Upendo Mmoja: Helping the Children of Tanzania
This Meeting’s HighlightsProgram: Project Upendo Mmoja: Helping the Children of TanzaniaProgram Description: The origin story of Upendo Mmoja and its mission to help improve the community and lives of the children in Pommerin, Tanzania, Africa.Speaker: Abigail Joyal, Rotaract Club of Norwich UniversityMeeting for the week of March 20, 2017 to March 26, 2017Is this your first time to visit us? If so, welcome to our weekly online meeting! To complete our meeting, please continue reading from here to the bottom of this page. Each Monday our week’s meeting is posted early in the morning, U.S. Pacific Time. These meetings are designed so that you can read and watch what we post anytime during the week. The entire meeting takes about 60 minutes to complete, with the video conference recording of the program being the bulk of the time.Note that you can easily read this meeting with your favorite device, so feel free to take our meeting on the go with you; read it while on public transit, waiting in line for coffee, or even at the park! Please also make sure to complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!
Welcome to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley!
Message from President Mitty
Club Jam Session is Next Week!
New to our meetings? Then I want to welcome you to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley's online meeting! Every week we curate inspiring and educational content in an online format like the one you're seeing here. As you continue reading, watching, and scrolling, our hope is that you'll leave feeling a little bit more inspired. As an online Rotary club, we have these asynchronous meetings online, but we also meet in-person in the Silicon Valley / San Francisco bay area for service projects and for social events. Keep reading on, and feel free to also join us for one of our in-person events if you can make it!Members, next week on April 2nd, we will be having our first Club Jam Session from 11 AM to 2 PM at Rushton's house in Santa Clara. If you cannot make it physically, we'll also have live Zoom sessions going on, as well as Skype sessions for any members to join us remotely. During that three hour block, we'll be coming together for the mission of creating content for the next three months of club meetings. This is your chance to play a role in one of the week's upcoming inspirational thoughts, jokes, World of Rotary segments, or anything else! All members, both remote and in-person, will be able to enjoy some good company. Members able to join us in-person will also be able to relish in some good food and libations! I would strongly encourage any member who is available at that time to make it on, even if it's just for an hour or two. Also members, look out for an email shortly regarding a new member application. And have a great week! You are all amazing!Returning guests and newcomers, welcome! This week's program is about a wonderful project in Tanzania. One of the amazing things about Rotary is the ability to connect people across nations and across continents. I met our speaker a week ago in Boston at a Rotary training event. If you've never been to one of our meetings before, then welcome and please continue onwards! The program is at the bottom. You're also welcome to join us for any of our events that you can make it to. If you're visiting us remotely but would like to connect with our club, leave a comment!
Yours in service,
Mitty Chang,
President
Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley
president@siliconvalleyrotary.com
Weekly Inspiration: When Food Meets Cultural Innovation
Every week we start our meetings with a short video highlighting innovation, inspiration, entrepreneurship, or social change. This week we are featuring a video from Great Big Story about food innovation and culture!
In this short reel collection, we explore how, sometimes, the origin of a favorite dish or meal has more to do with a cultural innovation than tradition. From mac and cheese to salmon sushi, these are the stories of some quite original culinary origins! (There are 4 different interesting shorts mashed into this single video!)
And now you know! What awesome culinary innovation has happened and is happening in our lifetime that you think someone will be thankful for one day?
Laughing Out Loud (L.O.L.) with our Lady of LOLs
We believe that laughing a little every day keeps you healthier. Every week we try to share with you something that will make you smile! This section is curated by Rotarian Yvonne Kwan, our club’s “Lady of LOLs.”
From Yvonne: "This week, our Santa Cruz resident member Brian has stepped up and delivered a fabulous joke. It's one definitely worthy of LOLs! Thanks, Brian!"
Coffee with a Rotarian
A natural part of Rotary is the networking and the fellowship you get out of meeting other Rotarians. Coffee with a Rotarian is a program of our club where we match our members with other Rotarians that they haven't had a chance to really get to talk to. This program is organized by member Tzviatko Chiderov.
