On Tuesday we were given the pleasure of hearing from Dimitri Papanicolas, the fascinating story of how his Albanian Greek family ended up in the Belgian Congo, and of their many trials and successes there. His father was born to a Greek family in a small village in Albania, just over the border from Greece. In 1936, at the age of nineteen, with a grade two education, he immigrated to the Belgian Congo as an indentured worker/employee . This meant he had to work to repay his cost of passage, before being freed to work on his own Within a few years he was joined by his brother and together ventured in running a grocery back in the jungle. The business started to prosper and his father returned to Greece in 1949 to look for a wife. There he met and married Dimitri’s mother. They returned to the Belgian Congo where as a wedding gift a concrete floor was placed to the dirt floor of their first home. Dimitri was born in 1951, in the southern province of the Belgian Congo. His father and his uncle prospered in their grocery business and started buying corn, manioc, peanuts, honey, and packaging them for sale. They opened several more groceries in the bush to expand their purchasing power from the locals. In 1956, his family moved to Elisabethville (now Lubumbashi) for Dimitri to start school and to operate the flour mill and packaging facility that the Papanicolas brothers had built. The ex-Belgian Congo went though several coups and civil wars, during the 1960’s and Dimitri remembers well seeing dead bodies and people being hacked up in the streets during these uprisings. In December of 1960 he was evacuated to N’Dola in Zambia, and it was several months before he could return home to the southern Congo.
He remembers his early school years as being marked by mediocrity and his father worried about is future, and was thinking on how he will include him in the the family business. He was fluent in Swahili (the local language) and also Greek but struggled learning French. Fortunately, in Junior High, Dimitri came into his own with his introduction to math and science. He never looked back after that, and was soon popular as a study mate with both the boys and the girls. Another political uprising occurred while he was in High School and his father decided it would be safer to send him to a boarding school in Belgium. Dimitri had never experienced life in such a free society where he could walk around, chat and socialize with anyone. Unfortunately, he enjoyed himself too much, and failed the entrance exams for Engineering. His father recalled him to the Congo, where he lived at home for four months until one day his father made a pronouncement. He would have to go into the bush (about 800 km away from civilization) to manage one of the family businesses, and they would also travel to Greece to find him a wife. Dimitri did not think this was what he wanted so he made a deal with his father to return to school to become an engineer, this time in the Congo. During his time in University, in 1971, a university student manifestation took place and all Universities were shut down. Nearly all of Dmitri’s fellow students had to hide out in the jungle initially, that is when Dmitri smuggled them food and supplies to survive. Later they were forced to join the army.
Dimitri eventually graduated, but in 1974 his father’s businesses were nationalized and his family returned to Greece. Dimitri tried to find work as a mining engineer in the Congo (now called Zaire), but they would not hire him as he was not black, so he tried to get a job with the Belgian mining companies, but they told him they only hired Belgians. At this point he decided it might be best to get some advanced training and applied to several Universities in England and the US. Language again became a challenge as he had to learn another new language, English, before he would be accepted as a student. He managed to quickly become fluent enough in English to be accepted at Imperial College in London. He then tried and succeeded in getting a job as a mining engineer in Greece. He worked for several different mining companies but found that their ethical standards were not to his liking. His son Kosta was born in 1978 in Greece. He and wife decided that a move to either the US, Canada or Australia would be best. They ended up in Canada, in Wetaskiwin, Alberta in 1980, where they stayed with a cousin, helping out in his restaurant until Dimitri found a job. He was hired by Thurber Engineering, in Edmonton, three weeks after arriving in Canada. Over the years, Dimitri worked his way up in the company and had the opportunity to work on many different projects. They ranged from bridges, to tunnels, to buildings such as the EPCOR tower. Along the way they also became specialists in Environmental Engineering. Dimitri rose into management and led the company to expand from twenty-five employees in 1993, to over one hundred in 2002. He married Nicoletta in 1993. It was during his time that Dimitri became a Rotarian, and greatly enjoyed a chance to meet and get to know people outside the field of engineering. Dimitri is also the recipient of two Engineering awards, the Stan Thompson Award from the Geotechnical Society in 2013, and in 2017, the Lieutenant Governors’ Award from the Consulting Engineers Association.
His closing words were of appreciation for the standards of excellence and support that his family had provided him with, he thanks Canada for what it provided to his family, and the admonition to appreciate what you have, as it may not be there tomorrow.
For information, a movie on Netflix called “The Battle of Jadotville” ,gives a good appreciation of the situation in the Congo in the 1960’s. Our newsletter has also a video of Dimitri’s Lieutenant Governor Award acceptance.
On Tuesday, December 19, Carol Devereaux gave a brief introduction to the Paul Harris Society and the Rotary Foundation. The Paul Harris Award Society membership is presented to Rotarians and others who make a commitment to donate one thousand dollars or more to the Rotary Foundation annually. She presented two of our members, Ken Germain and Campbell Chow (not present in person) with the Paul Harris Society membership, as the newest members from our club of the Paul Harris Society.
