Birmingham diary

Oh to be in England now that the Novotnys are there -- apologies to the poet.

Tom and Robin are shown above at a gate to Sherwood Forest, the legendary home of Robin Hood. Once upon a time, the forest was widespread across the county of Nottinghamshire in central England.

The Novotnys, in England to attend the Rotary International convention in the city of Birmingham, were shown around the forest and Nottinghamshire by local resident and their old friend Karen Mutton Barraclough.

Karen is well known to Las Vegas West Rotarians from her visits to our club a few years back when she was a Roosevelt Scholar in Las Vegas.

"She lives in Nottingham," says Tom, "and it was great for Robin and me to see her and her husband Angus again."

Tom and Robin stopped  off with Karen and Angus on their way from London to the convention in Birmingham, birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.

That cataclysmatic event in human evolution  catapulted a world of agricultural peasantry into prosperity beyond the wildest dreams of all their ancestors who toiled on the soil for untold generations.

The vast coal fields found under Sherwood Forest helped fuel the incredible pace of industrialization that began in Birmingham in the late 18th century.

Now, thanks, sadly, to that widespread industrialization and coal mining, Sherwood Forest is a shadow of its former self in the heart of England.

Nonetheless, the forest and its ancient tales of romantic outlaws and hapless legal officials is always a major scenic detour for everyone visiting the area, as the Novotnys prove.

Rotarians who attend this year's RI convention in the now upbeat, hip and modern city of Birmingham will learn of its amazing history and its well-deserved place on the top rungs of the ladder of humanity's progress.

One of Birmingham's exiled sons is the incomprehensible rock singer and television personality Ozzie Osbourne. Here's hoping Tom and Robin don't pick up enough of an Ozzie accent that we aren't able to understand them when they come home.

For the quick skinny on the Birmingham bonanza, click here for an RI link.

Faces of hope
Motse wa Tsholofelo means place of hope in the Setswana language of the African nation of Botswana. The phrase is the apt name of the day-care center there for which our club strove mightily to help buy a much-needed minivan to transport the youngsters.

This past week, the van was officially handed over to the day-care center, which educates and feeds about 60 youngsters orphaned by AIDS. The pre-school children are brought daily to the center from their homes, where they are cared for by older siblings or grandparents.

The affair was a grand Botswana-style event, with interminable speeches by government officials praising Rotary's work, and with talks by members of the Rotary Club of Francistown, Botswana, our partner club in the endeavor.

Bernard Hunt, self-appointed ambassador to Botswana from the Rotary Club of Las Vegas West, also addressed the gathering, which was covered on the country's national television.

A fuller report on the official handover necessarily must await better writing, editing and sending capabilities, but this short piece is a cover for pictures of the faces of the children of Motse wa Tsholofelo.

Faces of hope, indeed. Aren't these faces why we do what we do?

Las Vegas West Rotarians will remember that our club partnered with the Francistown club in the highly successful project that raised more than $35,000 for a new vehicle for Motse wa Tsholofelo in the remote town of Maun.

The money bought a spanking new mini van to replace Motse wa Tsholofelo's aging vehicle, which was shaking itself to bits on the poor roads of the central Kalahari Desert.

Click here for the earlier full story and photographs of the van.