Malcolm’s Diary

Housing and Water

This is my last day in Kansas.  The team made the best presentation yet at Derby Rotary Club this lunchtime.  There was even a standing ovation.  Everyone back home can be extremely proud of them all.

Mac Carter, with whom I am staying this week, took me to breakfast at 7.15am today before I met up with Richard Basore from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.  Our conversation turned to housing and what I learnt will be of great interest to all tenants and landlords in the UK.  I asked ‘What happens if a tenant does not pay rent?  Answer;  if rent is outstanding for more than 15 days, the landlord can go straight to the sheriff’s office and he will send someone there and then to evict the tenant.  No court procedures are necessary.  This procedure is also activated if the tenant in some other way breaks the tenancy conditions, for example, by trashing the house.  Tenants look after their properties and pay their rent out here and, as a consequence, there seem to be a good number of private landlords. 

After breakfast, I was taken some 40 miles north to see an innovation in the field of water conservation.  In the mid-west a great deal of the water consumed comes from ancient aquifers. Wichita’s water is provided in this way.  There is general concern that the level of water in the Equus-beds aquifer, which supplies the city,  is diminishing to a dangerous level.  Domestic and industrial demand as well as agricultural irrigation have lowered the levels significantly.  I was even shown how the farmers level their fields with the aid of laser-controlled equipment, to make it flat and easier to operate the quarter-mile irrigation booms I wrote about earlier.  As a response the state department of Health and Environment together with Wichita city have a trial project by which water is taken out of the Arkansas river purified  and put back into the ground.  This is only permitted when the river level is above a certain point so that supplies can be maintained for extraction downstream.  When the system is activated, water is pumped three miles to a purification facility.  On the way the opportunity is taken to start the process by introducing charcoal which removes one of the impurities.  During various stages of purification, including settlement, the introduction of finings chemicals to clear colloidal cloudiness and even a centrifugal stage at the end of the line, water is rendered as pure at the rest of the aquifer reserve.  The water is then pumped a distance of some 3 miles to a concrete-lined basin with sloping sides which is about an acre in extent where it is allowed to percolate back into the ground.

By this process it is hoped to preserve the sustainability of water supply in the future.  Some people are already aware the Wichita’s future, far from being one of healthy expansion, may be one of decline unless this problem is cracked.  Unless it is, the whole of the mid-west will lose its population.  As those who showed me round said ‘Water is the new oil’   Those who work in this industry and develop facilities and technologies such as this have a rosy future.

Lord of the Flies

Today was different.  At 8.30am I was in a high school in Newton, some 20 miles north, to address an English literature class on the subject of William Golding.  They were 15/16 year-olds studying ‘The Lord of the Flies’.  The classroom had seats for aboput 20 so imagine my apprehension when file after file came in and every square foot of floor was filled.  Bodies seated everywhere.  In fact, the session went very well.  I told them about William Golding the naval officer on Atlantic convoys and how that may have contributed to his eventual life as a novelist dealing on very profound topics.  I told them about William Golding the school teacher who always tried to structure lessons in a way that made you think.  They then asked a lot of questions.

A couple of thoughts about American schools.  They are very large and the one I was in yesterday had no windows.  This may be something to do with tornado country, I don’t know.  The facilities are fantastic.  A quarter acre library for 1000 kids!  An agricultural training area with a welding shop as big as a sports hall.  Considered too small, it is soon to be replaced by one of nearly 45,000 square feet.  The library is soon to be replaced too.  Many of their books are ‘0n-line’  so the students can read them at home. One of  the librarian was anxious for her job if this trend continues.  One last thing;  Children from 14 upwards can drive to school because the community is so scattered that school transport would be impossible to organize.  Do I need to tell you how large the car park is?