Every year the Rotary Club of Edmonton Strathcona gives out six $1,000 scholarships to students who are all-round achievers; has shown leadership qualities by being involved in the life of the school; and provided service in the community while overcoming significant challenges.
These funds are raised by our club members who place a high value on education.
This year it was a difficult choice between two exceptional students at JH Picard High School.
With the assistance of Ms. Colleen Dunkley (School Counsellor), we decided to give each student $500.
I was proud to make the presentation to Neressa Wimberly and Adrien Ulliac on behalf of our Club on November 28, 2017 at their Awards Ceremony.
The photos depict the dedication and opening of a new footbridge in Rwanda, the bridge was built by Bridges to Prosperity, the construction of the $180,000 bridge was supported by many Rotary clubs including a $5,000 US donation from the Rotary Club of Edmonton Strathcona and another matching $5,000 US from District 5370.
Publ. You may recall Bridges of Prosperity was the Kerr's charity of choice after hosting the Hawaiian Feastlast year. The $5,000 was a rounded up number of dollars raised at that wonderful event.
The first trading opportunity is the first week of January
Welcome to the Rotary Hockey Pool For Polio Eradication, Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Edmonton Strathcona
Here’s some interesting facts about THIS hockey pool!!
Pool is limited to 330 participants, Entry fee is $30, Every entry automatically make a donation of $15 to PolioPlus, Every entry automatically adds $15 to the prize pool, Each team will consist of 3 goalies, 8 defenceman and 12 forwards for a total of 23 players, get rid of those underperforming or injured players during the 2 trade weeks incorporated into the schedule.
Test your hockey knowledge by building your own team from scratch!
To register click here: http://tinyurl.com/HockeyPool1718CLOSED
After registering you will receive an email with a link to the online pool.
Hockey Pool Rules are as follows:
Pool is limited to 330 participants
Entry fee is $30 Registration closes November 30th 2017 11:50 pm
Every entry automatically make a donation of $15 to PolioPlus
Every entry automatically adds $15 to the prize pool
Each team will be made up of 3 goalies, 8 defenceman and 12 forwards for a total of 23 players
** Teams that exceed the above player allocations will be deleted by Admin**
January 1-7th 2018 is a trade week, teams can trade up to 3 players
March 1-7th 2018 is a trade week, teams can trade up to 3 players
Prize Pool is allocated as follows:
40% of accumulated prize pool is paid to the participant with highest overall team score
20% of accumulated prize pool is paid to the participant with the highest performing group of 12 forwards
20% of accumulated prize pool is paid to the participant with the highest performing group of 8 defenceman
10% of accumulated prize pool is paid to the participant with the highest performing group of 3 goalies
10% of accumulated prize pool is paid to online transaction fees.
**Ties in any of the above categories will be split evenly among winners**
Our Rotary group has partnered in a joint venture with the Rotary Club of Pretoria to help raise funds for the New Hope School in Pretoria. Patrick Gibson has put together a presentation that he will be making to the other rotary clubs in our area to encourage them to help us with this venture. Our goal is to put enough funding in place for us to be able to apply for a Rotary International matching grant.
Patrick gave us the same presentation he will be making to other local rotary groups. It included a short introduction on the New Hope School, followed by a video that has been prepared by the New Hope School. The New Hope School has been one of the projects of our club for some years now, and most of our members are well aware of the work they do in schooling for handicapped children in the Pretoria area. They provide many services above and beyond the usual schooling activities, such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and many others, as needed by their students.
They receive only basic funding from the local government, so must fundraise to provide these other services. Some of the specific projects our funds could be used for would be a specialised playground, or programs to provide technical skills such as kitchen skills, nail and hair salon skills and sewing skills. Patrick has also put together a ‘Go Fund Me’ page on the web, on which people can get more information, view the video and make contributions. We will also be adding a link on our Rotary web page to this site.
As you may know RI President Ian Riseley is holding six peacebuilding conferences around the world. The first of these international conferences is close for your members to attend. On February 9-11, 2018 in Vancouver, BC. The presidential peacebuilding conference will examine sustainable global and local environmental practices, and their contributions to peacebuilding and peacemaking.
Participants will discuss the impact of environmental issues on health, fresh air, clean water, vegetation, and food production – and how improved environmental conditions are a fundamental condition of building peace within communities. The conference will bring together community leaders, youth, and representatives from the public, private, and government sectors. Attendees also can participate in a hands-on service project the morning after the conference.
There will be a focus on how Rotary clubs can involve their local community in sustainable projects and peacebuilding.
Members of any Rotary club are to encouraged to attend this important international Rotary event.
The conference website has a list of keynote speakers, link to book a hotel room, draft program and a link to the registration. Please visit: www.EnvironmentandPeace.com.
Rotarians from the US, Canada and around the world will come together at the Hyatt Regency in Vancouver for this conference. Will your club be represented?
Thank you for all you do for Rotary and your community,
Chris Offer, PDG for Rotary Peacebuilding Conference Vancouver
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