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蘇菲雅。歐瑪和她丈夫布朗─洛薩圖斯日落(Los Altos Sunset)扶輪社社員，同時也是黑沃德日落扶輪社的名譽社員─於黑沃德日落社的授證儀式中合影 Sophia Omar, with her husband, Dwayne Brown, a member of the Rotary Club of Los Altos Sunset and an honorary member of the Hayward Sunset club, at the latter club's chartering ceremony. |
美國加州黑沃德日落(Hayward Sunset)扶輪社的成立緣起，追溯至911事件之後，有6萬多人也是美國境內最大的舊金山灣區阿富汗社區與其鄰居之間發起的一項援助行動。
The new Rotary Club of Hayward Sunset, California, USA, traces its origin to a spontaneous reaching out between members of the San Francisco Bay area's 60,000-strong Afghan community — the largest in the United States — and their neighbors after the 11 September 2001 attacks.
就在當地居民試著從悲劇事件中理出頭緒之際，該社後來成為創社社長的蘇菲雅•歐瑪(Sophia Omar)與她餐廳的顧客，花了很多時間討論阿富汗在神學士政府垮台之後要如何恢復和平，其中一位顧客便是扶輪社員史東(Bill Stone)。
As residents tried to make sense of the tragic events, Sophia Omar, who would become the club's charter president, spent many hours discussing the return of peace in post-Taliban Afghanistan with patrons in her restaurant, among them Bill Stone, a Rotarian.
歐瑪說：「他說我們打算透過我所創立之非營利組織「和平火炬」在阿富汗所做的事，聽起來就像扶輪計劃的工作清單，因此他建議我加入扶輪社。」透過史東，歐瑪與扶輪社員梅伍德(Bill Maywood)與米利(Jim Mealy)見面，後者一起介紹她認識當地數個扶輪社。
"He told me that the things we aimed to do in Afghanistan through De Solay Daywa (Peace Torch), a nonprofit I founded, sounded like a laundry list of Rotary projects, and he suggested that I should join a Rotary club," she said. Through Stone, Omar met Rotarians Bill Mayhood and Jim Mealy, who together introduced her to several area clubs.
這些聯繫不久便促成成立新扶輪社的決定。在黑沃德扶輪社及黑沃德南區(Hayward South)扶輪社的輔導之下，黑沃德日落扶輪社於2002年5月成立。以其41名社員─90%以上為阿富汗裔─的力量，該社已經成為社區及國際服務的動力來源。
These contacts soon led to a decision to form a new Rotary club. Sponsored by the Rotary clubs of Hayward and Hayward South, the Rotary Club of Hayward Sunset was chartered in May 2002. With 41 members - more than 90 percent of them Afghans - the club is now a dynamo of community and international service.
黑沃德日落扶輪社在沒有醫療保險之阿富汗移民聚集的加州佛瑞蒙，舉辦每週義診。此外，該社也與非政府組織CARE及「婦女希望」合作，在阿富汗的首都喀布爾推動數項服務，包括一間診所、一家擁有20張病床的醫院、一間裁縫店、以及一斷專門招收孤兒、寡婦、及失業者的秘書訓練學校。
The Hayward Sunset club sponsors a free weekly clinic run by Rotarian doctors in the Fremont, California, area for Afghan immigrants without medical insurance. In addition, the club is working with nonprofits CARE and Women of Hope to establish several services in Kabul, Afghanistan, including an out-patient clinic, a 20-bed hospital, a garment-making shop, and a secretarial training school to serve orphans, widows, and the jobless.
歐瑪說：「從我踏入這個組織的那一天起，我便體驗到扶輪社員難以置信的支持。」
"From the day I put my feet in this organization, I have experienced an incredible support from Rotarians," Omar said.
第5170地區總監豪爾德(Bradford Howard)說：「該社的成功將可作為扶輪擴展至灣區、美國各地、甚至非扶輪國家之移民社區的模範。」
"The club's success will serve as a model for extension of Rotary into other immigrant communities in the Bay Area, the rest of the United States, and even non-Rotary countries," said District 5170 Governor Bradford Howard.