Author Archives: karidaniel

The alarm clock came early on us today!  We were off to the District Conference to have breakfast and spend the day with the Rotarians of District 2980.  There was a true excitement in the air as everyone from District 2980 arrived.  Before long the conference hall had swelled to roughly 4,000 Rotarians.  I was amazed at the turn out and support for Rotary shown by all. 

From the start of the conference we were honored to have the opportunity to sit on couches in the front row.  We were front and center for speeches by District Governor Gopi, special guest Constable Chandran and the Yogi Jaggi Vasudev.  The speeches were in Tamil so it was a little hard to understand but make no mistake there presentations were all eyes and ears by the audience. 

District 2980 Governor Gopi

We took a brake from the conference and went with the incoming GSE Team to Texas from District 2890.  The team was so kind to take us to lunch at a restaurant in Coimbatore.  The meal we all shared was one of the best we have had on our trip.  The conversations and exchanges of information between the groups was awesome.  From here we all hit the streets to absorb some of the daily culture and of course do a little shopping.  I must say that the incoming GSE team to Texas is a very strong team that is eager to find out more about America and especially Texas.

Outgoing India team

After only a few hours on the streets of Coimbatore we found ourselves in a rush to get ready for the evening events at the District Conference.  To every ones surprise and with a little help from our incoming GSE Team we made it to the evening conference in full Indian attire.  Kari was dressed in very pretty Indian saree and the rest of us in dotis.  If you have never worn a doti I would say that it is quite the experience. 

Looking good in our dotis and saree

We ended our evening attending a wedding reception at a lovely country club thanks to the invite from past District Governors Major VGR and Kurian.  I can’t tell you how fascinating it was to see an event such as this.  Not to mention, the time and hospitality shown by the incoming GSE Team and past District Governors.

-James

What a great morning!  The District 5830 Team (that’s us!) assembled at the courtyard of the Salem Club Inn to have breakfast, and it was a good one.  “Fruit en Fibre” cereal with hot milk, toast and jam, eggs, a piece of chocolate cake and freshly made pomegranate juice.  Now we had the energy to start the day.

Yum, yum, yum!

Before leaving Salem, our team was lucky enough to make two extraordinary stops.  The first was the Salem Gopi Memorial Hospital.  The facility was amazing and the patient care was top notch.  The team made a full tour of the hospital and even got to visit the operating area, an empty one of course!

Our next stop was a school for mentally challenged children.  Rotary funds the salary for one teacher here, which is incredible.  There were about 20 students when we arrived but we learned that there is a morning school and afternoon school so we only saw half of the students.  These children are helped to learn the Tamil and English languages, how to work with others, and overcome their disablility.  Sensory tools like walking on different mediums and textures help the children understand their surroundings better.  If a child needs something like a restroom break or a snack, they pull a card off the wall with a picture of what they need and with it spelled out in Tamil and English, to help reinforce the learning.  It was amazing and the children were all very loving and happy.  Rotary is helping do big things in Salem, India.

James and Matthew and one of the children at the school

After our visits, the team hopped on our trusty van and headed to Coimbatore for the night to get ready for the Rotary District 2980 Conference.  Our two friends from the Outbound Team came with us, Nallini and Roopali.  We watched a great Indian movie called Dasavatharam where the lead actor played 10 different roles.  We also got a taste of a traditional breath freshener called Sweet Beeda.  Folks, this is something you have to try once.  Its a mint leaf with cinnamon and sweet candy inside with a touch of limestone.  Yes, limestone.  It tastes like Colgate!  Here is one of the results…

Sweet Beeda!, that's delicious...

We stayed on the road to Coimbatore and met up at the conference hall for a small dinner, a few handshakes, and a ton of smiles.  A night at the Heritage Inn and we are ready to go for a weekend of events!

-Paul

We left our first host homes after much to short of a stay.  It’s been only two days yet I feel like I’ve known my family for years!! I have never felt so welcomed in my life!  My mother, Indra, treated me like a daughter!  She even let me take home the saree that I wore to our first Rotary meeting.  I can be a pretty emotional person yet I was able to hold it together, only because I know I will see my Hosur hosts again at the Rotary District 2980 conference (that good-bye will be a different story).  I have already decided that I will be bringing Josiah to Hosur sometime in the near future to meet them!!

