Megan’s work there was very relational work-lots of social conversations, greetings with all the people coming into the office. She made daily stops after work for groceries and fresh produce from the markets before returning home to her housemate and cooking supper together in the evenings. They would cook for about one to two hours, and then enjoy a nice meal. This made a great ending to the day. Once it’s dark outside, she said it is important to stay inside for safety. For the security of their homes in the city, people have gates, guards and guard dogs.

Megan found that there was so much to understand culturally because there are so many differences in the people. She found many friends through church to enjoy activities. She said the lifestyle there always had an element of ambiguity about knowing what the options are, and not knowing what was going to happen. She said that what seemed to matter most culturally was the relationships people have with one another. She said that time tables disappear in Africa, so it takes patience. She came to appreciate this way of life.

Her job required a lot of travel to find organizations to partner with volunteers, and check on the volunteers to make sure they had the resources and support needed to do their work. Sometimes this meant taking a trip longer than four hours which meant taking a bus (for a very wild ride). She added a word of caution as to what you purchase from bus-side vendors. Her longest bus trip was a 24 hour ride to Tanzania-not to be repeated! Sometimes she took a small airplane for reaching work destinations.

Some observations about different areas in Africa include: NW Uganda has lots of people on bicycles; SW Uganda has many people on foot, carrying their loads on top of their head; Rwanda was clean and beautiful; Sudan was hardened by war but beautiful; Chad was mostly desert and very hot. She found that there was much political unrest especially at election time. Compared to USA, she found that shopping there was for necessities not because there were sales going on in stores; and that the pace of life there made it conducive to relating to one another on a personal level because you weren’t traveling alone by car, etc.

Her work was funded by churches, friends and families. If you are interested in African Inland Mission, please visit www.aimint.org/usa.

UPCOMING EVENTS

UPCOMING SPEAKERS

The club approved establishing a second club here in Platteville. The group decided to hold meetings on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday at Noon at Chicago’s Best. The next meeting will be at Chicago’s Best on October 28th. They hope to Charter that day.

Optimists felt the enthusiasm for Jerry Schewe’s draw of the king of hearts for a $2 win in the Joker Draw, considering the jackpot is close to $600!

Family Connections and Family Advocates sent letters of thanks for our support.

Beth Frieders brought fiancé, Keyron Eagan as a guest. Charlie Clark brought guests, Carol and Tom Nelson, Megan’s parents, and his wife, Joyce.

The new board will meet on Thursday, November 12th at 7 am at Badger Brothers. We will discuss the Protect Youth Online, - an Optimists International program.

SWIS District will hold its 1st Quarter Conference here in Platteville at the Governor Dodge. Sign up to attend the Saturday program at the next meeting or download the material from the SWIS District web site and send it in. Suzy Favor-Hamilton is the Keynote Speaker. Jerry is also looking for 3 - 4 folks to help Angela with the Hospitality Room on Friday night.

Thanks to Holly Cook for taking notes and writing the Newsletter and to John Dutcher as photojournalist.