Today, features one of the recipients of Union City Rotary’s Scholarships, with Joshua Owens, a Union City native and graduate of Obion County Central High School sharing experiences and lesson learned from leading recovery and development efforts in Darfur, Sudan and draw some parallels between effective economic development in Sudan and rural development in Northwest Tennessee.
While attending Vanderbilt University, Josh received a Rotary Scholarship each year he was in school there. He also received the Hardy Graham Sophomore Award and a Vanderbilt Honors Scholarship.
From 2008 - 2010 he worked for a Swiss-based NGO as the manager of a relief and development program in Darfur, Sudan. He was involved with several UN initiatives and led the post-war recovery and peace-building efforts in a remote, volatile province of Darfur still held by rebel militias - overseeing projects in water, sanitation, education, agriculture, and economic development. Besides Sudan, Josh has also worked in Morocco and Egypt and has had the opportunity to learn 2 foreign languages and travel on 4 continents so far in his career.
Josh returned to Union City this past winter and took on a short-term role as an economic development consultant at First State Bank. He also recently was awarded a full fellowship and stipend to study at Princeton University for 2 years - where he will earn a MBA in International Economic Development.
Next week, brings to an end another successful fiscal year for Union City Rotary. 2010 - 2011 has been an eventful year for our club, we have seen remarkable growth, remarkable achievements, and unremarkable controversy, which was handled remarkably well.
Ending the year means we install a new group of officers for the club. President Houston will step down and become a member of the audience, President Elect Al Creswell will take over that spot, Richard Graham will take over Al’s place as President Elect and Program Chairman, Chuck Doss takes over the Secretary slot, Sgt.-at-Arms goes to Sam Bradberry, Ron Green steps up as Ascending Director, and the Director Spots go to Hadley Malone and Charles Kirkland.
On the district level, Dick Bowers of the Rotary Club of Brentwood, Tennessee takes over the spot which Jim Springer now holds as District Governor, and Rotary International President goes to Kalyan Banerjee of Bapi, Gujarat, India
Past District Governor, Glen Vanderford, will be on hand as guest speaker and will do the honors of swearing in the new officers of Union City Rotary for 2011 -2012.
Last week, "KIM KIM" IS A HE, NOT A SHE. Due to a wrong assumption by this reporter, last weeks bulletin was a big blunder, reporting the guest speaker as a female, but "Kim Kim" took it all in stride, and helped me out by saying it was not the first time this has happened.
From the start, one could see that Kihyon Kim, has a very strong passion for Rotary. As he witnessed, he has devoted most of his young adult life to projects being sponsored by District 6760 as well as Rotary International.
The main topic of his presentation concerned a project called ShelterBox, which is the largest project of Rotary in the club’s 100+ year history. The program originated from a Rotary Club in Florida. He had on display the contents of a ShelterBox kit, which is designed to help a family, who have been affected by a disaster, to survive under a roof, be able to cook, have drinkable water, tools for existence as well as being able to begin a new life. One of these boxes provides a durable tent for and extended family of up to 10 people and life-saving tools, such as water purification supplies, blankets, a cook stove and mosquito nets. The contents of the box can be modified depending on the nature and location of the disaster. He informed us that since the beginning of this project, there have been 28,000 of these kits distributed across the globe, helping 280,000 people in such places as the Philippines, where 750,000 people were either injured or displaced during the typhoon which struck there, Haiti, during the earthquake there, and just recently in Japan during the disastrous flood there, where he said 1,300 of the boxes were distributed.
He informed us the cost of one of these boxes is $1.000. After his presentation, President Houston presented him with a check from U.C. Rotary covering the cost of one of the kits.
He also spent some time reporting on the District Project in Honduras, where he spent several weeks helping install electricity in 55 homes.
Coming Attractions
June 20 - Jim Glasgow, Jr.
has been a member of the Vapi, Gujarat, India Rotary Club since 1972. He said, "he would like to see Rotary blossom from being the world’s most recognized service organization to being the most important nongovernmental organization in the world". "Rotary, it is said, has the strength of a government and the tenderness of a parent" he added.
Banerjee is a director of United Phosphorus Limited, the largest agrochemical manufacturer in India.
