Reporter: Gordon Quigley
MC Jessica started the meeting on
time at 12:15 p.m. She began her
introduction by reminding us that March is Literacy Month and that we should be
grateful for our ability to read because literacy leads to many great things
such as reading a book or even writing a script. She then made a logical jump (or perhaps leap…)
and announced that the meeting was all about her (more on this later).
Everyone sang O’Canada followed by Lynne
Murray saying grace that included the ending – “…we should be grateful for the lessons
of service.”
Janette Nation welcomed our guests
including visiting Rotarian Kris Zmudzinski of the Prince George, Downtown Club
and visitors Juliette Kajuga, hosted by Wolf Schopper and Coleen Force hosted
by President Jim.
Announcements:
- Mary Canty asked us to keep Batya and David Westler in our thoughts as they are going through a difficult time and if possible to send them an email so they know we are thinking about them.
- Brian Lamb gave us an update on Mardi Gras Madness ticket sales. We have 57 remaining unsold tickets with 45 days until the event that will be held on May 9th. He said we are behind our performance of last year and we need to sell more than 1 ticket per day. Tickets are $45 apiece so please engage to help us reach our goal.
- Heather Aked continued the Mardi Gras Madness theme by passing a round a sheet to badger (in a nice way) all those who had not yet provided a silent auction item.
- Heather Aked also reminded us that next week’s club meeting (March 31st) will start with a visit to the Disaster Aid Canada Warehouse and then adjourn to Spinnakers for lunch. Disaster Aid Address: 426 William St, Victoria, BC V9A 3Y9 Phone: 250-595-5974
- Neil Rawnsley announced that Ted Harrison’s memorial will take place on Saturday, April 4th at 1:30 pm at the University Club at UVIC.
Celebration Master:
Fines: Celebrations Master, Dallas
Chapple wasted no time in exhausting everyone’s supply of Loonies and Toonies by
starting with group level fines for lack of pins and badges, not having shaken
hands with Tom Croft (apparently this week’s appointed secret hand shaker), not
bringing or taking any books, and not having yet signed up for the Disaster Aid
Canada visit or the Spinnakers meal. She
then went to the individual level fining Ron Cooley for not having got over “Movember”, fining Jessica for
the “this meeting is all about me” declaration and finally fining Lori McLeod
for spilling a glass of water.
Anniversaries: Everyone sang an enthusiastic
rendition of “Happy Birthday” to Tom
Lidkea, David Sills and Brian Lamb.
Happy and Sad Dollars: This started interestingly with Tom Lidkea telling a joke about the bunny and
the python (which frankly I did not understand) this was followed by Vicky Pitt
announcing her son’s engagement, John Edgell announcing progress on the Mexican
preparatory high school project (everyone keep their fingers crossed that the
global grant is approved!). David Philip
fittingly wrapped up this section by telling another joke – something about a
frog and a pimple (which again I did not understand– perhaps I was scribing too
hard?)
50/50: John Jordan won the 50/50 (but
pulled the black marble). He promptly donated his winnings to the Literacy Fund – this was a good segue into his presentation where more money would change hands.
Rwanda Project Update – John
Jordan:
Lori McLeod introduced our speaker
John Jordan, following Perry Bamji
strict rule not to say “everyone already knows our speaker”, by telling us one
thing that we did not know about John (this one thing cannot be reprinted here
- to protect the innocent !!!!!!!).
John began by relating a story of how
he met Elias, an 11 year old orphan boy with a tragic history, in
the shop of
his friend, Wakazi. John told of how his
heart went out to the boy and how he wanted to help but then hit a mental barrier of
what he could reasonably handle in terms of time and resources. John told us he had been testing a new
theory that goes like this: “there is always enough and nothing is ever too complicated”, that he is not alone but is in fact the advanced guard, that he had a
network of supporters and that when he says "yes", it will turn out well and the
resources will come. John decided to
take him in and soon after, Elias was invited to come home with one of John’s
team who had two boys of a similar age. Elias now lives and attends school
with his new brothers.
John then gave an update on the core
projects he and his team work on in Rwanda.
These core project are:
- Rehabilitate 70-100 widows' houses per year.
- Provide the nurturing environment of a boarding school to 65-70 students.
- Introduce technology to provide benefits to a hundred that will multiply to benefits for tens of thousands.
This year, our club sponsored a $7000
grant to support widows' houses. $6000 was
spent on 24 houses at a cost of $160 per house.
The $160 per house provides a roof, water, a stove, animal, garden and
health insurance. They also provide a
leased field for cultivation to earn enough to sustain them above a subsistence
level. $1000 went to build 6 composting
toilets, providing fertilizer that can double the crop yield.
The first technology, the rocket
stove introduced 6 years ago, has been a big success with over 10,500 stoves
installed and over 100 people trained in their production. These stoves have reached an
acceptance level such that they are now considered the standard. The stove project has become self-sustainable
and John and his team will now move on to focus on other new technologies.
One very promising technology is reusable sanitary pads for girls as they provide a cost effective alternative to keep girls in
school while also reducing waste disposal challenges. John and his team have started local
production of pads for sale, trained and hired teachers to present a thorough
Reproductive Health curriculum, and built a “room for girls” at local school as
a dignified place to change, wash or rest during menstruation.
John made an interesting point on the
importance of technology. In Rwanda, human labour is their only commodity.
Technology multiplies their labour and thus has a compounding effect
that helps people raise their standard of living. Stoves that reduce the amount of time they
have to search for firewood and fertilizer from composting toilets, that double
their crop yields, both have this multiplying effect.
In subsidising boarding school costs,rather than making it free, for 65 to 70 students per year, they are careful not to devalue
education. To that end, the students and their families sign contracts to pay for a portion of the
cost. They are given animals to raise to
give them the income required to fund their portion of the education. The education initiative is a big success as,
for the first time, 4 of the 30 graduates received national merit scholarships
to attend university. This success has
created a new challenge as the scholarships provide only for tuition and not
for room and board. Again, John is
getting an opportunity to test his theory and has said yes to helping with 50%
of these living funds for these students and providing support to help the
students earn the other 50%. To help provide
the resources, John is invoking the Rotary tradition of “passing the hat”.
To support John’s request, Perry
Bamji has put together a CD commemorating 40 years of the Oak Bay Rotary Club’s
history, for donations of $20 and up. For
donations above $25 John can provide a tax receipt.Please make out your cheque to: InnovativeCommunities.Org Foundation
Words I will remember from John’s talk:
"There
is always enough and nothing is ever too complicated” and “If you say "yes" it
will turn out well and the resources will come.”
Peter Johannknecht thanked John by saying that he was touched by what John was doing and
how it was a great example of “Service above Self”
President Jim then thanked John Jordan again and thanked Jessica for being the M/C this
month.
We closed our meeting with “The Queen”
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