On our drive to Salem we first stopped at the Rotary sponsored Krishnagiri School.  When we first arrived, a small group of people welcomed us with a traditional Indian welcome by dotting our foreheads and draping flower garlands around our necks.  They then led us around the corner where, waiting for us in an open field, was over 300 kids (grades 1 – 10)!  As we rounded the corner they all started clapping and cheering for us!  Pongal celebrations are only a week away and since we were going to be at the school and the kids will be out of school at the time, they held their celebrations early. Pongal is a celebration for their harvest, kind of like Thanksgiving in the states, so they thank the cow for his contribution by feeding him bananas.  First, some of the teachers lit incense and brought a cow over to the table. Each one of us were able to feed the cow… who knew cows liked bananas!?  After that we played a traditional Pongal game, which was just like a Piñata.  A clay pot hung above you and after being blindfolded and spun around we took a stick and tried to hit the pot above we.  John went first but missed, Matthew went second and missed also.  James stepped up and whacked it on his first try, of course he has a full foot advantage over the rest of us! J  Paul and I also got turns because the whole pot had not been destroyed and we both hit little bit of the pot.  We then had lunch and toured the school and took part in a small Rotary meeting with some of the children from the school.  An eleven-year-old girl did a dance presentation for us as well.

We then continued on to our next Rotary Project visit, a school for the deaf and dumb.  Once again the kids were lined up to greet us when we arrived.  They showed us ways that the kids learn using headsets.  The kids stay at this school for 10 months at a time and they showed us their sleeping quarters, which were metal bunk beads with small thin mats.  Even considering all the circumstances these kids have they were still all smiles the entire time we were there!   This time I was not able to hold my tears back.  It was such an inspiration knowing that Rotary clubs had worked hard to make this school possible and are working to offer the kids even more activities.  I only hope one day I can do something half as amazing for kids like this.  After only a few days we have all been inspired so much and have learned so much I’m not sure my heart will be able to handle what is left to come on this journey!

After arriving at our final destination for the night we stayed in a hotel called the Salem Club.  We stayed up and had a few drinks, finger foods, and met new friends.  We met Amber and Mike who are visiting India because of Rotary projects that Mike made possible a few years back.  Mike was a team leader to India 4 years ago and saw a need for toilets and furniture in some schools.  With Rotary he was able to fill this need and was invited back to India to see the progress he made possible.  Amber is his daughter that came along with him for her first trip to India.  We also got to meet Nallini and Roopali, who are going to be coming to Texas in April as the team from India.  After a couple of hours of hanging out and getting to know each other we went to our hotel room and prepared for our next day of travel to Coimbatore for the District Conference.

Kari

Last night we attended our first club meeting in Hosur, four Rotary Clubs were represented at the meeting.  I found it very exciting being around and meeting all those nice Rotarians. They had us all sit on stage as they went through their usual meeting practices, then they called up a member from John’s host family, a retired colonel, and asked him to tell everyone about how it was like having John in his home, he had nothing but nice things to say about him. After he was done they called up a member from all of our host families one by one, it was a wonderful and touching experience hearing how my team members and I touched their lives and how everyone was impressed with each of our willingness to eat their food, learn their language and conform to their customs. Mine and Kari’s host families bought us traditional Indian clothes, Kari wore hers to the meeting, it was a huge hit with everyone, she look beautiful in it.

After our introductions by our host families we gave our own self-introductions and talked a bit about our families and Texas. I heard nothing but compliments from all the Rotarians about our presentation, they loved our photos and learning about us.  Kari’s host mother told me that she felt like that we took her to Texas mentally and she really liked that a lot. It was really nice hearing all that especially since that was our first time giving our presentation in India and we thank Abdul for talking the great photos of us giving our presentation. After the presentation the mothers from each of our host families handed us a gift, an intricately carved wooden hand made incense box that we all loved and then we exchanged Rotary Club flags. They closed the meeting with a very friendly social event that included lots of delicious Indian food. It was a kind of bittersweet evening because we all knew this would be our last night with our host families from Hosur, and each one of us quickly bonded and grew fond of our families, but now we look forward to the adventures that Salem holds for us.

