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Rotary Club of Marana
The day started a bit chilly in the Sonoran Desert.
Guests included:
Prospective member Beckie
Mary’s daughter-Lily
Randy’s wife-Deb
Janette Butcher- interested member
Announcements:
Randy. Gave out invitations to our November 9th Rotary Membership Open House. There will be three different kinds of meats, a wine pairing and “children’s drinks” for those of us who don’t drink
Richie- October 20th Days of Caring Project. October 20th 8am at Roadrunner Elementary School. Our Interact club will be there and brining 9 youth to help with the projects
Maeve- reminder about El Tour aid station on November 17th. Same location as last year. We need people to sign up and volunteer. The board voted to have a flag banner for the tour station.
Dan- next week we will begin our planning meetings for the Tour de Cookie.
Happy Bucks:
John is happy to be home. Forrest fires were a big issue
Mary- She was happy that Lily ate Javiers breakfast
Rachel is happy about visiting her best friend on earth as well as going to the Balloon Festival In Albuquerque.
Maeve- (from her 8 year old granddaughter) a knock knock joke about remembering her... we all didn’t
Bob- had a lawyer joke... out in the woods... the check is in the male....
People were happy for John to be home, the weather and our several guests
Our guest Janette won and then lost the raffle.
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Randy and Mary presented on their trip to Cameroon. For international projects there has to be two clubs. One is the host club (Cameroon) and the other is an international club (Marana). We write the grant and raise the money and the host club is responsible for oversight and implementation for three years. MAROUA is the capital of the Far North Region of Cameroon. The area borders Nigeria and Chad. In the river that they use for their water source there are people who was their motorcycle, rugs and clothes. They also use it to bath and use the area around it as a bathroom facility. This is a big reason why the project is necessary.
Millet is their primary food source. Millets are a group of highly variable small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food
We have two goals with the project: Economy and Education. We want to focus on education but we cannot get there without addressing the economy. When we asked the villagers as to why they want this issue fixed, the primary reason is money. They want their daughters educated and not married off at a young age. 15 is the legal age for young women to be married off and most are due to financial constraints on families in the villages. 30% of the Net proceeds will go to families to help defray a majority of the costs for families that can not afford it.
Sustainability is a long term goal of this project. Our project will get the village up and going for the first year. We will provide fabric, sewing machines, embroidery machines etc.
On the education side we need to do many things. The first is to build a well for the use of a garden to feed children. The idea is primarily for kindergarten students as they miss out on early childhood education because they can’t walk home to get lunch. We will also build 6 latrines for the school use. We will also buy 30 heads of cattle to provide milk for the students and eventually meat for the village. Finally we will be providing the school with supplies for their classrooms.
Richie
MCAT Student of the month is Kayla Hayes. Joining Kayla were her father Clint, Pricipal Denise Coronado and Teacher Mr Bowen. Kaylas has been a MUSD student for her entire education. She combats anxiety on a daily basis, but has blossomed in the MCAT environment, as did her sister ten years ago.Kayla hails from a family of seven and plans to attend Pima Community College and study Care Giving and/or medical field. She was presented with a Certificate of Academic Achievement and Harkin's movie tickets by The Rotary Club of Marana.
Kathleen Nabors advises there are currently a dozen students interested in Interact Club at Tortolita. They will be assisting in the Tour de Tucson Rotary aid station. Mary suggested the possibility of the Interact folks getting in on the Four Way Test scholarship opportunity..jpg)
Lynne-Ray and Blanche visited the State Fair and every time Ray would say "Let's go for the helicopter ride!" Blanche would retort "Ray, its $50 bucks and $50 bucks is $50 bucks."
Saad Allawi is an Iraq native, author, business consultant, software developer, mechanical engineer, Rotarian and today's speaker. The topic was Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) for Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. This therapy has been used for years in numerous countries. The patient is placed in a pressurized chamber with 100% oxygen piped in. There are two chambers in AZ one of which is in Tucson. The federal government allows it for wound treatment for diabetics and to treat people who have been poisoned with Carbon Monoxide. Proponets say it has numerous other uses. Presently there is a bottoms up effort among twenty states to receive approval for using this "cure" vs "symptom treatment" modality.
The Club welcomed back Randy and Mary from Cameroon project assessment trip. They arrived back in Tucson at 11pm last night after a 36 hour journey. They met with over 300 villagers, a hydrologist, a representative of The Ministry of women Empowerment and many many others. No sightseeing or fancy dining. This was a working experience. They were welcomed by the Rotary Club of Maroua. However, there was a distinct feeling that the villagers were suspicious of these two fair skinned foreigners. Randy mused that perhaps this derives from an historical perspective of white interaction in African continent. Buba Hamadou, the Tucson Rotarian and a Cameroonian indicated there is a cultural paranoia when it comes to outsiders. After our weary travelers have a chance to sync with Tucson time I am sure we will learn more.
Lynne had a segue for the ages. Following Randy and Mary's description of the very needy people in Cameroon, Lynne began with "On a lighter side a man had a heart attack". I kid you not, That's verbatim..jpeg)
Abigail Wilhelm spoke on the mission and vision of "free ever after" Bridal Boutique. Sex trafficking occurs when there is force, coercion or fraud involved in a sex act for commercial purposes. This often occurs at an early age and the victims are not aware until later that their choices in life were taken before thy knew they had any. Sex trafficking is ongoing worldwide and Tucson is no exception. Often sex traffickers will follow major events such as sporting venues and even the Gem Show. 
Caleb Hines is a K through 12 MUSD student. Mr Todd says Caleb is alert and attentive in the classroom and assists others in class and this is why he nominated Caleb for this award. Caleb intends to relocate to Nashville after graduation and become a tattoo artist with emphasis on "artist". He will be taking his guitar and possibly taking advantage of some "open mic" nights. With Caleb, Mr Todd and President Hunter all being guitarists and all at the podium together this writer was disappointed that NOT ONE thought to bring their instrument with them.
Janis Wilkom worked as a docent and met an elderly woman who needed assistance in order to remain in her home.This led Janis to Interfaith Community Services (ICS). ICS is a Four Star National Non Profit organization made up of 105 different faith communities in Tucson and surrounding area. ICS has four main avenues of service 1. Care Giving and Senior Services, the one Janis participates in, 2. Emergency Services, 3. Self-Sufficiency Programs and 4. Communiy Health Outreach. Space does not allow a detailed list of services, but I would encourage you to check out ICS at WWW.icstucson.org or call 520-297-6049.
