www.friendshipforcedenver.org JUNE, 2021
HIGHLIGHTS JUNE PROGRAM MEETING via Zoom President’s Letter Page 2 Tuesday, June 8 Journeys Page 3 6:30 p.m. Social/Business, 7:00 p.m. Program Social Page 4 - 5 Calendar Page 11 BALKAN RAILROAD ADVENTURE
facebook.com/friendshipforceofdenver
ABOUT THE CLUB Friendship Force Denver usually rents event space from and meets at Calvary Baptist Church, 6500 E. Girard Avenue, Denver 80224 at 6:45 p.m. the second Tuesday of Jan - May and Sept – Nov. In-person events have been cancelled for the time being; see our website and this newsletter for current information. www.friendshipforcedenver.org
Come visit and bring your friends! World War I began with the assassination of Archduke Franz CLUB OFFICERS Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Bosnia. At the end of the war, Yugoslavia President ...... Gerry Forney [email protected] was created in 1918 by combining Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. Josip Broz (Tito) ruled Vice President ...... Ilene Americus Yugoslavia as a communist country until his death in 1980. [email protected] After a series of ethnic wars, Yugoslavia broke up in 1992, and the national railroad system also broke up. Secretary ...... Heidi McKelrath [email protected] Members Dave Bentzin, Irene Ludwig, and Gerry Forney went on a 16-day rail journey to ride as many of these old rail lines Treasurer ...... Irene Ludwig as possible. They visited the capitals of the six former Yugoslav [email protected] republics (along with Kosovo), and several world heritage sites.
This trip was a great adventure in a little-visited part of the world, Newsletter Editor...... Carol Coriell [email protected] and they are looking forward to sharing pictures and experiences. Newsletter submissions are welcome and are due on the 24th of the month. To request a link to the program, send an email to [email protected].
FROM THE PRESIDENT, Gerry Forney
TRYING TO STAY ABOVE WATER
The Friendship Force Denver board meets most months on the first Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. We have been meeting on Zoom since the COVID-19 pandemic started in March of 2020. All members are cordially invited to attend the board meetings. If you are interested, please send a request for the Zoom link to [email protected] or to any board member. For security reasons, there is a different Zoom link each month.
If you want to know more about what the board is doing, you can read the minutes of all the 2021 board meetings on our website. Just go to the home page, then click on the right-hand tab which says “Members.” This leads you to the information on our website that is password protected. This information is available only to members who log in. Your user name is your email address. If you have forgotten your password, just click on the “forgot password” link, and you can reset your password.
The “Members” tab has four types of member-only information. The membership directory has contact information for our 65 active members. The membership directory is also available in a printable form on the second tab. The board contact directory is a printable list of the officers and directors. And finally, the board minutes are available for the meetings that we have had in 2021 (January through May). All these documents are in PDF format, so they are easy to access.
As president of Friendship Force this year, I have been blessed by having a strong board of directors. I would like to thank all of them, but I would especially like to thank our club secretary, Heidi McKelrath. The board meetings are sometimes a bit freeform, but Heidi does a nice job of creating a useful set of minutes. These minutes are not only a report of things that have happened, but they help me stay organized. The board members and I can use the minutes as a list of promises and tasks.
We are a small club, but if you look at the minutes, you will see that there is a great deal of activity going on behind the scenes. Each officer has a portfolio, and most of the officers and directors are also in charge of a specific area like exchanges, finance, newsletter, program, social activities, or webpage.
We will be electing officers and directors at our annual meeting which will be held Tuesday, October 12th. The nominating committee for 2022 directors will be headed by Ilene Americus. We need people to volunteer to serve the club. If you are interested in helping, looking at the minutes would be a good way to see what the job of director or officer involves.
Thanks, and looking forward to seeing you on Zoom on June 8th.
Gerry Forney
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2021 AND 2022 HOSTING AND JOURNEYS
2021
All inbound and outbound Journeys are canceled for 2021
FFD Expedition to the San Luis Valley June 2-6, 2021
Join club members for a visit to the San Luis Valley. For details,
contact Ilene Americus, [email protected].
2022 All dates to be determined. SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW FFDenver has been assigned the following COLORADO!Journeys from FFI:
Try,INBOUND try again! Our International February Munch Lunch Bunch will, for the fourth time, morph into a “MunchShizuoka Punch Bunch” Japan, Happy date Hour to beto sponsordetermined. a Know Your State Trivia Quiz.
