The Amarok Society's program to teach mothers who in turn educate young girls and boys in impoverished countries impressed club members.
Marana Rotary Club
December 20, 2022 weekly meeting
Laura called the hybrid meeting to order at 7:00 a.m. Laura started the meeting with a 10minutes social time wherein everyone enjoyed some casual conversation.
Announcements:
Laura introduced our guest today, Jay McCall, a Rotarian who has started many clubs, including the Dove Mtn. Club, during his tenure. Jay is considering joining our club!
Laura displayed the new tee shirts for the Marana Rotary Club. Very impressively designed.
Club members shared their experiences from the wreath ceremony at the Arizona Memorial Veterans Cemetery in Marana last Saturday. Mary and Don commented that the event was surprisingly well-attended (300-500 people) lasting over one hour. The ceremony was respectfully recognized the service of those representing our country while sacrificing their lives for our freedom. Don characterized the mood as proud. Mary shared that many people approached her to share their stories of loved ones. Beckie shared that we were very lucky; while the temperature was chilly, her relatives in Wyoming described the ceremony there taking place in minus 15-degree temps with the Boy Scouts having to shovel snow from the graves so that wreaths could be placed. Laura described the social following the ceremony at Dove Mountain Brewery where several northwest-side clubs gathered to share some refreshments. Laura liked the smaller social venue and suggested more of these gatherings should take place in the future.
Randy mentioned that the symposium on human trafficking, originally scheduled for April 8 was now moved to Saturday, April 15. While this date coincides with the Rotary service day, Randy emphasized that this symposium represented a service activity and hoped that attendance would, therefore, be high.
Next week’s meeting will be remote only and will address the club’s business.
Happy Bucks
- Peter was happily finishing up his tour in Chile, preparing to head to Great Britain for the holidays.
- Don was reporting in from Seattle where he was awaiting the arrival of his daughter and grandchildren for the holidays. Snow, mixed with rain, was in the forecast.
- Bob was celebrating the holidays in Virginia with family. He and Linda just finished with Xmas decorations. He will probably be back in Tucson in February to thaw out.
- Mary was finally getting into the spirit have finished with decorating her tree and baking for the arrival of family.
- Laurel, our guest speaker today, was shopping recently in Toronto with her husband, avoiding the Christmas shopping crush
- Mark G was joining from his iPhone on the way to meetings.
- Laura was happy that the school semester is ending.
- Randy had the greatest weekend ever in Las Vegas celebrating his son’s 50th birthday along with is granddaughter’s very first birthday. A fabulous re-connection.
- Beckie toured Winterhaven's lights and festivities with their granddaughters, where she found last year’s snacks in her coat pockets, attesting to how many times coats are needed in Tucson. And not missing the Utah winters one bit.
- Jay shared that the coming weekend would be his 50th wedding anniversary
- Harold was happy for Christmas coming, and family present. He reminded us that, as we complain about chilly temps in Tucson, his hometown of Liberal, Kansas was expecting minus 50 degrees chill-factor for the holidays.
Guest Speaker
Our guest speaker, Zooming in from Toronto Canada was Laura Schell; a volunteer for a non-profit named Amarok Society. "Amarok" is an Inuit native word meaning “wolf”. Amarok is an organization focusing on Bangladesh and child education opportunities. Their successful strategy has been to educate mothers so that they can fill the need for teaching children, especially young girls who are felt to be not entitled to educational opportunities under their cultural system. Laurel explained the detrimental effect of the dowry system on young girls’ ability to obtain an education, much less to lead lives with basic freedoms. Laurel provided personal examples showing how the strategy worked in empowering young girls and mothers to overcome cultural stigmas in preparing women to be empowered with education.
Another provocative speaker arranged by our organizer, Bob. Thank you for this insightful and uplifting presentation, Bob!