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News
Brighton Rotary News Jan 19 2022
WE ARE BACK TO ZOOMING
 
 
We have a Brighton Rotary Channel. Check out: https://youtu.be/1UCS-Ze-az0; https://youtu.be/o83riO_4YQs; https://youtu.be/an_aDx8L-wI
 
Our little story of From the Gift of the Heart:  https://youtu.be/UnV0ofDzWEY
 
Members: 8
 
Guests: potential new member Steve Sleightholm who is new to Brighton and Barbara Melara representing the Amarok Society
 
Correspondence:
 
1. A request was circulated earlier in the week to support residents at Quinte Gardens which is in COVID outbreak. The specific request is to write a note of encouragement to the residents.
 
 
Smile: blush
 
One evening last week a man and women were getting into bed. Well, the passion starts to heat up, and she eventually says 'I don't feel like it. I just want you to hold me. You're just not in touch with my emotional needs as a women enough for me to satisfy your physical needs as a man. Can't you just love me for who I am and not what I do for you in the bedroom?'
The next day the man opted to take the day off work to spend time with her. After a nice lunch they went shopping at a big department store. He walked around with her while she tried on several very expensive outfits. She couldn't decide which one to take, so he told her they would buy them all. She wanted new shoes to compliment her new clothes and he said, 'lets get a pair for each outfit.'
At the jewerly department she picked out a pair of diamond earrings. She was so excited. She finally said, 'I think that is all dear, let's go to the cashier.'
He could hardly contain himself when he said, 'No honey, I don't feel like it.'
Her face went blank and said, 'What?'
Then he said, 'Honey, I just want you to hold this stuff for a while. You're just not in touch with my financial needs as a man for me'to satisfy your shopping needs as a women. Why can't you just love me for who I am and not for the things I buy you?'
Apparently he is not having sex tonight either.
 
 
Announcements:
  • Past President Jack McFadden passed on Monday January 17th a little more than a month since his wife passed in early December.
  • Next board meeting will be held at R Emily's home on February 15th. at 6:30pm.
  • Diners and Duffers books getting close to printing for this spring.
  • R Liesje advised that ENSS teacher and Environmental Club mentors suggested student Jessica has been submitted to the Municipality to join the sustainability committee that R Liesje is a member of.
  • The Hoselton Rotary Friendship Tree will sell for suggested retail price of $39.95. Trees are now available for sale. R Liesje advised that the District Environmental Committee Chair has reached out to her about this program.
  • R Emily has contacted the local schools about Coats for Kids. There has been a request for additional clothing and she will follow up now that kids are going back and winter has arrived.
  • We will focus on and start planning for a spring 'on-line' auction. Go get donations!!
  • Saturday January 22 is a virtual District Membership 'Grow Rotary Zoom Workshop'. Contact Secretary or go to the District website for more information or to register.
  • Rotary Leadership Institute - RLI Part 1 starting Wednesday February 9th from 6 to 8pm via zoom and each Wednesday evening for 3 weeks to February 23. Ask Secretary for information or go to the District site to register.
  • Ottawa area Rotary is planning to host their Adventures in Citizenship virtually the last weekend of May. They are looking for students.
  • The Rotary Club of Trenton has an excellent candidate as an outbound exchange student beginning this September. They have two host families and are asking if Brighton Rotary and Quinte Sunrise Rotary will partner and support Trenton with host families? Logistics would have to be worked out for transportation.
  • Following Ann Falla's presentation last week concerning the ENSS Environmental Club and their Chique Boutique, R Chris reached out and has list of items they could use:
  •  
  • Food & Drink - Water, pop, drinking boxes, juice plus non-perishable foods such as granola bars and other snacks.
  • Baking ingredients would also be welcomed.
  • Clothing - Winter coats, light jackets, hand-knitted hats, scarves & mitts, boots, shoes, pants, shirts, sweaters, ball caps, shorts, skirts & dresses.
  • Hygiene Items - Soap, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes, toothpaste, sanitary products, dental floss, hand sanitizer.
  • Small Gifts - Puzzles, jewellery, lunch boxes, bowls, cooking utensils, a hot pot, towels, sheets, tablecloths, placemats. 
  • At this time, due to limitations on individuals allowed into ENSS, Anne has requested that R Chris receive donated items and she will collect them periodically for transport to the school. If anybody has donations for this excellent cause, they can be left with R Chris.
 
 
Upcoming Rotary Events:
  • D7070 Conference to be May 13-15, 2022 at the Courtyard by Mariott in Oshawa Ontario. Registration is $249 before September 1 and limited rooms for $129 per night. 'Be a Driver for Change.'
  • Rotary International Convention 2022 in Houston Texas June 4-8, 2022. Registration is now open.
  • Incoming RI President Jennifer Jones plans to start her year off with a two week cross Canada tour to showcase Canada to the World. She plans to be in the GTA July 5th and getting her hands dirty with People of Action projects and activities.
  • Go to District web site for more information on any of these events.
  • Check out the District Facebook Page, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin and Youtube channels to see what is happening in the District. Past Tuesday Talks available for viewing.
 
Song: No singing. We learned not to try.
 