BecomeIrene the Ludwig winner &and Gerry join the Forney growing are list Journey of previous Coordinators. auspicious winners: Ilene Americus (November), Mike Tanner (December), and Pam Comello’s guest Bob Settle (January).INBOUND They canDomestic attest to the fact that there may, or may not, be a prize at the end. Raleigh, NC, date to be determined. Need Coordinator. So, save the date for the fun: OUTBOUND International date to be determined. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19TH, AT 5:30 P.M. Bundaberg and Blue Mountains, Australia Note that the Australia AndJourney be on the includes lookout closer 2 different to the dateclubs for for Zoom a 2-week details from Journey. Gerry Forney.Please As start always, if thinking about volunteering to be a Journey Coordinator.
OUTBOUND Domestic, date to be determined. Kern County, U.S. (Bakersfield, CA) Please begin thinking about this Journey. We will need Coordinators.
OTHER TRIPS Visit www.friendshipforce.org to explore featured worldwide Journeys available to all Friendship Force members.
June 2021 page 3 SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW DENVER…THINK AGAIN!
Join us for the next Munch Punch Bunch (Happy Hour version of Munch Lunch Bunch!) Trivia Night on Friday, June 11th, at 6 p.m. Please note that although Colorado is opening up more, especially for those who are now fully vaccinated, this will be a Zoom gathering.
This time we are going to find out how much each of us really knows about the area we all, in some way or another, call home – the Greater Denver area. Questions will go way beyond something straightforward like “What famous mountain peak, on a clear day, is easily seen south of Denver?”
Start studying up, because, at a minimum, there will be three cheers for the winner!! Gerry Forney will send a Zoom link closer to the date, so be on the lookout for that. Questions or comments: contact Luree Miller at [email protected] or 415-215-3770.
MAY PROGRAM
We enjoyed a fun together-time in May via Zoom, planned by Luree Miller and Jeannette Arbrusmacher. They provided deep and not-so-deep questions about our personal lives, and we all scratched our heads to come up with interesting answers. Thank you, Luree and Jeannette.
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Come one, come all!!!
The Annual Friendship Force Denver Picnic!!!
This is a REAL PICNIC! This is NOT, I repeat, NOT A ZOOM PICNIC!!!! YEA!!
Sunday, August 1, 4:00 p.m. at Cindy and Mike Tanner's 4 Niblick Lane, Littleton.
We cannot wait for you to come and sample the barbeque with all the fixins’. You don't have to bring a thing, except you. Guests are welcome, too. This would be a good time to introduce your friends to our club.
All the table service, beverages, dessert, sides, and main dish will be there just for you to enjoy. Donations accepted. It will be sooooo wonderful to see you, yes, you, in the flesh!!
RSVP to Jeannette Armbrustmacher 303-279-0418--it would be lovely to hear your voice-- or email to [email protected], or check out the website for the RSVP link, or send smoke signals, just be there at the Tanner's, August 1, (that's a Sunday), 4 Niblick Lane, Littleton. Oh,,,, you might bring a lawn chair of some sort.
See you August 1, Sunday, 4:00 p.m. Remember to RSVP. We miss you!!!
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LUNCH WITH LILY DEARTH IN MAY – 103 YEARS YOUNG! by Irene Ludwig
Lily was known as ‘Ms. Friendship Force’ and FFD’s biggest cheerleader! For those who remember her, this will be a trip down memory lane. She is excited about seeing old friends (no pun intended) at the picnic at the Tanners’ in August. Some of you may have seen Lily at the DMNS where she volunteered for over 15 years. She is a real ‘people’ person!
Diminutive Lily joined FFD in 1984 and was an early, influential member in the club. She reminisced about early members, especially Pat Stephenson. Pat was active in FFI from the beginning in Washington DC. Pat moved to Denver/Evergreen and started our club here.
During our lunch, she told me about her experiences with FFD. Lily gushed: “Friendship Force is the biggest educator there is! Friendship Force changed my whole life! My ideas about people were based on book education, not about person-to-person interactions. I was exposed to different ideas, different speech, and different thoughts. For example, when I lived in Roanoke, VA, someone said ‘it is fixin’ to rain’. I was amazed that someone could fix it to rain!”
“New Zealand was my first trip. I then went on every trip for 10 years; visiting China, South Africa, Europe, Australia, and South America. FF became my life! I came to North Island, Hamilton, NZ as an honored guest and I left as a lifelong friend. When I arrived, my hostess, Eileen McGlockin came up to me, gave me a hug, and said ‘I claim this one - LILY DEARTH’. We were both dressmakers and had a marvelous time. I had my first pavlova dessert there. The Kiwis and Aussies were constantly bickering about who invented the pavlova! The following year Eileen came and stayed with me for 3 weeks. Since I had a one-bedroom apartment, I would always give my guests the bed and I would sleep on the couch in the living room. We had a marvelous time. We stayed in touch until she died. She would call and say ‘Lily, I miss you!’ Eileen was one of several life-long friends I made.”
