitals.
Speaker 2:But you did have the opportunities, as you were there in what we might call your downtime, to experience the culture, the people, the traditions, the foods, I'm sure.
Speaker 1:The clothes. I think I saw a picture of you guys all in different outfits.
Speaker 4:Yep, yep, they definitely gave us some opportunities. We got to visit temples, we got to visit their palace in Bangkok. Yeah, so they definitely immersed us into a lot of that. Each location did something different. Either they offered us the Songkran Festival uh, traditional, uh, you know, uh, ceremonial stuff related to that. Uh, like steven was saying, they poured water on us. That was a part, a big part, of the festival. Uh, they they coated us with baby powder. Um, they gave us some traditional items that were like wraps that you could put around. They would put around us. Yeah, so they did actually do a lot of stuff, and it was great to see the entire country celebrating and it didn't matter what road we were driving down. Our vehicles would be doused with water. Yeah, so it was a constant experience, traditional experience, from the moment we got there.
Speaker 2:I'd love to have each of you tell our listeners what you found to be the most valuable experience that you had and why you would encourage someone to become part of one of Rotary's VTT teams. So maybe we'll start with you, Nick. Yeah, I'd be happy to start.
Speaker 5:What I found most, I guess I would say, shocking is just the lack of infrastructure and government oversight of the water supply.
Speaker 5:Here in the US, I think we have heavy regulations which a lot of people I'm sure Dan, you know having to deal with all the time is very difficult. But to see the just that they're really dealing with water quality issues and water quality systems that are over a hundred years ago that we, that I thought that we had advanced past that, especially out in these rural areas. They're not using any chlorine, no filtration system, no sand filters. They're just taking it out of the ground and then using it without any idea of the quality of the water. And so to be able to go there, test the water, be able to put these reverse osmosis systems in, I'm going to be really happy when we take this project all the way through and be able to go visit and see them working. I feel it's a stepping stone, it's the first step and we can develop it. You empower the community to feel that they can actually make a positive change in their lives.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and be part of it and sustain it going forward. You know and pass it down to their children so that village continues to grow and flourish. Stephen, what about you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think for me it's just as I reflect on this kind of thing. You know, we all in our own surroundings and our own culture and that's predominantly what we do, and from time to time we might go do a cruise in Europe or we might go stay in a hotel in another country, but an opportunity that the VTT program provides is an opportunity to go immerse yourself in another culture and you come away realizing that, why things are so different. People are really the same no matter where you go, and it really came through to me and the interactions we had, both with the past district governor, sam, who was our host, and also with the people that we encountered on a day-to-day basis. People, when you cut through it, all people generally are just the same people and you make that connection and you realize that, and so I think that probably is the most powerful thing that I bring back from an experience like this.
Speaker 2:Great Dan.
Speaker 4:Well, this is the first time I was ever in my life I was ever able to travel internationally, so this was an amazing experience from the get-go. One thing that I I really appreciate about Rotary is that that that everybody has the opportunity, you know, to do something good around the world, because Rotary has so many areas of focus. At some point, you know, a VT team might be formed that might enter your world of expertise. So if anybody's ever given the opportunity to apply for one of these teams, they should try, you know, and try to get involved. And I think, no matter what, you're going to have some sort of life changing experience, have some sort of life-changing experience.
Speaker 4:One part of the trip that I actually appreciated the most was going to see past District Governor Bob Deistomar's pond project, because we got to witness Rotary's impact and we got to see the end results. And you know we walked around the ponds. We looked at the farming operation that had been drastically changed because of what we've done in the past. This farmer's life has been changed, his family's life has been changed and he was one of, I believe, 100 or so farmers that got to experience this life changing contribution to their, their, their farm. So one other thing is we got to meet this farmer's daughter, which she was. She just recently went to university. So she got to go to college because of of something that Rotary did here, and and, and that's.
Speaker 4:I mean that justary did here, and and and that's. I mean that that just blows your mind, like it, the, the, the impact just keeps going on and on and on. So I would encourage anybody out there that that's that's interested in, in making an impact on the other side of the world, or even locally, I mean it's. There's so many opportunities everywhere, uh, that people can get involved with, and it's thanks to Rotary, like this. This is all happening because, because Rotary is interested in doing good around the world.
