No one confessed to having a birthday, so no song was sung.

The secret handshaker was Michael Bucy who picked Linda Runk as best handshaker.

Chuck Hinkle announced that Bonnie Godby was the winner of last week's contest. This weeks contest was given by Alec Rosario.

Raffle winners were Homer Erickson, Jan Ermel and Linda Runk.

PROGRAM: Zarjon Baha, My Experiences in Afghanistan, introduced by Tom Ganz

Zarjon (Jon) Baha, was introduced as a Purdue Professor of Building and Construction Technology. Born and reared in Afghanistan, Jon earned engineering degrees from Kabul and Washington Universities, and advanced engineering degrees from Purdue and NC State. He began at Purdue in 1982. While a Purdue professor, Jon has returned to his native country helping to improve their educational systems. However his talk was about the Taliban of years ago. Sixty to seventy years ago, Afghanistan’s Taliban was very different than the politically portrayed Taliban of today. In his village of 100 families, everyone had a piece of land to work – to live. His father was the only villager that could read and write. With little else to do, the village Mosques were visited extensively for worship and other village gatherings. This was also the warmest place in the winter. The head Mosque teacher was paid in grain, and was there all the time. His role (as Mullah) was to teach the Islamic religious lessons to the adults and kids of the village. The Taliban (meaning students) were those who worked with the Mullah with an aspiration of learning to head a Mosque. The Mullah, as chief Mosque keeper, and his Taliban followers were considered then as very humble and gentle persons. Jon also shared a little about the education system as he grew through it, from the Mosque through elementary school on through to higher ed. The contemporary Taliban, evolving from northern Pakistan influence during the Soviet war with Afghanistan, has become commonly known as a group of religious extremists.