Presentation in Bandon - July 23, 2010

Team leader Rick Francona gave a presentation to the Rotary Club of Bandon today. The club was interested in the program - they had sponsored two applicants for the team (none were chosen).

One of the points that Rick made about many of the Caribbean clubs purchasing Shelter Boxes was a big hit. The four South Coast clubs - Bandon, Port Orford, Gold Beach and Brookings-Harbor - are considering a joint purchase of four Shelter Boxes.

Rick asked the club to seek out applicants for the 2010-2011 GSE to Peru.

District 5110 Conference - Eugene, Oregon

Our home district, District 5110, conference was held in Eugene on May 21 and 22. The team gathered once again and, as usual, wowed the crowd.

Shelly and Rick opening for the team. As usual, Rick tried to be funny and Shelly saved the day.

"Anna Leelah Layla" Lillah explaining lawyering in the Caribbean. Lillah's team recently placed third in the classic Bend canoe race.

Heidi brings it home with her "outside in - inside out" GSE experience. In a nutshell, we did not look at the island as most tourists do, that is from the "outside in," but staying with local families gave us the unique perspective of seeing it from the "inside out."

Rick: I now make my living with words. I could not have said it better.

At the GSE teams roundtable:

Liesl (from the District 7030 team) and Shelly with a Carnival mask. Shelly has a whole outfit, but maybe not for G or PG audience....

Liesl, Shelly and Monica at the roundtable - good questions and answers.

Rick said something that everyone seemed to like. To his left is the team leader of the the District 4410 (Brazil) team; to his right is the team leader of the District 7030 (Eastern Caribbean) team.

Heidi, always a crowd favorite, talks about her experiences in the Caribbean.

It was nice to reunite with the team, if just for a short time.

Back home to Oregon

March 28 - After a month in the Caribbean, visitng Dominica, Martinique, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, a tanned GSE team returned to a significantly cooler and wetter Oregon.

The tanned team at Portland airport

We will be adding more posts to the blog - mostly on the vocational exchange visits - as we sort through our notes and pictures.

The team will also make a presentation on our trip at the District 5110 Conference in Eugene on Friday, May 21 at 3:15pm.

Lawyering on Barbados

March 26 - I had such a great time on Barbados with the attorneys there. I finally got to go to court with a criminal defense attorney, which was just amazing, and this particular attorney was a notorious character on the island. He participated in the local theater and had been defending the most high profile cases on the island for years.


When I mentioned at the Rotary meetings that I had been with Andrew Pilgrim that day, the whole club erupted in laughter. But he and his associate drove me around to all the small courthouses and showed me first hand how the criminal process works. I also got to hear first hand about the different idiosyncrasies of the judges, which was exactly like some judges I know. In fact, practicing criminal law in Barbados seemed to be the most similar to my practice. We shared the same stories about clients and judges and the criminal process in general. I felt like I was sitting around with my colleagues here discussing another work day. It was wonderful.

I also met another attorney who was close to my age and he was very informative and interesting. He worked for a large law firm that handled corporate litigation, so we had a chance to discuss trial practice as well.


I also toured the new Supreme Court building and sat in on a criminal trial. This was great and the building was just beautiful. It also had every piece of high tech equipment a court room could need. I was jealous.

Lillah McBride

Stantec Engineering - Barbados

March 25 – My final vocational visit was spent with Justin Jennings-Wray at Stantec. Stantec is a Canadian engineering firm with branches in the US, Canada, and the Caribbean.

Justin explained the EIA, or Environmental Impact Assessment studies he does on the island of Barbados. These studies sometimes determine the sustainability of the golf courses’ water drainage and management. I also learned about Barbados's unique water table.

Justin drawing me a diagram during our discussion about the water table of Barbados.

Monica Holzmer

Premier Event Services - Barbados

March 25 - Jerry Ishmael, part owner of Premier Event Services was my favorite vocational visit on Barbados. This man knows events inside and out! I got to talk to him about 2 very exciting events that his business landed, “The Prime Minister’s Inaugural Ball” and the “Barbados Food & Wine Festival” sponsored by Travel and Leisure Magazine! During my visit, I got to meet the secretary to the Prime Minister as she was in the office to approve the event invitation for the Inaugural Ball, a 450 person plated meal affair. She was very happy to say the least.

The Barbados Food and Wine Festival takes place Nov. 19-22, 2010 and will have three top guest chefs: Chef Tim Love, a true Texan and pioneer of urban Western Cuisine, Chef Ming Tsai, a New York chef who focuses on East-West cooking, and last but not least, Chef Marcus Samuelsson, multi-award winning New Yorker famed as the chef at Obama’s first State White House dinner (the infamous crashed dinner we all know and talk about).

The most interesting part of the conversation was about the wine. Barbados does not produce wine, yet the titles is very explanatory, a Wine and Food Festival. They are importing wines and flying in wine experts from all over the world. Rum will be present at the event of course, as Barbados is very proud to say that Mount Gay is the first rum ever to be produced.

There will be cooking demonstrations, wine tastings, rum shop Safari’s, catamaran cruises hosted by the celebrity chefs, dinner banquets, tastings, music, and all kinds receptions throughout this fun 4 day event. On an international level, the event will promote Barbados as a top tourism destination. Given my culinary and hospitality experience on Barbados, they will have no problem with this!

I really wish I was a part of the Premier Event Services team working on this exciting event. Even more, I wish I had the vacation time to take off and go back to attend this event! I have great confidence that Jerry and his staff will do a fine job!

For more info on the event, pick up a copy of Travel and Leisure Magazine!

Shelly Kane

Barbados Legion

March 25 - The Barbados Legion is a semi-private veterans support organization patterned after the British Legion. It provides assistance to former members of the British forces from Barbados and former members of the Barbados Defence Force.

The Legion building - The Main Guard, in the Garrison, Saint Michaels

The BDF was formed after independence in 1966. Prior to that, Bajans served in units of the British Army, at one time constituting (with other islands) the West Indies Regiment. Some members supported by the Legion served in British Army, the Royal Air Force and the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II. The first prime minister of Barbados, Errol Walton Barrow, was a WWII RAF veteran with 40 missions to his credit.

Over the past few years, the Barbados government has recognized that having a private organization look after its veterans was not living up to its commitment and now partially funds the organization with about US$100,000 per year. The Legion still sells the poppy reminiscent of the poppies sold on Veterans Day in the United States.

Following an excellent briefing and tour by Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Florence Gettins, the Legion presented me with their organizational tie - I am wearing if in the photo.