WASHINGTON, IDAHO, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Transcription

1 Rotary District 5080 Newsletter WASHINGTON, IDAHO, BRITISH COLUMBIA District Governor Elizabeth s Message - April 2008 Magazine Month Greetings Rotarians and Friends! Spring has sprung! Even though it feels like summer! There are only three more months to go before the changing of the guard happens at all levels of Rotary. Everyone said the year would fly by, but I really didn t believe it until now. April is Magazine Month. Some new Rotarian s thought it meant they had to go out and sell magazines as a fundraiser. Don t worry, not so! RI wants you to be aware of the magazines available to you for use in your clubs. For those interested in statistics, there is each month; about copies of the Rotarian are printed. There are about 410,000 subscribers in the United States. Canada comes in second, with more than 30,000 subscribers. India is third, with about 10,000 subscribers. There are more than 4,800 subscribers in the Philippines, and 3,800 in Japan. In Nigeria, more than 3,000 club members subscribe to The Rotarian. In Australia, there are 1,900 subscribers and almost 1,300 in New Zealand. In Finland, there are 1,000 subscribers, as well as 1,500 in Hong Kong and 700 in Indonesia. As for other RI publications there are too many to name, and way more than I m sure you are aware of. Visit the Rotary website at click on downloads and catalog and you ll find everything you ever wanted in publication. Basics is one magazine that is excellent for new or proposed members. Communications are so important! We can never communicate too much! So, besides the Monthly District Newsletter, I send my monthly DG Message out to all Club Presidents, and other Leaders in District The response has actually been outstanding, thank you! Our District GSE team is currently in Ghana and enjoying their time representing our district. The incoming GSE from District 9100 will be here this month. The teams will complete their tour of our district in the Trail, BC at our District Conference, so you won t want to miss meeting them. Speaking of District Conference..are you registered yet? I hope so. If you re not, go to the district website to register on-line or download the registration form. I promise that this will be a fantastic conference! Looking forward to personally greeting you! Until next month, take care of yourselves and each other. DG Elizabeth. Page 1

2 DISTRICT CONFERENCE - May 29 - June 1, 2008 Register on-line today at the District Website Music is a human expression. We communicate with music much like we do with language. Like the way we talk, music has tones, rhythms, and speed. Music also communicates on an emotional level. It can change the way we feel. Music is a very powerful gift that does great good for all of us. It is also a powerful tool to influence how you think and how you feel. Music penetrates almost every part of our lives: our rest, our entertainment, our education, and our worship. Throughout history, it has celebrated the triumphs and tragedies of life. As Plato said, music gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination. Music, Music, Music, that s what you can expect at Conference 2008! So, register soon, reserve your hotel room, and just to remind you of the reason for a District Conference: to highlight Rotary beyond the club level and to enhance knowledge of Rotary and share potential club projects and programs. As the Club Leadership Plan tells us, a successful club works to provide leadership beyond the club level. Here is the opportunity to not only enjoy some fantastic fellowship but to instill in your members, the excitement and value of knowledge beyond the club level. We promise to have something for everyone, great food, great music, entertainment, and inspirational speakers that the memories of this conference will stay with you for a very long time. Don t miss out!say, Yes, Yes, Yes, and come and share the enthusiasm and the commitment of many Rotarians at the 2008 District Conference. I am looking forward to personally greeting you there! DG Elizabeth. Page 2

