The meeting was called to order by President, Dan Coons. In opening the meeting he reminded members and guests of the 2020-21 Rotary International theme - Rotary Opens Opportunities." He then recited the Rotary Vision Statement:
Together we see a world where people unite and
take action to create lasting change -
across the globe, in our communities and in ourselves
After introducing himself, he asked Wendell Jones to offer the Invocation, followed by Robin Harris who led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Rotary Minute - Colleen Coons
Colleen had found a long list of things Rotarians should know, and she narrowed it down to 50:
She focused on one thing that was new to her, but it sounded like she would be interested in exploring it further - #33 - Rotary Friendship Exchange. The activity, originally recommended by the New Horizons Committee in 1981, is intended to encourage Rotarians and spouses to visit with Rotarian families in other parts of the world.
It may be conducted on a club-to-club or district-to-district basis.
The idea is for several Rotarian couples to travel to another country on the Rotary Friendship Exchange. Later the hospitality is reversed when the visit is exchanged. After a successful pilot experiment, the Rotary Friendship Exchange has become a permanent program of Rotary.
The Rotary Friendship Exchange is frequently compared to the Group Study Exchange program of The Rotary Foundation, except that it involves Rotarian couples who personally pay for all expenses of their inter-country experience.
Doors of friendship are opened in a way which could not be duplicated except in Rotary. Rotarians seeking an unusual vacation and fellowship experience should learn more about the Rotary Friendship Exchange.
Some unusual Rotary adventures are awaiting you!
Introduction of Guests
- Chris Krueger introduced her granddaughter, Kailee Matras and her friend Olivia Ozenbaugh, who were visiting from Nebraska. Both are students at the University of Nebraska - Omaha (ONU).
- Guest Jay Stuckey introduced his wife, Melissa Stuckey. President Dan announced that Jay has submitted a membership application.
- Erwin and Joan Reimann were not introduced as guests, but were wished a fond farewell and safe travels as it would be the last meeting they attend before they head north for the summer.
- Dan Lamborn introduced DGE Jim Erickson who has also submitted a membership application.
- Two guests were attending via Zoom - Scott Ross (son of Steve Ross) and Ron Russell.
Raffle - Chuck Flint
Chuck explained that The large pot was over $1,400, the daily winner would receive $65 and the opportunity to try to draw the Ace of Clubs from the 14 remaining cards in the original deck. Jeanie Morgan was holding the eight tickets which Darl Andresen had paid for in advance using his winnings from the prior week. Melissa Stuckey pulled the winning ticket from the hat, and the other half of that ticket was held by Carla Krcmarik. The card drawn by Carla was the 10 of hearts, so the potential winnings will be bigger and the odds even better on the 20th.
Happy Bucks - Greg Okonowski
- Erwin Reimann contributed $20 for the number of meetings they would miss while away for the summer. They will not have good internet service where they will be staying, so will not be attending Mesa West meetings via Zoom. They do hope to attend meetings of the club Erwin transferred from. They also meet on Thursday for lunch.
- Chris Krueger contributed $30, happy to have three Nebraska friends at the meeting.
- Jim McGown contributed saying that originally, the meeting was supposed to be his last meeting with us until fall, but his wife announced that they would need to stay until after her hair appointment on June 1, so they will be heading north June 2.
- Ed Koeneman sadly announced that there are 953 days until the next StarWars movie would be released. However, he did have some good news in that Disney Plus has four Star Wars series on the way.
- Dick Myren contributed because he was sad to have missed the meeting the prior week, but happy that the reason he missed was because he was having fun with grandchildren.
- Allan Cady pledged $5 happy dollars because they sold their home for the asking price. He also pledged $5 sad dollars since he and Polly are now homeless.
- Warren Williamson contributed $5 confessing that he had a bag of cookies from Colleen Coons at a prior meeting. He left the meeting without remembering to take the cookies. He knew several other people were aware of the treasured bag and hoped that someone from the club had enjoyed them. Knowing Ray Smith had a sweet tooth, he was almost hopeful Ray had taken the cookies. Ray pleaded his innocence.
- Colleen Coons said Dan was getting very close to beating the record set by Past President Pam Cohen for bringing new members into Mesa West during her Presidential term. Colleen pledged $100 when the number of new members reaches 12. She also presented an $800 donation to The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona because she is happy with how far this quest has already come.
