Speakers Evening

The virtual meeting of the Rotary Club of South Queensferry on Thursday  21st May went transatlantic when they welcomed World Bank consultant and Rotarian Mark Wilson, speaking from his winter home in South Carolina. Club secretary Craig MacKenzie, who has been friends with Mark since schooldays in Paisley, said that Mark's speciality was agricultural and rural development. With degrees from Glasgow and Illinois universities and further qualifications from Princeton University and Harvard Business School, Mark has  worked as Section Director and Division Chief for  the World Bank all over the developing world. A twelve-year spell in Latin America was particularly relevant  when Mark was asked to implement a Rotary Global Gant link for the Rotary Club of Washington DC. The charity in question was COANIQUEM, The Latin America Burned Children Foundation. Its vitally important work so impressed Mark that he is currently vice president of the organisation. Mark and his wife Nancy are direct supporters, holding fundraisers at their Washington DC house. Other board members organise events in San Francisco and Miami.

In a transatlantic Powerpoint presentation, Mark described the work of COANIQUEM with particular reference to Chile where 70% of burns victims are under the age of five. Causes include domestic accidents, often because young children are left alone or with older siblings in overcrowded and dangerous conditions. Fireworks, which are very popular all over Latin America, were also a major cause. COANIQUEM has spent forty years treating burned children in the Americas. In Chile it treats 8,000 patients a year in three rehabilitation centres. Treatment takes a holistic approach, drawing on specialists ranging from nurses and surgeons to anaesthetists, physical and occupational therapists, dermatologists and even music therapists. There is also a close link with psychologists and social workers as injuries often result in loss of functionality, aesthetic damage, psychological trauma, future impact on social integration and work possibilities. In Chile funding is achieved by COANIQUEM covering 67% of the costs and the health care system 33%. The charity is supported by huge fundraising campaigns, sponsorship programmes, private alliances and stores. Rotary, through matched grants, funds the Telemedicine System, the Data Centre and Electronic Clinical Record System. It also provides new equipment for the rehabilitation facilities. Children from poor families receive free treatment and free transport is provided by local bus companies including Scottish-owned Stagecoach.

COANIQUEM, with other concerned organisations lobbied for the abolition of consumer fireworks in Chile under the slogan 'Don't Use, Don't Buy, Don't Sell.' The success of the campaign is clear. There is a 90% reduction in injuries between 6th December and 6th January every year! No people have been killed by consumer fireworks since the law was enacted in 2001 and no people have been injured at official firework displays which are still permitted. Mark said there has been a culture shift in the attitude to fireworks across Chile.  Perhaps the Chileans are used to following instructions owing to the seventeen-years' military junta, but the Organisation of American States is so impressed that it is proposing a similar law. The possibility of celebrating safely across America is becoming closer.

Mark Wilson sent greetings from the Rotary Club of Washington DC to the South Queensferry club and wished members well during the lockdown. He said that  he and Nancy happened to be in their winter home when lockdown was imposed, but could easily have driven back to Washington DC through Republican states with fewer restrictions. President Jim McCulloch thanked Mark for a splendid presentation.