18/1-15: Leadership weekend with the GRSPs

The best food packing team! Mark, Lisa and Oscar

Lunch boxes at arrival with Martina, Michkel, Peigidh and Sofia

My (and Gracia's) sweet host family for the weekend, Patsy and Sam Allston 

The Allen's took us out for dinner Saturday night at the oldest town club in Atlanta 

There sure know how to cook at that town club!

The GRSPs after packing more than 10,000 meals for school children in 3rd world countries

Efter ikke at have haft flokken samlet siden november, var det blevet tid til endnu en GRSP weekend, denne gang i Atlanta på Oglethorpe University som er meget anerledes end Valdosta - det minder mere om en gammel borg/slot end noget andet. 

Temaet var Leadership, og i stedet for at lave forskellige turist-aktiviteter eller lignede som vi har lavet på andre ture, skulle vi denne gang udfordres lidt mere på vores Rotary-ånd. 

Vi brugte således lørdag på at have workshop om samtaleteknikker og snakke om hvordan man håndtere "svære" samtaler, og søndag brugte vi på at starte vores egen non-profit organisation og sidste, men ikke mindst, forberede måltidspakker til omkring 10.000 skolebørn i et udsat område. 

Derudover havde vi også forskellige indslag omkring Rotary's projekter, både i nærområdet, men også globalt.

Et af de bedste afspekter ved weekendens program var at det gav mulighed for at arbejde sammen med nogle af de GRSPere som man måske ikke havde snakket så meget med endnu. 

Ud af hele weekenden vil jeg sige at det mest overraskende, men også underholdende element var at pakke alle de her måltider som skulle sende ud i verden. 

Jeg har nok ofte haft den indstilling, at jeg har svært ved at se hvordan lille jeg dog skulle kunne gøre noget for så mange mennesker som har brug for det, men når vi gik sammen ca. 55 personer, så tog det også faktisk kun en time at pakke måltider til over 10.000 børn, hvilket ikke bare betyder at de får noget at spise, men også at de kommer i skole for at få det måltid, og derved bliver klogere. 

Ikke nok med at det gør en forskel, så var det faktisk også rigtig sjovt :-)

Hvert enkelt måltid kostede ca. 29 cent i råvarer, emballage og forsendelse som blev sponsoreret af Rotary.

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After not having the GRSP gang gathered since November, it was time for a new GRSP weekend. This time in Atlanta at Oglethorpe University, which is very different from Valdosta in that it reminds me more of an old castle than anything else. 

The theme of the weekend was leadership, and instead of doing touristy stuff as we have done some of the other weekends, we were going to be challenged on our Rotary mindset. 

We spent Saturday in a workshop on conversation technique and how to deal with the "fierce conversation", and Sunday we created our own charity organizations and, last but not least, managed to prepare more than 10,000 meal packages for school children in a 3rd world country. 

We also had a couple of presentations on some of Rotary's projects both in the close area, but also globally. 

One of the things I liked the most about this weekend's program was that it gave us an opportunity to work together with some of the GRSPs that we hadn't gotten to talk to yet. 

Out of the entire weekend, the most surprising and entertaining part of the program was packing all of these meals that were to be sent out to feed children in schools.

I guess I have often had the idea that it was hard for me to see what kind of a difference I could make for all those people who need it, but when we got together as 55 people it didn't take us more than an hour to pack meals enough for 10,000 children, which does not only mean that they eat, but also that they come to school and they learn.

Not only did it make a difference - it was only fun! :-)

Each meal costs around 29 cent for the supplies, packaging and shipment, and it was sponsored by Rotary.