Rotary Kyiv-Centre

Dr. M. Mominul Hoque, Recent president 07-08 with Kathy and Greg

All the rotarians out there will be proud of me. Greg and I attended a Wednesday evening Rotary meeting in the Business Centre of Kyiv. District 2230 established 8/31/1999. There were about 20 people around a table at 6:30 pm. We had Olga call the day before to get the address and she of course set us up with a driver. There were nerves for what type of meeting and if anyone would speak English. We were in good hands as always with Rotarians. They greeted us after a couple enchanges with English as we stumbled with our Russian. I was prepared to introduce myself and Greg and use Rotarian Americanitz. We were sat next to a translator and then had a birthday announcement with flowers and a gift. I felt like I was at home in Ojai-West. We were introduced and I described where we were from and some of the recent projects of our club. We also were interested in finding a point person to assist with medical supply transport assistance from Direct Relief International. The contact with Matt MacCalla that I made at a Rotary meeting a couple of months ago led to conversation on the limitations that he sees in getting shipments into Ukraine. We met 2 physicians who may be hellpful with these major issues and a business man who was most interested in helping in any way. They talked about matching grants as well and we can always connect with them in the future on issues. It was very nice and we are glad we went. Thank you Rotary for this opportunity.

Current President and Kathy exchanging flags during the meeting.