SPOKES VOL. LXVII NO. 43
http://www.southhavenrotary.
President Thompson began our virtual meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. Art Ayers offered an invocation dedicated to our friend and fellow Rotarian Bob Stickland who passed away Friday. Art also asked for prayers for Mike Livovich who will undergo liver surgery today.
This is Art’s last invocation as our chaplain. Our heartfelt thanks for the many years Art has lead us in prayer as we began our meetings. Pastor Jeffrey Dick will take over for Art beginning next week.
Our guests this morning included soon to be member Emily Gruber.
In Remembrance of Bob Stickland:
President Thompson had the unfortunate duty of letting the club know of the passing of Bob Stickland late last week. He reminded us of Bob’s leadership, friendliness and particularly his character. Members were asked to share memories of Bob and several did. Korky Ingersol, who Bob Sponsored into our membership spoke of Bob’s quality as a leader and Kaleigh Eddy admired his true friendliness. Mark Odland, another one of Bob’s sponsored members, talked about how Bob’s relationships ran deep. Art Ayers added to the commendations and Rosalie Plechaty talked about how unassuming he always was and Richard Swanson reminded us of his wonderful smile. Larry Wittkop noted that while he was a solid Michigan fan, he was always ready to congratulate MSU when they deserved it. He was truly a man who we will all miss tremendously. Rest in Peace.
Visit our photo tribute to Bob Stickland -- https://www.southhavenrotary.
Announcements:
Our Sneak Peek at Bronson has been rescheduled and there are still some openings. Contact Dan if you are interested.
Dyckman Bridge Flower Planting: Potting soil was added on May 25th at 10:00, Flower planting on May 26th at 9:00.
Our new officer induction ceremony will take place on July 6th at 7:00 at Stanley Johnston Park. It will be an informal gathering with light refreshments. Bring chairs.
Education Donations Since we are not holding our Educational fundraiser this year, members are encouraged to donate, through the club, to either or both the South Haven Public Schools Foundation or our own scholarship fund.
We were all be surveyed this week about the possibility of holding pancake breakfasts and members willingness to work them this summer, especially the changes in CDC guidelines that are occurring next week and will occur on July 1st. If you have not completed the survey, it is due by Thursday.
50/50 and Fines
Our big prize was awarded to our speaker, Marty Graber. Stu will be delivering it as soon as he collects everyone’s money.
Fines were charged to:
Rhonda Wendzel’s granddaughter Gena has a birthday this week.
Angelica Gallegos’ daughter is celebrating a birthday
Steve Miles and his lovely wife Kathleen are celebrating their anniversary Saturday.
Paul Hix noted that the former Pyle’s Porthouse was on fire as we were meeting and so parking might be difficult for the soil potting activity this morning.
Our speaker this morning was introduced by Art Ayers. Marty Graber was born on a farm in northern Indiana, graduated from medical school is 1964. He spent 40 years, on and off, working in Africa, mostly Kenya. He became a Rotarian in 2006.
Marty knew, from the age of 14, that he wanted to become a doctor. He graduated from high school at age 20 because he had to take two years off to run his family’s farm after his father became ill. He joined the army where he had his first exposure to Africa as an X-ray technician in Kenya. He returned from service and completed medical school and began working at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Indianapolis. After a brief stay at Tenwick Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, Marty resigned his position in Indianapolis and moved to Kenya to work at Tenwick. Over the next several years Marty and his family were in situations that caused them to be evacuated and he works at refugee camps in Sudan and other countries in central Africa.
In 2003 Marty was asked to develop community and medical facilities in the village of Ngoswani in Kenya. He began by asking the leaders and other members of the community what they wanted. The answers: A school, clean water and a hospital. They now have all three!
The school, which was originally a dung-build one room building, is now a cement block building of seven rooms with 350-400 students. Of those seven rooms, the South Haven Rotary Club sponsored the construction of five of them.
The original plan for water was a bore hole but water from that project was not potable. A plan to collect water from the roofs of the buildings was devised and implemented with several smallish collection tanks built.
Finally, a hospital was constructed with help from funds from Rotary and Lions clubs in the US, including specific donations from our club as our international service project.
The hospital has patient rooms, labs for just about any test or scan that is needed and two operating rooms. It is powered by solar power and batteries and has plenty of power at any time. An additional ten rooms have been constructed for hospital staff.
The hospital is managed by William Luka who many of us met when he visited the United States a few years ago. There are currently no physicians at the hospital and the medical work is done by medical technicians – the equivalent of physician assistants of nurse practitioners. Serious cases are transferred to Tenwick Hospital, several hours away. The clinic at Ngoswani has delivered many babies, including Caesarian births.
Tuberculosis is also wide spread, with more than 1,000 cases treated at the clinic. In fact, Marty actually contracted TB and had to return to the US for surgical treatment several years ago.
The current project at the compound is the installation of a 600,000 liter tank to hold rainwater captured from the roofs of the buildings. A grant to Rotary International has just been submitted to provide finding for this project. Marty had many thanks for the work of Art Ayers in putting together the grant. Art, Steve Larsen and the late John Harding are local Rotary members who have visited Marty’s work in Ngoswani.
Marty’s life of service and his dedication to the people of Kenya and of Ngoswani in particular, is an outstanding example of his care and hard work to live up to his beliefs.
President Thompson thanked Marty for his dedication and sharing the work that has been accomplished with us.
President Thompson adjourned the meeting with the Four Way Test at 8:00 AM
NEXT WEEK: Nick Tuit will introduce Diane Rigozzi and Roger Paul from Van Buren Senior Services for our program.
Editarian: Dene Hadden