The Rotary Club of Oak Bay

Program for May 16, 2006, reported by Ted Chambers

Ashley Heaslip, Joan Firkins, Memory Chazeza & Christie Johnson after the meeting

President David began the meeting by commenting on the recent District Conference. He was pleased that 12 members of this Club had attended. Pres. Dave was very impressed with the quality and substance of the various presentations, deeming the event to be most inspiring. Tom Lidkea played for O Canada and Les Canty delivered a special grace that was composed with today’s featured speaker and her theme in mind.

Rotarian(s) of the week were all the chaps who turned out to work on the Water Park last Sunday. Ted Chambers was called upon to accept the coin on their behalf.

Visitors, introduced by Mary Canty:
Memory Chazeza, our guest speaker, and Christie Johnson were guests of the Club
Ashley Heaslip was a guest of the Club, courtesy of Nels Granewall.

Mary then asked Nels to introduce Ashley, who is our latest Ambassadorial Fellow (for 2007/08). Nels, who was on the selection committee, remarked that this year was especially tough as all the cadidates were worthy of the reward. Ashley told us that she is graduating from U.Vic. this spring, and will then pursue an M.Sc. in Public health. To that end, she will spend 4.5 months in Kenya this summer, working in five refugee camps. No word yet (it is a little early) on what she plans to do when she takes up her Fellowship, but we can be sure that it will be put to good use.

Health of the Club: Barbara Bristol reported that Cedric Marsh is home from the hospital and is doing well. He expressed his appreciation for the card he received from the Club and hopes to attend meetings in the near future.

Announcements

President David announced that Oak Bay Rotary per capita giving ranked fourth during the past year in the district.
Tricia announced that the Rotary Magazine will publish an article on the Oak Bay High School Interact-T shirt campaign.
Tom Lidkea announced that work on Carnarvon water park was progressing well and should open Victoria Day holiday weekend.
Will Carter reported planning developments for the Oak Bay Tea Party weekend.
Mark Bedford expressed regret at the death of Al Pitter of the Salvation Army. He also has received a letter of appreciation from Ricard Bowles for the card sent expressing sympathy on the death of his father.
Pablo Diemecke thanked members for their support of the forthcoming Mexican evening.

Sergeant At Arms

Sergeant-at-Arms, Dallas Chapple, assessed her usual wide array of fines, including one to David Sills who had been referred to as a “gentleman”, Carl Jackson who, in the opinon of the S@A, needed a haircut, and finally Les & Mary Canty for sitting together at the same table. Birthday cards were given out to Henry Minto and David Maxwell.
Happy and sad dollars were presented by Mark Bedford, Les Canty, Joan Firkins, Ted Harrison, Leslie Rogers-Warnock, Carl Jackson, Barbara Bristol-Price, Irene Davie, Mary Canty and Rod Sim.
Angele Munro won the draw but drew black.

The guest speaker, Memory Chazeza of Malawi, was introduced by Tav MacPherson. Memory was accompanied by Christie Johnson of Victoria, a strong local supporter of Memory’s activities in Malawi. Memory has completed her Teachers College academic program and will graduate in 2 weeks time on her return to Malawi. Memory thanked the Oak Bay and other Rotary Clubs for their support of her community development efforts and her commitment to the education of young girls in Malawi. Those in Malawi are very appreciative of our assistance. Donations have been used to purchase additional food from Tanzania and for crop seeds. Her current goal is to increase educational opportunities for young girls in Malawi. Providing girls with a basic education is a serious problem. Generally, girls do not receive an education and she pointed out that the prevailing culture is not supportive of their participation. The prevailing pattern is that once girls reach puberty, they get married. She gave as an example the experience of her cousin. She was married at 14, is now 20, and has had 4 children and 3 husbands. The unfortunate truth is that husbands abandon wife and children for another partner. Memory has developed, in cooperation with others, a business plan for a girls secondary school that will also serve to raise the consciousness and feelings of self worth in girls. The staff will be Malawian and the school will provide places for 250 students. This is a large scale endeavour which require total funding of C$1 million. Oak Bay Rotary, it was pointed out by President-elect Tav MacPherson, is committed to support of the project. Ron Cooley thanked the speaker.

Christie and Memory share a laugh during the meeting.

Programs for May
May 23: Vocational Visit, Aberdeen, Lori Mcleod
May 30: Fifth Tuesday Social Meeting, Fish & Chips at the Snug

Roster May 16 & 23 2006
Greet/Grace	Greet/Intro	Bulletin	Intro Speaker	Thank Speaker
L Canty	M Canty	Chambers	Carter	Cooley
Granewell	Curtis	Davie	Diemeck	Edgell
Cashier: L Murray; 50-50: R Faryon

Join us at Noon on Tuesdays at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel
1175 Beach Drive, Victoria, BC, CANADA, V8S 2N2

Directions to Hotel

Our Roots Run Deep