Lisa Scott, our own international Rotary Youth Exchange maestro, took the floor.  She provided a brief update on the short-term summer exchange, reporting that Jack Foster is now in Italy visiting Mario Rizzo, and that Lousie Mequignon-Lariviere recently returned to France after a wonderful stay with in Pagosa with Sarah Ross.

 

Lisa also reported that two inbound exchange students for the 2018-19 school year will be here this month, one from Denmark the other from Chile.  We will make their acquaintance soon, she reminded.

 

Lisa then turned to her principle topic for the day, the two Pagosa students outbound for a year’s exchange: Lauren Roland, ticketed for Denmark, and Savannah Vasquez, bound for Romania.  After Lisa’s introductions, the two girls took a few minutes to tell Rotarians about themselves.

 

Savannah went first.  She spent the earliest years of her life in Cape Coral, Florida, and moved to Colorado in 2015.  She relishes the fact that with the clear air here, one can see great distances, as much as 100 miles from a good vantage point, she said.  Local site-seeing, and the 4^th of July Parade are other big highlights cited by Savannah.  At the High School, she likes the option to take a variety of electives, and enjoys participating in cheerleading, especially the camaraderie.  And she said, the Proms are great, with everybody having a lot of fun.

 

Lauren, the daughter of a retired US Airforce Master Sergeant, also spent the early part of her life far from Pagosa Springs, moving back and forth between Tucson, Arizona and Germany, as her father’s post of duty changed.  With lots of experience of life in different parts of the world, and the associations she enjoyed with families from other NATO member countries, Lauren said she loves to travel.  When her father retired, she recalled, her family first moved to Missouri before settling in Colorado.  Moving here was a good choice, she said, for which she is thankful.  Here her family especially loves camping, and hanging out together (including the dogs, Lauren promptly added).

 

Lauren’s parents were in the audience, and when she finished her talk, expressed their thanks to Rotary for making it possible for Lauren to have the opportunity to participate in the exchange program.

 

Lisa then thanked Lauren and Savannah.  She told both they have “grown so much” already in the past year, and predicted they will be “great ambassadors.”

Speaker: Rotary Pakistan Project Beneficiary Mujtaba Haider

 

Internationalist extraordinaire and Rotary Foundation advocate Dave Smith introduced our speaker, Mujtaba Haider, and a guest, Anum Saba. 

Dave explained he first met Mujtaba, who was then a member of a group called Pakistan Wilderness, in 2004 in connection with a program then ongoing in a remote area of Pakistan.  At the time, Dave added subsequently, Pagosa Rotary wasn’t well versed on interactions with the Rotary Foundation, and he credits Dick Bond with conceiving the plan to gain the Foundation’s support for Pakistani relief projects, and leading the initial effort to raise matching funds. 

 

Dave said that Mujtaba has been active at least since they first met in efforts to bring the benefits of modernization to rural, mountainous Pakistan.  This summer, Dave reported, Mujtaba and Anum had come to the United States to attend a course at Harvard University, and had then come to Pagosa for a visit before returning.

 

Taking the microphone, Mujtaba told us the area of Pakistan where he works is not only remote, mountainous and poor, it is nearly inaccessible with no modern transportation (imagine the days a century and more ago of ox carts and Ellwood pass), no electricity, and no high schools.  The population is widely malnourished, without an adequate food supply, and has no access to health care.

 

But he told us his credo is “always dream for the best.”  And so, Mujtaba recalled, in response to a request to Rotary, finally a happy day came when a four-wheel drive truck was delivered to provide the infrastructure of what had til then been only a dream, a mobile medical clinic to carry health care to the area’s population.

Pat Love kicked the proceedings off with a “Zen” invocation: “When faced with two choices, choose one.  You’ll know!”

 

Kim Moore then led the meeting in singing, “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee.” 

 

Madame President Shellie Peterson then acknowledged the presence at the meeting of Barry Wheeless, after he and Treva moved away.  Typically bandaged up, Barry had a daunting list of health issues to deal with and more to come.  Betty Switzer vigorously solemnized the occasion with a celebratory cascade of bubbles, after she coaxed the  bubble machine to life with a stern shaking.  I was good to see Barry – at least the wheels didn’t fall off!  (Sometimes it seemed as if that was the only thing left.) 

 

Also recognized was the return after a period of absence of Jo Ann Laird.  Jo Ann, apparently (and thankfully), only had other fish to fry in recent weeks.

Next, Shellie bestowed Paul Harris awards, recognizing donations to Rotary causes, on Jo Ann (her fifth) and Neal Johnson.  Neal stepped up to accept his award without regard to the large bandage on his forehead, proving it’s hard to keep a good man down.

 

Shellie then passed along a message of appreciation for the 4^th of July Parade from the Pagosa Springs High School Class of 1978, which celebrated its 40^th reunion with a ride in the Parade on a flatbed truck featuring unrestrained dancing to period music (the Twist? No, that was 10 years earlier.  Disco???  Who can say; it all blends together for me now as rhythmic thrashing about, indulged in only in fantasies of days long ago.)

 

Shellie also announced the Friends of the Library Community Book Sale, to be conducted Saturday August 11 from 9 am to 2 pm at Centerpoint Church.  Also on sale will be CDs and DVDs.  Proceeds will benefit the Library.

 

Announcements were concluded with news of two upcoming Rotary events, a meeting of Rotary International Leadership training on September 8, a mere hop, skip and a jump away in Bayfield, and the Rotary District Conference in Cripple Creek, Colorado on October 4 – 6 (lots of interesting speakers, but if your interest should happen to wane, no problem: the venue is a casino.)

 

To help keep everyone occupied while awaiting these events, Shellie circulated a list of Rotary Committees, urging every member to join three.  (The list worked its way slowly through the room, as Rotarians evidently took Shelly’s request to heart, and only reached my table at the meeting’s end.   Fortunately, my task was lessened, because my name was already attached to something called the Public Relations Committee.  With baited breath I await discovery of what that is (perhaps it was described at a meeting I missed), but regardless of the details, fear not, I stand ready to pull my oar to achieve its mission.)