On 13 July we heard from Carlos Moreira-Alvarez in Costa Rica, via Zoom. Carlos was a Rotary Peace Fellow at the University of Queensland. He visited Canberra during his studies, with the visit hosted by our Club. He returned to Costa Rica in February this year and soon joined the Rotary Club of Heredia.

 

The Rotary Club of Heredia has 17 active members, a good proportion of whom are much younger than the average Australian Rotarian. It’s active in its community, with projects including: improving agricultural yields through advanced technology hydroponic cultivation (a project funded by a global grant); mobile Wi-Fi for students in need; Mothers’ Day celebrations; and providing assistance to slum communities (including sanitiser and other cleaning products during the covid pandemic).

 

Carlos has a vision for a peace bell, to be located in new park to be known as the “Lung of Peace”. The park would include 8 peace poles, one for each of the 8 indigenous groups of Costa Rica. There would be 8 more peace poles, one in each of the indigenous homelands. He envisages “routs of peace” would link all nine sites. Achieving this would require cooperation with other Rotary Clubs and Carlos expects it will take years to come to fruition.

 

Carlos is also hoping to attract the proposed Latin American Rotary Peace Centre to Costa Rica. The Centre is a vision of the Rotary Foundation, with the site not yet chosen.

 

Carlos is seeking a sister club relationship with our Club, for exchange of views and possible cooperation in projects. Michael will put this to the next Club Board meeting for the Board’s consideration.

 

On Thursday, 20 July, we’ll hear from a colleague of Warrick’s, Nik Kwiatkowski, who will speak about a deployable/portable system he and others have been working on for bushfire units. We also expect to hear briefly from a visiting Rotarian, Sailesh Sarmah, from the Rotary Club of Tinsukia, Assam, India.

 

If you are not able to perform your allocated duty, please arrange a replacement and advise Acting President Warrick. Please advise Stephen of any planned absences to avoid being rostered on while away.

 

 

The NTA is running a trip to its aid project locations on the island of Flores, specifically to introduce donors to the communities it supports and to show how donor funds are being used. This is a fabulous opportunity to visit communities and institutions in this area, to be introduced to their customs, issues, and how the NTA is working together with them to improve their lives. If interested, please contact the NTA Executive Officer, Phil Domaschenz, by email phil2dom@gmail.com or phone 0406 930 835.