Gia Arora
From starting the Rotaract Club of Queen Mary University of London to now supporting communities around Great Britain and Ireland, we asked Gia some questions to shine a light on this person of action.
Gia Arora
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Founder and President of Rotaract Queen Mary University of London 24-27
Director of Communities, Rotaract GBI 26-27
As part of Rotaract, what projects have you been involved with? What did these project’s achieve, how was this made possible and why is this important to you?
Rotaract has given me the opportunity to work on various projects over the last year, most recently we hosted an artivism (art as activism) workshop in partnership with Skaped and the Department of Sociology, Politics, and International Relations at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). It was hosted as a part of a larger liberation initiative at the university for Anti-Apartheid Week. The project was open to club members, university students, and the community, and it entailed a workshop facilitator from Skaped guiding the group through what it means to express one’s activism in the form of art. We created anti-apartheid posters that were then displayed at other anti-apartheid events at the university for the rest of the week and inspired others to think more deeply about the way they approach activism and the impact their activism is having depending on the medium they use. The event also gave the group a chance to socialise with each other while developing their thinking around activism and apartheid, which to me is the whole reason I joined Rotaract to begin with, to find like minded people while doing something that either helps me grow as a person and/or helps me contribute to the world around me more meaningfully.
Looking a bit further back in the catalogue of our activities, we worked with Kids in Mind, a local charity that works to provide a “place of hope and healing for disadvantaged children and young people who have escaped domestic violence”. Through them, we had the opportunity to work alongside other Rotaract clubs in the area which gave our club some recognition within the wider Rotaract community and helped us get on our feet given it was our first large-scale volunteering activity. It really developed a sense of identity within our club and gave us all a shared experience to bond over which has lasted us through the year and hopefully will come along with us even after we graduate. The experience was truly heartwarming, and as someone who sometimes struggles to socialise, having a shared activity was incredibly helpful in building relationships with other clubs and with a new potential partner for future projects.
How have you been able to connect with others thanks to Rotaract?
I have found that being involved with Rotaract has opened the door to so many connections that I would have never even imagined having before. We have had the opportunity to welcome incoming students at Queen Mary and introduce them to the area, and our community. We have also been fortunate to have had the opportunity to network with other Rotary organisations such as ESRAG where I met Judith. Meeting her helped me get involved in the commonwealth and introduced me to the involvement of Rotary in the UN which I would not have guessed were in reach for me. Rotaract has connected me with people that have forever changed the way that I view the world and I am very grateful to have them in my life.
How do you think you’ve grown as a person thanks to Rotaract? What opportunities have you had for your own personal development?
When I first started my Rotaract club, I was terrified of being rejected, of putting a lot of effort into the club and having it fail right off the bat. But as the year went on, I learned that it is sometimes okay to have a project be imperfect and that I can have a successful event that is also not what you’d imagined it being like. I have learned to accept that there will be people that are not right for Rotaract, that there will be people that will ridicule me for wanting to be part of this community, and that I can be happy here despite that, because I feel at home in Rotaract - it has given me a family, people I can connect with on a level that I am not willing to trade off for a better perception in the eyes of just anyone. I think I have also learned to lead better, to share the workload and allow others to support me as much as I support them. Rotaract was really my first time confronting the issue of burning myself out trying to do everything on my own, tackling it alongside my second year of university was sometimes exhausting and somewhere along the way I was forced to learn how to lean on my team. They were always there, and they had never had any issues with supporting me, I just needed to let them, and Rotaract has been the first space where I’ve felt comfortable enough to do that.
Why should someone get involved with Rotaract and what advice would you give them?
The journey into Rotaract can be intimidating and overwhelming, but it is a beautiful organisation once you’ve found your place within it. Do not force yourself to be part of a club that is not working for you, and if you truly believe that Rotaract is a community you want to be part of, keep yourself open to other clubs in the area or potentially starting your own. Definitely always branch out, go to events, and do your best to make the most of it all because when you’re looking back at your journey, it’ll always come down to the silly things you didn’t think much of at the time.
What’s your proudest moment as a Rotaractor?
Successfully chartering my club and being reminded that even though we didn’t manage to do many events in our first year, the experiences we did bring to life were worth remembering.
If you could describe Rotaract in three words, what would they be?