Speaker 1:That's such a great story, dan, and it really does bring it full circle on what the impact is of these programs and what they continually build upon each other. This particular program, the vocational training team, is one of the star programs in our district and many districts around the world, and the Rotary District actually pays the travel expenses for the team that goes, and I think that's one of the things that reduces the barrier from somebody that may not have had an opportunity to travel around the world, may not have the finances to go running around the world. This is that great opportunity and in our district we have a VTT team going pretty much every year different parts of the world, different kinds of projects, and it simply is, as Dan said, you know, reaching out and responding to that application or that call for the team and letting them know that you're interested and having the opportunity to work together with everyone that you see here to do great things in the world that'll last for lifetimes.
Speaker 2:And you know, not only are you doing it in the other parts of the world, but you're learning and bringing it back here. So we're helping our own Rotarians, our own communities, um, in very important issues water, um, you know. As you know, we have a human trafficking team, uh, that also went to Thailand, um, for human trafficking, you know. So we're doing a lot of different things to address many of the very strong social issues that exist not only here, but around the world.
Speaker 1:And with that, as we finish up, I would like to ask you what do you think you are bringing back to our district from this experience?
Speaker 5:Yeah, I'd be happy to start again what I took it as a huge learning opportunity. So every Rotary Club is supposed to have an international project. Water is one of the main focuses of Rotary and by going on this trip you learn a lot just by doing, by actually gaining the experience.
Speaker 3:And so what worked and what didn't work, definitely can bring that back and share that knowledge with any Rotary Club in our district or in the entire world and be able to implement projects more effectively and be able to go and collect data more efficiently. Yeah, I would say that for me, I came back with just a real inspiration for this particular project and it's doable. I know that the fundraising is doable, and so what I've come back with is a real enthusiasm to go on the road now and share the story and solicit the funds from our clubs and the district so that we can get this funded and get it moving, because it has such a tremendous potential for impact on a community.
Speaker 1:I'm sure our president, Alex, will be looking forward to you guys coming out and doing some of their program. Speaking Dan.
Speaker 4:I feel the same way. I mean, this is definitely a life-changing experience for me. I can't thank you, district Governor Jamie, enough for allowing this to be part of your year. I know that is something that you were passionate about and I know we're going to do as much as we can to make this work. And I know we're going to do as much as we can to make this work, but I do appreciate the district for just being a part of these types of projects, because there are so many ways that we are going to impact the world.
Speaker 4:Even in my career I work in public service. It's not necessarily the most appreciated job, but when you go around the world and you see that stuff like this is happening like Nick was saying, that we are over-regulated here, which comes with its own challenges, but to know that people still don't have good, clean water around the world is just. It's just a battle that we need to fight and it's something that we can do as Rotarians. So it definitely gave me a lot of appreciation for Rotary as a whole and what we're all capable of doing.
Speaker 2:Well, we thank all of you for taking your time out of your very busy schedules to make this a priority and to go over there and, for those of you who are working, your companies that support you in these endeavors, so that we can continue to create hope and change lives one day at a time, and we're doing that, and thank you very much.
Speaker 1:Thank you, every single one of you, for what you are doing and for bringing it back and sharing it with us, and I look forward to sharing it with the rest of our district as well is what we're looking for.
Speaker 4:I think we're under $10,000 is what we need to support the completion of this project. So if anybody out there has some DDF money available and if they're willing to put it towards this project, we're going to impact 100,000 people, so this is a huge deal.
Speaker 2:And for our listeners out there. If you'd like to contribute to this program and for our listeners out there, if you'd like to contribute to this program, please go to district5330.org. You will see. Right there on the top line we have a donation button and please donate to this project and in the memo section say the Thailand.
Speaker 1:Water Project and we'll make sure those funds get to that project for you Awesome. Well, we're wrapping it up. Thank you so much for joining us today, and you are definitely heroes of hope.
Speaker 5:Thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 1:So that wraps up this episode of heroes of hope. We are so happy that we have an audience out there listening. We want you to subscribe, share and tell your friends about the Rotary community heroes of hope, because that's how we get the word out about the impact we're having in this world.