ATTENDANCE-

      Today we all chimed in with the Four Way Test.  We had 15 members present, as well as our two speakers and David Ayala and Luisa Godoy. Luisa keeps up with her busy life as an Exchange Student.  Convention coming up this week-end.

 

ROTARY MOMENT-

      John reminded us that Rotary is not just working on eliminating Polio. It also is involved in providing safe water, improved sanitation and hygiene education. He mentioned that in Ethiopia, there are 56 million people who do not have safe water. Most people spend an average of 6 hours a day collecting water. Also 54,000 children die in Ethiopia each year of diarrhea. Alberta Rotaries are quite involved in projects in this regard, with 21 locations having solar powered pumps, benefiting 16,000 people. If you have not read the article yet, check out May edition of the Rotarian ( Page 12) for the article.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS-

   Hoop-a-thon-   Make of the teams will be published Thursday. Remember that at 430 on Thursday, there will be an hour and a half practice for all team members at Strathcona Gym. A birdie tells me that the group may find a happy hour somewhere after all that hard work.

   Also Larry will send out an email with the second follow-up for our contacts on Thursday. Donations are slowly coming in, but we need to remind our people of the program and the need for donations.

    

Meeting location- The board is investigated our meeting site , whether it will be here at the Coast, or one of a couple of possibilities are being also looked into. More next week will be discussed on this.

 

Sargent at Arms took the day of this week, but I am sure everything was happy.

 

SPEAKERS-

    Dr Peter Wing , retired Spinal Surgeon and Claire Weeks, retired doctor and spinal therapist were our speakers.

We want to tell you about our exciting project in Nepal, where spinal injury can spell disaster in the absence of the supports that we take for granted. Pain, poverty and despair can be relentless companions of spinal cord-injured Nepalese.

But, with your financial help, we intend to alleviate their pain and turn their despair and poverty into hope and productivity.

We (Drs. Peter Wing and Claire Weeks) are retired physicians who specialized, during our careers, in the surgical and rehabilitation treatment of spinal cord injuries. On a 2009 visit to Nepal, we witnessed the crushing obstacles faced by spinal cord patients and their caregivers, and decided to help. On our return to Canada we established a charitable group within the University of British Columbia (UBC) Department of Orthopaedics, an affiliation for which we are most grateful. We are known as the Nepalese Spinal Cord Injury Collaboration or Spine Nepal (SpiNepal).

We have been working closely with colleagues at the Spinal Injury Rehabilitation Centre (SIRC) near Kathmandu, Nepal’s first and only specialized spinal injury unit. Our main focus is to participate in training doctors in the care of spinal cord injury. We have made four trips to Nepal since 2009. To date we have been self-funded but, as our objectives and commitments have grown, we now need help with some aspects of the project. We invite you to join us in this endeavour.

People with spinal cord injury (SCI) in Nepal have a much reduced life expectancy and, if they survive, SCI impacts every aspect of their lives.

 Ninety percent of Nepal’s population of about 27 million live in a rural environment several days’ walk from the nearest town. Most are subsistence farmers who toil from dawn to dark to earn a meagre existence.

People generally transport cargo on their backs in baskets or on frames suspended from wide fabric forehead straps. Enormous burdens of firewood, rocks and stones, building supplies, and fodder for animals are constantly on the move. The effort required to plant and harvest crops on thin strips of terraced fields on steep hillsides is staggering. This type of work is simply not possible from a wheelchair.

Transportation is slow and difficult even for able-bodied people. Buses have high floors with several steps up to the interior and are often overloaded with seating only on top of the bus. Small taxis are also impossible for people in chairs. The roads are rutted and pockmarked with potholes, usually full of garbage and without standard curbs to make access to shops easy. There are no curb cuts. Imagine trying to negotiate a wheelchair across a road, or trying to use public transportation to get to work, go to school, or visit your family.

 

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

 Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.    Margaret Mead