FROM ROTARACT TO NEW WEST BOISE ROTARY CLUB? YES!!

Who are the people mugging for a shot in picture #1?  Why, on the left is Andy Wood.  In the middle is Rod DeArmond of the Emmett Club, a special representative to DG Terry Gilbert.  And on the right?  That's Melissa Weymouth who along with Andy just returned from a water filtration project in Peru.  Rod will serve as a mentor and organizer for the new club.

With the help of District 5400 and sponsoring clubs, these service-oriented young professionals intend to start a new West Boise Rotary Club.  This will be an energetic hands-on early-evening club focused on organizing Rotarians primarily in south Meridian and the Kuna area.

Energetic?  I should say!  The pictures above were taken a few days ago when Melissa and Andy were in San Felipe, Peru, where their Rotaract Club and Boise Metro have sponsored a guinea pig project for several years (Umm, good!).  The clubs have now turned their attention to a clean water project for San Felipe.

In picture #2, Andy pours water into a filtration system.
In picture #3, Melissa poses at the San Felipe School with two Peruvians, Wilmer (left) and Richard (right).   

REFUGEE GARDEN & THE ROTARY CLUB OF BOISE EAST: HUMANITY IN MOTION

(Picture #1:  Ray Frechette fixes a fence at the Refugee Garden on Saturday, June 25.  Picture #2:  Doreen Compton pots some plants.  Picture #3:  A refugee poses at the garden).  Picture #3:  Cameron McCown, potential member and volunteer, Rector David Wettstein on whose property the garden exists, and Ray Frechette.

ROTARY CONVENTION DAY #3: YES, WE ARE INTERNATIONAL, AFTER ALL

Today's report from the Rotary International Convention in Montreal is a simple one:  We belong to Rotary International. 

How do these pictures tell that story?  Picture #1 features three young ladies who could be from Idaho.    But, they are from England and Australia who arrived at the convention to participate in RYLA International. 

Picture #2 shows Carolyn posing with Mahendra Pal Singh, the charter president of Rotary Club 'Green' Greater Noida. 

The final picture shows Nigerians in native and Western dress.   (The gentlemen in the yellow hat is Prince Will who was our special speaker at the Sun Valley Rotary Conference.)


THE END OF POLIO IS NEAR
At the plenary session, we heard about polio from Dr. Bruce Aylward, head of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative whose headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.  Said Aylward,  "I have no bad news.  (tepid applause)  I have no good news (somber quiet).  I have TERRIFIC news (wild applause)."  He went on to explain that the end of polio is on the run and the vision of a polio-free world is within reach.  Read more at http://www.rotary.org/

QUEEN NOOR OF JORDAN
Stately Queen Noor, wife of the late King Hussein of Jordan, started her speech with these words, "Fellow Global Citizens."

ROTARY CONVENTION DAY #2: PEACE AND HOW TO ACHIEVE IT

At the second full day of the Rotary International Convention, the theme was peace and how to achieve it…one school at a time.

Greg Mortenson, the author of Three Cups of Tea, spoke about building schools in war-ravaged Afghanistan and Pakistan. And why educating females must be a top priority.

There is progress. Over nine million children go to school in Afghanistan and 2.9 million of those are girls. Ten years ago only 800,000 children went to schools, most of them boys.

But there is bad news, too. In the last three years, over 2,000 schools have been bombed or burned, especially schools for girls.

Why do the Taliban – “a criminal element or mafia” as Mortenson describes them – target girls?

He answers that question by quoting an African proverb: “If we educate a boy, we educate an individual; if we educate a female, we educate a community.” .

Educated girls do not want their sons to grow up to be terrorists.


"The real enemy is ignorance. The greatest fear of the Taliban is not the bullet but the pen,” he said.


“The ink of a scholar is greater than the blood of a martyr,” he said quoting another proverb.

ROTARY CONVENTION IN MONTREAL: VIGNETTES FROM DAY #2

"WHAT WE ARE IS GOD'S GIFT TO US;  WHAT WE DO FOR OTHERS IS OUR GIFT TO GOD."

From RI President John Kenny's speech at the opening plenary session today (June 20, 2010).

ROTARY CONVENTION DAY #1: CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION

(First picture:  African women at well collecting clean water.  Second picture:  RI President Ray Klingingsmith and Terry Gilbert, DG 2010-11.  Third picture:  L. to R.:  Malaika Wright of CARE,  Rusty Broughton, D5400 Foundation Chair, Nancy Gilbert, WASRAG organizer.)



Rusty Broughton, our Foundation Chair, I just spent a full day with 300 Rotarians passionate about water and sanitation and part of WASRAG (Water and Sanitation Rotary Action Group). Quite an experience.

