Last Week, we were up-dated by Roger Williams, Chairman of Scholarship Committee, and were told that the committee had interviewed over 107 students the day before, and they were most impressive, he also said even though the economy was bad right now, the money is still coming in and he expects another great year as far as help being awarded to our local students.

Fellow Rotarian, Jim Rippy then took to the podium and kept a captive audience, while using a picture presentation of a recent trip to Egypt, as they saw it.

To see Egypt, "you need to take a cruise on the Nile River" he said. There are about four hundred of these ships on the Nile, used solely for the entertainment of tourist. He went on to say that the security was very evident, as everywhere they went they had an armed guard along side them. Also there were sub-machine guns mounted on the ships and sometime there were boats along side the ship with armed personnel.

Jim pointed out the architecture of the country, and all of its detail carvings out of the stone mountains, and the exquisite detail of carvings in the Temples and Pyramids.

He explained the number of Temples and Pyramids, saying that when different families took over as rulers of the country, they built their own to honor their Kings, and Pharos, and furnish them private burial spaces, to prepare them to go into the afterlife.

With the help of the picture presentation, he pointed out the difference in the country, as far as landscape, saying that only a small portion of valley along the Nile River would grow any kind of vegetation, and the rest of the country was a baron desert, with no trees, or vegetation of any kind, and small farmers grew their wares along this small valley, using animals to cultivate, and sell their vegetables at markets in the villages.

He said that tourism is the main income in Egypt, and tourist are treated very highly while in the country.