Minutes of Monday, November 30
Posted by Tom Connelie
Minutes of Monday, November 30
President Bill Brillant called us to order promptly at 07:15, leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance. He then turned to Pastors Ron McLaughlin and Bob Beaumont and asked which one was on tap for the Invocation. Bob Beaumont answered the call with a nice invocation that while acknowledging the darkness in the world also highlighted the brightness, as exemplified by Rotarians doing good works here and abroad.
Club Sheriff Bill Gillespie then started Happy / Sad Dollars with a sad dollar for the NY Giants with the quote “they suck”. Bill Brillant had a happy dollar for a great, long Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends. With Bob Davis, Joel Merry and Bob G also throwing in happy dollars for the same reason. Ron McLaughlin went back to sad dollars, relating how his Dad used to, in a fit of frustration. throw a shoe at the TV when his sports team made a dumb play. Ron then admitted to throwing his shoe at the TV during that same NY Giants game that Bill G had referred to as “they suck”. Cliff Hodges relayed having a great time on a visit to family in South Carolina. Contrary to Bill G and Ron M recent experiences with their sports teams Fred Burgess had happy dollars for the Bruins winning several recent matches. Gordon Donley thanked all for the condolences for his departed wife Audrey.
Under Announcements Ron McLaughlin passed around a sign up sheet for ringing the bell for the Salvation Army in front of Wal-Mart on Saturday morning, December 12. We will be staffing both doors.
Ron also passed around a sign up sheet for donating for a needy family. The family has two children and the suggestion was provide each child with a new bike so that was the primary item with several members contributing for each bike.
Bob Davis than introduced our guest speaker, Alex Petroff, Topsham native, Graduate of Hampshire College and founder and CEO of Working Villages International, a non-profit developing self sustaining farms in the poorest region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Alex gave us a very interesting presentation of progress / developments since he last spoke to us in early November 2014. On a personal side he has become very active participating in Men’s Roller Derby and coaching Woman’s roller derby, losing about 40 pounds in the process. Professionally he gave us an update on the progress on the two major farms he has helped develop. On the downside the Government levied an unanticipated, and very high tax on the original farm – even though established as a non-profit. With considerable difficulty he said they were able to raise the funds and pay the tax. He said the second farm had been organized differently, more as a co-operative with all families having ownership making it much harder for the Government to locate and tax all the individual owners and that thus far they had avoided the ruinous tax on the second farm.
The key to the success of the farms is irrigation and the key to that is to build the dams required to catch the abundant, but seasonal, rainfall. Over time Alex said he has learned that he needs heavy equipment for that work, manual; labor is simply too slow to make significant progress. He relayed his experience of trying to rent equipment from the neighboring country of Burundi only to have them refuse at the last minute due to friction between tribal fractions and having to then travel to Dubai to purchase earthmoving equipment and then managing to get it through customs, paying an excise tax equal to the price of the equipment. That accomplished they have completed work on the dam and irrigation and the second farm, serving about 1,600 families is now productive.
On the very positive sign Alex reported that the local villagers, from several different tribes, who had been at war with each other were no longer at war with each other as they all were reaping the benefits of the farms, with wages increasing more than 10 fold, from $200 / year to $2,400 per year. Additionally the villagers were pooling some of their increased income for more and better schooling for their children.
Alex remains a very inspiring individual who is truly changing the world.
Thanks!
Submitted:
Tom
Minutes of Monday, November 30
President Bill Brillant called us to order promptly at 07:15, leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance. He then turned to Pastors Ron McLaughlin and Bob Beaumont and asked which one was on tap for the Invocation. Bob Beaumont answered the call with a nice invocation that while acknowledging the darkness in the world also highlighted the brightness, as exemplified by Rotarians doing good works here and abroad.
Club Sheriff Bill Gillespie then started Happy / Sad Dollars with a sad dollar for the NY Giants with the quote “they suck”. Bill Brillant had a happy dollar for a great, long Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends. With Bob Davis, Joel Merry and Bob G also throwing in happy dollars for the same reason. Ron McLaughlin went back to sad dollars, relating how his Dad used to, in a fit of frustration. throw a shoe at the TV when his sports team made a dumb play. Ron then admitted to throwing his shoe at the TV during that same NY Giants game that Bill G had referred to as “they suck”. Cliff Hodges relayed having a great time on a visit to family in South Carolina. Contrary to Bill G and Ron M recent experiences with their sports teams Fred Burgess had happy dollars for the Bruins winning several recent matches. Gordon Donley thanked all for the condolences for his departed wife Audrey.
Under Announcements Ron McLaughlin passed around a sign up sheet for ringing the bell for the Salvation Army in front of Wal-Mart on Saturday morning, December 12. We will be staffing both doors.
Ron also passed around a sign up sheet for donating for a needy family. The family has two children and the suggestion was provide each child with a new bike so that was the primary item with several members contributing for each bike.
Bob Davis than introduced our guest speaker, Alex Petroff, Topsham native, Graduate of Hampshire College and founder and CEO of Working Villages International, a non-profit developing self sustaining farms in the poorest region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Alex gave us a very interesting presentation of progress / developments since he last spoke to us in early November 2014. On a personal side he has become very active participating in Men’s Roller Derby and coaching Woman’s roller derby, losing about 40 pounds in the process. Professionally he gave us an update on the progress on the two major farms he has helped develop. On the downside the Government levied an unanticipated, and very high tax on the original farm – even though established as a non-profit. With considerable difficulty he said they were able to raise the funds and pay the tax. He said the second farm had been organized differently, more as a co-operative with all families having ownership making it much harder for the Government to locate and tax all the individual owners and that thus far they had avoided the ruinous tax on the second farm.
The key to the success of the farms is irrigation and the key to that is to build the dams required to catch the abundant, but seasonal, rainfall. Over time Alex said he has learned that he needs heavy equipment for that work, manual; labor is simply too slow to make significant progress. He relayed his experience of trying to rent equipment from the neighboring country of Burundi only to have them refuse at the last minute due to friction between tribal fractions and having to then travel to Dubai to purchase earthmoving equipment and then managing to get it through customs, paying an excise tax equal to the price of the equipment. That accomplished they have completed work on the dam and irrigation and the second farm, serving about 1,600 families is now productive.
On the very positive sign Alex reported that the local villagers, from several different tribes, who had been at war with each other were no longer at war with each other as they all were reaping the benefits of the farms, with wages increasing more than 10 fold, from $200 / year to $2,400 per year. Additionally the villagers were pooling some of their increased income for more and better schooling for their children.
Alex remains a very inspiring individual who is truly changing the world.
Thanks!
Submitted:
Tom