Arun introduced guest speaker Oleksa Drachevych, a history professor from Western. Oleksa had a very interesting presentation called “Ukraine’s Stolen Children”. Since Russia invaded Ukraine 3 years ago many people have been taken to Russia, including about 720 thousand children.5-11 year olds are the target range. They are promised fun times away from the war zones but instead they are taken to Russian filtration camps. There they are told their parents are dead, forced to learn the Russian language, made to learn the Russian national anthem and re-educate the children into becoming future Russian citizens. These wartime atrocities are being studied by Oleksa and he is in the process of highlighting a manuscript of the atrocities after WW2 and those occurring now during the Russia/Ukraine war. Lots of questions were posed and much conversation took place following his presentation. Mary Margaret thanked the speaker and advised him that a donation to Polio Plus would be made in his name.

Following dinner guest Lorna did the honours of inducting a new member into our club. Simon along with sponsors Vic and Arun took front and centre as Lorna did a great job of inducting Simon into Rotary and to London North. With a new member kit in hand and a Rotary pin on his lapel he is ready to go! The traditional handshake took place to welcome Simon.