Meeting on Sept 18 2013
GREETER: President Elect, Lisa gave the inspiration after we sang the National Anthem played by Pres Chuck from a YouTube recording:
"Change: At the heart of resilience thinking is a very simple notion—things change—and to ignore or resist this change is to increase our vulnerability and forego emerging opportunities. In doing so we limit our options."
GUESTS:
Jeff Allen Past President of San Rafael Club
Kyle (husband of Pres Elect Lisa P). Thank you for joining us.
Ahmad Noshad (Contractor from Concord) interested in joining Rotary as well as participating in our Cuban Project
We had five speakers introduced by Paul B : "It is my honor and pleasure to introduce the Bay Area Cuba Community Alliance team with whom RCMS will partner and be involved in an exciting international project in Cuba. I am very excited about this because it completes a circle of my connection with Cuba where I went to school, grew up, and worked in Havana from 1929 to 1971. It is my honor and pleasure to introduce the Bay Area Cuba Community Alliance Team."
Nina B (Paul's daughter) grew up in the Bay Area. As a young person, she began working with and teaching under-privileged and homeless children in the community. She graduated from the New School University and Parsons School of Design. During that time she also lived in Cuba for a year in 2007. Nina was interested my history as being from raised in Cuba when I was a teenager.
Nina returned to the Bay Area to work with children and families living in underprivileged communities in Richmond and the East Bay, working to develop self-expression and strengthening family bonds through the visual arts, and using her Spanish to help bridge communication during family counseling and support groups.
Felix and Nina met in 2009, fell in love and began working on this Cuba project together! They are continuing to work towards short and long term goals in their community there.
Felix (Nina's husband) was born in Havana, Cuba, and lived there until he was in his early twenties, when he moved Havana, a very historically cultural area and popular tourist spot. You will be able to fine much about his group surfing the internet and YouTube.
Ernesto Moran, a Cuban national, who is currently the owner of Tropical Malecon Travel and Entertainment Company. He is also a Cuba Business and Travel Consultant. He had worked for the Cuban Diplomatic Corps for over 15 years, and served as a diplomat at the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C. The experience serves him well in his knowledge about other countries and the peoples of diverse cultural backgrounds.
In 1998 Ernesto joined the burgeoning Cuban Tourism as a professional Tour guide. Later started escorting hundreds of international visitors like Ted Turner, Jane Fonda, Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings , Dan Rather, Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, Sean Penn, Robin Wright, Ry Cooder (Buenavista Social Club),Tommy Morello (Audioslave), Peter Nyggard, The Kooks (UK), to mention just a few.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Past President Hank reminded us of the great speaker Richard King (P Pres of RI) at Well Fargo Center in SF on Sept 20th. This is a great event to attend and take a prospective member who likes to learn more about Rotary.http://rotarysfbayarea.org/Rotary/Pacific_Currents_Aug_2013.pdf (the information is on the PDF file or District 5150).
Pres Elect Lisa P noted the decision of the State of CA to defer all major SAR testing for a period to revamp the entire educational process -back to basics and not just test taking. The idea is to slow down the learning process and use essays and not just multiple choices.
Bill R reviewed his sailing event with Jim, Cristy, Barbara, and Stephen. .
Marlyn M explained the concept of Fellowship with the Flying Rotarians. She is a pilot and a member of the group.
SPEAKER Nina, Paul's daughter on theCuba International Project.
BACCA/ENM Presentation Notes: http://www.ecolonianuevomundo.com/
My name is Nina: I am a community educator and artist from the Bay Area. I live in Fairfax now with my family and my new baby Inti, after having lived in various places, included Havana for a year.
What to expect during presentation?: I am going to talk about four specific projects/goals we are currently working on in a special area in Cuba. Then I am going to briefly go through a detailed power-point presentation and talk a little about the current and historical and socio-economic context of the work we are doing. When we have gotten through the power-point, we will then open the floor for a brief Q&A. We have a dozen or so thumb-drives to give out at the end of the presentation with the power point saved on them, if you are interested in reading more in-depth about the project, and we have a few hands outs with an over-view of our organization and some info about a few of our current goals. To begin:
• What is this Project: Ecolonia Nuevo Mundo (ENM) is a a sustainable environmental community oriented empowerment project located in a beautiful /UNESCO world heritage site and National Park called Parque Nacional del Desembarco del Granma. It lies in SouthEastern Cuba in a community called Nuevo Mundo or New World. We are currently working towards realizing four main projects in collaboration with this community.
• 1) Water Works: The small colony of Corcobao (1,500 people) which lies 2 kilometers from Nuevo Mundo, (our project site) has had a dry well for many years. A decade ago, the gov’t began installing plumbing to bring water from an abundant well in Nuevo Mundo to Corcobao, but the water works project was never completed because the turbine was taken for use in another region of the island. We want to complete this stalled project by procuring for the community a turbine pump, two large water tanks, and the installing the remaining pluming. Walking two miles roundtrip to the nearest well, or paying to have their small house tanks filled daily puts unnecessary strain on the community. The pump would allow people to farm year-round, save residents’ valuable time and money, and build a necessary foundation for economic growth within the community, that would be otherwise impossible.
• 2) Super Adobe Earth Bag construction community center: Implement this building method which uses inexpensive renewable local resources to build a resource/information/library/education center, internet connection point, and workshop space. Most importantly, the center will serve as an Earth Bag training institute to teach this sustainable building method to visitors from the island and elsewhere. The presence of this institute will help to jump-start local economy via eco-tourism. The resource center will provice agricultural and youth empowerment, and serve to teach sustainable technologies that will widely benefit the region.
• 3/4) Salary for Bernarndo Pitaluga Alvarez: Community Liaison: In order for ‘Pita’ to move from Havana with his family and dedicate himself full time to assist, organize, and facilitate this project from within the island. The goal is that within three years he will be supporting himself by establishing a honey bee colony of 50 + hives, and organize a collective of local bee-keepers in the community. Honey is an important Cuban export, and is world-renown for its purity and flavor. Apiarists also make a good living in this region.
• Why we are here: Our non-profit organization BACCA (BayAreaCubaCommunityAlliance) is currently collaborating with the Nuevo Mundo/Corcobao community to carry out a number of projects aimed to create simple but fundamental changes towards the improvement of local conditions and provide the community with the encouragement and empowerment to sustain these improvements into the future!
• Why? Benefit? The Return on Investment (ROI) is huge: 24 Cuban pesos is roughly equal to 1 US dollar, so any donations go a long way to help this underprivileged community get on its feet and create sustainable economic developments with wide reaching benefits for this and surrounding communities.
• This is an excellent moment b/c of important changes in Cuba that allow individuals to participate in business for the first time.
• Because there is very little tourism in this area, this region is especially oriented around the peso economy, making the ROI even more significant
• What do we need to accomplish today? Fundraising!!! We are seeking funding, donations, and support of any kind towards the continuation of these projects,
Especially: Water Works Project, Earth Bag Project, and a fixed monthly salary for Bernardo Pitaluga, our manager and community liaison in Cuba.
• We are coordinating a week-long trip to bring folks out there so participants and donors can meet and interface with this Cuban community, bring needed supplies, such as donated cameras/computers/and school supplies to the area, and of course also see other parts of the amazing island.