Ajmal was born in Afghanistan during the pro Soviet regime and then lived under Mujahedin rule.  He was about 15-16 years old when the Taliban took over. He personally witnessed and experienced the restrictions and abuses of the Taliban. When he was about 20, he came to the United States. He ultimately came to Washington where he put himself through the University of Washington. He was nominated by the University Sunrise Rotary Club and was selected by the District as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar to Russia. He talked about his personal experiences with the Taliban, what he knows about what is happening there today, and what he expects for the future.

Ajmal talked to our club many years ago, just as the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan was beginning. He made quite an impression on the Club and we are delighted–and anxious–to hear from him again.

Presentation notes, Sept. 9, 2021 by Joseph Thomas

Note: Some of the notes are deliberately vague to protect the speaker’s extended family, still in Afganistan.

Today’s speaker, Ajmal, is not a stranger to the Seattle Sunrise Rotary Club. Having emigrated from Afganistan as a young man, he arrived here to attended the University of Washington, where he qualified for the Dean´s List and a prestigious scholarship. With his wide background and superior performance, the Club endorsed him in the District 5030 competition for an Ambassadorial Scholarship. He was selected and studied in Russia, having learned that language because he grew up in Afganistan during the Russian occupation of his native country.

Ajmal’s remarks focussed on the changes in daily life imposed on the population by the Taliban that took over the country within the past month. For men, the fundamentalist Moslems require them to refrain from shaving, follow the Moslem rule of prayers in the mosque five times a day, and the forceful elimination of the Western culture. He mentioned, for example, the armed patrols of Taliban that stop and search private cars for cassettes or CDs of Western music, flinging these “offensive” ítems into the tree branches.

For the women, many of whom were educated as profesionales in medicine and other sciences during the past decades, the imposition of the orthodox Muslem sect eliminates them from those professions. Women now are restricted to their homes and only allowed into the public accompanied by a male relative. The women are hit with sticks for not wearing the required hajab (headscraf), stylizing their hair and other offenses.

With relatives still living in the country, he cautiously suggested that the Taliban leadership will continue to mold the population into a culture living by conservative Islamic codes, stripped of the opening of opportunities afforded during the most recent decades, most especially to the women.

Foxy Davison is a lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest. She is an educator and activist, serving as community coordinator for the Metropolitan Seattle Sickle Cell Task Force and community outreach coordinator for the Progress House Association.

It is estimated that:

• SCD affects approximately 100,000 Americans.
• SCD occurs among about 1 out of every 365 African-American births.
• SCD occurs among about 1 out of every 16,300 Hispanic-American births.
• About 1 in 13 African-American babies is born with sickle cell trait.

Presentation Notes by Claudia Gutiérrez de Thomas

Presenter Foxy Davison described sickle cell disease (previously known as sickle cell anemia, one of its symptoms) as a genetically inherited disorder. In this, the body`s red blood cells take the shape of a sickle or banana rather than the healthy form of rounded or donut shaped. It occurs mainly in AfroAmericans, but as well in those of Asian descent. In AfroAmericans, one in four people have the traits while about one in a hundred develop the disorder. With the increasing tendencies in marriages of mixed descents and adoptions, the traits appear more frequently, she indicated.

This abnormal shape of the hemoglobin causes them to be damaged and cannot deliver to the brain and other organs enough oxygen to función, causing death of the cells and pain. This inherent pain is one of the indictors of the disorder and a major challange for those that have it, especially in minors transitioning to adults where medical providers cut back or cut off their antipain medications. It can start as early as in infants 6 months of age, after which it develops with their maturing into brain stroke, heart problems and deterioration of limbs, their bones and the major organs,

This mother of a child with sickle cell disorder works to promote awareness of the condition and raises funds for awareness programs, camps with the affected children and their siblings, and retreats for parents of affected children. Those wanting more information can reach her at foxyandjason@g.com

Per District Governor Howard Cohen:

“The significant negative impact of COVID on our conference plans cannot be overstated.  Over the past ten days, the team that has worked tirelessly for nearly a year in planning the conference evaluated the covid-related news and the concerns expressed by members in our district and keynote speakers.  We conclude that canceling the conference is best for its members and the district.”

