Laura Introduced us to our very newest member, Andy Swarthout.  Andy carries a degree in Economic Geology from the U of A;  a degree in “prospecting”, as he puts it.  He has participated in an/or led Minerals Exploration from the tip of South America to northern points of Alaska and across the world.  In 1990 Andy accepted a 3 year assignment in Lima, Peru and ended up working and living there for 15 years.  In the Andes Highlands he discovered the largest undeveloped silver deposit in the world.  In 2000, Andy founded his company, Bear Creek Mining Corporation, from which he retired in 2017 but continues on the board.

 

Andy has had many adventures and discovered quite a number of mineral and metal deposits in his tenure.  He describes his business as high risk; with intrepid scientists, engineers, and field workers hazarding into very remote places.  His means of transportation have spanned from planes to helicopter to cars to busses to burros.  He has even survived a helicopter crash. 

 

Andy delighted in talking with us, however, not about his mining adventures, but about  the culture of his company.  Mining has a horrible legacy of indifference toward the people and environment where surface rights have been purchased.  Mining regulations have begun to move toward more responsible approaches to mining.  However, Andy’s company has led the charge with a model that stresses the company’s relationship with the public and the environment.  This model has at times put him at odds with other mining companies.  Andy illustrated this for us with, Bear Creek Mining’s relationship with the indigenous, Quechua people who live in the Andes Highlands where the company’s silver deposit is.   

 

There are approximately 25,000 Quechaus living in a 30 mile area at 18,000 feet in the Andes Highlands.  Their language predates the Incans.  They are a communal oriented, agrarian  people whose livestock mainly consists of llamas.  Their economy is based on their crops, their livestock, and wool of the llamas.  They suffer poverty, malnutrition, poor education, and high mortality rates.

 

Bear Creek Mining, Andy in particular, forged a trusting relationship with the Quechua community, listening to and coming to understand theer culture.  Over time, he had conversations with all communities members and leaders about their ways, their strengths, their wishes and  their needs.  Together the Quechuas and Andy developed a plan to bring the community out of poverty through improved health, education, and commerce.  

 

With Bear Creek Mining support, the Quechuas transformed themselves into a healthy, economically autonomous community. Bear Creek put effort and money into its success; it built green houses, schools, and bathrooms for the community at large. It also supported the development and implementation of a nutrition program in the schools and offers college scholarships.  Bear Creek even brought in a geneticist to evaluate and implement a plan for improved fiber from the Alpaca.  Subsequently, it provided business micro loans, mostly to women who have the creativity and know how to produce textiles, weavings, and clothing for sale. 

 

Quechua fiber went from bringing in $7/kilogram to $25/kilogram.  With their improved wool, business practices education provided by the Bear Creek, and microloans, Quechua women have become completely autonomous selling textiles known for being of the best quality in the region.  They even have Italian importers in their customer base. 

 

With their greenhouses and bathrooms and education about nutrition and sanitation, health has greatly improved in the Quechua community.    The mortality rate has decreased by 50%, respiratory infections by 25%, and acute infections in digestive tracts by 50%.

 

There has also been a 6-fold increase in school attendance with corresponding improved literacy rates.  There are even student who have been able to take advantage of college scholarships.

 

Andy shared beautiful pictures with us of the Quechua people and their lives.  In them it was apparent that the delight Andy exhibited in talking with us about the Quechuas was a mutual experience for them regarding Andy.  Andy, a relatively new Rotarian, is someone who built a business based on the principles of the Rotary 4-Way Test.  We are appreciative of the work he has done and proud to have him as a member. 

 

 

Submitted by Mary Straus, January 4, 2021

 

 

 

Everyone was in a cheerful mood on this chilly morning.  We were honored to welcome District Governor, Diane Ventura Goodyear, to our club. 

 

 

Assistant Governor Marc Snow introduced us to Diane Ventura-Goodyear

DG Diane’s Rotary highlights include: presiding of the merger of two clubs; being part of a Global Team in Uganda, where she taught technology skills to women; transforming District 5500 to more sustainable technologies, involving moving trainings to online and setting up cloud-based infrastructures.  These have benefited the district, clubs, and individual Rotarians alike. 

           

Diane was a computer professor and is a long-time owner of her business, The Computer Nanny.  In addition to her career, Diane enjoys embroidery, yoga, and her family.  She has been married to Gordon for 35 years and raised 2 children, both now  young adults

 

District Governor Diane Ventura Goodyear began with acknowledging the radical changes that were thrust onto all of us by the pandemic.  She lamented that she was unable to follow through with her plans to spend significant time with “our brothers and sisters” outside the Tucson area.  Diane encouraged us to continue to be cautious with in-person meetings, but also highlighted some of the benefits that have come from these challenges.

