Identifying and meeting the physical needs of the international community is one of the main guiding principles of Rotaract. Each year, Rotaract Club of Columbia University works to help communities in other countries, fundraising and collecting supplies to send abroad. The year's international efforts are aimed toward a culmination in which the members of Rotaract at Columbia University travel on a mission to provide hands-on assistance to the overseas communities.

In accordance with Rotarian principles, the International Service Committee strives to build international understanding, goodwill, and peace on a global basis. Each year we will coordinate at least one internationally-focused service project or donation drive. These projects depend on the skills, effort and time donated by our general and executive members. Financial support to initiate these efforts has been provided in part by our own fundraising activities and by private donations and matching gifts of Rotarians. For this support - moral and fiscal - we are exceedingly grateful.

In March 2008, Rotaract will be spending a week in Campinas in the province of Sao Paulo, Brazil, to help teachers and students learn how to use computers at four different computer lab locations in the city's slums. For many of these people, it will be their first experience using a computer. All money we fundraise will be put towards purchasing laptops for each computer lab as well as appropriate software programs. Each Rotaracter going on the trip will be paying his or her own way.

The International Service Committee is responsible for coordinating Rotaract's overseas efforts. In our inaugural year, Rotaract took 26 students to the Dominican Republic to volunteer with the Juan B. Gautreaux Foundation.

In the rural village of Yamasa, we spent our first day hosting activities for the children and serving dinner. Several hundred people came to our second day's event. We distributed almost 1,400 lbs of clothing donations we brought with us, and took special care to see that everyone who came got a piece of clothing.

On our third day, we invited a local high school to have a forum with us. We took turns evaluating and comparing attitudes, concerns and problems in our respective communities. To further explore art and culture, we made beaded jewelry and hand printed posters with the children, who had a great time running around in their new bracelets and putting up their sign. Our final day at the Foundation was particularly memorable. After tie-dying t-shirts with the kids and teenagers, the Foundation held a good-bye ceremony that included speeches, dances, songs and a flag exchange. Rotaract was also honored by the district governors of Peralvillo. We thank the Juan. B. Gautreaux Foundation and the people of Yamasa for their incredible support and enthusiasm.

Our fifth day was spent visiting the Batey Relief Alliance, a health clinic dedicated to providing low-cost medical care to the Haitian minorities in rural communities. We went on a clinic tour and discussed the need for healthcare in underserved communities with the Alliance's head doctor. We donated nearly 1,400 manila folders to assist in their "Folders for Privacy" initiative, a critical measure needed to promote patient privacy. During our final two days, we spent time exploring Santo Domingo, where we visited local artisan galleries and markets, as well as a memorial that marks the site where Columbus first landed. No trip to the Caribbean would be complete without a trip to the beach, and we spent a day on the famed beaches of Boca Chica.

One of our most moving experiences was connecting with the Rotary Club of Santo Domingo, which was kind enough to invite us to their weekly dinner. We also met fellow Rotaracters from the Rotaract Club of Santo Domingo-Bella Vista, with whom we ate dinner at a nearby jazz spot they selected. We connected and traded stories over mofongo and arroz con pollo. It was truly exciting to meet other international college students and young adults who appreciate Rotarian values.

Our trip to the Dominican Republic was enormously successful. We are particularly proud that we are virtually the only club at Columbia University coordinating such a hands-on international effort. This trip would not have been possible without the generous donations and grants we received from Rotary Clubs and personal donations. Based on the positive experiences we had in the Dominican Republic, Rotaract plans to continue our international service efforts next year and in the future.