Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show October 22nd 2009

Writer: Steve Anderson - Photographer: Larry Madsen - Editor:  Jack Kelly

This Thursday's Program: Oct 29 2009 James Towery Where were the Lawyers?

Our meeting began, of course, at 12:15 as usual, but with a rousing goooooood afternoon, Los Altos Rotary Club.  I couldn’t help but think of Robin Williams in goooood morning Viet Nam.

Our greeters were KATHY BERRY, STEVE GRUBER and NANCY DUNAWAY.  LARRY MADSEN was the photographer.   LEW FRASER gave us the day’s thought which concluded with if you want to be really happy, be a Los Altos Rotarian.
 
Believe it or not, DICK DUHRING led our song  “I Want a Girl Just Like the Girl that Married Dear Old Dad” and hey, we sounded good.

 
A guest from India, who was the incoming president in her own club, greeted us.  Honestly I could not understand what she was saying or her name. l guess that’ll cover it. 
 
BILL BALSON brought the librarian from GARDNER-BULLIS SCHOOL (Jane Sanders) to present a check from our club, specifically from the Red Badge committee.  The total amount donated was about $29,000 which translates into 1200 books.  STEVE POMEROY just returned from that old favorite; the Avenue of Services BBQ in Hayward with another sack full of books donated by District 5170.  They were actually indirectly donated.  Ask STEVE.
 

Our newest member was indoctrinated:  STEVE BIANCHI sponsored by KENDRA GJERSETH was welcomed by our membership chair, JOHN CARDOZA.  We’re gaining ground on our highest membership number ever.  STEVE is a self employed Realtor who is a big fan of the 49ers and the Giants and is quite the sportsman.  WELCOME STEVE.
 

Yet more announcements.  JOHN SYLVESTER reminded us of the wine tasting party at AL TRAFFICANTI’S home on Friday, Oct. 30.  It begins at 6:00 and parking is limited so try to car pool if possible.
 
VAL CARPENTER announced the need for more handicapped parking spaces at Garden House.  Until they are painted, or maybe in lieu of painted spaces we shall use orange cones to indicate handicapped spots. 
 
PAST PRESIDENT SAM PESNER announced the coming Rotary Foundation drive in November.  Some have signed pledges earlier in the year.  Now’s the time to write the checks.
 
TATYANA KANZAVELI told us an amazing story about her own foundation, GLOBAL LEARNING FOUNDATION, a non-profit that works in her home country of Azerbaijan.  She was impressed by TOM FRIEDMAN’s “The world is Flat” which awakened her to the understanding that the world is very much inter related.  Her 501c-3 foundation began work in Azerbaijan.  She helped build orphanages and schools.  Her total so far is in the $7000 range.  She also encourages children to paint and brought examples with her.  They can be purchased with donations going directly into her foundation.  There is no administrative money withdrawn.  All monies go directly to her projects.  TATYANA would love to sell her paintings and/or accept tax deductible donations to continue to run her programs.  We have our own “3 Cups of Tea” story in our club.  For you geography buffs, Azerbaijan borders Iran and is on the Caspian Sea.
 

Fine master CINDY LUEDTKE had her way with the club.  JERRY MOISON got tagged for his comment that if Elks are so good at sex, why are we Rotarians.  Others nicked were KAILAS, FLEMING, GESSERT (for being 25!!!!), GRUBER, FICK, and RICHES.  Scott also gave a public service announcement:  The Chamber Mixer on Wed. Oct. 28 will be at the brand new Pinewood school on Fremont from 5-7 PM.  Ya’ll come now, here!
 

Our speaker was Dr. Bill Evers of the Hoover Institution.  Bill has many years of experience in education and politics and we were eager to hear what he had to say to our club. 
 
Unfortunately, he did not present his graphs and stats on a power point but held up his graphs.  No one could see any details; that was disappointing for his audience. 
 
However his talk was great.  He titled it “how to deal with education problems in California”.  He began by going back to the 1920s and stated that since that time, spending on education is way up, class sizes are down but education results are flat.  That is a productivity problem.  All stats are showing productivity problems in California; including comparison of whites to blacks, black/Hispanic to whites, children with both parents college graduates.  And, California is at the bottom of the list of states. He emphasized that more money does not seem to guarantee success either.  A district in Sausalito increased its dollars per student ratio from 10K per student to 25K.  It did not do any good.  He emphasized that teachers are not the problem; it seems they are getting better and yet the student’s work is not improving. 
 