Later in the day I visited the Episcopal church of St James, Wichita, where the Rector is a young mother.  The first thing I want to report is that she lives in her own house 4 miles away with her children. The episcopal church has, as a general policy, already moved to a situation where its clergy in most cases own their own houses and are given a larger salary accordingly.  When I think of the reception my paper in the Diocese of Ely received, in which I suggested such an innovation, my heart sinks.  Stagnant Anglicanism and confident Episcopalianism. Why doesn’t someone ask the question ‘How does our practice of providing housing impact on people’s motivation to offer themselves for ordination??’  Would we not get many more young people coming forward if they knew they would have their own house at the end of it?   The church is growing especially in the area of teenage ministry.  After-school programmes are provided as this is generally accepted as the time when young people are most vulnerable to drugs, sex etc.  The ‘church’ itself was more like an Oxford college complex.  The ‘gymnasium’ or hall was much larger than we would expect in a large comprehensive school.  The kitchens and lavatories would not be out of place in the Ritz;  The meeting rooms, library, and administrative offices would make any college principal envious. What shall I say about the Rector’s study?  They have just spent $1.5 million on installing new heating and air-conditioning and their next project is to resurface the car park.

If Nick Mumford is reading this, would you like to print it out and give a copy to Matthew Lavis and Anthony Russell please.

By the way, do you all realize that the team has now put a map on the blog.  Below ‘Malcolm’s Diary’ go to ‘Where are we now’.

Housing

What I have to tell you today is of interest to Rotary Clubs, churches and anyone else concerned about social housing.  It is an initiative which has its adherents across the US and is called ‘Habitat for Humanity’.  I was first introduced to it by Rotarian Harold Shapley of the Winfield club. 

A group of people come together in order to provide (usually) a single dwelling for a household that cannot afford to buy their own.  At this stage a suitable household is identified, be it a single parent household or low-income family.  The group and the organization behind them (if any) select a suitable piece of land to build on or house to renovate.  They then buy it.  The eventual occupant enters into a ’sweat-equity’ agreement with the group binding them to contribute physical labour to the project.  The group, which ideally will include a selection of building tradesmen/women, then build or renovate the house as the case may be.  It is often the case that the group will include people who are in a position to contribute materials or these may be contributed by the Rotary/ church or other backing organization.  The net result is that a dwelling is provided for about 30/40% of the market value of the finished dwelling.  With the assistance of members of the group, the householder is helped to obtain a mortgage and purchases the dwelling at the price it cost to provide.  A clause is included to cover the eventuality of the household selling within 10 years, but after 10 years they may be permitted to sell.  In that case, the owners will be required to repay their mortgage and a sum, as previously agreed, to recompense the group for its contribution.  I have not fully understood whether this is a share of the capital gain or some other mechanism but, clearly, there are many ways of doing this.

This is a model which is suited to households that do not expect to move within ten years.  This would not suit everyone.  The Wichita Rotary Club undertakes the construction of one dwelling a year and makes a contribution from its charitable funds.  Local churches also do the same.

One or two of the team are sufficiently interested to consider setting up such a scheme in England when we get home.  Land/housing costs may make it much more difficult for us to do, but I hope that the model can be examined.

Some thoughts for the churchmen among you

We held a very successful presentation last evening at the Winfield Rotary meeting.  There were even a couple of renditions of ‘God Save the Queen’.  The president wanted us to remember our visit so he presented us with various souvenirs of Kansas and its university football team.

I met a new species of churchman at the meeting  -  a Methodist Bishop.  Discussing it further with Gene and Mary my hosts, I learnt that the Methodist church in the USA has traditionally had bishops who preside over a ‘conference’ which equates to an Anglican Diocese being typically half of one of their States.  A bishop would appear to have pastoral and administrative oversight of a ‘conference’ and its Methodist members.  Until recently, the name of the church was ‘Episcopal Methodist’ but, since uniting with another church of similar theology and tradition a few years ago, it is now called ‘United Methodist’.  I also have to report that the Bishop I talked to, after listening to our presentation, offered me a job here in his church!!

November 10th

Sleeping in the twelfth bed since we arrived in America, I roused myself this morning to partake in a vocational day. As I am retired, they gave me some latitude in choosing a programme so I settled for a visit to a friend of Gene Blake, my host, who restores vintage tractors.  There we saw a remarkable collection of John Deere and otyher tractors all seemingly in mint condition.  No mean feat as the friend was blind!

I was then taken to see som social housing schemes.  These are few and far between in Winfield although there is a national housing agency which can subsidise the provision of accommodation for rent.  One very good scheme we visited offers one -bedroomed flats to people over 65 as long as the rent, calculated at $435 a month does not amount to more than 30% of their income.  If it is less, they only pay 30% of their income as rent and the Housing and Urban Development agency makes up the rtest so the scheme can remain viable.  In this case the landlords were a company but many such schemes may be owned by an individual.  Some charities are involved in Housing but the concept of a housing Association does not seem to have been considered.

