Wahiawa Rotarians Are Big On Kyoto ‘Sisterhood’
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Keiji Nakakubo (left), Friendship committee chair for
District 2650 in Kyoto, and his new Rotary friends
from the Waialua-Wahiawa club: president-elect Oran
Spotts, Nancy Barry and (sitting) Mary Antonio. Photo
by Robert Van Reisenwitz.
The Wahiawa-Waialua Rotary Club recently marked the 20th year of its sister relationship with the Kyoto Rakuchu Rotary Club by playing host to the Japanese members with banquets and other activities on Oahu - including a luncheon meeting at Dot’s.
“We’ve had multiple exchanges with Kyoto Rakuchu,” said WWRC president Gerald Joering, a retired pilot,“including youth exchanges every other year.
“(At the beginning) we told them we were just a small rural club with not very rich people, but they’ve been so gracious to us over the years.” The tradition of omiyage is both interesting and challenging, Joering admitted, as is the language barrier. But everyone gets along just fine. After all, that’s a mission of Rotary: “By getting to know people, you avoid conflict,” he said.
While here, Kyoto Rotarian Yoshihisa Hirai signed an agreement with the Hawaii District 5000 Rotarians to add three more sister clubs and more youth exchanges between Japan and Hawaii. Hirai is district governor for the Kyoto-Nara district 2650, Joering said, “and he wants more of his clubs to become ‘sisters.’ “
The Wahaiwa-Waialua club, meanwhile, is about to award $1,000 grants to six Central Oahu students, and another has qualified for a $5,000 Hawaii Rotary Youth Scholarship.
The club, which draws members from as far away as Laie, meets at noon each Thursday at Dot’s in Wahiawa. For more information, call Joering at 638-7125.
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