 

DG Diane shared with us RI President Holger Knaack’s Goals for Districts worldwide:

 

DG Diane further stressed with us the following:

 

DG Diane left us with the following:

 

 

 

 

Submitted by Mary Straus,

 

 

 

On this day before Veteran’s Day, our meeting began as meaningfully as it ended.  Peter Mack honored us with a video he recently took of the Raising of the Flag over the U.S. Naval Observatory, accompanying it with National Anthem.  A quick detour to announcements and then we returned to honoring our veterans. 

 

In John’s absence, President Elect Randy facilitated our meeting today. 

 

           

 

 

 

Randy joined the military immediately after graduating high school.  He arrived to sign up with the Navy and was asked if he wanted to be a Naval corpsman.  After it was explained to him that he could be treating wounded soldiers in a hospital in Japan or Spain, surrounded by nurses, Randy eagerly signed up.  I believe the words were, “Heck, yah.”  After Randy completed boot camp, he was transferred from the Navy to Camp Pendleton to serve with the Marines.  Randy experienced his first, short-lived, singing career while at Pendleton.  His commanding officer recognized his voice from his many times passing Randy singing Motown outside of the barracks.  Randy was “invited” (commanded) to sing in the Marine Corp choir, where he performed a solo in the Christmas program.  As quickly as it came, his career ended, until decades later.

 

Randy was sent from Camp Pendleton back to the Navy for hospital corpsman training where he received additional specialized training in neuropsychiatry.  Following he was sent back to the Marines for Field Medical School.  After serving  3 of his 4 year commitment without deployment, Randy received his orders to Vietnam and departed with the 1^st Marine Division in November of 1967. 

 

Once in country, Randy stood in a line for his assignment.  Randy had proven to be a soldier who tended to follow his own set of rules.  Young men/boys, 19 years and younger, were sent to the front because of their eagerness and recklessness.  To his commanding officer’s disappointment, Randy, at 21, fell outside the age cutoff, and was instead assigned to the 1^st Medical Battalion in Danang. 

 

Danang was a bustling military city.  Randy was sent to serve outside of Danang in a full service hospital where he worked in Trauma.  This was Randy’s first experience with the sheer overwhelm of the endless quantity of wounded, types of wounds, severity of wounds, and the body parts and fluids involved.

 

From Danang the 1^st Medical Battalion was sent to Phu Bai to work in a smaller, satellite unit.  From Phu Bai, Randy was sent with an infantry unit to Hue City. 

 

800 American soldiers were sent to ‘clear out’ 800 North Vietnamese soldiers (NVAs) at Hue City.  As the soldiers engaged in battle outside the city gates, the NVAs eased up their fire, allowing our soldiers to enter the citadel.  Immediately our soldiers were surrounded not by 800 but by 8000 VMAs.  The Battle for Hue City was a horrific battle that lasted 28 days.  70% to 80% of American soldiers were wounded or killed.  The USS New Jersey wouldn’t initially intervene because of cultural treasures housed in the citadel.  However, at length, it had to intervene as there was no other hope of our troops survival much less success.  Randy reported, “We won (the battle) but no one wins.”  As Randy shared this story, he revealed that he’s not done so before.  

 

After Hue, Randy spent 8 more months in the bush, finally returning home in November 1968.

 

Randy’s War Heroes were the helicopter pilots who came to evacuate and transport the injured and dead.  Easy targets, a pilot would come, get shot down, and another would replace him again and again, until the task was completed. One of Randy’s biggest thrills was, when being transported by helicopter, jumping out of the hovering craft and running into bush.

 

Randy “came home a mess.”  He drank a lot and was violent when provoked.  Randy was a middle weight boxing champ and engaged those skills.  He was spit on, called a ‘baby killer’ and ‘scum’, and was beaten up in a bar for being military.  He, and other Vietnam soldiers, suffered two traumas: “the war itself and coming home to hatred.”  Randy treated his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder unorthodoxly but successfully.  He has a love for veterans, knowing they have pledged a commitment to pay any price, including their lives, to protect us and our country. 

 

We are grateful to Randy for allowing us to even slightly comprehend his war experience.  We also thank Laura for such a thoughtful exercise.  Both brought us closer to comprehending the sacrifices demanded by democracy and freedom. We are indebted to all who have served and to the families of those who have and are serving.

 

Submitted by Mary Straus,