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2 parts to our programme today: Firstly a cheque presentation: On behalf of the 3 Rotary Clubs, a cheque for $35,000 raised at the Fun Run, was presented to Kids Ability. Heather Curran from Kids Ability accepted the cheque and spoke briefly of their long relationship with Rotary starting with the founding of Kids Ability ( then the Rotary Children's Centre) in 1972. Dr Mike Lawrie was one of the founders of the Fun Run 33 yrs ago. Then President Linda introduced our guest speaker Marie-Paule Attema. She was 7 years old at the time of the Rawandan genocide. Linda met her at the Rotary International Convention in Toronto last June. Marie-Paule went to Laurier University. Since she has worked on Restorative Justice issues and with the Mennonite Central Committee to help the homeless in KW region find stable housing. She then was awarded the ' Rotary Peace Fellowship" and spent 2 years in Australia completing this. She says she is still conflicted about sharing her experiences around the Rawandan Tragedy. It had left her depressed, lacking a sense of community and feeling isolated from other people. This personal journey continues. But she has worked for 5 years in our region through the MCC to help those isolated and homeless. She said it often takes the gift of friendship and offering a sense of community to help people. Isolation and loneliness are not necessarily just issues with homeless or poor persons. We had questions for her. She was thanked by Paul Cody. |
