World 3108 Day – And the history of TheMEDTimes

“Great projects start with an idea, a dream team that can make all the difference and is excited for every new step now add to this lots of hard work and persistence to achieve the goal. That’s how you make greatness.” 

The date of August 31 was chosen to be the world blog day and this is why it is written “3108” double check this?  It is a different way to read the word “Blog” and it is considered an unofficial holiday celebrated by bloggers across the world. It was first marked 15 years ago.

From the advantages of blogging are connecting with new people from all around the world, learning new things, educating others and sharing passions and from here TheMEDTimes was inspired. 

The MED Times is an electronic newspaper a self-contained, reusable, and refreshable version of a traditional newspaper that acquires and holds information electronically which offer an online version at the Med Website.

The aim of TheMEDTimes was as said by Rotaract Mediterranean past president Salva Amoros.

Salva Amoros, Rotaract Mediterranean past president,

“The MED Times was conceived as a way to talk about the Rotaract world from a different perspective, that is, letting Rotaractors talking about themselves and creating a platform for them to express and share their actions, as well as their culture and diversity to inspire others.

In Rotaract Mediterranean we aim to connect all of our member counties and encourage them to learn from one another, as well as get inspired by other project clubs might be executing in the opposite shores of our sea, and why not, perhaps join forces.”

When I was interviewing last year’s TheMEDTimes team each one of them told me an inspiring story like how they started working on TheMEDTimes with an anecdote how everyone was actually excited to start something this unique and how it was a great experience. One of those funny stories was one told to me by Nina Gostisa, editor in chief 2019/2020

Nina Gostisa, Editor in chief 2019/2020

“At the end of my year as Country Representative at Rotaract Mediterranean, the incoming President Salva invited me to join his board as a writer and contributor of creative ideas. Since I had a lot on my plate at the time – concluding a very active year as club president, potential job changes and a move, turning 30 – and felt like it was time to move on and focus on other things, I turned it down. Then, Salva and I met at the Rotaract Europe Meeting (REM) at Lisbon – we somehow always meet between the dancefloor and the bar – and after exchanging the usual “Hey, nice to see you again, what’s up?” and other news, he quickly moved on to giving his offer another shot. And so I said yes – writing and editing is what I love and do; besides, who can say no to a cute pirate on a noble mission to promote inspiring stories from all shores of his favorite sea?” 

Great ideas sometimes are developed from the most unexpected coincidences, that’s how our TheMEDTimes was developed as said by IT Coordinator Maryem Sehli. 

Maryem Sehli, IT Coordinator,

“I joined the marketing team last year. I had some tasks to do but always have in my mind to improve the idea of the review and share it with the MED countries.

So here comes the main idea of TheMEDTimes, during a meeting with Salva to develop the Med website and to highlight what Rotaract clubs or districts do in our Mediterranean area.

We start by building TheMEDTimes website then Nina joined the team as chief editor and with the cooperation of our “ninja” Hanh who was our marketing coordinator. We started working in March with our first article during Rotaract week about Freeic.

Then we had journalists from the three continents who joined the team, and we had our first collaboration with Rotaract Madrid with their project Good news Monday. ”  

Raoua Mahfoudh shared with us about her past year experience as a journalist:

Raoua Mahfoudh, MED Times Journalist ,

“My experience within TheMEDTimes was incredible. I honestly learned so much and I grew a lot as an individual. My favorite article to write was the Rotaract outstanding project award with District 2420 of Turkey. They were super friendly and they contributed enormously to a better world. I was inspired by them and their project.

I also got to meet incredible people within the MED board. I learned to be more organized and to work better in a team. My Rotaract journey has been amazing so far; Rotaract Mediterranean inspired me to be the best version of myself even through tough times. The COVID-19 lockdown would’ve been harder if I was not a member in TheMEDTimes. I was busy researching and writing articles as well as communicating with people in different parts of the world. I am grateful for this opportunity and I would love to add more amazing experiences to this life changing journey.” 

If I was asked before talking to the old team why I wanted to join TheMEDTimes my answer would be to gain new experience, to do something I love which is writing and meeting new people. Now I would definitely like to add joining the MED family and put it on top of the list. 

When I listened to all the stories of the team and attended a meeting with them they were like family happy to see each other’s again, proud of each other and looking forward for future exchange visits. The best way to teach someone something is to show him and I have seen how TheMEDTimes brought people from different continents not just country together and from moment I realized how we truly fulfill the Rotaract Mediterranean MDIO aim. 

Some Rotary Blogs/Magazines :

https://my.rotary.org/en/news-media/magazines

https://my-cms.rotary.org/en/news-media/regional-magazines

Rotaract Review by District 9010 : https://fliphtml5.com/wuaw/vnru

Have a news that you want to share with us? Let’s fill out the form