“Thank you for accepting our invitation, Oscar! Very happy to meet you!”
I stretched my hand towards this young-at-heart, well-dressed, full-of-energy gentleman with a stylish blue pair of spectacles.
Oscar Zoomers was our guest speaker at the end of February. He was set to speak about the wonderful Interact Program they started with the Bodegraven Rotary Club and tell us about the experience, since we were aspiring to start a similar program in an international school soon.
After humbly skipping through his life story, he presented a menu to choose from, including many youth programs that they had started, like Interact, Rotex Exchange, Rotary Study & Job Connection, to name a few.
We said “Yes! We want to hear all about them!” I don’t know if Oscar was expecting this but with his infinite energy and passion, he started from the story of Interact.
Initially focusing on younger students of 12 to 18 years age, this program was developed to teach the kids how to connect, get together, conduct a meeting, and ultimately run projects. Because the students have limited funding, they started facilitating meetings with snacks they brought from home and met after classes with two Rotarians coaching them on what they set out to accomplish.
“We tried to be mirrors to them, rather than telling them what they have to do,” said Oscar. “It was all about what they wanted to do, how they wanted to contribute to society.”
Initially, he remembers the club wanted to write Christmas Cards to the residents of an elderly home. But having only about €20, they could not even afford to buy Cards. “Let us make them ourselves!” said one among them and they all got to work and pulled out a great job of handing out very personal cards that were each a work of art, loaded with love. So the project was a success.
Another year, the club came up with the idea to raise €100K for cancer research. To this, Oscar remembers the Rotarians smiling, trying not to discourage the kids from the ambitious target they set out for themselves. We jumped out of our chairs when he declared that they ended that year raising €160K! Mobilizing a troop of 2000 determined students, they raised money from their families, neighborhoods, wherever they could find people willing to support this wonderful cause.
What started as a program to teach the kids how to meet and run a project turned out to be a lesson to learn for all of us adults: we always underestimate our potential and the potential of people with the willingness to support good causes around us.
“I don’t like running programs, I like to start them,” said Oscar. To this, we can all agree after seeing so many successful initiatives flourish from the Bodegraven Rotary Club. As Oscar was sipping his water after talking for a full hour, we found ourselves speaking about our Interact project and how we could kick start it this year. There is just no time to lose with so much potential out there waiting to be discovered. Thank you, Oscar, for opening our eyes!