Condobolin Rotary held their fortnightly meeting around the beautifully carved meeting table at the Wiradjuri Cultural Centre recently.

Guest speakers were invited to report back on their recent Rotary sponsored experiences. Audience included Condobolin Rotary members, guests from Parkes Rotary, and Rotary Assistant Governor, Robert Anderson.

In 2023, Tennille Dunn was a member of the Rotary D5610 Cultural Exchange project, visiting Indigenous communities in South Dakota, USA. Tennille presented a recount of her experience using a photographic slideshow and discussed what she found to be similarities between the Lakota Indians and Aboriginal culture and history. This September will see the Rotary Cultural Exchange group from South Dakota visiting Wiradjuri country, including Condobolin.

The second guest speaker was Marnie Noakes from Parkes.

Marnie recently participated in a Rotary Student Exchange to Germany and shared a fantastic report about her experiences. Impressively, Marnie was able to demonstrate how fluently she learned to read, write and speak German, after just one year of immersion. Marnie spoke about her three Rotary host families, about school life in Germany, about why she wanted to do a student exchange and what she gained from the experience.

Marnie, who was 15 (almost 16) when she left, said that she wanted to do a Rotary exchange because it was a once in a lifetime experience that she would benefit and grow from as a person. She said that because it was through Rotary, she knew it would be well organised and safe. Marnie is happy to share her experience with anyone who would also like to participate in a Rotary exchange in the future.

The final speaker was Emma Buckland who joined the meeting through zoom, as she now lives in Canberra where she is studying at University.

At the end of 2023, Emma participated in a RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) camp for 18–25-year-olds. Emma spoke about the leadership workshops she selected across the three-day camp, the leadership qualities she learned about and how the leadership camp experience has made impact with her. Emma commented that she was grateful to the Condobolin Rotary Club for providing her sponsorship and giving her an opportunity that she would otherwise not have had.

Condobolin Rotary President Susan Bennet commented how proud the club is to be involved with supporting opportunities for young people in our area.

Contributed.