Other funny memories: “We visited a country where the TP could not go into the toilet. I forgot, and when the toilet was flushed, the bathroom was flooded. My gracious hostess laughed and said ‘I can’t remember when I had such a clean floor.” This story exemplifies the graciousness of Friendship Force members. The club knew Lily as a wonderful, caring hostess.
Lily grew up in Vienna, Austria, where she got a degree in dressmaking and design. Her studies included English history and language for 6 years. In the States, she made couture dresses and bridal gowns under the label of Lily Susanne from Vienna. Lily lived in Cleveland, Roanoke, Dallas, and Tulsa before moving to Denver.
She came to Cleveland Ohio, in October 1939 at the age of 21. Her father represented Arco Paint, supplying waterproof paints for Hitler and the Austrian Government and he wanted to get his family out of Austria. A business associate at Arco provided an affidavit of sponsorship for Lily and her brother in Cleveland before the US stopped accepting refugees. Unfortunately, her mother had TB and could not be admitted to the US. She became a victim of the holocaust and her fate is unknown.
Lily would love a call and/or visit! Her contact information is Parkview, 6021 S Liverpool St, Centennial, CO 80016. Her phone is 303 341-2262.
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CRUISING BRAZIL’S DISCOVERY COAST by Gerry Forney
Ocean cruises to Antarctica normally take place between October and May. These months are the “austral spring and summer” since the seasons are reversed in the Southern Hemisphere. About 50 ships a year visit Antarctica, and many of these ships spend summer in the Northern Hemisphere. These ships must “reposition” along the coast of South America, and these cruises can often be a great bargain. The map shows the route of a Holland America cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Buenos Aires that sails along Brazil’s so-called Discovery Coast.
Brazil was discovered in 1500 when a Portuguese fleet on the way to India landed in a bay between Salvador da Bahia and Rio de Janeiro. At that time, the Discovery Coast was covered by a tropical rain forest known as the Atlantic Forest. The new colony was named for brazilwood, a rainforest tree that produces a valuable red dye. Today more than 85% of the Atlantic Forest has been cleared, but several remaining areas are important because of their unique plants and animals. Several of the undisturbed areas are on the World Heritage List.
Portugal claimed Brazil under the terms of the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas. This treaty between Spain and Portugal divided the entire world into two “spheres of interest.” Spain received all the lands west of a point near the mouth of the Amazon River. Portugal received everything east of the line including Brazil, Africa, and Asia. Protestant countries like England and Holland were not parties to the treaty, and they did not honor its terms. France was also not a party to the treaty. As a result, the Guianas (Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana) are former British, Dutch, and French colonies. Devil’s Island in French Guiana was famous for its prison, and it is the first South American port on the Holland America cruise.
Some of the Brazilian cruises also go up the Amazon River from the Atlantic Ocean. Oceangoing ships can travel upstream 900 miles to the city of Manaus, deep in the Amazon rainforest.
Manaus, the seventh-largest city in Brazil, was founded in 1669. The town was the center of Brazil’s rubber boom in the nineteenth century, and it was a very wealthy city from about 1879 until World War II. The most famous building in Manaus is the Opera House (1884), which featured prominently in the 1982 movie Fitzcarraldo.
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CRUISING BRAZIL’S DISCOVERY COAST continued from page 7
Belem (Bethlehem), the eleventh largest city in Brazil, is the first port for most Brazilian coastal cruises. The original fort was built in 1616 near the mouth of the Amazon. The Forte de Castelo dominates the old part of the city, and it was built to defend the region against the British, Dutch, and French, who also tried to colonize the region. The Old City of Belem (Cidade Velha) has narrow streets and many palatial 17th and 18th-century buildings.
Belem became an important town when Portugal decided to collect duties and taxes on all goods entering or leaving the Amazon River. This 1688 customs station eventually became the Ver-o-peso Market, which now features all sorts of items including fish, vegetables, and fruits, as well as handicrafts in more than 2,000 stalls. The New Docks (Estacao das Docas) were built early in the twentieth century to replace the wharves at Ver-o-peso. The prefabricated dock buildings were manufactured in England, assembled on the site, and are now well worth a visit.
Sao Luis (Saint Louis) is a major city on the northern Brazilian coast about 300 miles southeast of Belem. It was founded by the French in 1612 and was named for their king. Sao Luis was conquered by the Portuguese in 1615. The old town is unusual because it is on an island, and it is laid out in a regular rectangular grid. The economy of Sao Luis was originally based on cacao, sugar cane, and tobacco. After the American Revolution, the area around Sao Luis became an important source of cotton for the textile mills in England. This cotton trade went into a decline after the American Civil War, so the city is a sort of time capsule.