The University Sunrise Rotary Club, as clearly described by three of our long-time members this morning, is the world’s greatest Rotary Club. 

Thanks to Joseph Thomas, Lee Raaen, and Jim Miller for providing their perspectives in this morning’s presentation.  Our Club has expanded significantly in the past year, and we wanted to reflect on where we have come from.

Our Club was founded in 1984 as a spinoff from the University Rotary Club.  We tried something new—a breakfast club—and it worked.  We now benefit from nearly 50 members from diverse backgrounds—and even two nations—while remaining true to the original idea of Service Above Self.

As Joseph Thomas put it, from the start, we were about fellowship and service.  Two big and important ideas.  And we didn’t want to be a ‘checkbook’ Club.  We wanted to get involved.

We have been engaged in an enormous number of projects over the years.  Our members have done everything from engaging in international understanding efforts to selling wrapping paper to eliminate polio to holding community event to bring people together.

All these efforts have begun with a single idea generated by a few people in the Club that wanted to make something happen—and did it.  Here is a short summary of some of the projects in which our Club had played a leadership role.

Community Service:  Projects and Activities to Improve Lives in Our Community.

• Feeding the Hungry
  • Sand Point Block Party:  An annual event designed to bring together diverse communities in the transitional housing neighborhood.
  • Feeding the Hungry in our Community:  Supporting food drives for food banks.
  • Teen Feed:  Feeding homeless University District youth.
  • Turkey Baskets during the holidays, Ronald McDonald House dinners, food and water drives, Food Pantry at Mercy Housing, Breakfasts to Tiny Homes village, clothing drives, drives to support Urban Rest Stops, Street Teens, and others.
• Caring for the Environment:  Trail and street cleanups, street end park adoptions.
• Promoting Literacy:  Dictionaries to third graders led by Ron Espiritu and Paul Weibel.  We made one of the first donations to TAF (Technology Access Foundation) and supported Books for the World.
• Housing:  Actively supported the Christmas in April program and build Tiny Houses for the homeless.
• Special Holiday Events:  Steve Barton provides Santa services to El Centra de la Raza and other programs.
• Sharing and Caring Tree:  A project collecting thousands of gifts for needy children during the holidays.
• Tutoring for kids at Sand Point/Mercy Housing.

International Service:  At first, we supported initiatives of other Clubs.  Then branched out to take on our own projects.

• Built housing in the Philippines.
• Brazil:  Under the leadership of Lee Raaen, the Club engaged in several significant projects, supported by Rotary International funding to support people in need in Brazil.  Our Club helped secure the first Rotary Foundation funding for projects in the Brazilian Amazon and sponsored projects in Northeast Brazil: 
  • A matching grant supporting Green Garden elderly and disabled residents in Belem.
  • Furniture and fixtures for cancer patients in Casa de Apoio in Port Velho.
  • Equipment for disabled kids in Joao Pessoa, Paraiba.
  • The closed Paus Branco Town Medical Center, in very rural Brazil, was re-opened as the result of grant support initiated to by our Club.  Further, for the first time, computers were brought to the people of the town.
  • We spearheaded the funding for a water project in Gurjao, Paraiba.

• Polio:  Over the years, we have raised thousands of dollars and had members participate in efforts to vaccinate people against polio.
• Goodwill Games:  In 1990, at the end of the Cold War, we housed Russian visitors attending the Goodwill games.
• TINFA:  The Club is a leading supporter, under the leadership of Mike Madden of TINFA, a program to bring computerized learning to rural Guatemala.
• The Club has been a leader in international exchange programs over the years, Bahia Street, Shelter Boxes, and working with Mexican schools.

