December 1, 2008 Spokesman

Guests:

• Terry Cole, Redmond Rousers Rotary Club
• Ingrid Bruner
• Tray Knapp - Student of the Month from JuanitaHigh School
• Jim Steiner - 2^nd visit with us as a guest
• Dick Carlson, Tucson Rotary Club
• Pascal Kuntz - Exchange Student from Switzerland
• Carla and Curtis Cummings - Curtis is with the Bellevue Breakfast Club
• Roy Selvidge
• Cheryl Baker
• Natalie Burdick
• Erwin Onofre

Announcements:

• Birthdays:  Jim Feek, Pat Dye, and Ernie Norhead
• Anniversaries:  Gary Redfern, Rachel Knight, and Bob Webb
• The International Rotary Convention will be in Birmingham, England and club members are encouraged to register soon.
• We will have a new venue for our Rotary meetings on the 3^rd Monday of each month during January, February, and March.  These meetings will be held at the Wilde Rover in Kirkland.  Finger foods and a no host bar, with an abbreviated program to allow more time for new potential members to be able to socialize and get to the Kirkland Rotarians.  Cost will be $15 per person.
• The Holiday Party is Saturday, Dec. 13^th.  Club members are encouraged to sign up as soon as possible and make menu selections no later than next Monday, Dec. 8^th.  Cost is $75 per person and includes an open bar, wonderful dinner, and entertainment by the Lake Washington High School Choral Group, "Lyrica".
• Dick Westin announced that he still needs volunteers for the Salvation Army Bell Ringers.  See Dick to sign up.

Our speaker, Rae Graham, was introduced by her daughter, Felicity Burdick.  Rae has lived most of her life in South Africa and entertained and educated us with stories of her life in that country.  We learned that there are 9 black languages in addition to other languages.  The South Africa flag is composed of the colors from each of the original flags that flew over the country, until it finally has a united flag that represents all.  Rae said that she has had 7 lives, first born in England where she was raised in an orphanage.  She said that life has taught her never to take "no" for answer and never stopped her from achieving her goals.  She was married and became a nurse, serving in the military.  After the war (that's WWII), she left England and moved with her husband to South Africa.  At that time, in 1948, there were only a quarter million people living in that country.  Today there are now 1 million people.  Rae learned alternative medicines from the Blacks, and shared her story of skinning a small goat for food and that she became quite proficient at it.  She was given the title "The one who works with the Spirit".  She showed her tattoo representing the brown people of the Kalahari, and told the story of taking her 4 daughters out into the desert (where she gave more information than I'm sure Felicity would have liked her to share about their experiences).  Felicity was 6 when they moved to Johannesberg so that she could go to school.  Rae talked about how difficult it was when they had to send their 6 year old son off to boarding school in Pretoria so that he could have an education.  Rae shared more stories of working with the Jewish Community, her trip to Turkey, and becoming part of the Muslim world.  Rae was given a Hindu name, "Daughter of the Sun".  Her political life was long and varied, and she knew many of the people involved in the Apartheid movement.  She realized that everything had been a stepping stone to her position as Deputy Mayor of Jo'berg.  She was the only white woman ever to be ordained "Confrere", and served as President of the Rotary Ann's.  She felt that he last title was the most important - "The Bridge". 

New Members Proposed:  Mekonen Giorgis & Roy Selviege

The Honey Pot winner:  Jim Feek!  He picked #2 and ended the losing streak for the honey pot.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:40 pm.

Submitted:  Pat Dye, Scribe (My apologies to Rae for any errors or omissions in the retelling of her story.)