在一個沒有扶輪社的國家—越南旅遊時，才深深讓我感受到我為何要成為一位扶輪社員的原因，同時為何我要傳播扶輪、扶輪的歷史及它所代表的意涵是什麼。

Traveling Vietnam, a non-Rotary country, makes me acutely aware just why I am a Rotarian and why I want to spread Rotary, the story of Rotary and what it stands for.

很多美國人仍然認為越南還在打戰。的確，我們不應該忘記我們在這兒越南的戰爭經驗。我們應該了解過去的慘痛經驗以免重蹈覆轍。

Many Americans still think of Vietnam as a war. Indeed we should not forget our war experience here. We should study our past so we can avoid making the same mistakes over and over.

1975年之前扶輪業已存在於當地。雖然它作了些人道方面的事情，但它強大的並不足以成為促進和平的一個要素。要達到我們的促進世界和平及了解的宗旨不是只靠作一些零碎的計劃，而我們要提供更多的努力才能成功。要成為促進和平的一個要素，我們必須要加強人與人間之接觸，諸如：

Rotary had a presence here before 1975. Although it did some humanitarian things, it was not strong enough to be a factor in peace. Achieving our mission statement of promoting world peace and understanding will take more effort than just doing a few projects. To be a factor in peace we would have to foster person-to-person contact such as:

青年交換：

川南淵是第一位越南到美國的扶輪交換學生—之前未曾有過，直到1999年才開始。我知道自從那時開始有一些零星的學生來過。如果要有效的促進和平我們應該至少要有成千上萬的交換學生。我深信如果我們在越南的每個村落有一個像川的小孩，絕對不會戰爭。接待家庭絕不容許它發生。

Youth Exchange:

Trang Nguyen was the first Rotary Exchange Student from Vietnam to the US—and that didn't happen until 1999. I understand there has been a trickle since then. To be effective in peace we would have needed thousands of Exchanges. I believe there would have never been a war if there had been a Trang in every village in Vietnam. The host families would not have let it happen.

我是位扶輪社員，因為扶輪是把人們聯繫在一起，而我要的是一個更美好的世界。我們在越南小小的展現，希望它能成長並促進和平及世界了解。

I am a Rotarian because Rotary brings people together and I want a better world. Our small presence in Vietnam hopefully will grow large and make a difference in promoting peace and world understanding.

前總監 肯特•康福斯

5090地區Kinsley扶輪社

美國堪薩斯州Kansas U.S.A.

PDG Kent Converse

District 5690, Rotary Club of Kinsley,

Kansas USA