The Westerner for November 1, 2010

Club Christmas Party:   Will be at the Highlands Golf Course Clubhouse on Saturday, November 27th at 6:00 pm.  Cost per person is $25.00, subsidized by the Club for a Prime Rib or vegetarian choice dinner and good fellowship.  Sign-up sheet should be available at the next meeting.

Friendship Dinners:   See Bob Lamoureux if you would like to join one of the groups just getting underway.

Hockey Pool:   Recent winners of $15 are Chery Bauer, Chris Gowers and Linda Gould.  If you happen to hold ticket number 86 or 97, please make yourself known to Doug MacDougall.

Finemaster:   Rev. Bob Kimmerly did give some exemptions for attendance at church on Sunday or giving out Halloween candy without sampling (how likely is that?), but his theme about Saints and profession matches earned twonies from most of us.

PROGRAM - MALAWI GIRLS ON THE MOVE

Past President Jerome Martin introduced Christie Johnson, daughter of Past District Governor Larry Johnson, 15 years a Biology Teacher, 5-time Paul Harris Fellow, Winner of a Rotary Integrity Award, breast cancer survivor and new mother to son Simon.

Ten years ago, Christie travelled to Malawi to be a volunteer teacher at a rural school.  At that school she met another volunteer teacher who had grown up in Malawi, in poverty, as an orphan from a very young age, who had to really struggle to get an education and become a teacher.  Her name was Memory Chazeza.

Christie also met a group of girls who exhibited a hunger for knowledge and considerable ability to learn if given the opportunity.  But these girls faced huge obstacles such as cultural and traditional ones where boys were given an education and girls were married off at a very young age, where fees for schooling beyond grade 8 became a barrier for the poor, where class sizes might be 100 students and where the teacher had no advanced education.

Shortly after returning to Canada, Christie learned that the school was closing due to lack of funding.  Christie realized that this would likely result in over 20 girls being forced to marry.  District Governor Elect Larry encouraged Christie to tell her story to some Rotary Clubs in and around Edmonton.  She did, and quickly realized that Rotarians respond to needs like this.  The Rotary Club of Edmonton West was one that did - Michel Dorais asked Christie how much it would cost to get the girls back into a school.  It didn't take that many Canadian $ to sponsor a girl, and soon Christie told Memory to round up the girls and get them back to school.  Christie then set about the task of seriously raising moneys to support this project.

Her work paid off, and the successes include:

• 24 orphaned girls were put back into school instead of having to marry
• All 24 eventually qualified for university
• 5 got scholarships and obtained their degrees
• Memory received a Rotary Scholarship so she could attend university
• Many of these young women now successfully operate their own small businesses
• Some have now married and are committed to ensuring that their sons and daughters will receive a good education
• In 2006, Memory and Christie co-founded the APU (Girls On The Move) Secondary School, which opened in 2008

There are opportunities for Rotarians and Rotary Clubs to support this school:

• A donation of $1,000 CDN per year will pay the tuition, room and board of one young girl at APU School
• At www.malawigirlsonthemove.com you can buy bricks for the Brick by Brick Schoolhouse project or you can donate towards classroom materials, animals for the farm, seed for the crops and equipment for the labs.  There is also an opportunity to help with funding for a cafeteria with contents.
• Donate some of your Air Miles to help with travel between Canada and Malawi.  Contact cjohnson@pearsoncollege.ca or kghaywood@shaw.ca to find out how to do this.
• West Edmonton Rotarians who wish to donate should write a cheque in favour of the District 5370 Rotary Foundation.  Give the cheque to Lily or Richard and ensure that they know it is for this project.  Zen Moisey will match your donation with an equal amount from the Zen and Doreen Moisey Fund at the Edmonton Community Foundation, plus you will receive a charitable receipt for your donation.

Last year the school achieved a 100% pass rate in a country-wide standard exam.  This is extremely unusual in that country and it caught the attention of the Ministry of Education who recently visited the school.  This year the pass rate for APU was 98%.  Christie says "Invest in a girl and she will do the rest".

Christie was thanked for her inspiring presentation by Mike Ryan