Tuesday May 19, 2020

Dr. Wen Chen

Dr. Wen Chen – Korea and its Relationship to China

Scribe: Tom Boylan Editor: Jake Fowler Introduced by: JB Leep

The bell rang out in virtual time at 7:30 with a rousing “Good Morning President Maureen.”

Catherine Haron led us in the pledge

A little 4-way share took over the screen.

Inspiration came from Pres Maureen’s visiting the Sebastopol Club’s youth awards program. If only you loved someone…

Missed words were not provided by today’s scribe, Tom Boylan

No visiting Rotarians

Guests of Rotary

We welcomed Heather McLintock, President of World Affairs Council of Sonoma County.

Our amazing Italian Exchange student, Vittoria Castelli is with us, and sad to say she will be leaving our club, but not our hearts on June 8th.

Dr. Wendy Chen from Pasadena and professor with Cal Tech is with us and will be our speaker.

Announcements:

May’s Rotarian Powerhouse is Diane Brabetz

Happy Birthday Chris Landwher and Larry Wassem

Carol Martin let us know that the Food Pantry can acquire empty egg cartons so they can hand off eggs to people who need their services.

Carol also let us know that we are supporting the Windsor High grads, although our plans were to take part in the program this year, but we are looking ahead to 2021. Please reference the materials they sent asking for help.

We are processing refunds for those who purchased Project Grad tickets, and families may choose to donate the cost of their purchased ticket to Project Graduation.  We will be giving each graduate $20 gift cards as a small token of celebration, and also financially contributing to the High School for cruise decorations.  Your donation will help offset these costs.  Please visit our website www.windsorhighprojectgrad.org to donate.

If you were planning to volunteer at this event, we hope that you will consider doing so for our Class of 2021 Project Graduation party.  We will have the following opportunities:

  • Volunteering the day of the 2021 event
  • Planning Committee participation, meets monthly
  • Join our Board of Directors.  (We will be voting for our Board of Director positions in June.  Meeting date to be determined.)

It is still our passion to prevent teen drinking and driving on graduation night, and we have information on how to continue to support this life-saving mission. See below.

Barbara McChesney is looking good with a box of food in front of her home. This is the last week of our Food drive efforts to help out the Windsor Food Pantry.

Tom Hassur is away and buried in the scholarship applications.

Daniel Myers Student of the Year, Kora Robinson with the Windsor Humanities Core is absent, but we look forward to seeing her in an upcoming meeting.

A special presentation:

Vittoria Castelli, our Rotary Youth Exchange daughter for the past year took over the screen to share her presentation on Living in America, which started last summer. Her second host family were the Moultons and their pets. Vittoria was excited to share her full time with the Moulton’s, hiking, studying, clam chowder, picnics, and an opportunity to become a photographer.

We found out that Renee Hyde and Paul Peloso gave her a thrill by taking her skiing in the Sierras. JB Leep and Carol Martin took her on Safari, at Safari West and this had quite the impact on her.  Good food and a few Giraffes thrown in to make the day special.

The world of an exchange student is made special because of the friendships made. Movies and dinners together allowed Vittoria a chance to really explore and understand the differences in the cultures. There was a lot of support from friends.

Vittoria’s third host family brought her more than a family with two new sisters, but this is when she found the Shelter in Place world of COVID-19. It appears she had many fun adventures in spite of the quarantine, which included picnics and outings and a pop-up Prom that took place at the Moulton’s. Pictures on the lake made her feel like a model and her dress, which she had sent from Italy in anticipation of the real deal, made her photo op session a very special occasion.

Heartfelt thanks went out to all the Windsor Rotary members.

Diane Brabetz gave us a report on the status of COVID in Sonoma County. She shared that we have done an excellent job.

President Maureen shared that she went to a testing station, as a precautionary measure and Glenn Sugden shared the following link: https://lhi.care/covidtesting
/ and more info: https://socoemergency.org/sonoma-county-increases-covid-19-testing-with-two-new-community-testing-sites/

 

 

Program:

JB Leep introduced our speaker, Dr. Wen Chen, whose topic for the presentation focused on ‘KOREA AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO CHINA.’

Dr. Chen was born in China at the end of the Great Cultural Revolution. Being victims of the horrific atrocity that killed two million intellectuals and destroyed traditional Chinese culture, her parents had mixed feelings about her education. Despite their discouragement, Wen eventually won a national prize at a science competition when she was 16. Hence, she was accepted into a top university for undergraduate study.

In 1994, Wen came to the U.S. for graduate school and received a doctorate in Biology at the California Institute of Technology in 2000. Because of her personal experience of being brainwashed in China, she decided to be a voice for the voiceless. Since 2012, she has given over 200 presentations to community organizations about Chinese culture, history, and human rights.

Dr. Chen let us know that she is a survivor of the brainwashing that took place in her homeland China. As she ventured out of China, she came to understand that China had been giving a very opposite view to its citizens about the Tiananmen Square event. She had been told while in country that the students were doing the killing of the military and it wasn’t until she arrived in America that she learned the truth. That truth has given her the interest to be a part of the truth that needs to be shared. Human Rights

Her presentation began letting us know some of the details of life in North Korea. The same brainwashing she experienced in her youth is dominating the people of North Korea. The damages to the people of the North Korea can be seen in the details of their size. The people are underfed and

China is a sponsor of North Korea and is often used as a bargaining chip for China with regard to US relations. We were told of the time of Mao Tse Tung and the great China famine that took place between 1957 and the 1960’s when 30 million Chinese people perished. The food they grew for redistribution was sidetracked and used to build a trade for weapons.

Brainwashing in China is controlled by the government controlling all news and internet, books and movies. Materials that do make it through the censors is usually thoroughly edited prior to distribution. We also learned the amount of surveillance cameras in China are using AI and facial recognition to keep track of its people. We also learned that the technology manufactured in China has a great chance to being used to spy on the rest of the world, especially the US. We learned there are many acquisitions being made for US media.

We thought Confucius was a philosopher of China past, but the current Confucius Institute which is supported by China’s government can be found in High Schools and universities in the US. These programs funded by China modify the information about those countries that disapprove of China and supports promoting the Communist philosophy.

The Communist Party in China is powered by trade, which is built on cheap labor, and counterfeiting. There are American companies doing business with China and offering support to the Communist Government through the technology they provide, which aids the Communists to monitor the activities of its citizens.

 

 

A special note from President Maureen regarding the Two Funds!

The Rotary Foundation and the Windsor Rotary Community Foundation – ever get confused?  Click here to see a chart presents a side-by-side explanation of the two funds. And here’s a tidy crash course:

 

  • The Rotary Foundation (TRF) is the philanthropic arm of Rotary International, funding many of our humanitarian programs. A portion of the contributions made by the clubs in the district comes back to the district for special projects, including grants for club projects.  It is not called the RI or Rotary International Foundation; donors are not ‘giving to RI’ – it is The Rotary Foundation – a crucial distinction.
  • The Windsor Rotary Community Foundation (WRCF) is the charitable organization of the Windsor Rotary club.
  • Each has both a ‘spending’ fund and a Permanent Fund that generates interest for spending and growth.  TRF’s is called the Permanent Fund; WRCF’s is called our Endowment Fund.
  • John LeCave is our Club Rotary Foundation Chair.
  • Brian Ling coordinates donations for our Windsor Rotary Community Foundation. The WRCF has its own board of trustees, chaired by the Club President.

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