3 De-mining Cambodia Story submitted by Don Miksch Richland Riverside Club I have been fortunate to have traveled on three Rotary International tours. The first two were in support of Rotary International s Polio Plus effort to eliminate the scourge of Polio worldwide. These tours took me to Ethiopia and India. The latest trip took me to Vietnam and the Kingdom of Cambodia to study and support the effort of Mine Action and their goal of elimination of personnel land mine s (PLM) and unexploded ordinance (UXO) left over from the armed conflicts in these countries. Worldwide over 10,000 innocent people are killed or injured each year by these indiscriminate weapons of war. Over sixty countries are affected by these weapons. Twelve hundred (1,200) people are killed or injured in Vietnam and Cambodia each year. Over forty thousand (40,000) have been killed in Vietnam since the United States left in It is estimated more than a million PLM and UXO remain in each of the countries. Most of the people involved are children and farmers. I first met Sally Mackle, Seattle 4 Rotary Club, Seattle, WA in 2002 when she spoke with our group before we traveled to Ethiopia. She was passionate about her involvement in Mine Action at that time and I vowed to join her effort when the time was right. This past fall I received a call from my friend R. Danner Graves, Seattle 4, (or as it became known: Seattle Pho) stating Sally was leading a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia and would I be interested. Naturally the answer was: Yes! Our group of fifteen (15) road weary travelers met up in Hanoi, Vietnam on November 4, Twelve were Rotary International members and two have since joined Rotary. All have the heart of a Rotarian. Hanoi is at a cross road between the traditional and western. My new friend, Dave Jones, past president of the Utica, New York club wrote the following for his local newspaper: The 5 star hotel we stayed in for the first 2 nights was much like an American primo. Just outside, however, was urban blight weaved between massive construction and dense Moto (inexpensive motorcycles) traffic. Women carry their produce to market in baskets balanced by a long stick on their shoulders. On West Lake, adjacent to the hotel, fisherman cast their nets from small wooden boats into water the consistency of the Mohawk River. A trip to the old market even for a no shopper like me was an eye-opener. From food (some still living), clothing (hand made options available), to jewelryyou name it you can get it at a negotiated price. (Continued next Page.) Page 3

4 .Continued from Page 3 Dave Jones was not only a joy to meet he was very helpful to our group when we visited the Seattle funded Prosthetic Outreach Center, Hanoi. Dave s career is making prosthetic devices to replace lost limbs; therefore, he was able to explain exactly how they are made and the degree of technology available in Vietnam compared to the U.S. About twenty percent of the prosthetic made in Vietnam are for victims of PLM and UXO. The bulk of the use is for motorcycle accidents. Dave and I visited the Cambodian prosthetics school in Phnom Penh and witnessed a land mine casualty receiving a replacement leg. In Sien Reap, Cambodia, the President of the local Rotary club has an old prosthetic device and Dave is sending new, more modern components to upgrade his leg. Rotary helping Rotary. Vietnam has a young population (over 60 percent are under 30 years of age) and it is growing over one million per year. Rice is a major export commodity as are shrimp and other fish. We were surprised to learn Vietnam is the second largest producer of coffee in the world. The people are very energetic and they have the second fastest growing economy in Asia second only to China. They treat visitors with great respect and seem happy. They have moved beyond the war and are looking forward. There is a great amount of building of infrastructure to accommodate not only their internal growth but to increase their booming tourist industry. As of our visit there are no Rotary Clubs allowed in Vietnam. Hopefully, this will change soon. Sally introduced us to several amazing NGO (non-governmental organizations) in both Vietnam and Cambodia. Peace Village is a state sponsored medical facility and school for physically and mentally handicapped children affected by Agent Orange. These children are third generation victims of Agent Orange that is still in the soil and water. East meets West runs a hospital and Village of Hope in DaNang, Vietnam, that provides housing for the families of land mine victims. Peace Trees does an amazing job of education to prevent people from coming into contact with land mines and unexploded ordinance. While in Dong Ha, Peace Trees took us on a two hour bus ride following the old Ho Chi Minh Trail to a site where a U.S. 500 pound bomb was discovered the day before in a rice paddy about 30 feet from the farm family s home. To get to the site we had to ford the Dakrong River on foot. When you take part in a Rotary International trip it usually becomes an adventure!! We spent two nights in Hue, the old Imperial Capitol of Vietnam. The Imperial Palace was heavily damaged during the war; however, it is still very impressive. We spent the first weekend in Vietnam at the Furama Resort a very posh place on the South China Sea just outside DaNang. Our next stop was Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) where some of us visited the War Museum and other sites in this booming city. HCMC has a population of 6 million people and 3 million motorbikes! One of the highlights of the trip for me was our visit with HALO TRUST in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Halo Trust is the largest of three NGO s removing land mines in Cambodia. They have 1,200 people working on demining in Cambodia and over 7,000 worldwide. Tim Porter is in charge of Halo s demining effort in Cambodia and he escorted us to one of their camps where we stayed two nights on bamboo hammocks. We visited two mine fields being cleared supported by money contributed by Seattle 4 and the Utica NY clubs. There are two teams...continued Next Page Page 4

