The meeting started with the dingle of a bell, and the recorded singing of (a bilingual) “O Canada” that was accompanied by the sight of dramatic colours and amazing images playing on the Parliament Building in Ottawa on Canada Day - July 1, 2019. The thought of the week was a quote from Jean Ping (President of the United Nations General Assembly from 2004 to 2005 and currently Chair of the Commission of the African Union): “The welfare and the future of our societies depend on our capacity to remain mobilized so as to improve the health of every mother and child.”
ROTARY MOMENTS
President Doug shared the following information with the group:
The 1000 Survival Gardens project is being supported and promoted by the RC of Wpg-Downtown again to provide more Hippo Roller kits to be used in South Africa. Our previous donation for one kit was matched by the Downtown club at the time, making our club donation amount to two kits. The Downtown Club has offered to match any donations again, as have Dave and Nancy Morris (up to a total of $1,000). A donation of $100 becomes $400! Make your donations (identified for the 1000 Survival Gardens project) through the club’s Foundation, RCCCF (“Rotary Club of Charleswood Charity Foundation”). E-transfers can be arranged through Ed Thompson. Glenn is working on setting up a direct donation link for credit cards.
The Club Board voted to fund two Pollinator Gardens, one at the Assiniboine Forest parking lot area and the second at Westgrove School in one of the raised gardens there. This project (~$1,500.00) was proposed by Mandy and Peter. When the timing and weather are acceptable, volunteers will be required to make these Pollinator Gardens a reality. The City of Winnipeg Naturalists and the Green Team will be assisting with the plant selection and installation. Additional donations are welcomed for this project as well through RCCCF - remember to identify the project.
Chase the Ace raffle update. The LGCA Licence was granted, and the site became operational on Thursday, April 8th at 5:30pm selling raffle ticket bundles. The draw location was moved to Morris Insurance on Roblin Blvd due to Breezy Bend’s operational schedule not being dependable. The weekly raffle draw will be held on Thursdays. Ticket sales will stop each week on Thursday at 4:30pm, draw will take place at 5:00pm and ticket sales will resume for the next week at 5:30pm until the Ace of Spades is the card turned over. The URL for the raffle site is www.rotarychasetheace.org. Ticket purchases can only be made in Manitoba. When purchasing tickets, if you get a message about having your location turned on, go to the ‘Location Troubleshooting’ page on the top row - RIGHT. Find the type of device you are using (Android / IOS / Mac / Windows), and follow the directions to TURN ON your LOCATION. Update on Chase the Ace ticket purchase: The correction for the ‘Location error’ is below: When you are on the Chase the Ace site and select to purchase a ticket package, the next window opens for a brief moment, then shuts it down with a message ‘ Check out We’re Sorry...’ There are two ways to correct this, depending on the way that the error shows:
On the RIGHT side of the address bar there is a map ‘drop pin’ icon with a small red ‘x’ on it. Click this ‘drop pin’ . The option to allow location opens. Click the ‘Always Allow’ option in the drop down window. Then reload the page by clicking the reload icon on the LEFT side of the address bar. Should allow purchases now.
If there is a Compass icon with a slash through it on the LEFT side of the address bar...click it and a message will open with ‘Location Temporarily Blocked’ Click the ‘x’ then click the reload icon to the left of the address bar. After the site reloads, you should be able to purchase tickets.
Assiniboine Forest: The media releases have been sent out and Jack has been very busy being our media personality. Posters have been developed to be placed at all entrances to the Forest. Funding sources remain a work in progress - www.fundourforest.org will take you to the donation page for the Forest project. There is also a link to the Chase the Ace raffle on that page. The links / addresses for the Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages for the Club and Forest Facebook are on the Club website. (If you don’t already have them, consider getting accounts for Facebook, Twitter , Instagram any or all and follow, like, share as much of the content as you can.)
Lobster Fest: May 29th, curbside pick up between 3 and 7 pm at Varsity View Community Centre, 315 Laxdal Rd. The ticket packages for sales, will be delivered to your door by fellow club Rotarians. Please bring your door prize donation items to Morris Insurance on Roblin.… as an option, consider making a cash donation,… then let others do the shopping! You can also make a donation with your Credit Card through the Club website. Cash donation by e-transfer can also arranged with Ed Thompson through the RCCCF. What we need is for every club member to be focused on all three club projects – Chase the Ace, Assiniboine Forest and Lobsterfest. Talk about them. Post in your personal social media about each of them. Get the ‘SHARE’ in your social media. Do everything you can to get the word out.
Consider registering for the Zone 28 &32 virtual event happening on May 12th, 2021 It will be celebrating the R.I. Foundation with a show consisting of presentations by the following Rotary leaders - Michael McGovern (chair of Polio Plus), Past RI president Barry Rassin, and soon to be RI President-Elect Jennifer Jones. The cost to attend the show is $110.00 USD AND all except $10.00 will go to the Foundation (75% to Annual Giving and 25% to Polio Plus). For registration / tickets search www.bit.ly/TRF-Gala.