The wealth from the cotton was used to modernize the city of Sao Luis. At one point, Sao Luis was the third- largest city in Brazil, but today it ranks 15th in population. The historic center of Sao Luis, called Praia Grande has many colonial buildings with iron balconies and tile-covered facades. Sao Luis has the largest and best- preserved collection of Portuguese colonial architecture in Latin America. In 1997, the World Heritage List added the old town because of its “exceptional number of fine historic buildings.”
Fortaleza (Fortress) is located on the coast about 500 miles southeast of Sao Luis. The fort was constructed by the Portuguese in 1603, but it was conquered and ruled by the Dutch from 1630 until 1654. This was the time of the Thirty Years War in Europe when Catholic and Protestant countries were engaged in a lengthy and brutal war. By 1641, the Dutch ruled 1,000 miles of the Discovery Coast and they called it “Dutch Brazil” or “New Holland.”
The economy of Fortaleza was initially based on sugar and cattle. In the 1800s cotton became an important crop, especially during the American Civil By Pascal Moulin War. Today Fortaleza is an important port that (Pmoulin at handles mostly agricultural products like cashew nuts, fruit, wheat, and malt. The city has many colonial and art nouveau buildings including the spectacular Jose de Alencar Theater (1910). Fortaleza is the fifth-largest city in Brazil, and it is a favorite tourist destination for Brazilians. The city has excellent beaches and a lively nightlife scene.
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CRUISING BRAZIL’S DISCOVERY COAST continued from page 8
From Fortaleza, the Discovery Coast cruise continues southeast about 300 miles to the city of Natal, which is close to the easternmost point in South America. Natal is a major tourist destination, and it exports melons, papayas, cashews, and lobsters. The town was founded on Christmas Day in 1599, hence the name which means “nativity.” The dunes and soils near Natal are too sandy for cotton or sugar, so the early economy was based on raising cattle. The meat was dried using local sea salt, and the local beef jerky is still considered a delicacy. There are a few old buildings in the city of Natal, but the region is mostly famous for its beaches, dunes, and lagoons.
Recife (Reef) is a coastal city and port, about 200 miles south of Natal. Founded in 1537, Recife was the first slave port in the Americas. Angola, in southwest Africa, was a Portuguese colony and it was the source for most of the estimated 5 million enslaved Africans brought to Brazil between 1501 and 1866. From about 1600 to 1650, most of the enslaved Blacks were used to cultivate and harvest sugar cane. Gold was discovered in Minas Gerais in 1690, and enslaved people were used in mining operations. In the 1700s, enslaved Africans were used to raise cattle. Coffee and cotton became important crops starting in about 1830, and most of the work was done by enslaved Blacks. The Atlantic slave trade ended in Brazil in 1831, and the enslaved people were freed by 1888. Brazil was the last country in the Western World to end slavery.
Recife is the port city, but Olinda (4 miles north of Recife) was the colonial administrative center. The Portuguese built Olinda on a hill to make it compact and easy to defend. Nevertheless, Olinda was destroyed by the Dutch in 1637, but it was rebuilt as a beautiful 17th-century colonial city. Olinda was an important Catholic center, so the buildings include chapels, convents, monasteries, and 20 Baroque churches. The historic center of Olinda was added to the World Heritage List in 1982.
The last major port on the Discovery Coast is Salvador da Bahia, located about 500 miles southwest of Recife. Salvador (Savior) was once a key city in Brazil’s slave trade, and it is a rare example of a South American city where Black culture has been well preserved. The first slave market in the Americas was established in Salvador in 1558.
Salvador was the capital of Brazil from 1549 until 1763, and it is full of wonderful colonial buildings. The old town in Salvador is called Pelhourino which means “pillory.” The pillory refers to the whipping post in the central plaza where enslaved people were publicly whipped and beaten. Pelhourino has an extensive collection of Portuguese colonial architecture, and it was added to the World Heritage List in 1985. The various architectural styles include Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo, and the buildings include churches, government buildings, and brightly colored private residences. By Sachiko Haraguchi continued on page 10
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Salvador also has a remarkable public elevator that carries people from the lower part of the city (Cidade Baixa) to the upper city (Cidade Alta). The Elevador Lacerda was built in 1869, but it received an Art Deco facelift in 1930. In 2019, the elevator carried an average of 30,000 people per day. There are four elevator shafts, and each cabin holds 27 people for an inexpensive 30-second ride.
