ROTATELLER

 

Submitted by Will Arscott 

 

RYLA - Presentations from three student attendees

 

Update on Education Project in Nepal – Prem Sharma

 

The meeting was held in the Main Dining Room at the Saskatoon Club. Graham joined on zoom.

 

Our MC for the meeting was President Wendy. We were a small but enthusiastic group. 

 

Cashier was Donna Gauthier. Paul Gauthier handled technology. 

 

The meeting began with members singing ‘O’ Canada. The blessing was asked by Al Morton.  Al reminded us that the uncertainty in the world requires people of good will to step up.

  

 

Don Lepp introduced our guests. We had three RYLA students.  The junior camp attendee was Nirvan Sharma, son of our own member Prem. We had two students that had attended the senior camp, Sahasro Bhowmik and Addit Shah. They were introduced later in the program.

 

 

The club noted the passing of Nutana Rotarian Harold Chapman at age 106. Harold will be remembered as a true gentleman and a good Rotarian.

 

In happier news, a long-time member of our club Stan Hodgins was recognized at the recent civic Remembrance Day service. Stan is a WWII veteran and is 101 years old. Hopefully somebody will bring forth a resolution in our club to make Stan an honorary life member. He is now the oldest Rotarian in Saskatoon and the last WWII veteran in Rotary.

 

 

The tables at the craft fair were fully sold. Apparently, it was a fairly successful event.  We look forward to a more complete report at a future meeting.  Our thanks to Linda Petrow and her daughter.

 

The Rotary Foundation Potluck is scheduled for the evening of November 27 at Mayfair United Church. A club list was sent around at the meeting so members could indicate their attendance and what they would like to bring. If the choices don’t balance Paul may approach members to change their contribution. It should be a good time and the presenter will be ADG Brenda Banbury.

 

 

 

 

 

We were joined by three students who had attended RYLA this summer. Their attendance was arranged by Past-President Steve. The first speaker was Prem’s son Nirvan who had attended the junior camp.  He thanked our club for their sponsorship and inviting him to speak. He enjoyed the experience and learning leadership skills. He remarked that teens are often difficult to teach but the camp offered many varied activities that drew the participants out. The emphasis was on developing team skills and not operating as an individual. The most important skills that Nirvan learned was to keep calm and cooperate with others to reach a common goal. He would recommend the RYLA experience to his peers.

 

We also had two students who attended the senior camp. Sahasro Bhowmik and Aadit Shah are students at Aden Bowman. Both also have parents that are involved in Rotary. The senior camp lasted a week and was held at Clear Lake which is in Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba. When a third student was unable to attend at the last minute, they were the only two students representing Saskatoon. They both remarked on feeling a great responsibility to represent Saskatoon.  At the camp they were put into separate groups so they could not rely on one another and had to interact with new people from the start.  

 

The time at the camp was very structured with many activities and work responsibilities. The participants had to do daily chores and look after their space in the camp. They did things in groups and were expected to share with the group their feelings as things progressed. They made some very good friends quickly at the camp and were sad when it came to an end. The participants planned to stay in touch with one another.

 

In all our guests really made the case that RYLA is an important Rotary program and that our club should be doing all it can to support RYLA.

 

 

Prem is a member of our club, so a formal introduction wasn’t needed. Prem is from Nepal, and we have helped him with his project to offer meals to school children for the past couple of years.

 

Prem presented a great deal of information on this worthwhile project. Your scribe will make no attempt to reproduce the financial information. Unfortunately, there was no microphone available and some of the presentation was a little difficult to hear.

 

Prem explained that the project is about increasing literacy in a very remote and mountainous area of Nepal. He showed pictures of the farming areas in the region of Jaimini, and it looked more like Banff than any farmland on the prairies. Much of the crop is grown on very steep slopes.

 

Children only learn if they are in school.  It is difficult for families to send their children to school when they lose the labour the child represents, and they still need to be provided with food. The key to improving literacy is being able to offer meals to the children who come to school. When children receive meals at school, attendance improves, and children remain in school longer.

 

Prem’s project has enlisted the five Saskatoon Rotary clubs, the Rotary Club in Jaimini Nepal, and the Saskatoon Greater Catholic School division. The program also has an environmental component to favour environmentally sustainable local agriculture. The children in Nepal, like children everywhere, prefer foods that are familiar. This means the school diet is based on local crops. One specific new initiative is to partner with the National Nepal Goat Farming Institute to raise goats on an ongoing basis as a source of meat. Goats are suited to the steep and rough mountain terrain. This year’s plan included the purchase of 50 goats with a plan to increase the herd on an ongoing basis.

 

The total budget for the project for this year is about $36,000 Cdn. This covers the cost of teachers, meals, school clothes, and school supplies. It also includes the goats already mentioned.  This funding comes from a variety of sources. If you are interested in more detail, please contact Prem and he will be more than happy to share the information.

 

Our club should be proud to support this project and proud of having Prem as a member.

 

Adjournment. There is no noon meeting on November 27.