Carrollton Rotary hears overseas work experiences

Members of the Carrollton Rotary Club welcomed guests Judy, Kirke and Blake Porterfield during the club’s June 9 meeting.

Kirke and Judy Porterfield, members of the St. Clairsville Rotary Club, presented the Carrollton club with a banner from their home club and served ice cream and sherbet from Kirke’s Homemade Ice Cream of St. Clairsville.

Blake Porterfield was the featured speaker. He shared experiences from his work and travels abroad, including employment as a transporter for a pet company based in Mexico, as well as living and working in Jordan and traveling throughout several countries in the Middle East.

Most recently, Porterfield spent three years living in Nha Trang, Vietnam, where he taught English and performing arts at AVE Academy. He said most of his English students were Russian.

Porterfield described Nha Trang as Vietnam’s premier coastal city, known for its white-sand beaches and turquoise waters. The city’s main beach is lined with high-rise buildings, including the apartment building where he lived. He noted that, despite the city’s modern appearance and wide variety of activities, the cost of living remains modest compared with many other parts of the world.

Porterfield said he hopes to return to Vietnam but is currently unable to do so because of visa renewal issues that led to his deportation in November 2025. He is involved in litigation in an effort to regain entry to the country before the end of a three-year waiting period. In the meantime, he said assets held in Vietnamese banking institutions remain frozen and inaccessible.