Rotary celebrates World Polio Day on October 24th.  Nadia Troisi from the March of Dimes introduced polio survivor, Sanjeev from Pickering.  Sanjeev shared his journey of living with Polio and Post Polio Syndrome.  Listen to Sanjeev's Polio Story here

 

Just in time to celebrate International Literacy Day, RCLS Rotarians Megha Thakar and Joan Fisher helped the Grand Bend Rotary Club fill their 100th Container with school supplies which are now enroute to Durban South Africa.  It's great when Rotary Clubs collaborate on projects!

Thanks to London South Rotarians Anette Grue, Akhil Anthony, Kathleen Murphy and President Hector Silva Rodriguez along with Friends of Rotary, Carol and Joy, who prepared a meal  on September 28th for the families staying at Ronald McDonald House.

Cindy Benning, from the Rotary Club of St. Thomas was our speaker this week.  Cindy told us about the upcoming St Thomas Rotary Discovery tour.  This is the third year the club has put on this mystery tour.  The tour starts from Ferguson RV in St Thomas on Oct. 1st and goes on a secret route to visit interesting sites in Southwestern Ontario.  The tour lasts about 3-4 hours.  There are prizes for various activities such as putting and picture taking.
 

 

 

 

Our Kenyan contact, Deurence, reports that the launch with the sewing machines & additional menstrual hygiene kits went really well. There was a good show of buy-in by the Area Chief, local administration and parents for the work we are doing with your Club's support.  The girls have started the sewing classes.  This week should be their fourth weekend of classes. They do both cohorts on Saturday and Sunday to manage the large number that signed up. The school's account's clerk is supporting me with taking attendance and pictures/videos of the classes. The schools close in two weeks' time for a two-week break.
 

 

 

Rick Baker, P.Eng, ICD.D  a Waterloo entrepreneur created “Waterloo Intuition & Technology Corporation”.  They bring big-business experiences and innovative ideas to mid-sized businesses, offering consulting services for technology integration and problem-solving.  They assist business leaders in planning and optimizing Information Systems, promoting best practices, and enhancing governance and operations.

 

Rick is very active in the energy sector. He is leading an initiative where more than 50 senior energy leaders are collaborating in an effort to improve Ontario’s energy future.

 

Joany McDougall, RN, told us about her work with Samaritan’s Purse training nurses in Ukraine. She described training on her third deployment to Ukraine during the war.

Training took place in a parking garage serving as a bomb shelter. In the shelter 4-foot cement culverts tubes covered with sandbags were close at by in case bombs were falling in the immediate area.
Two training sessions took place seven days a week. Joany estimated her group trained 23,600 nurses in diverse topics. During blackouts generators kept the lights on and computers working. Topics covered in the training ranged from treating fractures, burns, ICU operation under difficult conditions, and other trauma situations.
An example of Joany’s burn training was shown. Simulated burns were placed on translators and nurses learned how to apply treatment and dressings in an appropriate manner.

Resilience of the Ukrainian people impressed Joany. Some nurses continued to serve their people despite being bombed out, losing family members and all their possessions. A picture of a bombed-out children’s hospital was shown that continues to operate despite partial destruction from cluster bombs.