Thanks to Bruce Pacht for taking minutes during the meeting.
Upcoming Programs/Speakers
Change in Meeting Times Starting.We will be meeting at 11:55 a.m. on the First and Second Thursdays and we will be meeting at 5:25 p.m. on the Third and Forth Thursdays. .
April 1, 11:55 AM: Dan Affeldt, Classification Talk
April 8, 11:55 AM:
April 15, 5:25 PM: Round 2, Speech Contest
April 22, 525 PM:
April 29, Time 3 PM: No Zoom meeting today, instead we will do our RIVERSIDE PARK CLEAN-UP [THINK SPRING]
Bring park clean-up supplies e.g. gloves, rakes, tarps, leaf blowers (these always make the job easier), etc.
Caleb Wolfe was introduced by Bill Secord. Bill met Caleb through his interest in weight lifting. Through conversations at the gym, Bill learned about Caleb's passion to make a difference in a village in Kenya. Caleb Wolfe is a resident of Lebanon and has lived here in the Upper Valley for over 40 years. He is both a life-long educator and life-long learner and is passionate about helping people via education. He is passionate about helping the village of Nyandocke Ibere and the non-profit Emmah's Garden that supports this village. His goal is help this community resolve problem they face having good, clean water.
Caleb’s connections to Africa include his wife Sue having spent 4 years there. Her advice to him was that “nothing works the way you think it will in Africa.”
Caleb is trying to develop a project with a strong chance of substainable success. The real test of the project is the quality of the people involved. We have a very solid group of people in place in the Kenyan village where we’re trying to solve their serious water problem. Everything depends on them and they are a major part of the story.
The location is the village of Nyandoche Ibere, located in an area that looks more like Vermont than NH. We saw a picture of Emmah and a friend carrying water home.
The problem is that drinking water comes from seasonal pools or has to be hauled from a source that is a 4-mile round-trip walk for the women whose job it is to fetch the water. When Caleb heard about the situation from Emmah’s brother, Alloys, Caleb came up with the idea of supplying water filters for each home in the village.
What makes Emmah special? She graduated from college with a degree in agricultural business. Caleb said there were 900,000 college grads in Kenya last year but only 10% found regular jobs. Emmah teaches biology and agricultural science in the local regional high school.
Emmah sent a letter to the Village Elders which said, in part: “Many of my villagers don’t believe that a girl my age can do anything to change things. I realize I have a lot to conquer, including the attitudes of the village men. They will believe only by seeing what I can do, not by hearing.” Emmah’s motto is, “Be yourself – they will adjust.”
Emmah became concerned about hunger in the village so her first service action was to distribute food. The village comprises 2,400 persons, all of whom know each other. A building in the photo we saw houses 70 people with no water, no privacy.
Emmah also asked the “local government representative” to gift the town with 5 milk cows. Emmah’s plan is to make milk available to the grade school in the town. She’s a person of initiative and courage. She is also involved with an experimental farm. She put in a large amount of tomatoes – “Emmah’s Garden” – which was provided with a water pump to help extend the growing season, allowing her to plant at the beginning of the dry season.
Emmah’s brother, Alloys, is on the board of Emmah’s Garden. He worked with orphans and abandoned children while he was attending college. He brought them “new clothes and smiles.”
Caleb says that many of the folks in east Africa get by by “hustling” – here, it is not a pejorative, but the name for running around to create an enterprise to earn money.
The food shortage results from a shortage of money. When people can work in the field for $2/day, they can afford food. When farming ends during the two dry seasons, their income also dries up.
Alloys has a graduate degree in community development from Loyola University in New Orleans. Has been working with Caleb for about 6 months. He is homesick, having not been back to Africa for 3 years. We think his being back in Kenya would help organize things for the filter project, so his ticket has been purchased.
“Harambee” (the word is a national holiday which means “we all live together”)
Alloys has assembled a strong group of younger folks to oversee the project in Africa. Each has a college degree (in varying fields) but not one of them has a job. Alloys is now working for Emmah’s Garden. One of his team has a computer science degree, another is a communications specialist, and so on. Alloys is reaching out to another 10 who also want to start businesses. Cal thinks this is a strong group to work with as the core of a group that will sustain the project once it gets under way..
