rotary connection en route

02 mayo 2009

Continental flight 1037 newark to lima….dona teresa, ~75, with a broken arm sits on the aisle next to molly and me. Flight attendant anne comes by and helps dona teresa get comfortable and thanks me for helping her. From time to time anne checks in, like when she serves supper and dona teresa only wants pan y leche (she also ate the brownie which was ’muy dulce’). On a visit to the lavatorio, anne asked how dona teresa is doing and I relayed that there are some questions on the immigration forms that i could not help her with – and anne will have one of the native Spanish speakers help her.

Then, she told me some of her story: she loves being in peru – and seeing how the children help the elderly and the citizens put money in the hands of the poor (not many of them, but the tourists don’t do that). And the Canadian nun who started a school 26 years go…the working boys’ school…that involves the whole family in helping with the tasks of daily serving meals and maintenance for the children. The school requires every family member to come every day to help and then they can eat and shower. Instruction is 2 hours a day so the children have time to do the work to help support the family.

Anne has her own amazing story of life which has imprinted the preciousness of each day on her. She was the first child protective services worker in southwest seattle, then was a medical social worker in Colorado dealing with death and dying issues. She has family members who have died at very young ages and others who have had accidental injuries and death that have greatly impacted her attitude, her joy of living. And she was a widow who was by her daughter’s side doing volunteer activities to build a supportive community and her daughter caught the bug! Rotary recognized her daughter…and so the connection to the GSE team.

What a treat to have connected, see her her compassion and caring, and hear her stories. n

ps…anne is the second continental flight attendant who liked the "Good-Bye Polio Rotary fun meter". And the guys waiting for the flight thought that it needed to be at ‘medium’ level so that when we get to peru it can be on max – there’s got to be something that’s more fun than the airport?!

so, this photo shows the team refining the team's presentation while waiting in newark!