The flats were very well looked after and were at least twice the size that we would provide.  We also saw a retirement village in which people can purchase a ’small’ three-bedroomed house with double garage set in about an acre for around $120,000 dollars.  As everywhere here, I am left wondering what happens to those who can no longer drive in this society.

Musy go, I have a presentation to attend

Vocational Day

Before I tell you about my vocational day today, I want to say something about our visit to the Z Bar Ranch yesterday.  It’s 43,000 acres are owned as part of a 2,000,000 acre holding by a man called Ted Turner. He has interests in cable TV, I believe.  The ranch is managed as close to what it would have been like in the days before the land was settled.  There are 3,900 buffalo roaming over the place and we were able to get close to some of them.  The ranch has to make a profit and does so by arranging hunting parties for the abundant wildlife and by selling buffalo on for eventual human consumption. We saw a flock of wild turkey very close to and several white-tailed deer.  The ranch has also reintroduced prairie dogs in one or two ‘towns’  as part of the overall conservation plan.  This animal is interesting as it is still a carrier of bubonic plague.. There was a case of the disease in Boise city recently and the local doctor, age 94, won brownie points for recognising the symptoms and effecting a cure.

Today we all followed our vocations and the club here has arranged an excellent series of placements. I was able to visit the National Nature Reserve and Parks department whose state HQ are in Pratt.  There is a very informative museum there with displays of all the plains species.  This included several species of deer, turtles and snakes as well as an extensive display of insects and very colourful butterflies.  There is a very large winged grasshopper in the plains which is alarming the first time you  come across it.  The collection of birds is equally impressive from the golden eagle down to the smallest humming bird.  Some, like the pheasant, are common to both our countries although I got the impression that they would have preferred it if the starling had not been introduced.  I was able to make a counter point about the grey squirrel!!  I was also able to talk at some length with one of the wildlife park managers.  In Kansas there are several very large reserves which, by virtue of their isolation, by our standards,do not have very many visitors.  Their strategic aims are very close to our own in that they want to preserve habitats for the entire range of indiginous wildlife because they, too, appreciate that if speciec become extinct the whole balance of nature will be upset and man’s very survival threatened.  They were very interested to hear about my woodland and the steps I am taking to restore it to traditional oakwood.

We had a wonderful time last evening at the Rotary meeting.  They wanted the full works.  The longer presentation and then the pub quiz./Quite an occasion!

More Greetings to Shrewsbury Rotary ClubYesterday the team made a presentation to the Rotary Club of Hutchinson, Kansas.  Approximately 75 people were present.  I want to tell you something about the way their meeting was managed and it is a model which we have found at almost all the clubs we have visited.  The meal is a buffet and the food is placed on tables for people to help themselves from half an hour before the published start.  What then happens is that people trickle in,just as happens with us, chat a bit (or visit with one another as they say here)   and help themselves to food and go and sit down at a ta ble and start to eat. By the time noon comes (the time at which their meetings start) people are well on with their meal.  The benefit of this arrangement is that some 15 minutes later the formal part of the meeting can begin.  This consists of a pledge  of alliegance before the stars and stripes (their version of the Queen), an invocation, which amounts to extempore prayer including thanks for the meal and other blessings.  After that there is an opportunity  for the foundation chairman or other person to raise money by’fining’ people. For instance, everyone who had exercised their right to vote early and those who had visited England were asked to pay a $1 fine.  There  was then an opportunity for one of their committee chairmen to inspire and press the company to support an initiative to give books to primary schools.  This done, there was still time for my team to make a 30 minute presentation and still complete the meeting within the hour.

In essence, the early participation replaces the time in our club when people meet at the bar and chat with their friends.  Does their system offer any advantages which we could well consider?

