INTERNATIONAL PROJECT

Posted by Wendell Ross on Jun 25, 2014
 
(The following is a note from club project coordinator Wendell Ross providing a July 2016 update from the 2014 project. Additional photos have been added to the international project photo album on the right.)
Recently  I visited the hospital where the Crilap Foundation that the East
Alton Rotary Club and Barranquilla Oriente Rotary Club cosponsored was
located. I found out that it had moved to a location in the annex of a new
hospital called Puertoazul in February.  So the wife and I took a taxi to
it.  The sad news is that the director I first met had past this last
January. Her then assistant Katia Mendoza is now Executive Director.  And
now the Crilap foundation is called Fabrica de Sonrisas Foundation. 
Website www.fabricadesonrisas.co.  There is a page where you can make
private donations.
When I entered the office and mentioned East Alton Rotary Club you should
have seen their faces light up. It was very heart warming. We talked about
the project.  Our clubs project helped 15 children's lives change.  There
were  surgeries this day for 2 more  happening.  Also the foundation had
35 applicants for  surgeries.  So as in many places in the world this is a
continuing need.  I was glad to be a part of helping so many children in
need via using Rotary International.
On the offices walls were 5 pictures/photos of
some of the children that they helped.  4 of the 5 pictures/photos are of
the children that were helped from our Clubs project.
 
(What follows is the timeline and reflections of the cleft palate international project coordinator Wendell Ross. A photo album titled "international project" can be found in the right side of our home page.)
It is interesting how things in life turn out.  I went to Barranquilla Colombia for some cold business calls in Sept. of 2010. At the hotel I was staying at there was a photographer taking some pictures. I started talking to him  to try and get some business leads and also to get some ideas of the culture of the country. I mentioned Rotary. He told me there were 3 Rotary Clubs in Barranquilla. We got talking about Rotary International projects an he mentioned about a school in the Pueblo that his aunt ran that was having problems with the building.
(Click below to read more)
 

So we went out to the school. He introduced me to his aunt and she showed me the problems with the building and I told her about Rotary International. Then I told her I would see what I could do about helping to get the building repaired as a Rotary International projectThe following day I tried to locate the meeting places and members of  Rotary Clubs in Barranquilla. The large one had meetings in a Country Club. I had my translator try to get us admission just to talk to someone at the front desk. But to no avail.  Never did find a meeting place for the second club.  But did connect with the meeting place and meeting time ( that night) for the Baranquilla Club Oriente. Of course members were surprised when me and my translator showed up out of “nowhere”. So I told them about the school and that I planed to try and make it an international project between our 2 clubs. The response was very positive.

The Crilap project really moved me.  Just so happened the day we  were there there was an orientation meeting for the mothers who wanted to get on the waiting list for surgery.  There were about 30 mothers at the meeting.  Many were trying to put their child in my arms.  I guess they thought I could help. The mothers were crying and saying something in Spanish which I couldn't understand. Later I was told the mothers knew there was a chance that their child could die as they wouldn't be able to eat solid food if they didn't have corrective surgery.  Also the surgeries are needed to help with speech.  I was told the surgeries cost about $1100 USD each. The price varied depending on the cleft pallet severity. The doctors donate their time and costs And many children needed multiple surgeries depending also on the severity of the cleft pallet

    Anyhow, as I already had some promises made as to what the RI project would be. I gave and received contact information with the Oriente Club. I finished up my business there and returned to the United States.

The Rotary Club Oriente  sent out an engineer and  architect to evaluate the school building and get some repair quotes.  The building was in such bad shape that razing and building a new school was more cost effective and sent me 3 estimates of building a new one.  Now I had a dollar amount to work for and preceded to look for funding. About 2 months into the fund raising I was notified the government condemned the school  and nulled the schools charter.  Hmm!  So with some back and forth rhetoric with the Oriente Club I lateraled the project over to help the CRILAP Foundation since I already had momentum going for a international project.

I was very pleased how the people at Rotary District level and Rotary International level helped. I told them what I wanted to do and they sent the forms.  If I was stuck on how to fill out something they walked me through the process of filling out the forms and was quick on responding.

With the local money raised and matched by our Rotary District and Rotary International now came the waiting for the fruits of the project.

In ending. The project was a lot of work. But also very fulfilling.   It helped change the lives of 19 children. It brought 3 Rotary clubs together on a project. It brought  District 6460 and the Rotary Foundation together with our 3 clubs on an international project. It furthered the mission of Rotary in this world.