The village elders can order a “harambee session” where everyone brings something to donate to whatever the cause may be. It could be a young couple getting married, for example. Caleb says the village is much more communal than where he lives today; it’s more like the village he grew up in instead of today’s “Bowling Alone” villages where little social capital is exchanged among the residents.
When a hustler’s income rises from $60/month to $90/month, most will hire another person, said Caleb.
So, how Lebanon Rotary can help?
The project depends on American Technology – the “Berkey Filter” (a water purifier, not just a filter). Caleb said that two filters will take out 99.999% of impurities including viruses, typhoid bacteria, etc. If we can get filters to people in the village and they use them in sufficient numbers, we can eliminate the risk of typhoid and other serious health problems.
The original Berkey comes in a steel container which made shipping costs exorbitant. His organization sent a container of them but the shipment was turned around by Covid. Their new approach will be to construct the filters using the plastic water buckets such as Emmah and her friend used to fetch water. The system will be gravity-fed to eliminate pumps. Shipping costs will be 40% lower, and jobs are created in the assembly of the product in Africa.
The stages of Caleb’s Picture of Success:
Stage 1 – Clean water for everyone. There are about 50 houses in the Village, each of which would have its own system
Stage 2 – next step after filters are installed for everyone – create water storage for the village to avoid the 4-mile walk for water in the dry season.
Stage 3 – Harvesting and storing sufficient water to extend the growing season.
Unit costs for the project:
$ 83.36 filter and attachment
$ 15.00 shipping
$ 1.00 manufacturing per unit
$ 99.36 – total per family
For 50 homes = $4,968 — to provide clean water for all.
Expectations
Use Harambee to raise matching funds within the village; fundraising would be a job for Alloys. Leverage matching funds from the Maryknoll Brothers in Kenya. JoAnn has mentioned reaching out to other Rotary clubs in NH and VT, if Lebanon decides to go forward.
Caleb spoke about his joining Rotary; he said Bill Secord’s pitch was very persuasive. He wouldn’t join just to get his project funded. He said he’s seen situations similar to what he saw in Kenya right here in NH during his many years of teaching in this state. Once, when he had students prepare and expenses spread sheet for a home, one girl didn’t put in anything for electricity. She told him that there wasn’t electricity in her parents’ home, and that she wouldn’t have it in her house either.
Caleb has heard from Listen that income has gone down so much that their food requests have gone up 300%.
Questions:
Hank: How often do the filters need changing, and what’s the replacement cost?
Caleb: Replacement cost is similar to a new filter. Caleb hasn’t changed the one in his own home for 3 years; his water comes from his own well. The company recommends annual filter changing. He said the hardest filtering job is for the unit in the US results from plastics and chemicals that do not occur in this village’s water. The muddy pond water we saw will indeed clog the machine quickly, but Caleb said the filter is washable and the stuff can be removed without harming the filter. (If one needs the filter to make clean water, with what does one clean an exhausted filter?)
Wrap-up
We need to make the project self-sustaining. If each family would set aside a one day’s pay from each week ($2), they could afford to replace their filter annually.
John Yacavone: Don’t you still have to walk to get the dirty water to the town?
Caleb: Alloys’ grandmother has a tank in her yard. They collect water from their metal roof. Caleb checked with the Berkey company which the filter should have no problem handling water from such a source. The Village will have to purchase containers – the yellow ones cost $2 (non-discounted) for families to store a few gallons of water. Caleb says his order of accomplishment is, “filtration first; storage second.”
John Yacavone: Why haven’t you approached digging a well? We helped with such projects in Ghana and the Carter Foundation helped Rotary with cost and oversight.
