Meeting of July 3 reported by Heather Aked


President Jack welcomes new members, Wolf Schopper, Ron Gaudet,
and Ross McLaughlin

Apology to Wynn Taylor: Your editor failed to notice that Wynn was faithfully taking notes at the installation dinner, so I barged ahead and took brief notes myself and sent them in. Very sorry, Wynn. President Jack called on Jan Stirling for O Canada, followed by an Induction of New Members: President Jack inducted:

Wolf Schopper, iintroduced by Hans Ockermueller
Ron Gaudet, introduced by Ben Andersen
Ross McLaughlin, introduced by Rod Sim

Their Bio’s are in your e-mails (and printed copies were on the tables). Congratulations & welcome!

Grace was recited by Jan Stirling.

Visiting Rotarians & Guests, introduced by Tricia Timmermans:

Perry Bamji, Kingston, Professor;
Wilf Erickson, Victoria, Property Management;
Walter Wenterhoff, Ratingen, Germany.

Liz Banda Rodiles was guest of the Club;
Liz introduced her guest, her sister, Chella Banda Rodiles;
Doug B?. was the guest of Barry Mutter;
Carrol ? of Dallas (not signed in);
Jessica Lea & Rhiana Raesler of Therese Eley.

Walter Wenterhoff exchanged a banner from his Rantingen Club.

Announcements:
Mark Bedford - a request for more volunteers for the July 7th garage sale.
Heather Aked – a reminder of the social event July 8th – Lawn bowling
Tav MacPherson – presented a bookmark to Vicki Pitt in appreciation for the work that she did on Oak Bay Rotary’s by-laws.

Sergeant-at-Arms, Brian Lamb, has determined that this year there will be two collection pots rather than one and had Lori McLeod and Lorna Curtis circling. Dallas, Tav, and Barbara put in $2 for early departure; Lori and new member, Ron Gaudet, were fined for not signing in – there was some discussion about whether Ron was actually a member at sign in time but Brian felt that he should have circled back after being inducted. Fines were handed out to Mark (for being so relaxed now he is no longer S@A, as well as for leaving Brian with a bag of unclaimed items); Leslie (for escaping fines while she was away); Lorna, Dallas, Tav, Jack and Don. Not to mention the group fines and happy/sad dollars. The latter included Irene’s sad $5 for Scotlands’s loss. Happy Birthday was sung for Jan Stirling while Anniversary cards were given to Hans & Lesley, Heather & Tim and Tav & Diane. Finaly, Lorna won the draw but drew a black marble.

Jack presents his first mug (officially as President) to speaker, Jeremy Kinsman

Guest Speaker:
Barry Mutter introduced our speaker, Jeremy Kinsman. Jeremy spent 40 years as a foreign service officer including that of High Commissioner to London and Ambassador to Italy, and from 2002 until his retirement, the European Union.

Jeremy Kinsman ’s talk was about the Community of Democracies. The aim of the Community of Democracies is to bring democracy to the world without ruffling the feathers of those who resist. Democracy has made great strides in the last three decades, increasing from 43 countries to 90, and the number of non-democratic countries has been reduced from 69 to 43 over the same period. The numbers, however, have stagnated recently and some countries such as Thailand have gone backwards. Democracy is not easy – it’s a behaviour that takes time to learn. Also it’s a perception – many countries, e.g.. China, believe that there’s a hidden agenda when it comes to spreading democracy. England and France dislike American democracy because they perceive an agenda. However, no one would choose “unfreedom”.

The key questions are do ‘we’ have the right to help and do ‘they’ have the right to be helped. We should be a support to them, support their requests but not interfere in the business of their economy. Abuse within the borders of a country such as Rwanda lead to the creation of an initiative that enables the world to go into a country, as there is a responsibility to protect. However, even this has met with resistance and the principle could be used to justify an ‘invasion’ which was confirmed when America invaded Iraq.

The key point really is that democracy comes from within and that only non-violence works, as was demonstrated by Ghandi. Withholding consent is what works. The fears of non-democratic countries will be groundless over time. Relations have, however, to be repaired; you cannot have development without security, especially in the case of Africa where there are 23 million orphans….and in some cases, no police.

Mark Bedford thanked the speaker for his passion, career, interest and participation.

Kyle Danielson - Malawi Update