Matthew T Rader

We have connection for the first time in two days.  Let’s get rolling.  After breakfast and a short stop with my host Mr. Srinivasan at the local Famers Market we meet the GSE Team for the Polio Plus Rally.

John being interviewed for the local TV during the Polio Plus Rally

Kids during the Polio Rally

The rally was a joint effort sponsored by all of the Rotary Clubs in Hosur. With children from more than 10 different schools, music and banners this was an awesome event that spread the awareness of Polio Eradication.  From  here we were off to the amazing Titan Manufacturing company.  From the moment we arrived it was plain to see that Titan Industries was one of top companies in not only Tamil Nadu but all of India.

I was truly amazed at the watch manufacturing facility from the machinery, engineering, all the way to marketing.  Before our visit was over, a few of us left with some of the newest watches to hit the marketplace.  Next stop of the day was a wonderful lunch with a handful of Rotarians at the Renaissance Hotel in Hosur.  We all enjoyed the variety of foods that were available for lunch.  From here we moved to a Capsicum Farm were over 50,000 pounds of “Bell Pepper” are produced.

The team with Ray & Varun enoying some coconut

Well at the Capsicum farm

It was amazing to see the size of not only the Green House but also the hight of the plants!  Roses were the talk of the afternoon. Yes only a few weeks before Valentines day and we were all interested in the activities surrounding the Rose Farm our next stop.  This particular Rose Farm raised over 480 different colors of roses.

Matthew & Paul

It was also neat to learn about all the greenery that was raised to accompany the Roses.  Last but not least was a stop at GRB Creamery.  Much like the start of the day we ended our afternoon with a bang: Ice Cream.

After a tour of the facility we enjoyed a discussion about the ice cream business over yes Ice Cream.  What an eventful first day filled with tons of knowledge.  It was nice to spend time with the Rotarians, see some of their daily business and learn!  I can only imagine what the rest of the journey will hold.

James

After 3 plane trips and a 6 hour bus ride, Team India has finally arrived! Yesterday evening we arrived to Hosur and meet our host families at one of the hotels. After spending a short time together at the hotel we all left with our families.  After an evening and morning of rest we started our tours of India.  This afternoon we visited a hospital which specializes in Open Hear Surgeries.  We were able to see a short documentary about a doctor who started telemedicine. This is where a doctor in the hospital we visited can talk to a doctor in another hospital, in India and several other places around the world like Africa, via satellite w/ video.  He is able to diagnose patients by looking at the information provided by the patients doctor and recommend what can be done.  They told us about a particular case in which a young boy had a whole in his heart and needed surgery in order to live.  Even through the family was not able to pay for the procedure this doctor preformed the surgery and it was paid for by donors at the hospital.  Because of this doctor that little boy now has a chance to live a full life!  We were able to visit the ward where they had approximately 60 children who had just had open heart surgery!  Each child had his or her own nurse…not like what we are used to where nurses help several patients at once!  After the hospital tour the whole team meet at my host home in order to look over our slide show one last time before our first Rotary meeting tomorrow evening.  After about an hour of prepping it was off to a friend of my host families house for a traditionally Indian meal.  The whole team, plus our all host families and some of their friends were there.  We were able to watch a little bit of cricket on TV.  They tried explaining the game to us….I think Matthew and Paul MAY have it figured out but I am still totally lost! :)  We are now all back at our host homes until tomorrow morning when we will go to a Rotary Polio Rally and then on to our vocational activities!  We had to leave our backpacks with security and I forgot to take my camera out, but Paul and James both had theirs so tomorrow I will try to have them post some pictures of the hospital visit.  For now here are just a few pictures of us on our flight over.