District 5550 presentation The 4-Way Test … How the Internet and Social Media can promote the spread falsehoods and fan the flames of extremism. Also, how responsible journalism responds. First session takes place on Thursday April 22, @8:00pm MB. Second session is scheduled for May 25th and two more session will take place in the fall of 2021. Note: Registration information will be sent out by PDG Fred Wright to all Rotarians in the District by PDG Fred Wright on Thursday, April 15th.
District 5550 Conference. May 13th to May 15th. If you have not registered yet, please make time to do so soon. The weekend kicks off with a special evening of fellowship and superb entertainment on Thursday, May 13th. On Friday, May 14th and Saturday May 15th, the program will include a Youth Engagement panel as well as presentations about Entrepreneurship & Philanthropy, Community Involvement & Fundraising, Indigenous Relations and Mental Wellbeing. The full list of speakers and entertainment can be found on the Rotary Club of Melfort’s Conference page. The Registration form is there as well. Cost is $50.
Nancy Cosway has been working on a Rotary publicity ad buy in the Winnipeg Free Press. All eight (8) Winnipeg Rotary Clubs have pitched in to share the cost of the ad space which was offered at a reduced rate for non-profit organizations. It will appear as a ‘¼ Page Ad’ on Monday, April 19th both in print and digital. A Rotary Banner ad will appear April 27th. Our club will also be using a so called ‘Ear Lug Ad’ space for the Assiniboine Forest. That is a small ad ( ~ 2.25” x 1.5”) in the top Right corner of a section front page. That ad has been stated as being in the April 28th Free Press edition. There will also be various sized ‘Filler Ads’ that will run throughout the year. When there is unsold space, these will fill the blank space.
PDG Jim also encouraged members to use social media to advertise the Lobsterfest. The meal will consist of a choice of lobster or chicken (ready to eat but will need to be heated before serving), potato, coleslaw, bun, dessert and a 200 ml bottle of white wine. Tickets will be delivered to club members in the coming week.
PDG Ed informed members that the Rotary International Convention will be Virtual instead of taking place in Taipei. Event registration will open in mid-April and will include a promotional fee of $49 for 21 days, with an increase afterward to $6 - a great deal compared to the cost of the travel and registration of the real deal! (The Rotaract, Youth Exchange Officer and Inter-Country Committee pre-conventions will be held 10-11 June 2021. The cost of each preconvention event is $20.) Both the convention and preconvention events include access to the Virtual House of Friendship, where convention attendees gather to learn about Rotary products and services, share project information, and shop.
PDG Nancy introduced Dr. Ben AKoh to us as the founder and President of the African Music Festival in Manitoba (aka AM-FM), which features movies from made in Africa and from African directors in Europe and North America. He has an interdisciplinary PhD in the areas of culture, technology and education. His research dealt with identifying the connections between technology and learning in an indigenous community in northern Manitoba. Dr Akoh has also developed and implemented programs with the United Nations and the World Bank to empower marginalized women and children in Africa and in remote Canadian communities through telecommunications, internet technology, culture and education. He has designed and taught courses at the University of Manitoba, University of Winnipeg, Red River College and University of Victoria in BC.
Ben added to his impressive biography by indicating that he is also president of U-Link Insights Inc., a business and technology consulting company.
To begin with, Ben explained why he undertook to organize the African Music Festival of Manitoba in 2017 - to address the gap in the knowledge of Africans and their culture in Manitoba and on the prairies. This was important to do because Africans are one of the fastest growing populations in Manitoba and across Canada (3-5% annually) and media is important in conveying their messages to the people of Manitoba and Canada. Deep inside every human being is the desire to connect with others in such a way that we complement each other – a term called Ubuntu. Ubuntu is an African term to mean “I exist because you exist – and you exist because I exist.”
Twelve years ago, he was working for a non-profit organization in Senegal that empowers marginalized people in 18 West African countries, primarily in the areas of health, education, and empowerment of women to engage with government in order to contribute to the governance process from the grassroots in the areas of natural resources, media and technology. For 6 years, as part of his work, he traveled to very remote areas of Gambia, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone, working with women and children. Ubuntu, in terms of identity, was the purpose behind his work. It’s a pan-African value system that includes respect for any human being, human dignity and human life, the idea of collective sharedness, obedience, humility, solidarity, caring, hospitality, interdependence, communalism – all of which align with what Rotary does in the world. These values are transmitted from one generation to the next orally – like in fables, proverbs, riddles and story-telling. Ubuntu originated in the KwaZulu-Natal region in South Africa. A similar African value system called Inalegwu governs human relationships of the Idoma people (inhabitants of southern Nigeria). A person secures Inalegwu by almost competitively out-performing one’s fellow human in doing good deeds towards them, thereby securing their Inalegwu (i.e. their goodwill). With the negative impact of capitalism, this is gradually becoming a thing of the past. With Indigenous peoples, this respect is also extended towards nature and animals (e.g. in Indigenous Canadian prairie culture – the buffalo, which provide shelter, clothing, and utensils for daily living). This leads, for example, to the tribe taking care of the herd, establishing a sustainable relationship.