I write this after I have returned from the Hutchinson Court House where the votes are being counted.  We  (Three of the team) were very favoured in that we were allowed to go into the counting rooms and witness the count.  In fact, each ward has a computer which scans each voting sheet as it is completed and it is this chip which is delivered to the court for processing.  Actually, it is a very complex process as at the election there were votes for president, the Senate, The house of representatives, the state senate and then many local positions such as sheriff, district attorney, city judge to name a few who were up for election and anyone can stand.  In addition, referendum issues, such as ’should there be an increase in sales tax  to fund an expansion of the city’s museum’ are also voted on.. All this on a two-sided A4 sized sheet.  Many people are on tenderhooks that an Obama win,  which looks likely as I write, will lead to an increase in unrest.  We will see.  With best wishes,  MalcolmGreetings to the Rotary club of Shrewsbury

I know you will all have read the various reports I have posted on this blog including the happenings at the District Conference.  There is something else of note that I thought you would all like to hear about.  The Wichita Downtown club has a membership of 400.  The distance between the extremes of district 5690 is in excess of 500 miles and many clubs are a long way from anywhere. This has created a situation in which the Wichita Downclub has appointed a staff of two people to do all the administration for their club and who undertake work on behalf of district as well.  For instance, they produce a district governor’s news letter as well as one for their own club. The current post-holder is a former DG and yesterday at Conference, he was given an award of merit for his services to Rotary.  And he gets a salary as well!   There is much more expression of feelings here too.  On being presented with the award, both the recipient and the presiding rotarian were close to tears.

Differences between Rotary in the UK and here are well illustrated by what happened to us after the conference.  Our goodbyes were tearful and full of emotion. A bit like a holiday romance. Delia Annica and I were taken to Hutchinson, our next stop, by a young rotarian.  She was a nursing mother who had her tiny baby in the car with her having had him with her throughout the conference.  She had two older children at home, works as a commercial real estate agent and two years ago was ma GSE team member to France!!  The home where I am billeted for the next three days is a beautiful house set in 4 acres of woodland which spliis over into miles of forest. There are nine children in the house all of whom are taught at home.  Chris, the rotarian, is the chief executive of the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Centre having recently retired from 20 years service in the Navy  The family was stationed in England as part of that service and they have wonderful memories of holidays in the Brecon Beacons.

Rotary District Conference

We came from Boise City (population 1500) in two vehicles (I cannot reasonably call them cars)  on a 7-hour drive to District Conference in the Broadviw Hotel in downtown Wichita.  This is a lovely city – population 385,000 – so spacious and airy.  The cloudless blue skies and temperatures in the 80’s help set it off.  District 5690 is a little disappointed at the attendance at their conference at around 100 including WAGs.  Those who have come tend to be retired.  I think this, in part, reflects the enormous distances which people have to drive to get here.  There are no trains or planes (other than private ones) which could help them.  The programme is very similar in composition to those in the UK.  This afternoon the team will give its longer presentation and the district 5690 team which went to Argentina earlier in the year will also report.  Conference has also heard from an Indian student who is spending several months in this district as well as from a young high school girl called Barbie who has just returned from a 12-month scholarship in Sydney.

I have tried to be a sobering influence on the team members who have a tremendous capacity for enjoying the whole trip.  I hope you all peruse the photos on this blog which will amply illustrate this point.  Despite my protestations, they made me stand up with Pete in front of 100 people in the bar around midnight on Friday and in the context of something called ‘karioke’ or something like that, sing ‘My Way’.  Should a video record of this incident ever be posted on this blog, I only ask that you give me a chance to explain myself on our return to the UK.  Last evening conference transferred to a type of visitor centre next to the Arkansas river where we were treated to an evening of wild west culture.  The meal consisted of beef with pork and beans and the bar was good.  A very good traditional wild west band entertained the company with renditions of all the old trail songs.  They have a serious interest in coming to the Birmingham convention and I hope that those reading this will pick up on it.  They were good and have a national reputation.  Justin and his wife and daughter were at the event and it was lovely to meet them all.  Rotary had all the team on the stage and enrolled us all as deputy sheriffs so that our cowboy outfits (I am the one in the stetson)  now display a silver star!

I have written a little song for our trip here but, because it suits their bogus timidity, the team say they are unable to sing with me.  That doesn’t stop them from landing me with the task from time to time!