Caleb: The dug wells I’ve seen in East Africa are almost all non-usable after 3 months. To dig a deeper well is a much more expensive thing. All over East Africa there are wells no longer productive or containing high levels of arsenic. In some areas the water table is drawn down so much that the wells are no longer productive. Wells on a small scaler are unreliable and expensive; on a large scale, water systems can become very expensive, especially if something goes wrong with the pumping machinery.
There are hundreds of these villages. I feel there’s got to be an affordable solution.
Garlan Hoskin: In 1966, when I was last in Africa, these same problems existed. I’m so disappointed in the governments which are not picking up on this problem. USAID put in hundreds of thousands of dollars to create good wells and I’m so frustrated that the problem still exists. We’ve done a lot for them and it just hasn’t worked.
Caleb – Maintenance on these things is extraordinarily low and they can be fixed locally. The biggest problem for E. Africa is that the population in 1955 was 8.,5 million; in 2020 pop. Is 53 million and they just haven’t been able to keep pace with the growth. Caleb’s focus: What can they do un the village without the government.
Other Rotary involvement?
Emmah found the nearest Rotary club to the village, and there’s a brand new Rotary starting in Kisumu, the nearest moderately-sized city. Emmah was planning to join that club, but her father said she’d have to come home from the meetings at night, walking 5 miles from the bus stop to home in the dark and it’s not safe. Alloys has been in touch with that club and will be joining them, so there may be a partner in that club.
Paul Tierney — Suggested that Caleb contact Walter Hughes about how he sustains the wells he has put in.
Cindy Jerome — I commend you for your efforts to help people in this community. Have you heard about Pure Water for the World? They face some of the same challenges and have made effective systems out of concrete produced locally using local ingredients and easily replenished materials. Water purification has many ramifications for children’s health and progress.
Book Donated in honor of Caleb Wolfe that will go to the children's collection at the Kilton Library:
The book is Almost Time by Gary D. Schmidt and Elizabth Stickney, illustrated by G. Brian Karas.
A tender father-and-son story about the passage of time, the change of seasons, and the excitement of reaching a goal.
Eager for maple syrup, Ethan can’t wait till sugaring time rolls around. And he can’t wait till his loose tooth falls out. But his father keeps telling him it’s not time yet, and no matter how hard he tries, he can’t make time pass more quickly. The closeness of father and son is evident throughout as they wait and then celebrate the end of waiting. The brief, lyrical text is illuminated by G. Brian Karas’s beautifully composed, evocative illustrations.
Bill Secord reflected that the book might relate to Cal's talk on the farming taking place in Emma's Garden in Kenya, as opposed to the kind of farming here in the Upper Valley.
Prior to the official start of the meeting we had conversation and storytelling about maple sugaring. Tim Guaraldi his pulled his taps as he and Anna were tired of lugging buckets of sap up the hill on foot. He will produce about 10 gallons of syrup. Bruce Pacht then chimed in with a story of sugaring in Canaan in the 70s. He worked for a day for a gallon of syrup. Changing the subject, a band aid was noted on John Yacavone's check. He had a small lesion biopsied and a basal cell cancer was found. Now that it is removed, he should be on the mend.
The bell was rung at 5:33 PM to call the meeting to order.
Bruce Pacht led us in the 4-Way Test
Ron started to introduce Caleb Wolfe, but Bill Secord said he would be delighted to introduce Caleb as he is Bill's friend and fellow weights lifter.
After Caleb's talk their was limited time for updates:
Golf — Ed Friedman said the next golf planning meeting will be next week, and two more have joined the committee! Foursomes from Red River and Banwell Architects will play. Members should be thinking of sponsors and players. Strategies for College also has committed to a hole sponsorship.
Our April 15th meeting at 5:30 will host the second round of our Area Speech Contest.
Brewfest — tentatively scheduled for Saturday, September 4; still unsure if we have permission from the City.
Centennial — Dave Crandall – We are narrowing down potential project list to three “feasible finalists” for additional research. The Centennial Committee will meet next week and report back to the club shortly.
Paul T – was speaking with Laurel Stavis, Lebanon Representative to the NH General Court. There’s an appropriation in this year’s budget to demolish the buildings in Westboro. Could this lead to a 100th prospect?