The work Ben did in a couple of African communities and in northern Manitoba used skill-based learning in marginalized societies, science and technology for women, and a call for action. In Senegal, in 2003, computers had become seriously influential in business and in governments but global connections using computers were a huge challenge for much of the African continent. Ben worked to help governments develop national strategies and policies on information and communication technology so that they could connect with their people and the rest of the world. As there in 2003, now here in Manitoba, the question was “To what use is Canadian infrastructure if the people in northern Indigenous communities cannot have access to it to use it?” Today, with the pandemic, where classroom learning is largely supplanted by online learning, this lack of internet has serious effects on student learning in those communities. In Senegal, womens’ learning about hair dressing and fashion design was supplemented with a course on using computers, so that the women could connect with people from other parts of Africa and the world and to sell their wares to the rest of the world. In war-torn Liberia, lessons on fashion design and computers were supplemented with a child care facility in the same building as their mothers’ lessons were taking place. Similarly-trained women arriving in Manitoba from war-torn Syria have skills in computer science, internet technologies and software development.
Ben’s doctoral studies with the University of Manitoba had him spending almost 5 years in a Cree nation called Oxford House. His familiarity with Ubuntu – showing his respect of the people, the elders, the culture and the community - was instrumental in his acceptance into the community. First, he had to disclose his intentions to the community (full disclosure), then he had to be very much aware of the fragility of his relationship as a researcher with members of the community, he had to respect the community members’ concept of time and to recognize that his relationship with them was mutually beneficial. Those same lessons can apply for anyone wishing to establish a relationship with a culture:
Full disclosure of what you are seeking
Recognize that the relationships are fragile
Allow time to develop trust
Recognize that the relationship is mutually beneficial Making the connection to the African Movie Festival in Manitoba, Dr. Akoh indicated the movies are a platform to exchange ideas to make the world a much better place – our lives are films!
In the Q & A that followed the presentation, we learned:
The key word in developing the relationship between Ben and the Oxford House community was “Respect”, which is mentioned in both the Seven Sacred Teachings of the Anishinaabe and Ubuntu.
Indigenous peoples’ experiences with colonization and residential schools were significant factors that interfered in many ways with establishing a relationship with the community. In his thesis, Ben highlighted the positives in the Indigenous ways of learning without interjecting his own views. He learned that the concept of “failure” does not exist in any Indigenous language - HOW you learn is supported.
Bob Eilers informed Dr. Akoh that he used the exact same 4 lessons to show respect and to gain respect in his work as a consultant in Asian and African countries.
Many of the former warring nations in Africa have mostly become peaceful through reconciliation. Ethiopia is an exception, where the internal conflict results from the government not respecting a marginalized group of people.
Ben’s research is sitting, collecting dust, on a shelf in the U of M Library. He intention was to one day write a book about his research at Oxford House, including the absence of “failure” in Indigenous languages as well as the need to extend telecommunications services to Indigenous communities (using existing, underutilized underground cables).
Past President Mandy thanked Dr. Atoh for his presentation and for his message of Ubuntu – “I exist because you exist; you exist because I exist.”
Sarge Mike welcomed our one visitor at the meeting – Dr. Ben Atoh – then asked for Happy Bucks.
PDG Nancy was happy about the moisture that our dry lands were getting to stop the grass fires – even though it was in the form of snow.
Nancy Hansen reported that she and Peter both got their first shots of COVID vaccinations today (discovered that having cerebral palsy allowed her to “jump the queue” in the lineup for that) AND that she received notification last week that she is now a Full Professor.
Chuck was pleased that “tomorrow” (Tuesday) will be two weeks since he got his first COVID vaccine shot, meaning that he can hug his grandkids tomorrow.
Sarge Mike was happy that he will be getting his COVID shot “tomorrow”.
PDG Jim was happy about having finally got the permit number that allows the Lobsterfest to go ahead.
Bob had his COVID shot last Sunday (it was Easter Sunday) and there was hardly anybody there! Sarge Mike than asked about Birthdays and Anniversaries. Lyle responded that his birthday was coming up on Wednesday. Then he added that he had his COVID shot on March 30th and that his wife will be getting hers on Sunday, April 18th.
NEXT MEETING
We will meet again on Monday, April 19th, and our speaker will be Rachel Krause, Assistant Professor of Biology at the Canadian Mennonite University, who enjoys teaching her students in the Assiniboine Forest. Rachel’s presentation is expected to include how CMU has been using the forest. She plans to share a bit about the small research projects her students have been doing in the Assiniboine Forest over the last number of years.
