Hannah Kelley: Student

Wayne State’s Rotaract Club has been in contact with our twin club in Beirut, Lebanon since last semester. Rima Abou-Mrad is a Multi-Year Ambassadorial Scholar studying at Wayne State University. She is originally from Lebanon and has been instrumental in making the connection between Beirut and Detroit.

Here is a buttery update on a Rotaract Conference in Istanbul that we are trying to attend with the Beirut Club:

Fw: Trip to Istambul

From: Rima Abou Mrad                               Mon, Feb 25, 2008 at 10:39 AM

To: VP WSU Rotaract Hannah, Katrina WSU Rotaract, Rotaract WSU

Dear all,

Please find below an email from the Rotaract Club of Beirut.

Please let me know what you think.

Take care

Rima

—– Forwarded Message From: Mona Karam <mona.karam@usj.edu.lb>
To: rimaaboumrad@yahoo.com
Cc: adibmounla@yahoo.com
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 3:17:56 AM
Subject: Trip to Istambul

Hello dearest Rima,

I am glad to get in touch with u after a long absence.
As Adib told u ill be organising with u our trip to Istambul

So i propose to u this plan :
As Easter will come from March 20 till the 24, it is the best time for us
to go there as we will be on vacations.
What about u ?

As for transportation, Adib told me that it will be by bus.

We need then to know where we will be hosted (if in rotaractors houses)
or in a youth hotel maybe we will charge the turkish rotaractors about
this issue

As for the project I will ask Adib about any ideas
U can do same from your side
and will update u of our findings

Rotaractly yours

Mona

On Thursday, February 21st a meeting was held at the Mt. Clemens Rotary Club to discuss the upcoming Peace Summit. I was invited to speak at the event to present on the Wayne State Rotaract Club’s role/involvement in the Student Convention to the International Peace Summit; this event takes place April 24th, a day before the main event, in the Community Arts Auditorium at Wayne State University.

The vision for the Student Convention is an all-youth run evening focused on peace issues.

I was joined on the panel by Dr. Fred Pearson, Director of the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies at Wayne State, District Governors Jennifer Jones (6400) and Audrey Chevalier (6380), Rotarian Bob Selwa and the President of Mt. Clemens Rotary.

Pictures of this meeting can be found here.

A video of Dr. Pearson addressing the meeting can be found here.

Left to Right: Bob Selwa, Jennifer Jones, Fred Pearson, Hannah Kelley, Audrey Chevalier, President of Mt. Clemens Rotary

The following is a charming postcard from the Rotaract Club of Beirut (RCB). The club is WSU Rotaract’s twin club. This means we are planning possible service projects with RCB, learning about their country and culture and taking clues from the projects they have already launched.

The following is a personal e-mail from Wilton Sankawulo, former Head of State of Liberia, following a Liberian Literacy Foundation event at the Detroit Public Library. For more about this event, click here.

Dear Hannah and Katrina:

Thank you and Katrina very much for the fine gift and your friendly reception of me in Mechigan. I am sorry my stay was very brief. I could have made better acquaintance with you and many others who made me feel at home so well in your beautiful city. I could have used the opportunity to tell you much about Liberia and its peoples. But you have many Liberians there who can tell you about our country. I am sorry too I did not have copies of my books to share with you. You can get my latest novel Sundown at Dawn at DustySpark.com. It will tell you much about life in our traditional society. As for the folktales, I am trying to find an American publisher to make them available to readers in the US.

I am looking forward to copies of the pictures we took together. Some of them might appear in my next book, a memoir. I was very impressed by your enthusiasm to go to Liberia. The people are friendly and eager to learn. They love Americans and will become your friends. You will find the Kpelle people especially happy to meet you people. I hope you make Liberia your second home. I also hope your studies go on fine. One day we might meet again.

With kind regards and best wishes,

Sincerely yours,

Wilton Sankawulo Sr.