THE LAMORINDAN 6/5

CHIEF RAY

Someone thought better about giving a Thought, so Ray Welles was called upon to pinch-hit once again. Also once again, he quoted Chief Seattle: "Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the Earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves. This we know -- the Earth does not belong to man -- man belongs to the Earth. This we know."

FROM DENMARK TO ROYALTY

Four years ago Michelle Pelletreau went to Logstor Denmark with Ernie, Barb, her brother David and the unruly crew from LSR. She also attended the Rotary International Covention in Chicago. So maybe as Rotary functions go, Camp Royal doesn't seem like such a big deal. But she'll find out that in fact it is when she goes for a week starting June 14th along with Owen Spahr from Acalanes H.S. Every kid coming back from there has glowed with new inspiration and has been enriched with new friends as observed by Rich Shearer several times as a chauffeur to and from the Sun Valley bus gathering. Congratulations on being selected Michelle. We'll look forward to an awesome report. Thanks are in order to Thomas Peeks for coordinating this annual outreach effort.

GO, BIG BLUE

Rick Ashburn's new badge was as blue as the headlines of this rag, as he transitioned from a Red Rookie with his report today on segments of Cliff Dochterman's ABC's of Rotary. Rick learned that Interact, for students of middle and high school ages, started in Florida in 1962, and by 2006 there were more than 10,000 clubs. Rotaract is for "responsible" men and women ages 18-30, and as of 2006 there were 180,000 members in 140 countries. Members are required to perform a major community project and a major international project annually. After going through this rigorous training, they all come out looking like Mark Roberts, who was a Rotaract president at USF.

Big Blue also applies to Acalanes H.S., and some publicity has been given to Becky Ware's response to the question, "where are you going after school's out?" To Argentina on a Youth Exchange, of course. This we already knew, but it bears repeating.

OLD AND YOUNG AND HAS-BEENS

Old John Fazel again announced the 3/4 Century Club luncheon event on June 10th. There will be 125 guests who either are north of 75 or have a false ID, plus Mark Twain who probably would have achieved the required age some time ago. Galley slaves should report at 10:00 for setups. (At this point, Rich Shearer was assessed a $20 recognition for some previous luncheon offense which undoubtedly was richly deserved but was subtle enough not to be noticed. Of course, Charlie Franklin had to pay the fine.) Ageless John then said he'll collect old running shoes for a Miramonte project benefitting Kenya. Mountain Man's been through a few of those shoes in his time.

11 months+ after Paul Fillinger's demotion, efficient secretary Chuck Yeager made a timely presentation of his Past President Badge. It just was so tough to let Paul go.

Prez Pat's demotion, a giant surprise as usual, will take place on June 26th (thereby qualifying as a post-TGITLFOTM), courtesy of two newer members who are getting older all the time: Dave Waal as host, and Dave Isenberg as culinary architect. The only question is whether Pat will attend, since he's miffed at Editor Ron Brown for purposely not putting his picture in the newsletter for oh so long.

THE ROTARIAN

Al Sevilla actually read it. He proved it by telling about some of the articles. "In the Time of Cholera -- Zimbabwe '08" went into some uncomfortable details including what causes the disease, the prevalence of sanitation and water problems in developing countries, the crushing number of cases and deaths, and the fact that 1/3 billion people lack access to clean water. Rotary is stepping up, although at this point the Water and Sanitation Action Group has not reached Polio Plus level. There's a summit on water each year in Birmingham, England. One interesting bit of trivia is that the first Rotary project (presumably in 1905) was a public toilet in Chicago. Thereby flushed with success, Rotary has since advanced to greater successes worldwide.

ANOTHER ROTARIAN, VERY INTO WATER

Benjamin Lawrance, of both the Rotary and the University in Davis, is about as into water in difficult places as one can get. Since 1997, he has been digging wells in West Africa. Actually this all started when he was a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar to Togo. Well, no, maybe it started when he somehow migrated from Australia to Stanford to study African history. Water isn't the only thing -- as a human rights advocate his interests have included the African slave trade, child trafficking, asylum and immigration, among myriad other social justice issues. He is a legal consultant on the contemporary political climate in Togo, Ghana and Benin. Recently he published a book, Locality, Mobility and "Nation", which did not endear him to the government of Togo.

Currently, helped by Rotary Foundation and Volunteer Service grants, five wells in Togo are being dug as a project of Districts 5160, 9680 and 9100. (The first number you presumably recognize; the latter two are over there.) One of the projects is with the Atakpame Club of Togo, which has 16 members including 3 women. This is their first matching grant project.

Why build wells in these places? The water table is low, hand-made wells run dry, the dry season is long, and of course water is the source of life. Benjamin described and showed graphic pictures of the existing situation, which is really beyond our imagination. Water sources include a public stream flowing down from the very public well, toxic cisterns, and deep unguarded (therefore death-trap in darkness) wells. Women walk six hours daily, oftentimes carrying water. NGOs and governments that build the wells tend to have poor technology and poor understanding of hydrology, lack training and maintenance, and are stymied by corruption.
Wells truly transform a community. Benefits, aside from the obvious health issues, include agriculture, cloth drying and weaving, animal husbandry the year around. And perhaps most impressively, a well built next to a school has been shown to guarantee regular school attendance. Instead of carrying water all day, girls can be educated.

Among professional construction activities are hydrology survey, engineering installation, water quality testing, operational water committees, and financial provision for repairs and maintenance with good accounting practices. Since in this culture women are designated water carriers they should participate heavily. Happily there are a few reliable local drilling companies, and Benjamin has found them. But all this doesn't come cheap.

It certainly does have its rewards for Benjamin. All is not grim. The beneficiaries of this work threw a big "Rotary Is Good!" celebration with ceremony and songs. Being King for a Day probably makes all that digging worthwhile.

Benjamin told us about Volunteer Service Grants, for which we're all eligible. $3,000 per person, or $6,000 per group, can be had to go anywhere to do a fact-finding mission for far-away projects. All it takes is the signatures of the sponsor club and host club presidents, and a showing that the necessary skills and experience are not available in the beneficiary community. Doesn't sound so tough, but may be more demanding than what your friendly politician has to show to justify a fact-finding mission.

VISITING ROTARIANS

Benjamin Lawrance, Davis (speaker)

GUESTS

Dominic Porrino - Guests of Krysten Laine
Joe Bettencourt - Ditto

CALENDAR

Three-Quarter Century Club Luncheon, OrindaCommunity Church. Wednesday 6/10 11:30 to 1:30 pm

Weekly Meeting Program: Economic update with Rick Ashburn.

Friday 6/12 7:00 to 8:15 am

Weekly Meeting Program: Exposing Paul Bettelheim & Rich Shearer.

Friday 6/19 7:00 to 8:15 am
Weekly Meeting Program:Pat's last day as Prez. See what he has to say as he leaves office and turns the reins over to Mr. Fazel!
Friday 06/26 7:00 - 8:15 am
TGITLFOTM and Pat's Demotion Ceremony at the home of David and Laura Waal.
Friday 6/26 5:30 pm until whenever!