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OLD MISSION ROTARY CLUB
San Diego, California
July 17, 2014
PDG Dave Breeding
Rotary District 5340
Re: District Grant Request
Dear PDG Dave,
The Rotary Club of Old Mission, San Diego, requests a District Grant of $3,000.00 in connection with our project in San Quintin, Baja California, Mexico.
Project History
For many years we have been involved with the VIIDAI Project in Baja California. This project is partnered by:
• the Medical School of University of California, San Diego,
• the School of Public Health of San Diego State University,
• the Medical School of the U.A.B.C. University, Tijuana, and
• Old Mission Rotary Club
The goal of the VIIDAI project is to bring medical and public health services to the Mixteco Indians who work in the farms on the San Quintin coastal plan on the west coast of Baja California, about 200 miles south of the Border. Twice a year we take about 100 young medical students and medical doctors to San Quintin, along with the School of Public health instructors and students to assist this local migratory population. The Mixteco Indians suffer from the prejudice of most of their fellow citizens. They tell us when they call the police, they don't bother to come. When we built a new kitchen and computer lab at their local school, the colonia President asked for our names, so his people would know who had come to help them when their government had turned their back on them.
The population is made up of farm workers with little education. Their children, however, are different. Over the past 13 years as we have worked with them, their dreams, as expressed to us have changed from "we will work in the fields with our parents" to "we want to go to college, to be doctors!" Quite a transformation is a short time! They are 75% anemic, with 76% infected with parasitic life forms. But they are a strong community of willing volunteers!
Rotary's first project there was the Las Pulgas labor camp, a private farm-owned camp of 3,000 workers. The Mixtecos are small people, and their children are small. We learned that three to four children a year were being lost in the camp's outhouses: they went to the unlighted facilities at night and just fell in and drowned. We built adapter seats for the kids, installed steps up to the facilities, and painted the special outhouses in happy colors with pictures of kids.
We have supported the mission of the Universities involved over the years, by:
• Donating two ambulances to the community and UABC
• Donating Hemocue machines to measure anemia
• Donating a truck to the UABC Medical School
• Donating a motorhome to UCSD's Aids project for field testing in San Diego County
• Brokering agreements between the universities, local doctors and government officials to allow the VIIDAI project to operate
The community is fully involved in our project. The mothers volunteer to cook 350 meals daily for the school kids at Salvador Diaz Miron School in the kitchen we built them. The fathers volunteer to help us improve the school. The mothers operate two former Coca-Cola kiosks selling snack food to the kids and community to raise money for the school lunch program.
To date, we Rotarians have:
• built the kitchen, a joint project with Ensenada Riviera R.C., Del Mar Rotary, and La Mesa Sunrise Rotary
• furnished 350 soccer uniforms for a new metro kids soccer league to keep them from the gangs,
• built two computer labs on campus,
• provided thousands of books and library facilities for the classrooms, and
• provided sports equipment to the school
Other schools in the area are freshly painted, many with new shade structures on their campuses. Not our school. It looks old, painted with an institutional (think prison) pale green. The classrooms appear dingy. It desperately needs a renovation.
The Project
Presently, we are building a new 1,800 s.f. multi-purpose shade structure and patio to give the kids a place to eat. The structure will serve as a new community center for this community of 5,000 persons. The volunteer mothers will rent the facility out for birthdays, weddings, and large public events, while catering the events from the school kitchen. The money raised will go to feed the 175 kids who can't afford their school meals. We have focused on sustainability, enabling the community to continue to raise the funds necessary to operate the kitchen and support their school. The families raise the money for the school lunch program, and we have never had to contribute money to support it: that's sustainability! The mothers handle all the money, and provide good oversight as to how the funds raised are spent. There has never been a problem.
On August 22, 2014, we plan to travel to the school to paint the new shade structure, as well as the rest of the school, both inside and out of all the classrooms. The Principal (Maestro) of he school and his team have picked the colors: a rich ochre/brown for the exterior and light beige interiors. The surface measures 5,500 square meters. The painting will be done by:
• 15 volunteer teams of local parents
• UABC faculty and students
• UCSD faculty volunteers
• Rotarians
This truly is a community project! The paint and painting equipment will be furnished by Old Mission Rotary. All Rotarians will be traveling and staying at their own expense, with the help of the Rotary District 5340 van.
We are also installing a new stove/oven in the kitchen and providing a mixer, pans, and other necessaries for the project. The volunteer mothers will be trained by Rotarians to use the stove/oven to bake and decorate cakes which can be sold at the community events to support the feeding program, boosting the sustainability of the project.
The volunteer mothers will prepare lunch on Saturday and Sunday for the workers. We are providing the groceries for this. The budget appears on the following page:
(To be sent separately)
We are requesting a $3,000 District Grant for this project. The balance of the budget will be funded by the Rotary Club of Old Mission, San Diego with possible participation by other Rotary Clubs.
PHOTOGRAPHS OF SCHOOL
EXTERIOR
EXTERIOR WHERE PATIO AND SHADE STRUCTURE BUILT
COMPUTER LAB BUILT BY ROTARY
KITCHEN BUILT BY ROTARY
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