STRATHCONA SUNRISE'S WAR ON POVERTY
A project in Mexico had been on the bucket list of the Rotary Club of Strathcona Sunrise in the Comox Valley for several years.
This desire was fulfilled when several club members met Bob Johnson, a recent newcomer to the Comox Valley, who had been volunteering in Mexico for about 10 years.
Johnson, a house painter and general handyman, had contacts with several municipal and social services agencies in the Puerto Vallarta and Cabo Corrientes area of Mexico where he co-founded the Mexican Schools Project to help repair schools in the area.
For several years, Johnson had received help with his project from the Rotary Club of Medicine Hat, Alberta. He was invited to join Strathcona Sunrise and soon got the club started on Mexican projects.
Cabo Corrientes, about an hour south of Puerto Vallarta, is an impoverished rural region consisting of one main town, El Tuito, and several small villages and settlements. Many of the schools in the area are in poor condition with broken or missing windows, leaking roofs and non-functioning toilet facilities. Accommodation for teachers in the remote villages is a serious problem with teachers sometimes having to sleep in classrooms or live in cramped quarters with a local family. There is also a great need for improved health care facilities and supplies.
The club's first foray into the area was in 2011 when Johnson and club member Terry Nielson drove a donated SUV full of sewing machines, fabric and other supplies to El Tuito to be distributed in the community by Ignacio Palomera, a municipal administrator. This was followed in the autumn of 2013 when 10 Rotarians from the Rotary Clubs of Strathcona Sunrise and Cumberland Centennial drove a 72 passenger school bus, a 15 passenger bus with a wheelchair lift, an ambulance and an SUV packed with bicycles, sporting equipment, sewing machines and medical supplies to Cabo Corrientes. Donations from Qualicum Beach Sunrise, Port Hardy, Lantzville and Nanaimo North Rotary clubs contributed to the trip. Along the way, the Canadian Rotarians were hosted by Rotary clubs in the United States and Mexico.
A highlight of the trip was celebrating the charter of the new Rotary Club Amanecer El Tuito.
In 2016/17 the Club is planning another expedition to Cabo Corrientes.
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