In this week's Coffee with a Rotarian, we are featuring the coffee meetup between members Nathan Gildart (Tokyo, Japan) and Mitty Chang (California, USA)! This week's version includes Nate's awesome video.
Here's what Nate had to say about Mitty:
Tune in next week to find out about what Mitty has to say about Nate!
More Coffee with a Rotarian features coming up!
For Members: Updates
This segment of the meeting is dedicated to our club members. This section includes announcements and new initiatives. Guests, you are welcome to read this section or just skip it.
Reminder - April 2nd!
Reminder for the first club content jam session next week, Sun. April 2nd! See events section. Both online and in-person!
Reminder - Challenge Coins for Donations to The Rotary Foundation
From our Club Foundation Chair Andrew Taw: "To celebrate the 100th anniversary of The Rotary Foundation, District 5170 is currently offering beautiful challenge coins for donations to TRF during the 2016-2017 Rotary Year (which is from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017)! These coins have the 100th anniversary logo on one side and the 4-Way Test on the other."
Members who donate the following amounts will receive the following coins:
$1000 - Gold$500 - Silver$200 - Bronze
Donated enough to The Rotary Foundation since July 1, 2016 to qualify for a challenge coin already? Go ahead and request your Challenge Coin via the online form here then!Haven't donated enough to qualify for a coin yet? Then consider making those donations over the next few weeks!
Members, didn't see your service report in the blotter? Then fill out the service survey!
Members, want to get your service update into the next service blotter? Please share what you’ve been up to, as it allows us to get to know each other better in the process! Just click on the link below to let us know!For Members Only: Click here to fill out The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Service Survey
Our Events & Projects
We hold our meetings online, but we hold regular service projects and social events in the Silicon Valley every month! This section is updated every week with our upcoming events. We welcome guests to all of our events and service projects listed here.
Also be sure to join our Meetup Group for automatic calendar updates and to RSVP for our events! These are open to all guests as well!
https://www.meetup.com/siliconvalleyrotary/
Upcoming Events:
All times are Pacific Time! (San Francisco time)February to April events coming soon! Here are some of the major May and June events to look forward to!
Club Jam Session in San Jose - Sunday, April 2, 2017 from 11 AM to 2 PM
Members! We are putting together a club content jam session in San Jose. Join your fellow members and club leaders as we have a work party creating some of the content for the upcoming club meetings. Snacks, lunch, drinks, and fun times included! Location will be sent to members.
Charity Chili Cook Off for Justin's House - Sunday, April 23, 2017
For the past two years, our club has been volunteering at Justin's House. The mission of Justin’s House is to provide a variety of services that inspire youth to live beyond abuse and addiction. Our club is looking for members and guests who are interested in volunteering this year on Sunday, April 23, 2017 for their annual Chili Cookoff in Santa Clara, California. Interested members or guests, please contact our event chair, Rushton Hurley at rushton@gmail.com - thank you!
Our club's event chair: Rushton Hurley
Rotary District 5170 Conference - May 5-7, 2017 in Santa Cruz, California
Join hundreds of Rotarians from throughout our Rotary district for our annual Rotary District Conference! This year's conference will take place in Santa Cruz, California at the Boardwalk! This family-friendly event will be open to all guests and family members to attend. We hope to see more of our eClub members join us this year!
Our club's event chair: Yvonne Kwan
Rotary International Convention - June 10-14, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Join over 35,000 Rotarians from around the world at the annual Rotary convention! This year's convention will take place in Atlanta, Georgia, USA and features the centennial celebration of The Rotary Foundation! The Rotary International Convention is the largest regular gathering of Rotarians, and is also one of the best networking opportunities anyone can ever experience. Our Rotary eClub will have member events and experiences in Atlanta! Come join us in Atlanta! Members, be sure to let President Mitty know the dates you will be there!
Our club's event chair: Mitty Chang
Club Charity Fundraiser - Sunday, August 6, 2017 at Retzlaff Vineyard in Livermore, California
Save the date for Sunday, August 6, 2017 for our club's first annual charity fundraiser! This delicious food and wine lunch event will indulge your taste buds while we enjoy amazing company, live music, silent auctions, auctions, and ticket drawings. More info coming soon.