We will meet for the next two weeks at NOON on Thursday. Our speaker on April 1 will be our very own April Fool, Dan Affeldt.
Cindy bragged about the nice article in last Sunday’s Valley News on Covid successes of the healthy and vital folks living at the Woodlands.
Jane Mason fined herself a dollar for not being here to introduce Caleb, a dollar to thank JoAnn for helping Jane get onto the meeting, and a dollar to honor her father and Lebanon Rotary past president Pete’s 92nd birthday.
Dick Podolec of Hanover Rotary seeks Rotarians to work with Dartmouth Rotaractors. Talk to Ron Bedell if you are interested and he will connect you.
The bell was rung at 6:26 PM to end the meeting.
Announcements and Updates:
Epilogos Charities Update
Hello Friends of Epilogos Charities,
As we start to welcome longer, sunnier days in the Northeast the overall outlook in the country seems to be much brighter too! With the rollout of vaccines, hopefully in 2021 we will be able to begin to move forward from the effects of the pandemic.
That being said, Epilogos had a very productive 2020 thanks to all of our generous supporters, staff, and Board members.
Please read all about our accomplishments in this end of year report: Click Here
Rotary and the United Nations - April 6, 2021
CELEBRATING 75 YEARS OF ACTION BETWEEN ROTARY & THE UNITED NATIONS
This event is an international effort, hosted by Districts in NYC, Nairobi, Rome, and Geneva, with RI & United Nations direct involvement.
Some great reasons to share with your districts and clubs:
All ages event, a great way to connect with your Interact and Rotaract Clubs
Perfect opportunity for your Districts' RI Leads and clubs' prospective members to see a "power of Rotary" event, as well as our ties to the UN and the SDGs.
Amazing speakers, from RI, UN & more, including Tea Leoni, Unicef Ambassador.
A chance for clubs to learn more about international service and get ideas on the impact Foundation grants can have.
A chance to share YOUR club's efforts - Visit www.75yearsofaction.live to nominate your ongoing or future Rotary-led service project (deadline: 3 April 2021) to be featured during the live event. The goal is to offer the global audience opportunities to take action on or after 10 April 2021.
This live-stream event will feature notable service projects and offer “behind-the-scenes" talks with leaders from the United Nations and the Rotary world, as well as personal reflections from Rotary members of all ages- including Interactors and Rotaractors- supporting the Sustainable Development Goals through acts of service.
Attached is a flyer available for all to use if you want to share details of the event with anyone.
Also, if your club or district is interested in a multi-district international project, UNHCR Partner & Rotarian Founded Amal Alliance will be having an event on April 9th, partnering with Rotary to kick off fundraising for a project in Uganda's Nakivale Refugee Camp. (There will also be information separate from event on club/district donations for project involvement. Great way for clubs that don't know a lot about international projects to be involved in one!) Details here: https://go.rotary7230gives.org/rotary-amal
Date: Saturday, 10 April 2021 Time: 10:00 - 13:00 U.S. Eastern / 16:00 – 19:00 Central European / 17:00 – 20:00 East Africa Admission Fee: Complimentary Audio Language: English (subtitles in most languages, audio translation TBC) Live-stream Locations:Event Website (no login or app download required) Suitable for ages 12-years+
Riverside Park Clean-Up April 29, 2021, Time to be determined.
Bring park clean-up supplies e.g. gloves, rakes, tarps, leaf blowers (these always make the job easier), etc.
Rotary Foundation Gala, Celebrating our Foundation! — May 12, 2021 at 8 PM
Join Rotary International Director, Valarie Wafer, and Rotary Foundation Trustee Dean Rohrs the hosts for a Rotary Foundation 2021 virtual event. The program begins with our special guest, Rotary International President Nominee, Jennifer Jones, at the "Red Carpet" pre-event:
Wednesday 12 May 2021, 8:00pm ET (5:00pm PT)
This will be a ~60 minute fast-paced virtual Gala fundraiser for The Rotary Foundation. In addition to speakers from Rotary International, entertainment has been planned and will include:
Canadian Rock LegendAlex Lifeson...
