Meeting Called to Order at 5:47pm by President Mandy Kwasnica.

 

The Covid-19 virus is still out there. Those that are in the know have carefully re-opened parts of society, …but not for gatherings such as ours. Our Rotary meeting of the R.C. of Winnipeg – Charleswood continues to be virtual. At the time of the bell tolling, we had 22 people sign-in. We had one guest tonight:  Erin Thomas (Every Woman Treaty presentation).

 

 

President Mandy presented the video she has produced on our behalf to be submitted for the Online 2020 District 5550 Conference – Kenora.

 

The video run time is 2:59, just under the max time of 3:00 asked for by the District 5550 conference committee. The video is uploaded to our new R.C. of Charleswood YouTube Channel. The video can be found here – 

Other club videos will be added to this channel in the future.

President Mandy has included photos of all our recent projects as well as ongoing maintenance of past projects. A great trip down memory lane with a thrilling fast pace and fantastic background musical score. She is the face of the R.C. of Charleswood and states that “Rotary is Making a Difference”, as well as “Charleswood Rotarians are committed to making a difference here in our community as well as Internationally”.

 

Please share the YouTube address with all and place the video address on your Facebook page. VOTE for our video online for the District 5550 Conference contest, as of May 7th!!

 

D.G. Elect Gailmarie Anderson sent out an email invite for the G.D.F. on April 28^th, 2020. The G.D.F. Talk Show to be held on May 5^th, 2020 at 6:00pm Saskatchewan time. That would be 7:00pm here in Manitoba! G.D.F. stands for Gailmarie (Anderson), Dan (Sutton), Fred (Wright). All invited, said to be like the Ellen Show.???

 

President Mandy reminded those that haven’t registered for the online District 5550 conference to do so soon. To register for the conference: https://www.crsadmin.com/EventPortal/Registrations/PublicFill/EventPublicFill.aspx?evtid=a412a70f-38e9-4ff8-b775-9200c96721cc  . Saturday, May 23^rd, 2020.

 

Rotary International will hold an online convention instead of the previously scheduled event in Hawaii for 2020. The R.I. Rotary Virtual Convention will be held on June 20^th – June 26^th, 2020. No other information currently. President Mandy will pass on any further information as she receives it. Please keep these days open if you plan on attending virtually.

 

Paul Brault reported on the Westgrove Food Hamper initiative. Click on the image to the right to see a video of the making of a hamper.  Paul first thanked Iain Scott for helping with the Costco shop again. Also, thanks to the members that dropped off items at the house. This week will be a pause of the program. For the month of May there will only be two Hamper distribution days. The supporting funds appear to be sufficient to move ahead at this time. The provincial government has asked for proposals regarding support of supplemental nutritional items in communities / children requiring support. These are the same children we are going to shift back to, by providing breakfast items as of June. Paul and Val will be putting forward a proposal for the children of Westgrove School that had been part of the breakfast program before the school closure.

 

Val (Director at Westgrove Family Centre) has put together a small video (click image on left to view) about the Hamper Program that R.C. of Charleswood has been supporting. In the video she thanks the club for our incredibly generous donations after her plea for support for the Westgrove residents. She stressed that our club “always steps up to the plate” and that “our support has been a real game changer for the residents”. During this public health order, the hampers were the one thing that they could count on being there to help them. Val’s final words in the video, “Thank you, thank you very much”. 

 

Paul Brault praised Val as being a hard worker and able to keep it all together. When Paul saw her Facebook post about 6 weeks ago, he knew he had to do something about the situation at Westgrove.

 

Lloyd Talbot asked if there was any news on the District Grant monies applied for?  Paul’s response – Not yet. Not expected until the middle of the month.

Nancy Morris gave her personal thanks to Paul, Catherine, and Iain for their joint efforts on the Westgrove hamper program.

 

Nancy Morris made note of this week -May 5^th, being the 75^th Anniversary of the liberation of Netherlands by Canadian soldiers. Also, W5 (CTV) had an excellent program about polio epidemic in 1950 -1951. Interesting to see Dr. Anthony Fauci was part of the scientists investigating that break-out as he is now with Covid-19. He is the go-to guy for President Donald Trump when the facts are needed.

 

Ed Thompson reminded all that the RYLA Camp is cancelled along with all other Youth events for this summer / fall.

 

Iain Scott asked how Lyle is doing? – Lyle replied that he is doing “fine, back to normal”. Also, Alan Roberts is taking a well-deserved break currently. He will be back.

 

 

Nancy Morris introduced Erin Thomas as our guest for tonight’s meeting. Nancy became aware of Erin through a request of support for the Global Grant that she is working on from David Newman (R.C. of Winnipeg- Downtown).

 

Erin has a BA in International Affairs from The George Washington University and an MA in Peace and Conflict Resolution from the Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires, Argentina where she was a member of the Rotary Peace Fellow inaugural class. Erin co-founded the Rotarian Action Group for Peace and served as its Executive Director for three years. She remains an honorary member of the Rotarian Action Group for Peace. Erin is on the provisional Board of Directors for the Rotary Peace Fellowship Alumni Association.

 

Rotary Peace Centres have the Masters Centre as well as Certificate Centre. The candidates for the Rotary Peace Certificate can remain in their jobs. The course study is just 3 months in a University (Thailand or Uganda), then 9 months of online study to receive the Peace Certificate.

