Small steps begin vast Romanian adventures and friendships for one local Rotarian

Gabriella Saftiou was a student that George Bartlett of
Windham mat in Ramnicu Valcea, Romania during his first
of 16 trips to that country while representing the Sebago
Lakes Rotary Club. Saftiou has visited Maine twice, once
on a tour with other students and while working at
Bartlett's laundromat one summer.
PHOTO  BY GEORGE BARTLETT  

By Lorraine Glowczak

In the mid-1990s, around the age of 60, George Bartlett of Windham had never traveled outside the United States. Having been a member of the Sebago Lakes Rotary Club since 1985, he was inspired to get his first passport. 

“Our club was looking for ways to work on our international service program and wondered what country to consider,” Bartlett, said. “There was a club member who had relatives in Romania and he suggested that we start there.” 

It was from this initial conversation that Bartlett decided to obtain his passport if an opportunity would arise to travel on behalf of the Rotary. This first spontaneous step eventually snowballed into other adventures, meeting people in another country that would become lifelong friends.

“From there, we emailed a few Rotary Clubs in Romania to start an initial conversation and we discovered that they needed assistance with their orphanages and hospitals,” Bartlett said. “In 1998, six Rotarians representing the Southern Maine district traveled to Romania and spent about 10 days to check out the exact needs. The hospitals were in really bad shape – not much equipment to speak of and very few beds for the sick.”

To meet these needs, the Sebago Lakes Rotary collaborated with the six other Rotary Clubs and began gathering medical equipment, collecting over $750,000 worth of equipment that included 12 refurbished dialysis machines from the Maine Dialysis Center. Once collected, the six Rotaries had the containers filled with the much-needed items shipped to 4 hospitals to Ramnicu Valcea, a town located in the central-south area of Romania.

Unfortunately, it was discovered that the equipment was not delivered to the hospitals, remaining on the docks for two months. This was due to the communist influence, which required additional money for the equipment to be released to the hospitals. 

At a Rotary district meeting, it was determined that someone needed to travel to Romania to make sure the equipment made it to the right place. 

“Our District Governor called our Rotary president and asked him to send somebody to Romania,” Bartlett said. “During the next Sebago Lakes Rotary meeting, the president at the time looked at me and told everyone present that since I just got my passport, I should be the one to go to Romania.”

Despite not knowing the language and never having traveled internationally before, Bartlett agreed to go. 

“I didn’t know anyone there. When I landed at the airport in Bucharest, there was no one there to pick me up when I first arrived. Finally, after about five or ten minutes, a woman holding a Rotary sign came through the doors. She was the wife of the local rotary club president who spoke very little English so the three-hour ride to Ramnicu Valcea was quite a challenge, especially after the long air travel.” 

Bartlett didn’t get much rest upon arriving at his destination as he was requested to speak at a Rotary Club at 6:30 that evening. A retired English Teacher, a member of that club acted as his interpreter and guide for the rest of this trip.

In the days after that meeting, Bartlett toured the city, making sure the hospitals received and were using their donated and updated medical equipment. When he thought he had completed his mission and was preparing to return to the US the next morning, he was asked by the English teacher if he could stay and tour the schools. “The students need English books,” she said to him.

“I said ‘yes’, postponing my trip home for three days,” Bartlett said. “In those three days, I visited 13 schools. Sixty students were crammed in one room designed for 30 and they were reading old books in Russian, German, and French but there was no book written in English.” [English is taught in Romania before the fourth grade]. 

It was in this extended stay in Romania that this additional small step led to another adventure. He was asked to send English books. Bartlet said this was a perfect international service project for local Interact Clubs.

“Many southern Maine Interact Clubs, including Windham club members, collected over 10,000 books to schools and the city library in Ramnicu Valcea.”

Bartlett has been back 16 times, working with the schools and helping schools establish Interact Clubs (a high school version of the Rotary Club). While there, he stays with his adopted Rotary family, making long-distance, long-term friendships.

However, Bartlett did not do all of this work on his own.

“I helped to create trips for area Interact Club high school students so they can connect with or help establish Interact Clubs in Ramnicu Valcea and other seven cities throughout Romania,” Bartlett said. 

Bartlett also helped a student from Romania visit Maine.

“During my first high school visit in Romania I met a girl named Gabriella Saftiou who told me she would love to visit Maine but she said she would never be able to,” Bartlett said. “I told her to never say never.”

To give the Romanian Interact Club members the possibility of an American experience, an essay contest was developed and winners of the contest were selected by their teachers to represent Romania in the US. The title of the essay was “Why I would make a good ambassador for Romania.” Saftiou was selected by her teachers and she won a trip to Maine. 

“This was a perfect example of ‘Never say never,’” Bartlett said.

