Five librarians from Kazakhstan recently visited the Mount Clemens Rotary Club and the Rochester Rotary Club as part of the Rotary Open World Project. They were accompanied by one coordinator-interpreter, and a professional interpreter.
The project is a Rotary International exchange of professionals meant to foster communication, technical expertise, and cultural experiences. RI’s ultimate goal is for peace to come to the world, and its programs work toward that.
Foreign visitors, like the Kazakhs, start out in Washington, D.C. to learn about American federalism and leadership before they meet their Rotary hosts.
Members of the two local Rotary clubs volunteered to host the delegation members in their homes, and drive them to explore libraries, restaurants and cultural institutions — and do some fun shopping.
The project was funded with $4,600 by the U.S. Congressional Office of International Leadership, or COIL, to connect delegates with their peers in U.S. communities to exchange best practices and strengthen mutual understanding.
Rotarian Larry Neal, executive director of the Clinton-Macomb Public Library, and his predecessor in that job, Rotarian Christine Hage, lead the visit.
“The COIL grant covered the expenses while the delegates were here,” Neal said.
“The number one thing that impressed them the most was the way people here volunteer. The amount of volunteers we have here in the United States is just something that is not part of their culture,” he said.
“Pretty much every public library here has a Friends of the Library group. They raise money, mostly through used book sales, and give the money back to the library. And then there’s the volunteers who serve on our boards, most of whom are unpaid. So the delegates were interested in the notion of giving back to the community through service as volunteers. We also have volunteers who lead some programs like English as a second language and that stuck with them,” Neal said.
Kazakhstan has a native language, and because they were part of the Soviet Union for so long, most people are fluent in Russian. English is developing there as a third language.
“Another big thing was how we have so many books to choose from, particularly eBooks. Our librarians have limited budgets and they select the books we are going to add to our collections,” he said. “In Kazakhstan a lot of the books come from their central government so they are much more limited. It’s not a dictatorship there, like, they don’t have to read those books, it’s just that the number of books published in the Kazakh language or in Russian is much more limited.”
“The thing we wanted them to see was the variety of libraries. We took them from a big library system like Clinton-Macomb serving 200,000 residents from three buildings, to Ray Township to a library in a one-room schoolhouse, for I believe, about 4,000 residents. But they were struck that as small as the library was, it offered just about everything we (Clinton-Macomb) do but from a limited space.
The delegation visited 14 libraries in Macomb, Oakland, Wayne and Washtenaw counties, including the Shelby Township Library.
“They showed us pictures of their libraries. They look modern and up-to-date,” Neal said. He pointed out that our libraries are places where the community can gather.
Two of the five delegates are librarians by training. A woman coordinator-interpreter works for an embassy in Kazakhstan, while others have different jobs. One man was an attorney but his government asked him to be in charge of a library with 28 branches.
“They are very interested in bringing more of the English language into the country and knowledge of democracy and culture is a priority of them,” he said. “They were part of the Soviet Union for so many years that saving their culture and their language is important.”
Neal spoke about Rotary International’s cultural exchange programs impacting lives.
“When someone has been through that program, it’s often life-changing. People make lifelong friendships,” he said.
The delegation was treated to a potluck dinner at a church just before they left for home.
“We heard them using terms like ‘our American parents’ because the bonds with host families were just so amazing. They got to see American life with their host families — most of whom were Rotarians. There was such camaraderie even though none of us spoke a word of Kazakh. Google Translate became our new best friend and broke down any language barriers,” he said.
The professional translator was a man from Ukraine, now an American citizen, who did the English-Russian translations for the delegation in real time with the aid of devices and headsets similar to those used by tour groups.
Shopping at Meijer, Target, Walmart and Somerset Collection was a huge hit. They couldn’t get enough of Detroit and Michigan items.
“We almost lost them in Meijer because they all scattered in different directions. Maple syrup, peanut butter — anything that represented their Midwest and Michigan experience — they wanted to take home. One of the gentlemen owns two Harley-Davidsons and his big joy was that he got to go to the Harley-Davidson store in Clinton Township. He was really thrilled with the souvenirs to bring back — Harley-Davidson-branded stuff,” Neal said.
There is one Rotary club in Kazakhstan and the hope is the visit may spark the development of a new club.
“They were talking about Rotary’s idea of Service Above Self and to bring some of that culture back to their country as well as the professional connections,” he said. “They said we should come to see their libraries but they said there are many, many areas of natural beauty that they would want to share. They have thousands of years of history and referred to Genghis Khan, and Kazakhstan having the Silk Road — the China-Europe trade route — running through it. It sounds amazing.”
Kazakhstan, with a population of only 20 million, is the ninth largest country in the world in terms of land mass — rich in oil, gas and minerals. It borders Russia, China, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan.
K of C Lenten fish fries begin
The St. Hubert/St. Louis Roundtable Knights of Columbus Council 11658 annual Lenten fish fry began 4-7 p.m. March 7 at the Fr. Bill Borowski Activity Center at St. Hubert Catholic Church, 38775 Prentiss St., Harrison Township. Carryout or dine-in menu includes: three-piece, hand-battered, North Atlantic cod, (baked cod available upon request), French fries, dinner rolls, and coleslaw for $15 per dinner. The sale of bake sale desserts provides support for nonprofit organizations. Fish fry dates are every Friday of Lent through April 11; there is no fish fry on Good Friday.
Send news of service clubs and veterans organizations to Linda May at [email protected] or call landline 586-791-8116.
