Our Second Zoom Meeting
 
A message from President Sue :
 
Hello fellow Rotarians.  Our second zoom meeting was a fun but slightly disorganized gathering.  It was great to see so many familiar faces but it was a bit unstructured and this week we will have a zoom meeting that will run more like a regular meeting with a guest speaker.
We are all new to this way of meeting and I  hope we can all resume our meetings in person in the not to distant future .... but  in the meantime  enjoy our  Thursdays on the computer.  See you soon.
Cheers Sue 
 
April 30th Meeting Report
 
 
 
 
24 Rotarians joined the Zoom Fellowship meeting last Thursday and it was good to have AG Elizabeth Mc Cormick and members Fitzy, Will and Terry  along with Louis & Gary  join us for the first time. A  number of changing background screens kept members busy and Pres. Sue was the expert in multi tasking a number of devices.  AG Elizabeth noted that she has been a participant in 6 Rotary Zooms as well as using remote learning in her daily work whilst supervising boarding students at The International School at Kilmore. Elizabeth reminded the meeting that Change Overs and Paul Harris Presentations can be still be achieved using digital platforms.
 
Two of our former Youth Exchange students — Anna and Lara have recently been in touch to share their experiences of life in their respective countries under the COVID 19 restrictions.
 
Anna Avenberg (Sweden)
 
 My family is doing fine and we are all working from home, not going to public places and only moving outside and going to the supermarkets etc.
 
Yes, media outside of Sweden has reported a lot of criticism towards, the way Sweden is handling everything. I guess everything always sounds, different depending on how it is reported in the media. The reason for Sweden to have chosen a voluntary lockdown is the belief that society needs to keep moving in some way; the government wants to put trust in the people here and to use our own common sense. Many people here in Sweden agree with this and in return it seems like people have a really high trust for the government and the experts Here it is not believed a forced, lockdown is a good way to go. But at the same time so far no one knows what the best way is, only time will tell. Our government has given a lot of guidelines, which most people are following. People are advised to work from home and stay inside, only seeing a few friends and family they see often, not to travel, not to be out in public spaces and people above 70 are requested to be in quarantine.
 
I'm currently writing my master's thesis within Machine Learning and Al. I'm looking for work for when I'm finished this summer, considering the circumstances it will probably be a little bit tough for me to find my first job at the moment.  
 
Anna and PP Terry during a return visit in 2017
 
Lara Salvi (France)
 
What a strange time indeed... 
                                                                                                                                             
I’ve been home working since March 16th, and this will continue after lockdown stops, until June at least. That's a bit long but I'm not complaining since I'm part of the lucky ones in this crisis.  We are currently allowed  to go out for grocery shopping, exercise, provide help to persons/elderly in need and go to work (if not possible to work from home). What's coming next is a bit worrying, we really don’t know how the coming months will look like. Good thing is that everybody is safe and healthy around me, family and friends.
Glad to hear that the disease didn’t spread in Australia... it's been a terrible experience here in Europe. And there's been worse than France unfortunately
 
I am  hoping it will get better, putting hope in health care companies and researchers - Pfizer (Lara is working with Pfizer as a pharmacist) and others are actually working hard to develop drugs and vaccines.
Stay safe and take care on your side ! I'm very happy I was able to visit last year and see everybody Down Under.
 
All the best Lara
 
Lara and her host families during a return visit in 2019
 
            
 
‘Grandpa’ Louis, our Exchange student settling in for the evening.