Our club's event chair: Andrew Taw
Happy Dollars: Do Good by Sharing Something Good
Each week we ask our members to share stories with the club and toss in a few dollars to support our efforts. The primary goal of this section is to provide a fun way of getting to know each fellow members and guests, while giving back to a good cause.
Happy dollars is an opportunity to share something positive that has happened in your life whether it is personal or business. Think of it as your opportunity to brag a little, but also put a little bit into a karma jar. The money donated through happy dollars is put to charitable use, and the message that you leave for happy dollars will be posted in our online meeting the following week for the entire week for folks to see! (Pending that it's appropriate!)
Last week's happy dollars went towards our club's general fund. Here were the happy dollars donations from last week:
Thank you to member Monique Ziesenhenne for her generous $15 donation!
Thank you to member Rory Olsen for his $15 donation, to be donated to The Rotary Foundation's PolioPlus Fund! Rory had this to say:"Please apply my gift to Polio Plus. All is well with me!"
Thank you to member Brian Liddicoat for his generous $15 donation! Brian had this to say:"Really enjoying my son's project on African-American history: we're doing a presentation on James Meredith, who braved rioters to become the 1st black person to attend the University of Mississippi. I chuckled at an interview we watched with a now-elderly man who was one of the young white Ole Miss students angrily protesting Meredith's admission in 1962. He recounted calling his mother to tell her that he was so disgusted he wanted to leave the University. His mother paused and said quietly, "Son, you know that your great-grandfather left Ole Miss in 1861 to fight the Yankees during the War Between the States"? "Yes, Momma. I know that!" Mother (now angry): "WELL, HE DID NOT ACCOMPLISH A GOD-DAMN THING! Now I expect you to mind your own business and stay in school and not call me again with this nonsense". Good moms come in all colors..."
Thank you all for your donations last week!
This week's donations will go towards supporting club operations!
Happy dollars is also a great opportunity to share with the group about something good that has happened to you.
So what are you happy about? Share with us below, and help support one of our future leaders!
Selected Six
Every week at the bottom of our meetings, there is a comments section for members and guests to tell us what they enjoyed about the meeting or to ask questions to the speaker. We select six comments every week from last week’s meeting to be featured during this week’s meeting.
Here are six comments selected from last week's meeting about "The Smartest Person in the Room IS the Room":
Member Yvonne Kwan (California, USA) had this to say:"I can't believe I've never heard of EdCamp before! This sounds like an amazing program for educators. Kristen, thank you so much for sharing this with us. The points you make about how educators crave collaboration are so spot on. So many educators believe themselves to be solo because they are the only ones in the classroom, but opening the doors to collaboration is how innovation in education happens. (The same can be said for the students as well!) I'm definitely going to look more into this. Thanks again for your presentation!"
Guest Angela Hoang (Australia) had this to say:"I really enjoyed this week's talk, it reinforces for me the concept that encouraging autonomous learning can help create an amazing active learning environment and it makes me appreciate all the educators who take the time and effort to keep innovating new techniques to help more people in the future. Well done for all your hard work and efforts Kristen!"
Member Richard Knaggs (South Africa) had this to say:"Thanks for this incredible presentation Kirsten. We are a 1:1 school and we have an extensive professional learning programme as a result. I have contacted my professional learning staff to look into this approach. I see it as a fantastic opportunity for our staff to share their technology integration skills amongst each other. Something that can be lacking especially when we are all busy teaching our own subjects."
