Presentations:
Rick Kaiser completed his membership requirements and received his "blue badge".
Mark Knittel brought a special guest, the Honorable James Rege, a senior member of the Kenyan Parliament. He also introduced Bonnie Sutherland, President of Afretech (Canada) and member of the North Delta Rotary Club; Brenda Bernadetti, Director on the Board of Afretech; Debra Akre and Jeana King, Founders of Tembo Trading.
Honorable James Rege came to the United States to meet with Mark Knittel and members of Afretech and Tembo Trading about the education project that they have been pursuing in Kenya. The project involves a low cost, offline (internet free) server packed with a massive amount of educational materials that can be accessed by the students and teachers via low cost notebooks/tablets.
He spoke about his upbringing in Kenya and his education in the United States. He expressed his appreciation for the technological help that Rotarians have provided relating to computer use where power sources are unreliable.
He stressed the importance of maintaining the US-Kenya relationship. He did acknowledge Kenya's concern regarding the presence and possible growth of terrorist activities within his country such as Boco Haram. He was reassuring that these movements would be controlled and would not be a threat to Kenya's economic advancement.
Program: Congressman Rick Larsen
Representative Larsen spoke about the role that Washington State was achieving in the US import/export market.
For example, Whatcom County is responsible for 80% of the raspberries exported from the US. He addressed the importance of foreign trade agreements and their intricacies such as N.A.F.T.A and other international trade opportunities.
In questioning, he reaffirmed his support of the Cherry Point Port proposal due to its potential for economic enhancement in the county. With regard to the Keystone Pipeline his response was that his main concern was for projects that enhanced Washington State which this proposal did not. He also elaborated on the federal emphasis and his own for safe oil transfer by rail and the "last mile" problems for Port facilities due to congestion issues.
There is also the creation of inter-local agreements due to such congestion. As an example, Tacoma has been designated the regional container facility due to the fact that it is served directly by rail. Seattle, on the other hand, needs to unload containers from the rail lines and transport them by trucks to the Port facilities.
