Update from Jane Kellum (June 2010)

Rotary World Peace Fellow Class VI

Universidad del Salvador

Buenos Aires, Argentina

I am now writing to you as a Rotary World Peace Fellow Alumna. The wealth of experiences, knowledge, challenges, and achievements related to my time as a Peace Fellow is invaluable and, at times, difficult to describe in a short update. However, what I can express easily about this experience is that I am a transformed person who is ready to proactively contribute to the construction of a world that is socially just. I owe this transformation to Rotary: The Rotary Club of Portland, my sponsoring club; The Rotary Club of Montserrat (Argentina), my host club; and The Rotary Foundation. I am sincerely grateful for this opportunity. In the next few paragraphs, I’d like to share a little about my on-goings since the last update right before graduating and leaving from Argentina to complete my Applied Field Experience in Yoff-Dakar, Senegal.

At the beginning of June 2009, I submitted my thesis which received a nine on a ten-point scale, a distinction in Argentina. Shortly thereafter, the other Peace Fellows of Class VI honored me by requesting I sing for our graduation ceremony. As I pondered which song would be appropriate, I came to the conclusion that writing an original song would best fit the circumstances. My idea was to write a song that would express our experience working to find solutions to the challenges of poverty, war, exploitation, and other social ills of today. The outcome is the song “¿Qué Pasaría? (What Would Happen?)". This song explores the question of what would happen if we were to end with contradiction and hypocrisy and what would happen if we really opened a space for humanity and grace in the world and what would happen if we considered life to be sacred. During the ceremony, I sang from the heart while being accompanied by my wonderful boyfriend who wrote the accompaniment music.

As I mentioned, my next stop in the Peace Fellow journey was Yoff-Dakar, Senegal to complete my Applied Field Experience (AFE) with a local non-governmental organization called the Earth Rights Eco-Village Institute. My achievements during this time included learning another language and half (I say 1 ½ languages because I gained a good working knowledge of French and basic skills in Wolof, one of the local languages). Furthermore, I had the opportunity to design a pilot project that sought to support girls and young women, who have left their villages in rural Senegal to work as domestic employees, in the areas of basic education, vocational training, reproductive health, and community integration. Beyond the actual project design, I drafted a comprehensive funding proposal that the organization is using as a template for future use.

Upon finishing my AFE, I returned to Argentina to pursue my musical career and work as a consultant in international development. Regarding the music, we (meaning my boyfriend, who is also my musical partner, and I) are recording our first album, Living, which will be released at the end of the year. We are performing and writing in Argentina and will be expanding our concerts internationally at the start of the new year. Please visit our MySpace page at www.myspace.com/janekellummusic or our blog at www.janekellumandcasalaspro.blogspot.com to listen to our music and find out the latest in this musical project.

When I am not writing songs and performing, I work as an international development consultant. My current projects include providing institutional development technical assistance to an organization, La Casa del Encuentro, that seeks the eradication of gender-based violence and human trafficking of girls and women for sexual exploitation in Argentina. I am also coordinating one school–based project aimed at preventing gender-based violence and human trafficking for the organization and another which targets the general population, in general.

On a final note, I hold a solid commitment to fulfilling my duties to Rotary through participation in Rotary activities here in Argentina, at home in Portland, Oregon, or wherever my work takes me. This sense of duty does not come from obligation but from a sincere desire to contribute to the Rotary mission. Since finishing my fellowship, I have participated in the recruitment of future Fellows through meetings and phone conversations. Furthermore, I have acted as a mentor to new Peace Fellows here in Argentina and have attended functions for my host Rotary Club of Montserrat. In the next few months, this participation will extend to presenting on behalf of La Casa del Encuentro at various Rotary Clubs in Buenos Aires.

Thank you for having faith in my abilities to represent the Rotary Club of Portland throughout the world and thank you for continuing to support the World Peace Fellowship. My sincerest thanks go out to all.

Please feel free to email me at janekellum@hotmail.com. I would be happy to answer any questions or receive any comments that you may have.