About to take of from Dallas…can you tell I was a little nervous? (First flight ever)

Paul & Matthew on our 15 hour flight from Chicago to Delhi
Kari

GSE India Team

Matthew Rader, James Dorman, Kari Daniel, Paul Falcon
& Team Leader John Hart

Let me start our first blog by quickly introducing myself!  My name is Kari Daniel and I am (in the words of Tammy Taylor) the Token Female of our team and am a representative of the Greater Paris Rotary Club.  My husband and I run Daniel Frame Studio and Green Eco-Boutique in Paris, Texas.  The framing business was passed down to us after Josiah’s grandfather, Vernon, passed away.  In the Green Boutique we offer all eco-friendly & fair trade products.  Several of our products actually come from India, which is why I was so interested in this trip.  I am the Vice President of the Paris Downtown Association, board member of Paris Main Street and chairman for the Promotions Committee (promoting Downtown Paris). At 26 I am the youngest member of our team and have been married to Josiah Daniel for 4 years.  We have a 5 year old pomeranian Wicket but currently have no children.

Now I will let all the guys give you a brief introduction for themselves……..

Hello everyone, my name is Paul Falcon.  I’m from Texarkana, Texas and am the representative for the Wilbur Smith Rotary Club in Texarkana. I first want to give a big thank you to my employer, Guaranty Bond Bank, who is letting me take this incredible opportunity. I’m sort of the electronics nerd of the group.  I’m that guy with every power outlet in my house taken up by some sort of gizmo or gadget.  That is going to be a mixed bag for me on this trip; Tamil Nadu (our destination in India) is this grand technological center for India but I think I may cause a brown out with all the gadgets I’m bringing!  One thing I’ll surely have with me is my laptop to keep a journal of my trip and to stay in contact with everyone back home.  I’m currently in my last semester at Texas A&M University-Texarkana and hopefully my professors won’t give me too much homework for the first couple of weeks of the semester. Another good reason to have a laptop!  I’m super excited to be part of the team to India and I know that this experience will change my life and inspire those who I share it with.

Hello, My name is Matthew T Rader, I’m 29 and the oldest of six children, I was born in San Diego, CA and moved to the small Texas town of Wills Point when I was a teenager. Since graduating from high school I have traveled a lot, including to 42 U.S. states, a year and half in South Korea, and four and half years in Mexico where I learned to speak Spanish. I am currently a midlevel supervisor at a huge plant and tree farm located on Lake Tawakoni right outside of Wills Point, Texas. I also do photography on the side, like photographing portraits and events, you can see some of examples of my work here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wills-Point-TX/infinite-magic-photography/90112698173

Hello!  My name is John Hart and I am the token old man for this wonderful GSE trip to India in January.  By definition, old means that I am the team leader of this group and I am looking forward to sharing this month with the team as well as with the readers of this blog.  I live in Clarksville, Texas with my wife, Bonnie, and our youngest daughter, Claire, who will be graduating from high school this school year.  Our four older children live in Utah and Idaho where most are in college.  I am the administrator of East Texas Medical Center ( ETMC) Clarksville, a 49-bed acute care hospital in rural northeast Texas.  With more than 23 years experience in the healthcare field, I am please to be associated with the ETMC family of hospitals in NE Texas.  I am proud to be a member of the Rotary Club in Clarksville as well as member of the world-wide organization of Rotary International dedicated to the well being of all.

Hi, I’m James Dorman of Powderly, Texas.  I work for the Harper Companies as the operations manager for We Stow Incorporated and the Paris Texas Pecan Company.  In these roles I oversee various daily functions including personnel, financials, decision making, logistics and marketing.  Currently, We Stow operates six semi tractors, over thirty five trailers and roughly four hundred overseas storage containers.  In my free time I enjoy the outdoors and all that nature has to offer (hunting, fishing, farming and ranching).

Our journey together began 5 months ago when we were all chosen to represent Rotary in India.  Since that time we have come together at least once a month for our training sessions, which have been lead by Tammy Taylor & Amanda Chessir, learning about the India culture before hand, working on our slideshow and sampling some Amazing Indian cuisine.  I don’t know about the rest of the guys but I am really looking forward to seeing how hot the food in India is actually going to be and how good we all do eating with our right hand only for a month!

Our time together before our trip has helped us to bond in a way I hadn’t really imagined when we were first selected as a team.  My fellow team members are now more than just a group of guys I will be going to India with, they will be life long friends that I will have a special bond with and I can only imagine how January is going to strengthen that bond even more and I cant wait to get going!!  This weekend we have our final training session and we only have 25 days till we leave!