Sarge Lyle introduced tonight's guests. We had Eira Braun guest of Martin and our speaker Art Brown.

 

 

Mandy wanted to remind everyone of the email we've each received regarding a fun and fellowship evening at the Rotary International Convention in Toronto. If you are interested, the deadline for registration for the evening is 30 May. The cost is $20 and the event will be taking place 25 June at 7 p.m. Click the link in the email to register.

 

There is a new R.I. website security policy now in effect.

 

Membership chair John announced that the proposal by Elaine for new member Roh Gewenka of the U of M has been accepted by the board. His induction will be next week.

 

John and Leslie provided details of the new upcoming golf tournament fundraiser in conjunction with the Assiniboine club and the Chamber of Commerce. It will be happening Monday, 17 September right here at Breezy Bend.

 

Ed Toews announce that the car show fundraiser has been postponed to 2019 due to a conflict with another car event.

 

Nancy is looking for more prizes for the lobster dinner, especially for the silent auction. Jim reminded those members who have not yet reported all of their ticket sales that we need to know the numbers tonight so that food orders can be placed. Rod reminded members that Magnus will need to know if you have groups of ticket buyers who want to sit together. Rod also reminded all that the lobster dinner set-up is Friday evening at 6 p.m. Please come to the Eric Coy arena to help. The more people we have, the sooner we'll get done and we can all proceed to Sorrento's for pizza.

 

The Westgrove fundraiser with Sinclair as the speaker will be taking place 20 June.

 

Mandy gave an update for the garden project. We will be having the building bee Thursday, 7 June. Please complete the survey that was sent to you so that she knows if you plan to attend. There are also options in the email to donate/contribute to the project. To this end, Darvin is looking for someone with a truck to volunteer to pick up the donated building materials.

 

Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Art Brown is a 39 year veteran of the Royal Canadian Air Force. He has been stationed at numerous bases throughout Canada and in California and Colorado on exchange with the U.S.A.F. Overseas deployments included a tour in Holland, two in Afghanistan and a U.N. peacekeeping mission as a military observer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C., formerly Zaire) in Africa. His mission in the Congo was the topic of his presentation. The timing of this presentation is fortuitous with the International Day of U.N. Peacekeepers happening tomorrow, 29 May, the date in 1948 of the first U.N. peace keeping mission to monitor a cease fire between the Arab's and Israeli's. Canada's National Peace Keepers Day occurs on the 9th of August to coincide with the anniversary of the tragic 1974 loss of a Canadian Buffalo Aircraft and all lives on board during a peacekeeping mission.

 

Canada has contributed 125,000 peace keepers since the 1950's. The largest of these has been in Cypress where 25,000 Canadians have served. To date, around 130 Canadians have lost their lives in peacekeeping missions. Art was in the Congo for about seven months in 2002/2003.

 

The situation in the Congo has been ongoing since 1999. There are usually 9 Canadian's there on rotation every six months. To date, the mission has cost the U.N. $9b with 18,300 troops and 30 nations in the D.R.C. as of October, 2017.

 

It all started with the overthrow of the government which led to a power void. This has made the central government ineffective in maintaining central institutions or infrastructure and has led to significant corruption. Only a couple of major cities are accessible by jet aircraft, roads are mostly impassible, so the only way to reach most communities in the country the size of Quebec is by river or helicopter. Local transportation is by any means possible, there are no free schools and often locals are too afraid to share information of rebels operating in the area. The area most affected is in the East of the country near the Rwandan border.

 

Between the major cities the U.N. used a 727 with a South African crew. Art also travelled in an Il-76 transport aircraft with a shorts and T-Shirt clad Ukrainian crew that at first left him hesitant as to their abilities. But they proved to be excellent at their job. Also used for the mission was a Russian Mi-8 helicopter. While on patrol (the U.N. observers were unarmed at that time), they came across the wreckage of another U.N. vehicle destroyed by a land mine with all four occupants killed. Patrols primarily were conducted to talk to the locals to try to gather information about what was going on in the area. Language was always an issue as many people in the Eastern part of the country spoke Swahili while few interpreters did.

 

After a revealing slide show, Art opened the floor for questions.

 

Jack - why is the mission only to observe and report?

A - There is an agreement in place between the separate warring factions. The mission is there to report if someone is not living up to the agreement.

 

Bob E. - What is the population of the D.R.C?

A – 79 million (per Google)

 

Ed Th - Why is the French Congo peaceful while the D.R.C. is in such a mess?

A - The French Congo did not go through a civil war and as such does not have the same level of corruption.

 

Mandy - Did you face wildlife threats as well?

A - Once Art had to side-step a huge bug flying towards him that sounded like a tank coming down the road. He had to step out of the way.  Otherwise, snakes and malaria are the biggest threats. Of the 6 Canadians there at that time, two came back with Malaria despite all precautions.

 

 

Jim was three times happy after the weekend district conference. One for the 85 pre-registrants for next year's conference. Another for the two resolutions for the Council on Legislation that he's successfully put forward. And the third for Mandy and Martin who did our club proud during a panel discusion. Dave was glad we have no musical accompianment for our singing of the National Anthem (not so much at the conference). Martin agrees. Nancy reconnected with R.I. representative Steve Brown at the conference. She met Steve in 2009 when she was an incoming D.G. where he was the driving force in getting Canadian clubs behind supporting a school for girls in Afghanistan. Dave returned from the conference to find around 200 beer bttles waiting for him at the office door. President Bob gave a shout out to Elaine, now officially our D.G. Mandy also had a happy buck for the good times at conference. Ed was happy to have help bringing the flags and stands back from the conference for next year's event. Brian was happy for his brand new grand daughter. He's also celebrating birthdays and an anniversary. Darvin's grandson won the provincial Ultimate championship. Leslie was happy for the past month travelling with John, Audry and hubby Derrick. She was also happy that Will stepped up to handle her files while she was away - and he even got her a listing!

 

 

Eira's ticket was drawn but she couldn't do the same with the blue marble.

 

 

Wayne paid for arriving late. Jack contributed for changing sides - a lifetime of selling power, now trying to convince us to use less. Boyd was impersonating the Sarge by wearing the same shirt. Leslie had to pay for pointing this fact out. And Boyd got his shirt on sale, while the Sarge had to pay full price. Al Roberts was impersonating his wife by wearing the "Pat Roberts" name badge.