Diverse effort for a better world

Rotary Club of Roatan Utila Guanaja The Rotary Club of Beaumont

Written and edited by:
Roger Bjoroy-Karlsen 
Research and sources by:
Angela Claire Bjoroy-Karlsen

 

Collaboration between clubs, organizations, and volunteers creates magic where needed. Join the diversed team on a journey to spread joy to the children on a Caribbean island. Shoulder to shoulder, every participant with a genuine desire to help, to support the ones that will inherit the world!  

On the afternoon of June 3, a new journey for a better world started as the ferry departed with a diverse team, from the ferry docks of Roatan, to the island of Utila. Rotary Club of Roatan Utila Guanaja (RUG) is collaborating for the second time with "Clothing God's Children," founded 17 years ago, and managed by Zelia and Silvio Castillo from the USA. Their luggage was loaded with shoes and backpacks, which they brought to be handed out to schoolchildren on the island.  RUG brought drinking bottles. President Angela Claire Bjoroy-Karlsen led the operation, supported by the club's membership chair, Cecilia Chamer Mendez. 

Successfully accomplishing this operation requires planning, coordinating, and organizing on several levels. 

"Without the great work and effort from everyone involved, this would not be possible," says President Angela. 

 

A lot of work and preparations were also done in Utila. Tamara Usman and Prof. Julio Cordo began several weeks ago by collecting all the needed information, including children's names, ages, genders, and shoe sizes. Each shoe brought there is bought with that one child in mind, as are the backpacks. Without their attention to detail, this would never work.

 

This time, there were three potential members volunteering with the club who can partake in the joy of Rotary. Projects like these do help the club get noticed. But most of all, it is great to spend time with like-minded people, knowing that the club is supporting the population of the Bay Islands, this time Utila, one child at a time. 

Sabina Ibarra-Bolaños, the newest RUG member on Utila, stepped up to the plate as she organized transportation to the Cay and around Utila during our stay. 


Captain "Wag" made sure that the team came safe and sound to Utila Cay, and could start the mission

Teaming up with the boat captain Wagner “Wag” Whitefield Cooper, the group set off to Utila Cay early the next morning. 

Just a little after eight o'clock, twenty excited children met the team at Centro de Educación Básica Gubernamental Richard H Rose Los Cayitos. They eagerly helped the visiting party to set up chairs and tables for what they brought. The teachers' groundwork to ensure they had the correct sizes was excellent. A little more than an hour after the arrival, the team left 20 happy children with new shoes and drinking bottles. 

 

"I firmly believe that together we are stronger," stated President Angela.  

 "These shoes and backpacks have a much bigger impact than just being a new pair of shoes for the children who receive them; They give them new self-esteem." - Tamara Usman
 
Members from The Rotary Club of Beaumont, Texas, are working on a separate project here in Utila. Some of their members, including the club president Michael Perez, were able to spare some time and joined the team from RUG when they visited the Centro de Educación Básica Gubernamental República de Honduras Utila, where 110 children at this school received shoes and backpacks. In true Rotary essence, they were able to work together, building friendships and cementing bonds between Rotary Clubs. 

RUG is already working with the Rotary Club of Beaumont, as they invited the club to do "The Layette Project" with them during RUG's provisional year. Mihael Perez thinks it is important to bond with RUG and strengthen the relationship between the clubs. 

Members of RUG and The Rotary Club of Beaumont from Texas, Clothing God's Children, together with volunteers, in a symphony for a better world for the schoolchildren of Utila.

The club has members on all three of the Bay Islands, so the local knowledge and contacts are necessary to accomplish this. 

Membership chair Cecilia, comments: 

"Projects like this one are a great way to invite potential members to participate in what we do, volunteer with us, and get to know us; it is a great way to grow our club." 

 

The RUG members Fiona McLoven and Sabina Ibarra-Bolaños worked together to ensure that the visiting team had a great place to end a perfect day. 

Later, everyone gathered at "Rose's Cafe" for a Club Social, where RUG had a Pinning Ceremony* for RUG club member, Fiona McLoven. The atmosphere was perfect, and RUG enjoyed inviting and sharing this special day with Members from The Rotary Club of Beaumont, and Clothing God's Children.

 

 

RUG club member, Fiona, was thrilled about the certificate and pin at a ceremony at Rose's Cafe. It also included a shirt with our characteristic letters on the arm

The assistance received to make this project possible was awesome, and a big thank you to the ones who sponsored the visit:

Dream Ferries, The Williams Family, Tamara Usman, "Off the Dock Adventures," and "Clothing God's Children"

*A Rotary Pinning Ceremony:
signifies the official welcome of a new member, typically involving the presentation of a Rotary International pin by a sponsor or club leader. 

 

Are you looking for more stories from and about the people, their culture, society, and history? Why don’t you visit https://bay-islands-magazine.com/