Heather Simington spoke to the Iowa Great Lakes Rotary Club at their regular noon meeting on Wednesay, June 23. She spoke about her experiences during her travels in southeast Asia.
 
Heather, originally from Milford, shared some very interesting facts about southeast Asia, including: - India and China combined have a population of 1 billion people - In many smaller countries in southeast Asia, minority groups make up the population - each having their own language, dress, marriage customs, ways of raising children and many of these groups don't get along - In Buddaism, teachers are holy and are never wrong - there is a 10/40 window which is the area between the 10 and 40 lines of latitude in East Asia - which is where 50 of the world's population lives Heather has travelled SE Asia the past three years as an English teacher, teaching English to college age students. Many students in the areas she has been in want to learn English to leave their countries as there are few jobs - unless their family owns a business or they work for a charitable organization. She taught in a Buddist Monastary School which consisted of small 3-sided bamboo shelters that usually held 50-70 students at once.