- Dan Coons pledged to add $900 to Colleen's $100 and donate total to Polio Plus if the total new members during his term reaches twelve or mroe.
Announcements
- Kayla Mudge has been approved to be the newest member of Mesa West Rotary, with a formal induction to be scheduled at a future meeting or club event.
- Nominations need to be turned in to President Dan in the very near future if anyone in the club wants to nominate someone for the District Champion of Peace Award, or if any member wishes to be nominated to serve on any of the District Standing Committees..
- Helping Hands kits were available for members to take and distribute to any homeless individuals they might encounter.
Program - Buey Tut - Aqua Africa
Chris Krueger introduced her friend. She and Buey attended the same church when she still lived in Omaha. The first time Mesa West heard from Buey was February 1, 2018 when Chris was President Elect. She had a dream of partnering with Aqua Africa in a global grant to do a significant water project in South Sudan.
For the benefit of some of the members and guests who had not heard Buey's story before, Buey shared stories about his life as a boy in Sudan. He remembered not seeing his mother in the morning and sometimes well into the afternoon. Every day she had to walk 14 miles to the Nile and fill two containers with water to bring back for her family. When filled, each container weighed forty pounds. After she returned, the water had to be boiled before it could be used.
Buey remembered someone coming to their village to drill a water well. That person handed out bottles of water that were clear. Until then, Buey thought the only clear water was captured rain water. He thought water was brown. After the well was finished and he mother could get water close to home, their life changed dramatically overnight. He remembered realizing his stomach pain was gone. Until they had clean water, he thought the way he had felt before was normal.
As a young boy, Buey and his brother were drafted into fighting in local conflicts. The older brother lost his life. Buey's father was from Sudan, but his mother was from Ethiopia. The family fled to Ethiopia. Buey's father became very vocal about the need to end children fighting in wars. He was imprisoned for a while as a political prisoner. Eventually, they had the opportunity to go either to Canada or Minnesota as refugees. His father chose Minnesota thinking it would be warmer. A later move - further south to Omaha - where they hoped for warmer weather. They were welcomed to Omaha in October by a headline making severe winter storm.
Buey graduated from the University of Nebraska-Omaha. He majored in economics and political science. He and his childhood friend Jacob Kohl founded Aqua Africa in 2007. They had a dream of helping their homeland and transforming the way aid is delivered to developing countries.
Buey said he has now been in America 21 years and highly recommends it. He became a US citizen three years ago. He and his wife are expecting their first child.
Earlier this spring, the Global Grant was finally approved by The Rotary Foundation. work on the project will start in the fall. Buey wanted to be honest with the club. He said there will be challenges. The political climate is more stable than in the past, but still fragile. There are supply line challenges. The location of the project in Maiwut is not accessible during the rainy season. Roads are not paved.
Aqua Africa's program director travelled to the community to get their engagement. Aqua Africa requires the benefitting community contribute 15% of the value of the project. Their contribution does not have to be monetary. It can be labor and/or materials. They have pulled out of projects where that commitment was not forthcoming. Buey explained that community investment is necessary to ensure that a project can achieve sustainability.
Because a water project changes the lives of women so dramatically, they work to engage the women and mobilize them into being involved in the management of the new resource. The incoming commissioner was Buey's platoon leader when Buey served in the army. The platoon leader was about 14 years old at the time. Aqua Africa tries to meet with leaders at all levels of governance, turning over all data to help them better understand.
Intitially on this new project, in May-July, they will be working to identify drillers - likely from Ethiopia. The will be drilling a larger diameter well to get higher capacity. They anticipate actually drilling in November-December, 2021. They hope to have progressed to actual construction from February-April. Buey acknowledged it will be a challenge to source needed materials. He promised to keep the club updated. He anticipates the total cost of the project to be $310,000. The Rotary funds total $203,000. Their administrative cost of $1107,000 will be covered by other fundraising endeavors. They are not going to wait until they are fully funded to begin. He said it is actually easier to raise money for a project in progress than it is for a project at the conceptual stage.
One of the unusual elements of what Aqua Africa does is help the benefitting community create a mini democracy to manage the new resource. They have done that successfully several times on smaller projects and know it works to ensure stability and sustainability. Aqua Africa phases their involvement out slowly during the early years their new projects are in operation.