Intelligence testing and comparisons have not changed significantly since the 1960s.  This means the kids are the same, but their progress is declining.  Another interesting study he mentioned was comparisons of two school districts.  Two were in Palo Alto, a relatively high income area and the comparison schools were 2 districts in Englewood, a low income mostly black neighborhood.  Math and English were tested and the achievement tests were nearly equal. 
 
He feels teachers should be paid on an incentive basis, but sadly they are paid on seniority and post grad work registered.  The education testing standards are coming up for renewal in 2010 and there are many opposing views as to what should be done. 
 
The voucher system has gotten a lot of interest in the past few years.  It was tried in a Washington DC district and was very successful, but it is now dying out.  The reasons for this were not mentioned. In that district a child and parent can change schools if on the first day of school it is apparent that school is dying on the vine.  He mentioned that this is not enough time to change schools for anyone. 
 
Bill did not offer ideas about what changes need to be made.  He did feel incentive pay for teachers would help. 
 

ALLART LIGTENBERG IN NEPAL:  Here is a compilation of emails from our own ALART LIGTENBERG who is in Nepal doing the work of Rotary:

2 days ago I had a great long day visiting Balambu Village discussing the Matching Grant project which application was entered to TRF (The Rotary Foundation) before August 15, but which was rejected due to TRF running out of money. 
 
The FOST members (who train and implement many of our projects) and I got a very nice reception by an enthusiastic women's development committee that was dressed in classic Newari custom cloths. This group is highly motivated to do projects in solar cooking, water pasteurization, biomass briquette pressing/business, stoves, and solar drying for household mushroom growing businesses.
 
They have been jealous of other villages where we implemented projects. Our lunch was cooked with 3 briquette stoves with briquettes made by one family. Off course they were very disappointed to hear that original Matching Grant application was cancelled by TRF, but I mentioned that LARC WCS is looking for additional funding from other clubs and in any case we have the money for a reduced MG program.
 
I was quite impressed with the activities of the village development groups and their accomplishments such as implementing a clinic, sustainable agriculture, micro-credit, mushroom growing, and their interest in preventing smoke inhalation and unsafe water. Hopefully the pictures speak for themselves by their names.
...
Yesterday (Oct 24 here, ) visited Budhanilkantha Rotary Club to discuss current Matching Grant project with Shanti Sewa Griha (Leprosy/disabilities, etc) and Budhanilkantha vilagers. I expressed concerns about duration of the project, presented RAP’s Child AIDS Prevention program and gave CAP DVD/folder to a physician member for potential AIDS prevention project with this club.
 
Since Oct 24 is World Polio Day, the same physician gave a talk about polio and history in Nepal where it briefly reappeared in 2003 and 2004.

...
Then after long discussions on the Matching Grant project, we all went outside and joined the Interact club in a long march through the village carrying banners about eradicationg of polio to create awareness.
 
Another meeting got scheduled for this week for more MG project discussions with the club, Shanti Sewa, FOST and me.
 
Yesterday was at Kathmandu West RC to discuss Balambu Matching Grant that we stopped by TRF due to money running out. However the club really wants this Matching Grant to proceed.

I mentioned that we have more than the minimum amount of money to do this Matching Grant, and that WCS (World Community Service) is trying to get DDF/cash (District Designated Funds) from other clubs - so they should not worry.

Also presented the RAP/CAP program and handed over its folder.

Today was an amazing trip to a leprosy colony (160 families) where we demonstrated biomasss briquette making for income generation and household use. The pictures of the leprosy folks are heart breaking, but they seemed to be accepting and in good spirits. They are extremely poor and could save money for cooking fuel and selling briquettes. I am donating equipment to get things started here. Also there is interest in solar cooking.

Also I could report on my first month here later if I find time and there is LARC interest.  Please let me know.
Best, Allart

Here are the pictures that Allart sent:  Hover over them with your cursor and you can see a short description.  Double click on them and you will see an enlarged picture

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