Bartlett continues to stay in touch with Saftiou and his other Romanian families and he hopes to visit again once the pandemic ceases its grip. His greatest hope is to encourage more youth in the local area Interact Clubs to become more civically engaged, both locally and internationally. 

“I hope we can get more youth involved and take them on a trip to Romania to develop long-term friendships much as I have over the past 20 years,” Bartlett said. “I may have started later in my life and I want our youth to have longer and deeper experiences. And all it takes is just one small spontaneous step – and who knows where it will lead you. At least that is what I have discovered throughout all of this.” <

About the Rotary Club

The Rotary began in February 1905 by a Chicago attorney named Paul Harris. He intended to create a space for professionals with diverse backgrounds to gather, creating meaningful and lifelong friendships and exchanging ideas.

Fast forward to today. With over 1.4 million members worldwide, it’s the biggest service organization in the world. Members are currently working on helping save mothers and children, supporting basic education for children, fighting diseases, promoting peace, providing clean water, sanitation, and hygiene. Rotary has no religious or national affiliation.

 

Adventures in Africa: The tale of a once-in-a-lifetime experience

By Lorraine Glowczak

When one travels to foreign lands, the thrill and excitement of meeting new people, experiencing a culture different than your own and viewing fresh landscapes, makes it almost impossible not to burst with joy and share the journey with others. Returning from a recent trip to Johannesburg, South Africa, Al and Julia Cheney were more than willing to share their once-in-a-lifetime adventure that will have everlasting impact on their lives.

Julia, although currently a resident of Lyman, is a 1964 Windham High graduate who remains involved in the Windham community. She and her husband, Al, never thought about or made South Africa a bucket-list travel destination. “We never would have gone there, but our son and family had moved to Johannesburg over a year ago and we wanted to visit them,” she explained.

Her son, Don Cheney, works for the NBA (National Basketball Association) and as part of an initiative to encourage more Africans to become involved in that sport, Don moved there to help build up African basketball teams. His wife and two sons moved with him and have made South Africa their home for now.

Julia Cheney being kissed by an elephant as her husband, Al looks on.

Although the major intent for Al and Julia’s travel to the southern tip of the country was to visit their son and his family, the Cheney’s also explored the area from the moment they arrived on October 11 until they left on October 23rd. “We crammed a lot of travel into 12 days,” Julia laughed.

Though it is true they thoroughly enjoyed visiting their son and family, the Cheneys admit that there

was a bit of excitement in exploring the game preserves, national parks, participating in multiple safaris and spending nights in a lodge in the middle of the preserves. Julia shared what it was like to stay and wake up in a natural African environment: “One morning as we were preparing to go on a safari, we opened the door to our lodge and right in front of us was a warthog grazing on grass about 6 feet away. And, one day, we could see elephants outside our window, along the fence of the compound, eating leaves from the trees. The whole experience was beyond imagination.”

Julia holding the lion cub

But the exciting encounters didn’t stop at the lodges. During one of the safari journeys the Cheneys: were charged by a black rhino, waited for 45 minutes as 137 elephants paraded across the road at their leisure, watched a five-month-old elephant huff, grunt and stomp his feet in an effort to intimidate and play with safari participants, saw duiker (a small deer) bound across the land and witnessed amazing African birds fly in the air and hop along the ground, all within close sight.

Seeing was only one portion of the adventure. Julia and Al also had opportunities to touch the animals native to the continent. “While visiting a lion park, I got to hold a lion cub,” Julia exclaimed. “It was the highlight of my trip.” And then she added as if her other highpoints were normal, everyday circumstances. “I also got to pet a full-grown cheetah, feed a giraffe, scratch the ear of an elephant and touch an elephant’s tail. Did you know that the tail of an elephant is much like a bristle brush,” she asked? “That’s exactly what it feels like,” Julia stated, astonished.

The natural environment and animals native to the African habitat were not the only things that made an impact upon the Cheneys. “People live and perceive life a bit differently there than here in Maine – or the U.S” Julia began.

She explained that there is a very distinct difference in economic and social status. “It is true that

there are economic differences in the U.S. but in South Africa it is distinctly different. You can be in a nice neighborhood, which includes extravagant homes in a gated community and then just a few miles away, you’ll see simple homes made with tin and wood leaning against each other. There is no running water, electricity or indoor toilets.”

The native language where Julia and Al visited is Zulu, “Like many other countries, South Africans are able to speak English. So, we could communicate with others easily. I did try to learn simple Zulu words, but it seemed you had to have the ‘correct’ accent and my Maine accent got in the way of speaking the words with accuracy,” Julia laughed.

Julia advises research and talking with others who have been in the area if South Africa is a future travel destination. As for herself and her husband, they are grateful they had their son and his family to guide them around. “I could never imagine going there by myself. However, it was an adventure of a lifetime and we are both happy to have that experience. We would definitely encourage a trip to Africa if it is an individual’s goal.”