A year in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia
Rotary meeting April 16th
Announcements and reminders
Laura did a 50th anniversary celebration reminder. It will be April 30th at 5:30. There will be a trivia quiz and a new song! From 5:30-6:30 we will have cocktails with information tables about Rotary projects. Dinner follows. Zack Friend will be our speaker.
Sandra announced RYLA has selected our seven scholarship recipients.
John Fisher awarded Stan the Paul Harris pin for contributions to the Rotary Foundation..
Rotary University will be May 21 in Milpedes. It is a chance to learn more about Rotary
Doug announced the InterAct fundraiser will be rescheduled (not on April 25 as previously announced).He also spoke about the wheelchair program and said the district has agreed to do a 50% match for each wheelchair purchased.
Our speakers today were Terry Hancock and Ellen Pirie who spoke about their year in Ethiopia in the Peace Corps. They are both attorneys who have lived locally for 30 years. Ellen was also 2nd district supervisor for three terms. They retired in 2013 and decided to go into the Peace Corps where they taught English teachers to speak English.
Story
Our speakers today were Terry Hancock and Ellen Pirie who spoke about their year in Ethiopia in the Peace Corps. They are both attorneys who have lived locally for 30 years. Ellen was also 2nd district supervisor for three terms. They retired in 2013 and decided to go into the Peace Corps where they taught English teachers to speak English. They were the oldest people in their 57 person group which was largely young and female.
They presented a fascinating slide show reflecting their experiences. Ethiopia is dangerous territory but has beautiful rock hewn churches. Other tourist attractions include baboons and the skeleton of Lucy, perhaps the oldest female ever discovered. They also have a different calendar and clock. Now it is 2007 there!
They spoke about their three months of training where each PC volunteer lives with a family. Their family, an upper middle class family, still cooked on a hot plate and there is no indoor water, but there is a spigot outside to wash clothes, etc. They said most Ethiopians live in an extended family setting with sisters and explained that it is not safe to go out at night.
Their training included language training in 3 different languages. Oromaic was the language of Guder where they were sent, a beautiful but very poor area in the high plains. The Peace Corps had three goals for them there: to improve English teaching, help students learn English and help support community development.
Agriculture is the primary occupation. Grains are grown, such as wheat, as well as veggies such as corn, carrots, cabbage and tomatoes. Farms are quite small and families bring their small stock of extra vegetables to weekly markets to sell to make a living.Livestock roam freely in the streets and the primary means of transportation is walking.
Terry and Ellen were forced to leave early because of the unrest in Ethiopia. They are looking forward to their return as soon as it is safe!