Sharing Pot:
 
Happy Bucks: James leaving Tuesday to go to basic training, to be in Mexico with no snow, that there is only a little snow to shovel today and not a foot, not to drive a bus in the snow Monday, 'stay stressed, then give up', Amarok Society, to live in more rural smaller community and can still get around, dad drove school bus 'in the day' and kids at times would have to walk in front of the bus to find the road, out today snow shoeing in the park, if no snow - why have winter, Barbara's presentation, attending York in '70's and 'Women's Studies' and micro loans and ripple effect in economy, education the key.
 
Rotary Minute:
 
R Chris shared from the recent RI magazine about the link between Polio and clean water. In Pakistan, 53,000 children under age 5 die each year from diarrhea caused by contaminated water.
 
Khadim Solangi Goth, a community on the outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan, sits in one of the last remaining polio reservoirs on the planet. More than 40,000 people live in improvised dwellings made of earth or other found materials. For some, a cotton sheet is all that protects them from the hot sun and monsoon rains. “The poorest of the poor are living in this area,” says Asher Ali, the project manager for the Pakistan PolioPlus Committee.
What makes polio thrive in this place? The piles of trash and open sewers are one reason; the poliovirus gets transmitted through contaminated water. But another major factor is the area’s low vaccination rate. In a community whose basic needs aren’t met, residents see the polio vaccine as a low priority.
The polio eradication program has seen a boost to its credibility in the past couple of years, thanks to the installation of water filtration plants in Karachi and several other areas of the country, including in Khadim Solangi Goth in December 2020 — part of the GPEI’s effort to install a total of 36 such plants in Pakistan. Since 2012, Rotary members have been working to install plants through a variety of channels, including a partnership with Coca-Cola Pakistan, Rotary Foundation global grant projects, PolioPlus Partners grants, and partnerships with Rotary districts or other entities. More construction is in progress or in the planning stages.
Stories
Amarok Society 2022
R Steve introduced Barbara Melara:
 
Barbara has been the chairperson of Amarok Society’s board of directors for eight years. She holds a Master of Social Work degree, and has spent most of her career in the social service field. Her work history includes six years teaching in Belize. In Canada, she has worked with children, youth, adults and families in a variety of settings – a woman’s shelter, residential settings and most recently with a Children’s Aid Society where she worked mainly with First Nations people living off-reserve.

She is married, and is a member of the Lion’s Club of St. George, Ontario. She is active in the faith community in St. George. In addition to being the chairperson for Amarok Society, she sponsors the Amarok Society’s Libby Women’s School, named in memory and honour of her mother, Elizabeth ‘Libby’ Mayo.
 
 
 
 
Barbara provided a brief history of Amarok Society which was started by Gem and Tannis Munro in the early 2000's. They were in Bangladesh where Tannis was on an assignment and Gem was walking through the slums and saw all the school age children not in school. They learned of the barriers to education in the worst part of the slums. Often it is generational, the parents have no education and don't see need for the children to learn. Also a lack of access and cost.  They learned there is a hierarchy in the slums, some could access government schools but lower could not. Often young girls would be married off and go to live with the husbands family and boys would have to find work to help bring money to the family.
 
There model is to teach the mothers who in turn will teach the children. They rent small rooms to teach up to 20 mothers, starting with how to hold a pencil. The mothers commit to teaching at least 5 children what they learn.
 
They now have 23 schools. Often it is a fight to allow women to go to school to learn. But once it does, the women gain respect, to be able to help others, to have friends. Some are able to work outside the home and some to become entrepreneurs.
 
Teaching the children allows them to go on to government schools, high school and college proving they can learn and overcoming myth that the poor in the slums can't learn.
 
The mothers tend to teach the children with joy, stories and songs. They gained access to newspapers and can read the paper in the alleys and people will come to listen and discuss the news.
 
During the pandemic the women learned about hygiene, hand washing and some learned to make masks they could sell. Many of the common forms of employment fell away such as in garment factories and pulling rickshaws. There have been no deaths due to COVID in areas with Amarok schools. The mothers banded together to share food so that no one was left without.
 
Amarok has provided smart phones to the mother teachers.
 
Amarok supplies teaching supplies.
 
The children are eager to learn and often share their learning with smaller children and sometimes grandparents who never learned are taught by their grandchildren.
 
Marriage of very young girls although illegal happens but the women in the areas of the schools have pushed back and discouraged older men coming into the slums looking for young girls. The women are empowered.
 
Often to go to higher education, the younger students need a tutor and now Amarok have older children who can tutor the younger ones.
 
The women have learned to handle money, keep the books and work in shops.
 
They set up a kindness wall, where people would leave things they don't need for others who can use it to take it. This idea has spread to other areas in the slums.
 
They recognize 'women's day' and have 'We shall overcome' as their anthem.
 
We can help by supporting a mother / teacher for about $1000 a year, or a school for about $10,000 a year. Or any amount helps with supplies and school rental.
 
They have about 600 mother /teachers, 3,000 students and 23 schools presently and many students who have gone through the schools in the past 20 years. All there schools are in urban slums. Sometimes a mother/teacher moves back to the rural village she came from taking her knowledge and skills to teach the children with her.
 
They are making a difference in lives and the bigger communities.
 
Service Above Self