Aleksandar Živojinović (born August 27, 1953) better known by his stage name Alex Lifeson, is a Canadian musician, best known as the guitarist of the Canadian rock band Rush.
From London UK, World Champion "Flair" Bartender Tom Dyer...
Tom Dyer is well known in the world of bartending, as one of the most, if not the most decorated flair bartender of all time. Tom, like many other bartenders, has worked in the bar and hospitality industry for over 18 years ranging from bar back to bar owner, bartender, supervisor, manager, and now school owner
From Colombia South America, Camilo the Magician...
Camilo has been a full-time professional for the last fifteen years. He has showcased his magic all across South America and North America. His world-class magic, unique personality, charming style, and amazing illusions have made him one of the most in-demand magicians in Canada
Pop/Rock performer Barney Bentall...
Barnard Franklin "Barney" Bentall is a Canadian pop/rock singer-songwriter who is most well known for his 1990s-era band, "Barney Bentall and the Legendary Hearts". Their most successful singles included "Something to Live For", "Life Could Be Worse", "Crime Against Love" and "Come Back to Me".
Purchase tickets starting at US$110 by clicking here
Bedell Golf Classic 2021 at Eastman Golf Links — May 27, 2021
Save the Date & Plan to Volunteer Before or at the events.
The golf committee up and running. Team leaders have been identified and will be reaching out to you with more detailed information and provide a brochure to be used for recruit golfers, sponsors and raffle prizes. If you want to help, let Ed Friedman, Golf Chair know. Everyone needs to begin recruiting golfers, reach out to find sponsors and raffle prizes. Raffle prizes don't need to be big ticket items, often we can group some smaller items and make it one prize. Once again, tee times will be used instead of a shot gun start. More details will be shared as the committee get rolling.
Boston Lot Service Project — Building Foot Bridges
Save the Date: SATURDAY MORNING MAY 29; START at 9 AM
Nine log bridges need to be built across several water drainages. The trail is the one that circles the pond and the pertinent part is the one from the picnic area clockwise on the North West side. Each bridge consists of 2 four feet long “sleepers” (like cross ties) and 2 six or twelve feet long boards to be nailed down with steel pegs.
The necessary supplies will be brought up 1 or 2 days before the 29th. The gates will be unlocked so we can drive up to the site.
Ideally we need four or five teams of 4 people each and each team should be able to build one or two bridges. The Conservation Commission will and the Hanover Rotary club may send a team.
Supplies needed: saws (chain- or hand-), large hammers, pry bar, shovels, straps, gloves, power drills, band aids, etc.. This is not a complete list.
The Co-vid 19 situation should be much improved, but social distancing and masks will still be recommended.
Rotary Invitation From Northern NH Rotary Clubs to Clean Up the Kancamagus, June 4th & Pinkham Notch, July 24th
Will be formally announced at our March 11th Meeting
To: Service Organization Partners
From: Northern New Hampshire Rotary Clubs
Date: February, 2021 Re: Rotary Community Clean-Up New Hampshire Projects
The Rotary Clubs of Bristol, Lincoln-Woodstock, North Conway, Ossipee, Plymouth, and White Mountains invite you to join with us to brighten up our area’s most scenic highways, byways, and trailheads.
The more volunteers we attract, the more impact we will have. We are looking for support from individuals, other service clubs and organizations, chambers of commerce, school groups, churches, municipalities, area businesses, and anyone who would like to join us as we Clean Up New Hampshire.
If you are unable to commit your body to a day of labor, we are happy to discuss other ways you can support our efforts such as in-kind or monetary donations. Our goal is to make these projects sustainable and far reaching for the benefit of residents and visitors alike, thanks to the support of everyone who cares about our communities! Also, working outdoors, COVID-19 safety protocols will be more easily enforced.
