Our Greeter today was Carrie Ballek and she did a marvelous job.
President Amir Famili rang the bell at 7:30 A.M. to open the meeting and welcomed all. Then Carrie Ballek gave a very nice invocation. Pres. Amir asks for prayers for Jody Butters and for Ronnee Klotz.
Secretary John Scott. began the meeting having the members recite The Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag. Then he led us in reciting the Four Way Test. John also reviewed some upcoming events.
GUESTS:
Dr. Akbar Keshodkar, our speaker today.
MEMBER RECRUITING INCENTIVE:
Gwenn has announced that there now are four donors each of $100 to provide incentives to induct new members by December 31, 2019.
AWRC MEMBERSHIP PLAN:
Gwenn Carr distributed hard copies of the plan that the AW B.O.D. approved at their August 20th meeting.
LOWHILL FOOD PANTRY:
This great group still depends on cash donations from AW Rotarians. And volunteering for the produce pick-up and distribution on Saturday mornings is a very satisfying thing.
DINING OUT -- SEPTEMBER:
Thursday, September 26th, at 6:00 P.M., at Madeline’s in Fogelsville
THURSDAY EVENING MEETING:
TOMORROW, August 22 at the Holiday Inn at 5:30 P.M. is our next meeting. Amir will discuss the new budget, AND the dream of a Satellite.
A meeting of the Purple Pinkie Committee will follow.
NEXT MORNING MEETING:
August 28th with Dale Heffner as our Greeter. Our program will be our District Governor Nominee, Robert Hobaugh, Esq., Rotary Club of Kutztown. Bob will discuss the June 2019 RI Convention in Hamburg, Germany
Pres. Amir introduced Mitch Huston who conducted the drawings and collected Happy Dollars.
The door prize donated by Carrie Ballek was won by Dan Crane.
The $31 pot of the 50:50 was not won by John Scott ’s ticket being drawn followed by a white marble. Many marbles will be back next week.
HAPPY DOLLARS:
Dan Crane happily contributed $5 as profits from working with Geoff Legg.
Ralph Witcher donated $5 as sharing happiness with everyone.
Ernie Boll again is just plain happy. Mitch tried to increase the donation, but………
Bill Weber is happy that Sue and he are off to their Hilton Head home for two weeks. And he is happy that Marlene Heller will be driving them to the airport.
Al Lewis is happy to report that two weeks ago while in the Adirondacks, his daughter caught a largemouth bass.
PROGRAM:
Pres. Amir introduced Dr. Akbar Keshodkar of Moravian College Dept. of Anthropology. He noted that Dr. Keshodkar had earned his Masters and PhD at Oxford University in England.
Dr. K. thanked us for inviting him today, and said that he liked to share his research.
The presentation was on Connecting East Africa to the broader Indian Ocean world in a new era of South-South prosperity.
Dr. K. began with showing a series of maps of Northern Africa, Southern Europe over to India. He showed us the Indian Ocean trade route network. These trade routes evolved over many years, and were devoid of any military influence.
The Monsoon season for 5 or 6 months each year dictated when the small boats of the time could travel. For the other half year the traders stayed where they were as part of the growth.
In 1498 Explorer Vasco de Gama went around the southern tip of Africa and began exploration of the Indian Ocean areas. Thus in the 1600s Europeans gained a “toothhold” in the Indian Ocean trade. Another significant development of that time was the creation of gunpowder.
Later the Dutch with bigger sailing vessels established a strong trading presence in the Indian Ocean. Still the steam engine was some centuries in the future. And the Europeans began to cross the Atlantic in search of a new sea route to Asia. The Indian trade system began to diminish as the Atlantic trade system grew.
Dr. Keshodkar pointed out the evolution of slavery during these times. There always was slavery around the world, but each generation tended to absorb the slaves into their families. Then in the 1600s human slaves became a commodity. It is estimated that over 40% of the African people were relocated in the years that followed.
Dr. K. showed the Indian Ocean slave trade routes for the 1500 to 1900 period. During the 1800s about 1.4 Million Indians became indentured servants.
Approaching 1900 the Indian Ocean trade was declining. This was partly because individual communities combined into countries and had established boundaries.
Dr. K. reviewed charts of the values of Exports and Imports with the Sub-Saharan countries in the last few decades. And we saw bar charts showing India’s trade with Africa over the last few years. Imports and Export dollars.
A significant change came in the 1950s-60s as China expanded their reach into the African countries and the Indian trade routes. The last slide was the picture showing China’s proposed new “Silk Roads.”
There were some questions from the members that Dr. Keshodkar answered thoroughly. He received much applause. And Pres. Amir gave him a package of a special tea as a “thank you.”
CLOSING:
Pres. Amir closed our meeting by our reciting the saying “One profits most who serves best.”
Good photos are by Marlene Heller
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