 

Erin advised that Global Grants are hard to work on, hard to understand. She is a member of the Rotary Club of Newberg, Oregon. A small club of 12 members usually focused on their immediate community. They are now working on the Every Woman Treaty. This will be a global effort to have it recognized by the United Nations; to ban violence against women. This effort is organizing in Canada. If you know of anyone interested in becoming involved, please pass on her name as a contact.

 

One in three women will experience violence in their lifetime. This stat is just regarding rape, beaten or killed. These are crime stats from countries that report and keep data on these crimes. Some countries these numbers would be 70 to 80 percent. This is a global health pandemic. During recognized health pandemics (like Covid-19), the victims are locked in with their abusers. In countries like Kenya, there is no system that you can call. The local doctors, lawyers and nurses are providing shelter for these women/girls. This is a massive health crisis. There should be a global norm of the right to safety. The number one factor for this becoming a reality would be an autonomous female movement that is successful. Your country would be safer overall.

 

In Nepal there are traditions of banishing young females to menstruation huts during their periods. When isolated they can become victims of crime – rape/assault. Widows in the country are at risk of loss of property rights. There are many more risks for females in country and others around the world. As a Rotarian, you must listen to the people on the ground. Find out what they believe is required to fix an issue.

 

Erin’s club is the International Club: Rotary Club of Newberg, D5100. The Nepal club is the Host Club: Rotary Club of Kathmandu, D3292. GLOBAL GRANT: Training Violence Against Women Advocates in Nepal. Peace Area of Focus: Humanitarian Project Nepal. This Global Grant project has 5 parts;

 

Project Scope

1.    5-day intensive training program for 25 female Nepali leaders working to end violence against women, using a train-the-trainer model so they can bring the information back to their communities. Train the trainer.

2.    12 months of in-country coordination with a paid staff member to facilitate a strong network, support system and shared duties between individuals and organizations working to end violence against women.

3.    6 months of personalized coaching, ongoing training and skill refreshers, and resource materials to facilitate the work they undertake as a group.

4.    60 violence prevention education sessions delivered by these trained leaders.

5.    Facilitated webinars to share experiences and practices.

 

This will result in the trainers being able to speak their truth to the trainees. The work being done in this grant is to lead towards the formation of an independent, self-sustaining coalition or federation that advocates jointly to advance women’s rights in Nepal. This objective emerged in the comprehensive interview process that was used for the Rotary Community Needs Assessment.

 

They have $30,700 in partnership pledges as of April 30. They are looking for $4,300 in additional pledges. Our club’s donation of $500 will be matched by a local Foundation ($500) / doubled by District ($1,000) / and R.I. contribution ($1,500) = $3,500.00!!

 

Q/A

 

1.-Nancy Morris, are there any other Global Grants doing the same sort of thing in different countries?

A.-She was in Hamburg for a Rotary Peace Symposium, May 2019. There was no programming talked about by others. The Peace Fellows are doing a lot in their own communities. As she was preparing for the trip to Hamburg, for the Symposium, Erin found that the word ‘Treaty’ jumped out at people. She got shot down a lot. She was advised that Rotary does not get involved with politics. This is not politics. It is advocacy. The project is fully vetted with a Rotary Community Needs Assessment, the local people have asked overwhelmingly for this action to take place.

 

2.- Nancy Hansen advised that she teaches at the University of Manitoba, Master’s Program in Disability Studies. She stated that data indicates that people with disabilities experience violence at a rate 2 to 10 times higher than the nondisabled population. Nancy has students from Nepal in her course. Nancy asked Erin to please make sure that any infrastructure is accessible.

A.- Erin quoted the phrase “nothing about us, without us”. They need the females of Nepal to speak for themselves. There are many countries where anything out of the ‘norm’ sexually, is considered illegal. The ‘Treaty’ will exist in 128 countries. There will be plenty of inclusion across the board.

 

3.- Ed Thompson asked if Nepal women can vote?

A.-As of the end of the Nepal civil war in 2006, yes, they can. The ‘Treaty’ will change the laws. There will be ongoing education, judges, trainers etc. will be fully funded. When there is a more peaceful community / country, less money needs to be spent. An example would be the ‘U.N. Land Mine Treaty’. All the funds spent prior to the ‘Treaty’ far exceeds the funds required for education and enforcement.

 

4.-Nancy Morris asked where does the money come from to support this into the future?

A.- From ‘Treaty’ donor countries. Domestic violence in Uganda cost ~$30million per year. That has been reduced to $4million per year after laws were changed.

 

5.-Nancy Morris, gender-based violence still exists in Canada. This should have been eradicated long ago.

A.- In Nepal this gender-based violence has always been the ‘norm’. Education is so important to eradicate the violence.

 

Erin stated that they are aiming for 2030 as all countries should be ready by then. For example, in the U.S.A. right now, 18 States allow marital rape. No laws against it! You have to change the existing laws and put in protective laws.

 

In Nepal there are three different Codes in Law;

Marriage is allowed at different ages in each Code. Penal Law=12 | Civil Law=15 | Common=18

 

There is still so much work to do to make the world a safe and peaceful place.

 

There are 15 to 18 Rotary Clubs involved / donors for the Every Woman Treaty. Erin will keep the clubs informed along the way.

 

Contact Erin Thomas at;

Erin Thomas, Director of Strategic Partnerships +1 (503) 367-4223 Erin@everywoman.org

 

Sarge Mike was present to ask for the Happy Bucks this week.

 

 

 

May 11^th, Elaine Thompson will be presenting a video titled ‘Doing Good in the World’.

 

 

May 18^th is a Holiday Weekend. No Meeting.