Club Service:

• The Big Taste is our big annual event to raise funds for important efforts.  In 2022, we expect more than 500 people will participate in an effort to raise money for Outdoors for All.  This effort brings together dozens of new wineries, breweries, cideries, and others that enable participants to sample and purchase, as well as have a great time with live music and comradery.
• The President’s Dinner and Auction raises money for many of our efforts—and is a great night for building friendships.
• Our weekly meetings have some of the best speakers anywhere that allow us to learn and hear other people’s points of view.  In addition to our online weekly Thursday morning meetings, we meet in person twice a month for a service project and a social outing.

Vocational Service:  Promote and foster high ethical standards in business and professions and promote the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations.  We have been a leader in Exchange Programs and ambassadorial scholarships, as well as learning through our weekly programs.

Youth Service:  Recognizes the importance of empowering youth and young professionals through leadership development programs such as Rotaract, Rotary youth Leadership Awards, and Rotary Youth Exchange.  We created the first Rotaract program in our District at the University of Washington and actively support high school student participation in the Rotary Youth Leadership Award program.

Other:

• We excel at developing personal friendships through our fellowship events
• We are one of the leaders in per capital support for the Rotary Foundation.
• We have been known to excel at certain tavern and bar ‘inspections.’
• We were an early advocate of women in Rotary in our early days, supporting the International District Club in Seattle that pioneered the change.

Finally, we wanted to honor and recognize some of our passed members over the nearly four decades of our existence:

• Alan Hovland
• Chuck Atcheson
• Dave Storm
• Jim Daly
• Jim White
• Joe Porter
• John Rose
• Keith Prince
• Larry Laycock
• Otto Waniczek
• Pat Fakuda
• Richard Rotter
• Walt Weber

“Reinforce the concept of SERVICE: Breathe IN Suffering; Breathe OUT Compassion”

Although Howard Cohen has been a Rotarian since 2001 when he first joined the Renton Rotary Club, it was not his first connection with a service club. In high school in upstate New York, Howard joined the Leo Club, the Lions’ Club version of Rotary’s Interact Club. After college, he joined a local Lions Club, as there was not a Rotary Club in the area. Years later, he found Rotary.

Howard continues his 44 year history in hotel management. He earned his undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo and his MBA from the University of Washington. When Howard changed jobs to move to downtown Seattle, he joined the Queen Anne Rotary Club and became the President shortly after that. Howard then found his eventual home in the Emerald City Rotary Club, where he became President of that club.

Meeting notes by Jeff Danforth:

Announcements:

1. Walker Lafleur provided an update on Haiti and the current aid being provided to the country two weeks after the earthquake.
2. Mike Madden provided an update on Hamid Stanikzai and getting his family out of Afghanistan. He was notified he will get a interview scheduled for his asylum within 30 days by the US government. His application has been expedited with his family still be in the country.

Our speaker was District 5030 governor Howard Cohen. Mr. Cohen started with discussing the Rotary International conference in Houston, TX (June 4-8, 2022). He then went into discussing the upcoming District 5030 conference in Coeur d’Alene, ID (October 1-3, 2021). The conference will focus on  the acronym PCWEEED.

P: Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution

C : Child and Maternal Health

W: Water and Sanitation

E: Education and Literacy

E: Economic and Community Development

E: Environmental Sustainability

D: Disease Prevention and Treatment

He went on to discuss the Rotary theme 2021-2022. Main topics included:

1. Ignite your Passion with Action.
   1. Which Area(s) of Focus captures YOUR heart?
2. Each One – Keep One
   1. Membership Retention: Each Rotarian introduce one person to Rotary.
3. Grow New Clubs
   1. Traditional; Cause-based; E-Clubs; Corporate
4. Break Down the Silos of Clubs and Service Organizations.
   1. Learn what other clubs are doing and combine to grow impact. Grow awareness of service organization’s impact in the community.