From Salvador Bahia, the Discovery Coast tour continues for 900 miles south to Rio de Janeiro. Rio was the capital of Brazil from 1763 until 1960 when the capital was moved to Brasilia. Rio and Sao Paulo were both established in the 1550s, but they remained unimportant towns until gold was discovered in the nearby province of Minas Gerais (Mines of the General Fields).
Rio has two sites on the World Heritage List. The Valongo Wharf, listed in 2017, is an archeological site that features a stone dock built for landing enslaved Africans during the slave trade. Brazil imported about 5 million enslaved people, and perhaps a million of them landed at this wharf. The other World Heritage Site in Rio protects the dramatic natural landscape. It “encompasses the key natural elements that have shaped the development of the city.” These include the beach at Copacabana and the Corcovado (“Hunchback”) Mountain with its world-famous statue of Christ. Rio is also famous for Carnival and the New Year’s celebration at Copacabana that attracts more than a million people.
Santos is the port city for Sao Paulo, and it is about 300 miles southwest of Rio. Sao Paulo is a megacity with more than 12 million people. Sao Paulo is the most populous city in Brazil and the entire Western Hemisphere. It was originally a coffee town and a supply town for the gold mines in Minas Gerais. For a while, “Sampa” was an important manufacturing city, but today its economy is centered on financial services, law, and consulting firms. The factories have mostly moved to surrounding suburbs and cities. Sao Paulo was also an important city for immigration, and more than half of the inhabitants have Italian ancestry.
Sao Paulo has many museums which help make it the cultural capital of Brazil. On my last visit there, we visited the Butantan Institute and watched the technicians “milk” venom from deadly snakes. The institute was founded in 1901 to deal with an outbreak of bubonic plague. Today it produces 90% of the vaccines used in Brazil, along with antivenoms to deal with snakebites, bees, scorpions, and spiders.
The Discovery Coast continues for about 600 miles from Santos (Sao Paulo) to Puerto Alegre, which is the last major port in Brazil. The Discovery Coast cruise normally ends in Buenos Aires, Argentina about 600 miles southwest of Puerto Alegre. This was an amazing journey that goes to a fascinating, but little-visited part of the world.
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CALENDAR 2021 WEBSITE NEWS
SAN LUIS VALLEY TRIP JUNE 2 – JUNE 6 Have you checked out the Friendship Force Contact Ilene Americus for details International website lately? There is a fabulous
assortment of virtual experiences available. JUNE PROGRAM JUNE 8 Regularly scheduled interactive events include Tuesday, 6:30 – 9:00 p.m. Coffee Chats, Trivia Quizes, and a Book Club. Think BALKAN RAIL ADVENTURE about how much fun it would be to match brains Virtual meeting via Zoom with people all over the world, or just relax and
chat. I’m intrigued by the Book Club, and have MUNCH PUNCH BUNCH TRIVIA JUNE 11 signed up. Friday, 6:00 p.m. Details on page 5
Virtual meeting via Zoom In addition there are many, many Journey
Experience recordings available to view. Follow the ANNUAL PICNIC AUG 1 points of the compass and start with Northern Sunday, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. India. Move on to East Africa, South Brazil, then the Details page Western United States. And you have gone around
the world! No frequent flyer points, but also no jet BOARD MEETING AUG 3 lag, and personalized tours led by Friendship Force Tuesday, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. members from each country. Virtual meeting via Zoom
A new website for members only is in the BOARD MEETING SEPT 7 development stage. You can sign up at Tuesday, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. www.my.friendshipforce.org and you’ll be the first Virtual meeting via Zoom to hear of new opportunities.
SEPTEMBER PROGRAM SEP 14 Many thanks to Gerry Forney and Deena Mangan Tuesday, 6:30 – 9:00 p.m. for maintaining our Denver club website, Place and program TBD www.friendshipforcedenver.org.
BOARD MEETING OCT 5 Did you know you can find a current, printable Tuesday, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. membership directory there? You can register for Virtual meeting via Zoom the picnic, or check out the current newsletter and
any back issues you may have missed. It’s easy to OCTOBER PROGRAM OCT 12 log in as a member; your user name is your email Tuesday, 6:30 – 9:00 p.m. address. Create your own password, and, if you Place and program TBD wish, stay logged in. If you have already signed up
but don’t remember your password, just click on BOARD MEETING NOV 2 “forgot password” and a reset link will be sent to Tuesday, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. you. Virtual meeting via Zoom
NOVEMBER PROGRAM NOV 9 Tuesday, 6:30 – 9:00 p.m. Place and program TBD
Zoom links are sent out in advance by webmaster Gerry Forney. They are sent from Friendship Force Denver.
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