Presentation to ADRA

Through Dir. Graham and the International Service Committee, it was agreed by the board that we support this project which is taking place over Easter. Mrs. Best was presented with a cheque for $1400 to help finance a group of volunteers from Cayman who are going to Honduras to build a clinic which will serve the Mosquito Indians free of charge. There is a great need for a free service in this area. We wish them well in their venture, which is a further development of a project which Rotary Central contributed to a few years ago. See below (copied from Carol Best's email to Dir. Graham)... "The region is called Gracias a Dios and it is in the eastern-most part of Honduras. This area has been known to be overlooked by the Honduran society and government. And because of that the region is considered poor and remote even by the Honduran standards. The standard of living, income and access to healthcare is far lower than the rest of the country. This region is inhabited by the indigenous Miskito people who also span in equal distance into the bordering Nicaragua. The government provides little or no health services in the Moskitia region, leaving the vast majority of care to be supplied by charity and missionary organizations. As you know, Adra Cayman embarked on this missionary endeavour back in April 2001 where we were asked to construct a much needed school. Well be built a school and living quarters for the missionary living there who attends to the people. The call has come again, this time to construct a medical clinic where the need is great. The people are without healthcare and the statistics show that the children are dying because of the lack of healthcare and the unavailability of a proper medical facility. Just to give you a few statistics for the country: the Mortality rate prior to age 5 (per 1000): 41 (1 in 24) and Infant Mortality Rate (per 1000):24. Their healthy life expectancy is to 61 years. The population is below poverty line ($1/per day): 51% . The national per capita Income average is $2,580 per annum. This area of Ahaus is a very remote area of Honduras and difficult to reach because of inaccessible roadways, the lack of infrastructure (roads) in the region makes healthcare delivery virtually impossible without the use of an aircraft or boat. Adra Cayman has endeavored to return to the region in order to build a much need clinic facility. As you can see in the email below Pr. Peter Simpson has broken down for the most part the materials which will be needed to start the building project. We have learned from our last trip there that it is more practical to send the funds to Honduras and have a responsible person purchase the materials on location and ship them up to the Ahaus region prior to our arrival. We have approximately 25 persons committed to going on this trip, ranging from plumbers, electricians, masons and carpenters along with some ladies to take care of the food preparations. We have been instructed that our accommodations will be in a camping-out style arrangement. Our local affiliations there have informed us that they are willing assist with some food items, but for the most part, we will have to travel with our own food and water. Once the Clinic is completed, the challenge will be finding a medical missionary to agree to work there and medical supplies to equip the clinic to begin medical treatments for the people. So as you can see the challenge is a big one, but we will endeavour by the grace of God to forge forward and do what we can to help these very unfortunate people who are in great need of our help, all of us."