World Community Service (WCS)

World Community Service (WCS)
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World Community Service
 
 
Helping People Help Themselves Around the World

"One Village at a Time"

 

The WCS committee is one of the most active and popular committees in the club.  Its primary purpose is to identify needs throughout the world then direct our time, talent and resources to addressing those needs. WCS is currently working on projects in Mexico, Haiti, Liberia, Kenya, Nepal, Indonesia, Tanzania, Peru and adding new projects in 2017.

The committee is also coordinating member travel opportunities to visit and help on some of these projects in 2017.  Check this page and bulletins for details or contact, Allan Varni, Director, International Services.   While there we will have an opportunity to see Cuzco and the ancient Inca ruins at Machu Picchu.

Puno Peru: Sustainability, Health, Micro-Business and Community Development
  • $60K Global Grant in Peru, partnering with NGO Kusimayo to provide warm housing, year-round growing facilities, rainwater catchment and drip irrigation .
  • October 6-16 Site visit to our project in Peru to see how we have helped to improve the lives of families in the Altiplano region of the Peruvian Andes.  They are learning how to improve their nutrition and generate income from the sale of excess production.  While there we will have an opportunity to see Cuzco and the ancient Inca ruins at Machu Picchu.  For those interested, take an excursion on to the Galapagos Islands, 
  • This trip is limited to 8-16 people, all Rotarians and their guest are welcome. Click here to see Peru itinerary and trip costs. Click here to see Galapagos Islands itinerary and trip costs. 
  • For questions about the Peru trip contact Jackie Olson, for the Galapagos trip contact Allan Varni.  Please let us know your intention by May 15th
  • Build greenhouses for year-round farming and income generation through the sale of excess produce.Project Lead: Jackie Olson.

SOUPDEP School, Pétion-Ville, Haiti: Education and Community Development

  • Help rebuild and resupply SOPUDEP School, orphanage and community center that was destroyed in the January, 2010 earthquake.  The new school is schedule to open in April 2017.
  • Supply heBooks and eReaders, computers, solar LED reading lights, locally manufactured school desks, chairs, tables and cabinets.
  • New $80K Global Grant in 2017, in partnership with Canadian Rotaries to equip SOPUDEP with solar power and school supplies.
  • Teaching the SOPODEP students an appreciation for sustainable technology practices. Project Lead: Allan Varni.
  • Make a Donation to the SOPUDEP School in Haiti.  Donations are made to the Los Altos Rotary Endowment Fund, 501(c)3 (#94-2575930), which passes them through to benefit the SOPUDEP School.
Donate to SOPUDEP HERE

Tanzania: Child AIDS Prevention (CAP) in Partnership with FAME (Foundation for African Medicine Education)

  • New $80K Global Grant to expand the CAP program into rural Tanzania in 2017-18. The project will help provide mother and child health services in partnership with and the Arusha, TZ Rotary Club. Project Lead: Dr. Jack Higgins.

Nepal: Solar, Sustainability, Water, Health, Vocational Training

  • Earthquake relief - sent over $40K to the Sunrise Rotary Club in Katmandu, our Rotary partner, so that they could distribute immediate aid in the form of emergency shelter, food, warm clothing and clean. They are now working with the government to provide new earthquake resistant housing. The funds were raised through other Rotary clubs, a variety of community organizations, schools and private donors.
  • Annual projects to improve the quality of village life, in particular in the more remote villages.
  • Introduce and locally fabricate Solar cookers, solar LED reading lights, water purification, sanitation, efficient clean burning rocket stoves and biomass briquette presses.  Working in partnership with Nepalese Rotary Clubs and the Nepalese Foundation for Sustainable Technologies NGO.
  • Implementing sustainability practices and self-employment in rural and remote areas, empowering the poor, women and the disabled.
  • Recently completed project in Kokhana villages and leprosariums teaching the ”forgotten groups” of the disabled to make biomass briquette and solar cookers.  Project Lead: Allart Ligtenberg.

Indonesia, Sumba Island: Clean Water and Sanitation

  • Raising funds for a $65K Global Grant project for clean water, sanitation, ECO toilets for villages and schools.
  • Projects on Nias Island and in the slums of Jakarta to provided sanitation, clean water and sustainable agricultural practices in partnership with Jakarta Central Rotary. Project Lead: Allart Ligtenberg.

Yucatan, Mexico: Education, Sustainability and Community Development  

  • Educational projects in literacy and environmental sustainability
  • Focus on indigenous Mayan villagers in rural areas of Merida, Mexico
  • Teaching sustainable technology and agricultural practices (solar and rocket stoves, and the manufacture of cooking fuel briquettes from biomass plant waste)
  • Provide computers and elementary literacy training to village children. Sponsored by Proyecto-Itzaes, in partnership with the Palo Alto Rotary Club. Project Lead: Jane Reed.        
PAST PROJECTS
 

Monduli, Tanzania: Education, Community Development

  • Developing a $86K+ Global Grant in partnership with Saratoga, Almaden Valley, Gilroy, Gilroy Sunrise, Hollister and Morgan Hill Rotary clubs, to support the expansion of the Orkeeswa Secondary School of Monduli.   The grant will provide solar power, school supplies and access to clean water.  The school is on Maasai Tribal land and teaches the Maasai youth to become future leaders in their community and to help bring the greater Maasai culture into the 21st Century. Project Lead: Allan Varni.
 

Liberia: Child AIDS Prevention (CAP), in Partnership with Save the Children

  • Training medical staff using current medical information, counseling mothers-to-be, administer anti-viral drugs to mothers and newborns.
  • Raising funds for a $250K+ Global Grant to start a Rotary/Save the Children project to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS from mother to child Project Lead: Marlene Cowan.
Afghanistan:
  • Funding to purchase sheep, goats and orchard tree saplings, plus constructing flood control levees and helping equip schools to improve life in remote villages in collaboration with the ‘Trust in Education’ NGO project.
Indonesia, Jakarta and Nias Island:
  • Provided training and equipment for clean water, improved sanitation and health in the slums of Jakarta. On Nias Island, provided improved sanitation, clean water and sustainable agricultural practices.

Guatemala:

  • Post hurricane and landslide relief, enhanced village sustainability, clean water and improved health. High efficient community cooking stoves for several Mayan villages aimed at reduced cooking fuel costs, carbon footprint and deforestation.  
Chile:
  • Sent emergency shelter, clothing and food supplies after the 2010 earthquake. 
  • Support the Coaniquem Burn Center for the treatment of burned children.