President Romeo opened the official portion of the meeting at 7:10 p.m. (slightly late due to technical difficulties) following half an hour of fellowship. Our guests were introduced as Haroun Ajisegiri visiting from Nigeria, Norm Binden of the RC of Brampton our guest speaker, Martin and Joy Ogang, Bassam (potential new member), Richard a returning guest and Jean Howden mother of Katie our current outbound student. O Canada was led by Rob, Carolyn both said Grace and introduced our guest speaker this evening and Margaret was the SAA.

Announcements: PETS I training is scheduled for Feb. 10 and Rebecca is registered to attend. April 14 is District Assembly and the Rotary International Convention takes place June 24 – 27 in Toronto. The District Governor’s event is set for June 23. Please visit the district website for more information or to register for these events. Kirsti reminded us of the Milton District Hospital Community Partners Appreciation event taking place this Thursday, Feb. 8 at Home 2 Suites Hotel. Tickets are now available through our website for our annual Denim and Diamonds spring gala. We are also now seeking donations for the silent auction and will be reaching out to all members in due time for 2 bottles of wine for our wheelbarrow of wine for the live auction. Rotarian Blanche Hinton is celebrating a milestone birthday and friends will be going out for lunch to celebrate if you wish to join in please contact Carolyn.

Program: Carolyn introduced Norm Binden, our guest speaker, the Chair of the District Foundation Committee who was here to present us with a cheque for $2,000 (USD) representing the district’s half of our $4,000 contribution to Kids Against Hunger. Following the presentation of funds, which were quickly handed over to Treasurer Sohail following a photo op, Norm donned some traditional Pakistani garments to share with us a slide show of his trip to Pakistan for polio vaccinations. Team members arrived through the day and night and were all personally greeted by the District Governor. All team members were “home hosted” for their own security. Norm was personally driven about by the DG and had many good conversations and learned that just about everyone is Pakistan has a friend or relative living in Mississauga! Many of the Rotarians from their district are planning to come to Toronto for the next RI Convention. While in Pakistan, Norm did about 20 make up meetings and found security to be very tight in Karachi and Islamabad with security gates, armed guards, screening points and security dogs. There were several “events” such as bombings and assassinations that occurred while they were visiting. Overall however he found it to be a very hospitable country, not a violent as had been projected. There they have a free hospital, featuring a rabies clinic, post natal intensive care unit although there are no incubators for babies at this time. They also have a blood donor clinic bus containing recliners and refrigeration units as well as a private hospital featuring a children’s cardiac surgery ward. There are signs for Rotary all around Pakistan, labelling on schools, squares, institutions etc. They are also very involved in the Literacy programs and hold a firm belief that improving literacy will solve many of their existing problems. The team visited a lot of schools, some were segregated between boys and girls and some were mixed gender. There were polio clinics established at trains stations, bus stations and even on the trains themselves. The volunteers found it to be a very emotional experience to administer the drops. Unfortunately Pakistan will not be cleared of polio until Afghanistan is and that is very difficult due to their resistance to the immunizations. All Pakistani cases can be traced back to origins in Afghanistan. The Taliban are attempting to thwart the efforts of the polio clinics by telling families that the drops will leave their children sterile. In summary, their trip was successful; literacy for the female population is key to solving many of the existing problems and with less than 24 cases of “wild” polio left in the region, they are next heading to Mexico to re-vaccinate and prevent the re-introduction of polio to that country.

Following Norm’s presentation we heard from Jean Howden, regarding Katie’s progress in Japan. Katie just moved in with her third host family, with each family speaking progressively less English. Having just turned 18 in December, Katie has found the support of all the exchange students to have been very important to adjusting in new surroundings. As of January, she is not looking forward to the end of the exchange and having to return home! I’m sure her own family will be happy to have her back home! Go to our district website and under “Youth Exchange” check out “Beaver Tales” to see what she has been up to!

S.A.A: Margaret found the pins and badges to be in good order, and had few fines to levy. Maitland paid in a happy anniversary buck for celebrating 38 years of marriage to Linda, and Martin and Joy paid in for their 41st anniversary!

50/50 Draws: In the instant win draw, Rebecca took home $9 and will be the next “fine master”. In the cumulative draw, Kirsti had the lucky numbered ticket but failed to retrieve the elusive white marble. Better luck to someone next week!

Meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p.m.

Dates to Note:

Thursday Feb. 8 – Milton District Hospital Foundation, community partners and volunteer appreciation night.

Friday February 16 – Valentine’s Social – Bowling at Champs

Please RSVP to Rebecca soon if you plan to attend!

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TEAMS

Team One

Captain – Rod McLachlanDec. 2017 and Jan. and Feb. 2018

Rubina Ali

Nicole Sylvester

Margaret Hamilton

Carolyn Keyworth

Maitland Spencer

Team Two

Captain – Vino KhimasiaMarch, April, May 2018

Ries Boers

Kirsti Fry

John Lintack

Rob Rubino

Team Three

Captain – Rebecca HunterJanuary 2017Sept. Oct. and Nov. 2017

Bill Hamilton

Sohail Naseer

Barb Saxby

Rick Saxby

Abiola Akinbi

Each team is responsible for setting up the room (this includes bringing a snack of some description to go along with our wine. You will be reimbursed within reason.), providing a greeter, someone to say Grace, someone to lead O Canada, someone to introduce and thank the speaker and to provide suggested speakers to Rebecca for the weeks that she lets you know one is needed.