Their role with the Peace Park on the border of India and Pakistan

We will be joined by fellow Rotarians, Kees van der Pol (PDG District 5080), Tony Sharma (IPDG District 1130 London, UK), Mohammed Ayyaz (Past AG District 1130 London, UK), Norm McCarvell (PDG District 5080) who will speak on their role with the Peace Park on the border of India and Pakistan.

Please check Rotarwrites for the link or contact Chris Oliver at chrisrotarysecretary@gmail.com for the meeting details.

Kees van der Pol is a retired British Columbia high school principal, and has been a Rotarian for 17 years.  He was a two-year president of the Rotary Club of Nakusp from 2011 to 2013, and was Rotary District 5080 Governor in 2016-17.

Currently, Kees is Registrar for Pacific Northwest PETS (Rotary Presidents-Elect Training), Director on the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park Association, President of the Indus Peace Park Society, Director on the Kashmir-Peace and Saving Paradise Board, and Treasurer of his Rotary Club.

His wife, Mayumi, is the third club member to complete a two-year presidency, and will become an Assistant Governor in July 2021.  Both are Paul Harris Fellows and Rotary Leadership Institute graduates.  Kees and Mayumi have been married for 43 years and have two daughters, both living in Calgary; and three grandchildren.

Born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Kees received a B.A. in Geography and German from the University of Victoria, and an M.Ed. from the University of British Columbia.  In 1974, he spent one year at Keio University in Tokyo, Japan, after which he travelled the full length of the Trans-Siberian Railroad.  In 1990, he spent a month in Indonesia examining the education system there.  A highlight was climbing to the top of Krakatoa. 

Kees has led seven student tours of Europe and one adult tour to Europe and Morocco.  In 2016, Kees and Mayumi went on a cataract surgery mission to Dembi Dolo, Ethiopia.

During a Rotary Polio Immunization and District 5080 Friendship Exchange tour to Pakistan in 2015, events occurred that led Kees to the idea of creating an international peace park on the India-Pakistan border.