Yvonne Gardner introduced our speaker< Lisa Barall-Matt, who first joined Rotary in the 1980's as a member of the Bloomfield Rotary Club. Lisa's father, Stan Barall, and her grandfather, David Konover, were founding members of that club. As a mother with two daughters and a job as an Information Technology Executive at Aetna, Lisa decided to take a leave from Rotary to balance out her job and motherhood. Fast forward to 2009 when Lisa joined the Rotary of Avon-Canton and becoming Club President in 2013-2014 and a Paul Harris Fellow (PHF +5).
Lisa left from the corporate world in 2002 to enter the real estate profession. In 2006 she married her best friend and second husband, Todd Matt. She and Matt have raised to additional children. All four of Lisa's children are very successful.
One of Lisa's passions is children. She has been actively involved with fundraising for the Hole in the Wall Gang, which her uncle, Simon Konover, built at the request of Paul Newman. She is now heavily engaged as co-Vice Chair for the fifth year with the planning committee for the CT Children's Medical Center annual gala.
Lisa and Todd travel often as possible. Today Lisa shared their latest adventure in Kenya, Africa. They started their trip in Nairobi which is a city of 2.7 million people. They traveled to three areas of Kenya by single engine aircraft. The first flight was a brand new experience for Lisa in a small aircraft. Lisa was amazed at the bright colors everywhere in the people's clothes, markets, etc. The people walk everywhere because few have cars and transportation is expensive. She noted that the highway was nearly empty. The approximate $1.20 toll was not affordable. She loved how the children everywhere were always smiling.
Lisa and their traveling group visited three location in Kenya: Samburu, Ambroseli, and "Jollyland".
At the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust they observed many orphaned elephants due to poaching. The trust was founded in 1977 by David Sheldrick’s widow Daphne.
They have a multi-faceted approach to conservation of wildlife. The Elephant Orphanage project is a key part of the Trust, which actively safeguards natural habitats of wild animals and provides immediate attention to wild animals in need. They loved seeing the baby elephants which are fed by hand every 3 hours. They get milk, leaves and bark. Lisa and Todd were able to "adopt" one of the babies named Latika. Latika was found in a poacher's snare which damaged her trunk and scarred her body. The babies are kept in enclosures until they are big enough to join other elephants.
They next visited a giraffe sanctuary. Lisa asked if anyone knew why giraffe's tongues were black. It's because they are exposed to the sun so much when eating tree leaves. Three types of giraffes were at the sanctuary -- Rothschild, Reticulated and Maasai.
Lisa enjoyed the visit to the Karen Blixen Museum. Karen Blixen was the author of Out of Africa. She lived between 1914 and 1931, until she left Kenya after a series of personal tragedies. While traveling to this area, Lisa was amazed at the huge fields of coffee, tea and roses.
The Amboseli Trust for Elephants was their next stop. Amboseli is located in southern Kenya and is known for large elephant herds and has phenomenal views of immense Mount Kilimanjaro located in Tanzania. It is also known for varied wildlife including giraffes, zebras, cheetahs and hundreds of bird species.
Lisa learned that elephants have six sets of teeth which last about 10 years each. The teeth are ground down during feeding and eventually fall out and replaced by the next set in line. Consequently elephants live about 60-70 years since they can no longer eat after the last set is worn out.
The Samburu are a sub-tribe of the Maasai and have their own dialect of Maa. Their diet is comprised of mostly milk and sometimes blood from their cows. They believe in one god (Nkai). This god was thought to reside in nature and the Samburu make offerings and prayers important for rainfall and livestock. Lisa spoke of a tunnel built under the highway to allow elephants to cross under the road safely.
One of the highlights of her trip was a hot air balloon ride. She also enjoyed the "sundowners" at the end of each day. We were all fascinated by Lisa's description of her trip and the lovely photos she showed us in her presentation. One had to be at the meeting to truly appreciate her experience.
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