By RYAN LANCASTER
Staff Reporter
From tasting regional wines to taking an Ice Age tour, Australian Rotary Club members got an eclectic glimpse of the Inland Northwest over the course of a three day stopover in Cheney late last month.
The five visiting couples hailed from International Rotary District 9790 in the state of Victoria, located in the southern part of the continent, and were part of the Rotary Friendship Exchange Program. The group was hosted by members of the Cheney Rotary, one of just four host clubs selected in all of District 5080, which includes eastern Washington, northern Idaho and southeastern British Columbia.
“The district governor asked all clubs in the area who would be interested in hosting and many responded,” Cheney club president Stephen Schwalbe said. “Cheney was the only group chosen out of 12 in the Spokane area.”
Sheila Hart, Friendship Exchange Program chair for the district, said the process of choosing a host club is intensive. Applications are solicited and, depending on the configuration of the clubs that apply, a scouting tour is arranged. “We don't like to have the guests driving more than two to three hours between clubs in a day,” she said. “When I was setting up the itinerary for the inbound team from District 9790 I was able to create a circle tour that included Cheney, Sandpoint, Waneta-Trail and Castlegar, so the team gets to experience two cultures.”
Hart said while this is the first time Cheney has hosted a team district 5080 has previously been a part of reciprocal exchanges with districts in South America, India, Turkey, Sweden and other places, including many across the U.S. and Canada. She said it serves as a way to foster “international understanding, peace and good will” among Rotary members.
Over the course of the visit, Schwalbe said members of the group were shown around the area and attended a wine tasting in Spokane, a Civil War reenactment at Riverside State Park and an Ice Age tour of the West Plains.
Jim and Anita Seleba, members of the Australian team, said they were especially impressed with the Ice Age tour, which gave them a view of the West Plains' geologic history. “Don't ask us to quote all the levels but I've got a better understanding,” Anita Seleba said, adding that it was interesting to compare the topography to her home, which has recently experienced a difficult mix of droughts and flooding.
Seleba said she and her husband enjoyed sharing ideas with other Rotarians while getting a non-tourist glimpse of American life. “One of the nicest things about this trip is that we're being greeted and warmly welcomed into family homes,” she said. “You meet the real people and find they're a lot like Australians, it's not like being part of a tourist group.”
Australian Rotarians Clive and Rae Walker said this is their eighth visit to the U.S., all of them made possible through Rotary. When asked if any awkwardness comes along with bunking down with strangers, Clive Walker said no.
“Maybe for the first five minutes, but with Rotary, it's a common theme and so you've always got something to talk about to break that ice,” he said.
Following a Memorial Day service at the Washington State Veterans Cemetery, it was plain to see that close bonds had already formed among members of the group. Although they'd only been around each other for a couple days, the Cheney and Australian Rotarians acted like a group of old friends, laughing at inside jokes and sharing insights into how closely the ceremony resembled Anzac Day, a national day of remembrance that honors members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.
After planting a “friendship tree,” Cheney City Administrator and Rotarian Arlene Fisher planned to show the group around the Wren Pierson Building. She said being a host was a blast.
“It's been quite an experience sharing many of our similarities, and differences,” she said. “Friendship is unanimous. It doesn't have a country or a border, you can make friends and laugh and really enjoy each other.”
Fisher and her husband Rich said they're already planning to head south to Australia in 2013, but aren't yet sure whether it will be as part of a Cheney club exchange delegation or as solo travelers.
Ryan Lancaster can be reached at [email protected].
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