Member Mahmood Khan (California, USA) had this to say:"Thank you Kristen for the work you do empowering and educating. I plan to use some of what you have done with twitter and building learning community in my "job search in 30 days and Mentor-Train-Recruit programs. what a light bulb you turned on for me. Great work. Cheers"
Member Rushton Hurley (California, USA) had this to say:"Ryan, it’s great to see your story. Your heart to achieve and help others makes you someone any service club would be lucky to have! I know a good eclub, by the way… Kristen, thanks again for taking time to share the story of your work with edcamps with us. You embody the spirit of Silicon Valley by being one who, with a creative team, imagined a new way of approaching something and helping that vision spread far and wide. You, too, are one who should consider what a service club might add to your ideas and activities! Finally, Kristi (Govertsen), here’s my picture to share. I look forward to talking to you later today through our Coffee with a Rotarian program (thanks, Tzviatko, for what you are doing to make that happen!)."
Member Roger Plested (Canada) had this to say:"Another enjoyable meeting. Kristen thank you for your presentation. If you ever need to be empowered to expand your rose garden and wish another opinion, please contact me. Kristen there are a lot of people both adults and students who are mostly interverted rather than extraverted. It would seem to me that your program is more suited to the extraverted person rather than the interverted person. The introverted person likes to back burner ideas and knowledge in order to think them through rather than sharing their initial thoughts. Would you please comment."
Be sure to leave a comment at the end of this week’s meeting after you watch the program below, and perhaps you’ll see your comment featured next week!Tip: If you participate in the monthly photo contest via the comments, you're much more likely to be featured in the next week's meeting! Guests can participate too! Read our Members segment of our meeting to learn more about the theme for this month.
Program: The Upendo Mmoja Project
Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, education, technology, and humanitarian service. This week our guest is Abigail Joyal of Norwich University Rotaract Club, talking to us about the Upendo Mmoja Project.
Abigail Joyal is a student at Norwich University currently working on her Bachelor's Degree in Athletic Training. Abigail has been part of the Rotaract Club of Norwich for over 3 years. It is through her experience in Rotaract, that she discovered the Upendo Mmoja project. In 2014, she went on a Rotary-led trip to Pommerin, Tanzania as a volkunteer. There she fell in love with the people of Pommerin. Since the trip, she has become the International Service Learning Intern for the Upendo Mmoja project, and has been working to help better the lives of the children of Pommerin since then.In this talk, Abigail shares with us the origin story behind the Upendo Mmoja project, their mission and their goals.
Members and guests, please join us in welcoming Abigail!
Related Links
Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/UpendoMmoja/
Link to our website: http://www.upendommoja.org/
Contact us: info@upendommoja.org
Ask a question. Leave a comment!
Have a question for Abigail? Leave a comment or a question in the comments below! Or just tell us how your week has been!
Upcoming Program Schedule
All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 30 to 45 minutes long and are subject to change without notice. (Sometimes speakers cancel on us!)
Upcoming Recordings:
Tuesday, March 21, 2017 at 3:45 PM Pacific Time, Susie Rivera of the FLY (Fresh Lifelines for Youth) will tell the story of that amazing organization.
Tuesday, March 28, 2017 at 10 AM Pacific Time, with speaker Kuda Nyemba about Econet
Tuesday, March 28, 2017 at 12:30 PM Pacific Time, with speaker Thuy Thi, President of Foothill College
Want to be one of our upcoming program speakers? Email president@siliconvalleyrotary.com with information about what you would like to speak about!
If you would like to join us for any of the live recordings, please email president@siliconvalleyrotary.com with your request. Requests will be checked up until 5 minutes prior to the recording time. Please note the timezone is all California, USA time.
You’re Almost Done! One last thing: The Attendance Survey...
Thanks for reading and watching this week’s meeting. You have two last things to do before you’re done. First, we have a very short attendance survey below for you to fill out to record your attendance.
Visiting Rotarians, this is how you can get an email receipt to pass along to your club’s secretary as proof that you’ve attended our meeting if you need it for makeups.Non-Rotarian Guests, we would love to see who is dropping by our meetings! This part is optional for you. If you think you may want to join our eClub at some point in the future, we would strongly recommend you fill out the attendance form as it will improve your chances of success for your membership application.More importantly, for all members and guests — we strongly recommend and ask that you leave a comment below in our comments area below. Tell us how you enjoyed the program. Ask this week’s speaker any questions you might have. Or just stop by and say hello and tell us where you’re from!