Keep looking at the blog and especially the pictures.   Malcolm

Vocational Day

Yesterday I had a most interesting Vocational day. I was taken by a retired farmer who has retained his land and rents it out, to see some of the crops. I was shown corn (maize), maize (milo),and wheat stubble. The land in farmed areas is divided, by dirt roads, into square mile ’sections’. Each section is managed by dividing it into four quarter sections (half a mile by half a mile). Corn and milo can only be grown if the crop is irrigated because the weather is so dry in the summer months. This is achieved by installing quarter-mile long sprinkler booms in every quarter section of land. They are impressive! They rotate from a point in the middle of the field and complete a complete circle every four and a half days in which time one and a half inches of water is sprayed across their entire reach. The water is pumped from an underground aquifer which, currently, is 280 feet below the ground and piped to the centre of the field through a permanent system buried at some feet below ground. Electricity is supplied to each sprinkler system to drive the wheels which rotate the boom round the field. Each set of wheels gets traction from two electric motors which are geared so that the ones at the outside of the circle move appropriately faster than those nearer the centre next to the fulcrum. This system operates continuously from May until October and without it corn and maize crops could not be grown. Wheat does not require irrigation as it is harvested in June before it starts to get hot and dry. The four ‘corners’ of the quarter section which lie outside the reach of the circular pattern of irrigation, are often sown with wheat for this reason. It is also the case that tyhen land is not ploughed in order to save effort and reduce water loss by evaporation. They use a type of planter which cuts a grove in the soil, places seeds at a predetermined distance apart and covers them up afterwards. I was able to see a combine adapted for corn harvest which was about to start.

Just like us, the government enters into agreements with the farmers to place some land into their equivalent of set-aside. Grass may be sown to bind the soil and prevent any sort of ‘blow’ when the wind gets up. Such areas have a value for nature conservation.

Joined by the man now farming the land, we talked a lot about farming in our two countries. They have benefitted from the rise in wheat prices though that has now slipped back. They talked about the way governments and city people fail to have any sort of understanding of rural and farming issues. This discussion could have been transplanted verbatim to the UK. I am very grateful to George Nall for giving me this insight into Oklahoma farming.

Dear Amy and Rachael,

What a lovely surprise to hear from you. Today we all visited a primary school in Ulysses. It was a revelation. The 10 year-olds had a super computer laboratory where they had to cover the keyboard and type things in and were tested on their speed and accuracy. Then we went to an english class where tghe teacher had a link from a scanner on her desk which could read what she had written or and transmitted it to an interactive ‘blackboard’ screen which the children could write on. So she wrote a sentence with several mistakes in it and each child came up in turn and with a special pen or their finger corrected it. In this way she could teach the whole class at once. I was most impressed. Their school had 450 pupils and the school hall was about 50 x 40 yards! We are now in Boise City, population 1500! Lots of ove Gramps

Back into Kansas

Hi y’all,

or in the plural – Hi all y’all,

Here we are in Ulysses, Kansas having passed no less than three houses and a dozen oil and natural gas donkeys on the 80 minute drive up here! Wonderful welcome and everyone in good heart. A few tears on leaving Guymon. Looking forward to a tour this afternoon. By-the-way, I take no responsibility for the pictures which are put into the gallery. I don’t even know how it is done! I have written a little two verse song about our trip but none of the others will join me in singing it. I am so disappointed. Oh well!

Greetings to the Rotary Club of Shrewsbury

Hi y’all,

We rode into Dodge City yesterday and hitched our horses outside the saloon in Wyatt Earp Street. We had us a slice of longhorn; pretty good I guess! Say Hi to the folks! Malcolm

23rd October 2008

Today we arrived in Gaymon Oklahoma where we will be for the next three days. This is really the wild west. We stopped off for lunch in Dodge City and walked up Wyatt Erpe street! Then we went to Liberal, Kansas and spent an hour visiting the Wizard of Oz Museum. This is the place where Chelsea tractors come into their own. We were in a Chevrelot 8 cylinder ’suburban’ which was able to carry 7 of us and all our luggage. Our journey lasted approx 300 miles. There were 2 bends in the road on the way!

I hope you like the pictures, will keep you updated. Send a reply if you like.

19th October 2008

We had a very good flight and all arrived safely and on time. The only problem I had was that the assiduous officials at Chicago (is that the right spelling?) threw away my shoe polish because it did not comply. Expect me home in a month with a very tired lookingpair of brown shoes! Wonderful welcome from the Wichita rotarians. Brunch today at noon. Some members of the team got up at 4.30am to avail themselves of the Hilton gym facilities, (or so some of the others have told me). The full American breakfasts are the same as full English but with two extra courses.