2006-2007 Exchange Students
« July 2006 | Main | September 2006 »
August 31, 2006
BBQ at Arnolds for Awards
Rotary was named for the meeting location "rotating" at the businesses of members.
Today we met at Mike & Sherri Arnold's
"Arnolds for Awards & Much More"
Sherri Arnold gave tours of the facility and even provided custom engraved tokens for the drawing.
Although some Rotarians thought the BBQ was out-of-control, the smoke was from a local fire.
Our exchange student from Japan was a dinner guest. Here Kiko is wearing a hat from Montana and trying a southern Hot Link with her Coke and cheeseburger.
Rotarian Dr. Ernest Hartley came in their 1939 Buick Special. Yes, he is also known as our Rapper Dr. Doggy last seen at the debunking.
August 23, 2006
Rotarians reach out to help injured man
 |
| PLACERVILLE ROTARIANS Courtney Mattson and Ed Kronk demonstrate a Fijian kava ceremony at the July Placerville Rotary Club meeting. See story “Rotarians ...” Courtesy photo |
The Placerville Rotary Club recently reached out across the
Pacific Ocean and helped build a home for a man who was left partially paralyzed
in a fall while picking fruit.
The club had received a request from Jeff Mather the president of the Savusavu
Rotary Club in Fiji. Mather is an American who settled in Fiji. He had contacted
the Placerville club because members Mark and Alison Payne, of Shingle Springs,
travel frequently to Fiji and have attended Rotary meetings while there.
Touched by his story the Placerville Rotarians chose to help the man. According
to Payne the man, Jone (pronounced John), was in his mid-30s and had a wife and
two small children. The chief of the district that Jone lived in approached the
Savusavu Rotary for help.
Jone's story
Jone had broken his back in the fall and was left a paraplegic. Jone and his
family lived in a small hut with a dirt floor with no plumbing. The outhouse was
located 50 yards away from his hut and everyday he was forced to struggle to get
to his walker and then struggle the 50 yards to the outhouse.
“Jone was climbing a breadfruit tree getting food for his family when he fell
and broke his back. Before his fall he had been a soccer player and provided
well for his family. After he was hurt he had to drag himself around on a
walker. One leg and his feet dragged on the ground and got pretty messed up,”
explained Placerville Rotarian Sherri Lum-Alarcon.
“Fiji is a wonderfully beautiful place but the people are
very poor. The Fijians are an incredibly generous people and they don't require
much because the land is so rich. There is an abundance of fish, chicken, wild
boar and there is fruit everywhere,” said Lum-Alarcon. “The people live in
thatched huts, swim in the water, climb trees and help each other out. They take
care of the majority of their people. They just don't know what to do with
people at either end of the spectrum.”
The Fijian system isn't set up to help those that are either gifted or disabled
- anyone with special needs. That was why the Rotarians were contacted to help
Jone. He needed something out of the norm and his village was unable to take
care of him, Lum-Alarcon explained.
The Placerville Rotarians agreed to fund the building of a new house for Jone
and his family - complete with indoor plumbing and a bathroom. But, they didn't
stop there. They also decided to provide his village and the local school with a
new water filtration system and increase water pressure for the settlement.
“So we set out for Fiji with paint brushes in hand, hospital supplies donated
by Marshall Hospital and hospital and school supplies purchased by the group,”
Payne said. The group consisted of 17 Rotarians from El Dorado County.
“My wife Alison and I were the only ones that had been to
Fiji,” Payne said. “We are in love with the country and its friendly people.
The other Rotarians had a strong desire to see the completed project and wanted
to participate in the project by painting the house. They were also interested
in searching for a new project to do next year.”
The arrival
The group was treated royally when they arrived at Savusavu on the island of
Vanua Levu. The daughters of the volunteers who built Jones house greeted the
group. The Rotarians wanting to show respect for their hosts' culture chose to
wear Fijian attire when they arrived in Jone's village.
The Fijian women showed the group how to tie their sulu (a wrap skirt worn by
both men and women). The men wore colorful shirts with no hats and sunglasses
and the women kept their shoulders covered and the skirts were below their
knees.
When they arrived in the village the group was greeted by Jone and his family
and welcomed by the local chief, who had first brought Jone's plight to the
attention of the Savusavu Rotary Club. The chief welcomed the Rotarians with a
traditional kava ceremony and the Rotary Club from Savusavu presented gifts to
the volunteers that built Jone's house.
The Placerville group then made speeches and passed out small gifts to the
children and adults.
“We also presented some information and booklets about our home town of
Placerville and its history. We all enjoyed conversing while sitting in a circle
on a large woven mat and the chief motioned for some of the ladies and men to
drum and sing some songs in their native tongue,” said Payne.
People fall in love with Fiji and visit it many times. “Many people bring
simple things to help improve their quality of life,” Lum-Alarcon said. “I
brought tooth paste because I just happen to have about a 20 year supply of
it.”
Next project
The day after painting Jone's house the group visited the local school. They
were treated to morning tea and scones, an English custom left over from the
islands' time as a British protectorate. During the school assembly the children
sang native Fijian songs, exchanged gifts with the group and said a prayer of
thanks for the Rotarians' visit and wished them a safe flight home.
The group was given a tour of the school and the living quarters for the
teachers. On the tour the Rotarians saw the water supply system for the school.
The water dries up several times a year and forces the closure of the school.
Once they observed this the Rotarians knew they had their project for the next
year.
“During our time in Fiji we had been sailing, scuba diving, snorkeling and
golfing. We had massages and toured a pearl farm, several resorts and hung out
by the pool,” said Payne. “We all agreed the best part of the week was the
day we painted Jone's house and the day we visited the school. I don't think I
have ever been more proud to be an American or more proud of group of people who
exemplifies the Rotary's motto - ‘Service above self.'”
The Rotary Club is a service oriented club of business people with professional
and social interests who pool their resources and contribute their talents to
help serve people in need, locally and internationally.
Local donations
The Rotary Club does not work in a vacuum. Before leaving for Fiji the club had
approached others to help with the supplies they would be taking. The group
brought medical supplies, equipment, school supplies and information. These
donors include James Whipple, Cathie Bow and Scott Hickey of Marshall Medical
Center. “Whipple OK'd the donation and Bow and Hickey gathered and readied the
supplies to be taken to Fiji,” said Robbin Kronk, who was part of the group.
“Rock and Karen McKinley of ImagAbility in El Dorado Hills donated lots and
lots of educational toys and supplies. And we had additional help from Greg
Trapani and Tim Else who got and fixed wheel chair legs for Jone. A couple of
people in the group were nurses and they contacted nurse Helen LeVasseur, a
wound specialist, to consult with her about some of Jone's medical needs. He had
terrible sores on his back and legs and feet,” explained Kronk.
“Then Joe Stancil, a Placerville Rotarian, donated funds for the purchase of a
refrigerator for Jone's business,” said Kronk. “He is going to set up a
commissary out of his house because he is the only one in the village that has
running water and power. It was pretty amazing walking through the village and
seeing what they didn't have.”
The Rotarians who went to Fiji are Mark and Alison Payne, Ed and Robbin Kronk,
Manfred Shaffer, Courtney and Wendy Mattson, Albert and Cher Williams, Syd and
Nadine O'Brien, Nancy Dean Daxter, Cris and Sherri Alarcon, Jennifer Jergensen,
Sue L. Rose and Barbara Jean Emrie.