5 .Continued from Page 4 of 8 de-miners and leaders for a total of 19 people supported by these Rotary Clubs. The mine fields are part of the K5 mine field along Cambodia s Northwest boarder with Thailand laid down by the Vietnamese Army in about The K5 mine field stretches for 450 miles and still contains hundreds of thousands of land mines. Halo Trust estimates it will take another 10 to 13 years to clear the field. A definite highlight of the trip to the minefield was meeting with the children, parents and teachers of the village about 300 yards from the K5 field. Our group had brought books, clothing, toilet items and small presents for the children. There was hardly a dry eye in this travel hardened group of Rotarians. This moment was worth the entire trip. You see, the reason for demining the area near the village is so they can live in safety and eventually expand their farms to help feed their children. This experience taught us one of the values of Rotary: Serving others. We had the amazing experience of visiting Angkor Wat, the world s largest religious temple. The complex is made up of many temples and a tour around the site is 18 miles. Angkor Wat is just outside Siem Reap and there are many very nice hotels. We stayed at the Somadevi Angkor Hotel which is owned by a Rotarian. There are three Rotary Clubs in Cambodia and a fourth is soon to be established. In Phnom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia we visited the Cambodian School of Prosthetics and Orthotics; the U.S. Embassy and the Don Bosco School for Girls. The Don Bosco School does great work with young women preparing them for the future of Cambodia. Most of the educated population and therefore, much of the knowledge base in the country were destroyed by the Pol Pot during their reign of terror. Because of the need for assistance, there are over 500 NGO s active in Cambodia. Our Sally Mackle taught at the Don Bosco School for two months earlier this year and is going back for two more months starting in mid January, The trip was terrific for several reasons: I got to meet and travel with a wonderful group of people. We all got along very well and some have become long time friends. We met amazing people doing extraordinary things for people under difficult circumstances. The cultures of Vietnam and Cambodia are distinctively different as they should be. The knowledge we gained of the problems and solutions to the land mine and unexploded ordinance situation will prepare us to help lead the effort to remove these devices so people the world over can live and work safely. Travel with a humanitarian purpose gives a whole new dimension to travel. With a little effort and a small amount of money we can all make a major change in the life of another person. Believe me, the children and adults of Lvea Village, Cambodia, will never forget the day a bunch of Rotarians came to visit. And we won t forget them. Page 5

6 Humor Matters Enjoy DG Elizabeth. The Things Children say! An honest seven-year-old told her parents that Billy Brown had kissed her after class. "How did that happen?" gasped her mother. "It wasn't easy," admitted the young lady, "but three girls helped me catch him." After the church service, a little boy told the pastor: "When I grow up, I'm going to give you some money." "Well, thank you," the pastor replied, "but why?" "Because my daddy says you're one of the poorest preachers we've ever had." Weird History Answers: Solomon had three hundred wives and seven hundred porcupines. The sun never set on the British Empire because the British Empire is in the East and the sun sets in the West. Queen Victoria was the longest queen. She sat on a thorn for 63 years. Weird Science Answers: Water is composed of two gins, Oxygin and Hydrogin. Oxygin is pure gin. Hydrogin is gin and water The earth makes a resolution every 24 hours. BIOLOGY: Q: What happens to your body as you age? A: When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental. Page 6