RI president Ray Klinginsmith capped the meeting by remembering his visit to a slum in Nairobi, Kenya, home to over a million people, without roads, or clean water or toilets. What social explosion could occur there, he wondered out loud. So did I.

His story buttressed what I had been hearing: clean water is a life issue, literally. Over 1.5 million children die each year needlessly from diarrhea. The fecal matter from diarrhea spreads disease in villages that sickens or kills others.

Clarissa Brocklehurst, , Chief of UNICEF’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Section, was blunt when she said, “The problem is sh- - t!” (Now, should I put that in my blog, I said to myself. Yes, I decided because she might have been blunt, but it was a truth we should hear.)

We have unspoken behavioral and cultural expectations in Idaho that keep us healthy - - not using public waterways as toilets and washing our hands. (Okay, most, not all Idahoans adhere to these expectations except some cowboys I’ve known.) –Such ideas in an African village may seem strange. “It’s not the way we do things here.”

“Water and sanitation are technically easy,” said one speaker, “but culturally and socially complex.”

In other words, we must not only help build wells and toilets, we must help educate villagers about using both properly. (Don’t store your bicycle in the toilet stall. Actually use the toilet instead of defecating in the bush.)


Here’s another Idaho expectation: we send our female students to schools with toilets and will provide them privacy when menstruating. In an African village where schools have no toilets, parents remove female students from school during menstruation, disrupting their education. (No toilet = no education.)

As I sat through the meeting writing copious notes, I said to myself, “Is this the next end-Polio-type-effort of Rotary?”
From President Klinginsmith’s final remarks, I think the answer is clearly yes.

He said that the 2016 Council on Legislation will determine our next major project. And because of WASRAG’s passion and success stories, clean water and sanitation is well on its way for serious consideration.


(Passionate yourself about clean water and sanitation? November 19 is World Toilet Day. March 22 is World Water Day.)

Learn more…much more … at http://www.wasrag.org/.

Visioning and Rabbit Ears?

(After reading this entry, send Terry Gilbert an e-mail at glennsson@msn.com.  In the subject line, write "Rotary Prize."  All those who do will have their names thrown into a "hat" on Sunday, June 20.  The winner will receive either an official RI necktie or scarf [your choice].  We'll offer a different prize next week so keep returning to the blog for updated stories and prizes from time to time.)

Yes, the distinguished Rotarians in this picture are either flashing a peace sign or making rabbit ears to grace the heads of their fellow Rotarians.

Actually, this is a Nampa Rotary Club picture taken by Krista Cole, Visioning trainer, on Tuesday, June 15, when fifteen leaders gathered to envision the future. The Nampa Rotary Club is the 10th club that has benefited from visioning this year.

At the end of the evening, the club had generated great ideas to guide their future, including the goal of establishing Interact clubs at all Nampa high schools with an emphasis on ethics and 4-Way Test to develop future leaders.

The club’s challenge now is to go from great ideas to action plan to strategic plan.

Interested in visioning for your club? Contact either one of the trainers, Krista Cole (kcenter59@msn.com), Charles Weymouth (cweymouth@group-one.com) or Mary Reiman (mary@markserv.com). The District will put together a Visioning Team, help you select a date and provide the training.

Want to become a Visonary trainer? Contact Terry Gilbert (glennsson@msn.com or 695-9262). District training is scheduled for July 17 in Twin Falls at District expense.

Stephanie Meyer is District 5400 Ambassadorial Scholar for 2011-12

District 5400 is pleased to announce that Stephanie Meyer of Idaho State University has been chosen by the District Foundation Scholarship Committee to be the 2011-12 scholar.  Stephanie who was nominated by the Pocatello Rotary Club is majoring in anthropology.  She has set her sights on studying at Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand. 

Natasha Bortz of Twin Falls was selected as an alternate in case Stephanie cannot take advantage of her scholarship.

The purpose of the Ambassadorial Scholarships program is to further international understanding and friendly relations among people of different countries and geographical areas.  While abroad, scholars serve as goodwill ambassadors to the host country and give presentations about their homelands to Rotary clubs and other groups. Upon returning home, scholars share with Rotarians and others the experiences that led to a greater understanding of their host country.


Generous contributions from Rotarians worldwide represent a continued faith that today’s Ambassadorial Scholars will be tomorrow's community and world leaders.

Here Stephanie poses with the team (l. to r) of Gerry Beck (Twin Falls Rotary Club), Charles Lehrman, (Buhl Rotary Club),  Shari Stroud (Blue Lakes - Twin Falls Rotary Club), Dick Boyd (Twin Falls Rotary Club), Stephanie Meyer, John McGuire, chair (Boise Rotary Club), and Frank Lara (Nampa Rotary Club).