This Week...

August 30
Alan Dias
“Angel Flight”

Upcoming...

September 6
Assemblyman Mike Feuer

September 13
Steve Day, Don Nelson, and Richard Thompson
Senior Craft Talks

Leah Vriesman led the pledge and Ron Lyster provided the invocation

Guests: Bob Wessling’s BIL, Jim Compton from Sterling, VA, Roslyn Nelson with Don, and Mark Rogo brought his mother, Maxine

Announcements:

• Reminder of Sean's Memorial Sunday August 26 at the Museum of Flying and RSVP on website.
• Saturday September 8 there will be a dedication of reading to kids at Magnolia school in honor of Ernie Wolfe. All Rotarians are invited to come, remember, you must be vetted before participating by John O’Keefe or Ed Jackson.
• There is one parking space available at St. Alban’s to whoever replies to Don Nelson via email first.
• No Jamaica trip for the district in January because cooperation with clubs there have not been working out. Alternatively, members may attend the Peace conference in Honolulu or consider the International convention in Lisbon with Mark Rogo! FYI, there have been No alternative meal replies other than Cobb salad. If you are interested in meal alternatives, contact Pres. Dwight.

President Dwight showed a video of Bill Gates discussing our joint efforts in polio eradication and urged our continued contributions.  More polio plus info on club runner

Your Birthday is the first day of a 365 day voyage around the sun so Dwight wished 9 Rotarians Best Wishes to:

• Ed Gauld July 4

• Hank Heuer also July 4

• Peggy Bloomfield July 12

• Gordon Fell July 18

• David Friedman July 22

• Aly Shoji July 23

• Jack Paul July 31

• Mark Block August 25

• Jim Crane August 30

President Dwight introduced our speaker, Rotarian Tore Knos, PhD.

Tore Knos is a member of the Board of Directors of Disaster Aid USA.  He represents Rotary Zone 26, and he is now based in Venice. Tore has deployed to South Sudan.  Tore is the Past President of the North Atlanta Rotary Club.  He is a former Navy Officer SEAL platoon commander and he has traveled extensively in Asia, Panama, Mexico, Sweden and Costa Rica. Tore speaks English, Swedish and Spanish. He has a doctorate in Public Administration from the University of Georgia.

Disaster Aid USA is a Rotarian Operated Project. It provides shelter, clean water, everyday supplies, or four-room schools to survivors of disasters. It vows to be completely transparent and welcomes inquiries about how it uses donations. We are partnered with Disaster Aid Australia, and Disaster Aid UK and Ireland.

Our speaker provided details from his South Sudan trip in Feb 2012
South Sudan is the newest country, recently becoming independent from the Republic of Sudan, a country with a very large Muslim community.  There has been a constant 50 year battle for oil, as South Sudan is the main provider of oil to Sudan and China.

They have two seasons, wet and dry.  The Wet season runs May to Oct and rains EVERY day and then doesn't at all in dry season.  Everything stops in the wet season b/c you literally cannot move, drive, or work in the wet season.
The cell phone has been the greatest asset to Sudan: to transfer $, for basic contact, all business transactions etc. They completely skipped land lines.  You literally can land, buy a cell phone, SIM card and minutes and go!  Then simply change SIM cards if you go to a different country.

And although the infrastructure is poor and they have traffic and sanitation issues people are well dressed, you don't see poverty or begging. Also, the Sudanese people are very tall which, was surprising.

Shared many photos of daily life with compounds of family living where they were driven out for religious and power reasons.

New buildings have been constructed since Independence and they have a no gun policy. Our speaker spent $180 night for a rustic hotel (and he showed pics of how rustic)  Vehicles for sale went for 80-90k! This is what they can charge when there is no competition.

You really can buy any commodity there – it’s quite amazing.  For $55/each they provided a water sanitizer that lasts years.

Their organization is mostly supported by Rotarians.

President Dwight ended our meeting with a George Elliot quote:  “It's never too late to be what you might have been.”

—YOE Aly Shoji