Our first undertaking is the Kancamagus Clean-Up Project. The date is Saturday, June 5th, from 9am to 3pm. We will have teams starting at the Kancamagus Highway height of land working their way downhill toward the towns of Lincoln and Conway, picking up trash along the highway in the rest areas, pull offs, and trailheads. We will be organized by teams and given zones within which to work. We will supply all that you need as well as a continental breakfast to get you started and lunch to keep you going. Our goal is to engage up to 150 Kancamagus Clean-Up participants!
Anticipating that our Kancamagus Clean-Up efforts will be successful, we are already planning for a Pinkham Notch Clean-Up Project on July 24, 2021, and at least two more before the snow flies! Please join our Rotary Community Clean-Up project. To participate, contact our Volunteer Coordination Committee Chair: BOB YOUNG YOUNGLAWFIRM@YAHOO.COM Thank you very much for your consideration in joining our efforts. We look forward to working with you as we Clean Up New Hampshire!
Please join our Rotary Community Clean-Up project. To participate, contact our Volunteer Coordination Committee Chair:
BOB YOUNG YOUNGLAWFIRM@YAHOO.COM
Thank you very much for your consideration in joining our efforts. We look forward to working with you as we Clean Up New Hampshire.
Mascoma River Clean-up
Ernst Oidtmann announce that Mascoma River Clean-up will be on September 25 is the date of the biennial Mascoma River Clean-up which will take place in concert with the Connecticut River Clean-up.
Rotaract at Dartmouth
If you want to be partnered with a Dartmouth Rotaract Student, Let Ron Bedell know and he will ask Dick Podolec to work with you to make the connection. Again the objectives for this partnership:
Help students learn more about Rotary; and you will learn more about Rotaract
Provide career advise and potentially mentor the student as they progress through their education at Dartmouth;
Be a resource to them as the learn about the Upper Valley and what our region has to offer; and you may learn more about what is offered at Dartmouth.
Provide an opportunity for your to learn more about youth perspectives.
Permit Rotarians and Rotaractors to work on each others club projects.
Members at the Meeting
Dan Affeldt
Marilyn Bedell
Ron Bedell
Paul Boucher
Michelle Buck
Hank Clarke
Karen Clements
Dave Crandall
Ed Friedman
Tim Guarldi
Garlan Hoskins
Will Koppenheffer
Cindy Jerome
Will Koppenheffer (tried to join the meeting but couldn't get the link to work, Sorry Will)
Joanne Lemieux
Jane Mason (had problems joining the meeting but finally made it in.)
Depak Niroula
Sharmila Niroula
Ernst Oidtmann
Bruce Pacht
Bill Secord
Paul Tierney
Steve Whitman
John Yacavone
Visiting Rotarian — Jimmy Brock (Hamilton, Bermuda) ( Gary Horsman (Woodstock, VT)
This year’s event will connect you, virtually, with members around the world. It will open new opportunities to learn and to engage with the family of Rotary, near and far. Together, we’ll inspire action, strengthen our commitments, work on our challenges, and celebrate our successes.
Visit the convention event page on Facebook to connect with other participants and share what you’re looking forward to experiencing with #Rotary21. The Virtual Convention is open to all Rotary members and participants, so invite a friend to join you or share the event with your community.
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LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT
Rotary’s Learning Center now available on mobile devices
You can now take Rotary’s online courses on most mobile devices. See our how-to guidefor detailed instructions or follow these steps to get started:
On your mobile device, use a browser to go to my.rotary.org and sign in to My Rotary.
Tap the ≡ menu at the top left of your screen.
Tap the plus sign next to Learning & Reference, and then choose Learning Center.
Go to your app store and download Go.Learn. Don’t open it from here.
Return to your browser. From the same Learning Center page in My Rotary, tap the link to the Learning Center.
Go.Learn works with iOS10 and later as well as Android 6 and later. Note that the app has some limitations, including in some of the interactive learning options. You will need to use a computer to download certificates or view additional resources. Links to the Learning Center may not work on mobile devices. Instead, go to the Learning Center through My Rotary, then search for materials or courses.
If you have trouble using the Learning Center in Go.Learn, write to learn@rotary.org.
