International Service Committee:  Yves Lassere announced that the next meeting of the commmittee will be at 7:15 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 24, at the Rotary International cafeteria.

 

Community Service Committee:  Ken Green announced the next date for the Evanston Lighthouse Beach Clean-up:  Saturday, Sept. 19, from 9 a.m. to noon.

 

Harold Bauer announced that Carol Pandak, our Rotarian World Traveler and a leader for polio eradication, is visiting us today.

 

We exchanged flags with Carol Wells from the Wilmette Harbor Club.

 

 

 

Bill Vernon roasted his wife who had a flat tire.

 

Neil Gamble boasted that his granddaughter is going to Argentina as a Rotarian Visiting Scholar.

 

Harold Bauer boasted the Evanston Art Center, at 1717 Central St. They have a new studio exhibit that is a must-see. 

Carol Pandak spoke about the polio situation worldwide. She told us the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has received an award for eradication of polio in Canada.  She also mentioned that Nigeria has had no polio for 1 year; Africa – none since August, 2011; No type 2 polio since November, 2012; and no type 3 polio since 1999. Pakistan and Afghanistan still have some cases.  International pressure is very heavy for eradication. These two countries are trying to reach all the children who are really being missed. She mentioned we will continue to immunize so that the disease does not come back.  We need more funding.

 

 

 

“Ravi” told us we are the first club he was speaking to casually. He told us a funny story about trying to attend a meeting in Germany. The president of the club told him the entire meeting is in German, and that he would not be able to understand anything.  Ravi gave him his card, and left. He wondered what the president would say when he discovered who the visitor was.

 

He told us the main difference so far since being president was the Taiwanese flag went down at Rotary International, and the Sri Lankan flag went up instead.

 

He said that he is an ambassador for Sri Lanka, and all the same things apply across the world. It is important that we bring an understanding of peace to one another world-wide.

 

He tells his countrymen not to judge the United States with any pre-conceived ideas. He considers this to be a big mistake. He also tells them we have Pakistanis coming to the U.S. for surgery. He also thinks Sri Lankan’s can learn from us.  As an example, he went to Pearl Harbor for a visit. He always thought it was a “Day of Infamy.” He found instead there was a lot of information about the Japanese side of the War. He feels in the U.S., we give both sides of the issue. He stated the exhibit at Pearl Harbor says: “Both of us were responsible.”

 

In the last three weeks as President, he has been asked what his legacy is. He wants to have the love and respect of his staff and the people working at Rotary International.

 

Ravi mentioned his work about opening toilets in India. India Rotary has committed to spend $80,000 on toilets in schools. The major goal is to make Indian children literate. In that country, children don’t go to school when there are no toilets. If we increase toilets, we will increase literacy because more children will come to school. We could transform a whole country. India Rotary is changing the world there. Ravi told us how proud he is of the Indian Rotary members.

 

He visited Mother Theresa several years ago. He saw a door opening and closing constantly. She told him that is “my toilet.” “To understand the poor, you have to live like the poor.” She had a passion to clean out toilets. She went to hospitals and cleaned them.  She gave a professional man the job of cleaning a toilet. He told her later that in those 20 minutes his life changed completely.

 

Ravi thinks for short periods, Rotary members need to step out of our regular lives – we all need to become a Mother Theresa.

 

Questions for Ravi from the audience included:

 

Neal Gamble: What country left a real impression and the greatest impact?

 

Answer: India.  What they are attempting to do is making a commitment to send 100,000 children to school. They are also making 100,000 adults become literate.  Clubs are doing “happy schools.”  They take broken down, old buildings, and re-built them into wonderful, posh buildings.

 

Neal: After polio, where do we go?

 

Answer: The end of polio is almost here. We must be prepared for our success. When that happens, we will have a lot of interested politicians. The savings in health care is about $40-50 billion. It’s a win-win situation.  We need to get ready to help others.

 

Harold Bauer: Are political leaders becoming more aware of Rotary and what they are accomplishing?

 

Answer: Not sure – our visibility needs to increase.  I don’t trust political leaders at all. If they cannot control things, they don’t care. However, I do want them to really see what we are doing and watch what we are accomplishing.

 

 

 

 

Jim Hardee, Nick Dallas, District 6440 Wilmette

 

Carol Wells (President), Pam Kerr (Past District 6440 Governor), J.S. Stanley, Puram Stevens, and Jackie McGuire, District 6440 Wilmette Harbor

 

Wally Bobkiewicz (President) and Jane Lawicki, Rotary Club of Evanton

 

Janet Brown (District Governor), Felton Page, George Tyson, Carol Foley, Lester Schoene, Don Duckworth, Joe Luquire, Sandy Duckworth, Chuck Davidson, Ronnie Chantkor, Juanita Cawley, and Peter Anderson, District 7610, Virginia.

 

Yvette Grave, District 1890, Hamburg-Winterhude, Germany

 

Ross Mathee (Assistant Governor, District 6440)

 

Jennifer Sultz and Mary Laura Jones, Skokie Valley

 

Marga Hewko, Rotary One. Chicago

 

Past District Governor Amko, District 3520, Taipei Southgate

 

Susan Stevens-Clarke, District 5510, Chandler (AZ) Horizon

 

 

Karen Bauer, Harold Bauer’s wife

 

Katie Peterson, Gary Peterson’s daughter

 

Myra Janus, Lincoln Janus’ wife

 

 

 

Gary Peterson, August 17

 

Dieneba Soma, August 20

 

John Searles, August 22

 

 

 

Lesley Peters and Gary Peterson

 

 

 

 

 

 

Erlene Howard, Collective Resource