Bulletin for May 2nd, 2019 President Lawrence Leung presiding.
Last week I stated that Mana’s talk was a testament to Rotary’s Student Exchange Program. This week, the meeting was a testament to Rotary International and to Rotary itself.
Guests and visiting Rotarians Moe Edwards, Jamie’s brother; Sherry Police, Jamie’s significant other; Bruce Hillyer, prospective member; Debbie Russ, friend of Jamie and Sherry; Fareen Samji, Burlington North; Sean Tomkins, outbound student to Peru; Anel and Mana, our two exchange students.
Student Exchange Reports
Mana provided each table with a bunny origami and stated that she had only 81 days left with us. Sad. She has just moved to live with Owen and Nima. She went shopping one day and visited another Rotary Club, this time in Oshawa. This was the 26th Rotary Club she has visited – quite an ambassador for Japan and our Club.
Anel reported that a few weeks ago she joined an Estonian organization and this past weekend she went to an Estonian concert where they sang Estonian songs and she talked to her fellow countrymen. She went to a RYLA dinner on Tuesday where she met other exchange students. She also went to the Taragon Theatre in Toronto.
Sean reported that he received a response from his contact in Peru and is busy working on his Spanish before going there later in the summer. He also participated in a Robotics World Championship on the weekend. They initially had a problem in that the robot wouldn’t work properly in the first trial. They got it working and went from last place in the first trial to 29th several trials later but they were too far down to qualify for the next level of competition.
Announcements
Fareen Samji reported that on May 15th at 11:30 Python’s Pit presentations would be heard at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre. 400 students will be participating. Everyone is welcome at no cost.
Mike Molloy reminded everyone about the Rotary Leadership Institute’s training program on May 11th in Cambridge. See Lawrence’s announcements for details.
Joe Watson reported that Lakeside is already 1/3rd sold out but they still need lots of silent auction items. If you have items see Joe or Catherine Brady. Sponsors are also needed – see Joe if you have anyone in mind.
Owen asked members to check Anel’s and Mana’s wish list to see if you can accommodate any of their items.
Rod Collard is still looking for people to help out in doing a spring cleanup which was sold in one of the silent auctions.
Alex Warne reported that there was a hosting dinner on Saturday with 10 coming.
Peter Thoem reported on a recent meeting he attended along with Owen and Lawrence of Men AS Career Coaches – HIEC. They were assigned to a table: 4 students and 4 adults in different occupations. They talked among themselves about goals, life in the work force, how they got there, how you get career traction, life experiences. They listened to speakers tell their work life story.
Mae Radford went to Mexico in February as part of a Rotary exchange. The Mexican Rotarians are coming to visit us in November and Mae is looking for hosts for these Mexican visitors. If you would like to help out – see Mae.
Lawrence reminded everyone about the Lifetime Achievement Dinner on May 23rd in place of our regular Thursday morning meeting. It is being held at the Holiday Inn. See Lawrence’s announcement sheet for more details.
Sergeant at Arms – Mae Radford
I won’t go into all the fines – just mention one fine that wasn’t made but is growing in amount. A certain individual was present earlier in the meeting and was to be fined but he ducked out without even paying an early departure tax. Oh, oh.
Rotarian of the week this week is Cuppy Katz. Cuppy is a long time Rotarian having joined Rotary in 1985, the year before our club was born. He joined the Hamilton Downtown Club but was a frequent visitor to our club for many years (named a Visiting Rotarian) before switching to our club on a permanent basis. He was quite involved with an auction fundraiser that the Hamilton club had. He mentioned that they raised $75-100 per year through the auction.
Guest Speaker – Jamie Edwards et al
Back in the late fall or early winter Lawrence Leong received a notice about a Rotary Motorcycle Trip in India organized and put on by Rotarians in India entitled Ride for Rotary. It was designed to promote International Fellowship among Motorcycling Rotarians. Knowing that Jamie was a motorcycle enthusiast he brought it to his attention. Jamie jumped at the chance to go and took along Sherry as well as his brother Moe and a friend Debbie Russ. Jamie had a slide/video presentation prepared complete with Indian music in the background.
They were supplied with Royal Enfield motorcycles. There were approximately 30 riders on 25 bikes. Jamie said that he hadn’t realized that you needed a Visa to enter India so he was delayed in getting there and got a leftover motorcycle with zero tread left on the tires. They visited a Rotary club (and sometimes two) each day during the 12 day trip. At each Rotary Club they outlined the projects they were undertaking with the local community. In almost all cases it involved education of the locals as there was little if any government supplied education. Rotary was the main source of funding for education in the parts of India they visited. Other projects were libraries particularly for children; homes and group homes for mentally challenged children; washrooms for female children and women; blood banks; homes for the aged - very poor, as well as many schools and medical facilities.
The trip covered 2400 km from Mumbai to Mysuru to Mangalore. They flew back to Mumbai and then home. It was held from January 14th to 26th 2019. Other participants were from Tasmania, New Zealand, Wales, Normandy, UK and Australia.
In the summation, the other 3 participants of the trip recounted how happy everyone was with so little. For people where families can’t afford to look after them, Rotary rounds them up and takes care of them. Rotary is almost a second form of government in India. The challenges of the trip – rough roads; pollution; real test of bike riding as it was described as organized chaos and some were tired of Indian food every day (I wouldn’t be in that group – I love Indian food).
After the meeting I asked who paid the majority of the cost and the answer was – the Rotarians in India. Apparently there are still some vestiges of the caste system in India and the Rotarians were very wealthy. The Ride for Rotary participants stayed each night in 5 star hotels owned, usually by Rotarians.
The following link is the video/slide presentation. It is a large file and while there is no audio other than music, you will see the beautiful clothing the women wear and the countryside and villages that the happy faces on many of the people.
https://jmedwards.egnyte.com/dl/UvKC2oW5Xn
Wayne Gowan thanked Jamie, Sherry, Debbie and Moe for their excellent presentation.
