Category: World Community Service

  • World Community Service Committee Grant Helps Children in Guatemala

    World Community Service Committee Grant Helps Children in Guatemala

    [Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”3″ gal_title=”2014 Guatemala”]

    Rotarian, Debra Des Vignes recently returned from a trip to Guatemala where she presented a check from the Rotary Club of Indianapolis’ World Community Service Committee to Common Hope, a nonprofit that empowers families. Funds will make possible the purchase of much-needed medicine and supplies for the clinic. Each member of the clinic spoke about how the funds from Rotary will greatly aid in their work especially since they are seeing roughly 100 extra (unexpected & not in their budget) patients each month. Check out one of the blog posts from Debra Des Vignes about her experience in Guatemala.

  • Rotary Club of Indianapolis Calnali Microfinance Project Celebrates Fourth Year of Operation

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    By: Rotarian, Sara Anne Hook, 317-278-7690, sahook@iupui.edu, Rotary Club of Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

    As the project leader and “champion,” I am pleased to report that the Calnali (State of Hidalgo, Mexico) Microfinance Project just celebrated its fourth year of operation. Calnali is a rural municipality with a population of approximately 17,000. Poverty and unemployment are high and although this mountainous region is beautiful, it is remote, making travel to the area difficult and time-consuming. With substantial funding for loans from the Rotary Club of Indianapolis as well as a contribution from the Rotary Club of Cottleville/Weldon Spring, Missouri, the project has now provided several hundred women with modest loans so that they can start their own small companies, with some women receiving multiple loans as they demonstrate the success of their ventures.

    As of June 2014, the project had 243 borrowers organized into 26 communal banks, which act a support groups, representing a 274 percent increase in the number of women being served since July 2010. As of June 2014, the average loan balance was $216 with a total loan portfolio of $52,580. Many of the women have used their loans to grow beans, corn and vegetables or to bake bread, which provides fresh, healthy, locally-sourced food to the community. In addition to their loans, the women receive empowerment training and money/business management training through Pro Mujer, the microfinance organization we work with. A number of community organizations in Central Indiana and in Mexico have provided financial, logistical and in-kind support and encouragement. The success of the project is especially gratifying for the Rotary Club of Indianapolis, because it is our club’s first foray into microfinance. In addition to continued support for Calnali, we have just approved funding for 2014-2015 to start a microfinance project in Sierra Leone.

    One of the lessons learned from the Calnali Microfinance Project has been the importance of partnerships, because no one individual or organization can do everything. This has been particularly true in the case of Pro Mujer, which was willing to start with a small group of borrowers in 2010 and then expand its services with each annual contribution from the Rotary Club of Indianapolis. Pro Mujer has a proud history in the realm of microfinance, concentrating its efforts in five countries in Latin America, and was recently one of the first microfinance organizations to receive Client Protection Certification through Smart Campaign. Challenges with the project include the logistical issues with travel to Calnali, making it difficult for the staff of Pro Mujer to make regular visits to oversee the lending and repayment process and to provide training. Although Pro Mujer is converting more of its manual business processes such as loan verification to wireless/tablet technology, robust wireless service is not readily available in Calnali. Future plans include configuring training materials so that they can be delivered through tablets.

  • Timmy Global Health / Rotary Help Improve Water System in Ecuador

    Timmy Global Health / Rotary Help Improve Water System in Ecuador

    Water Team with Chlorinator

    In May, the Timmy Global Health first official water team traveled to the community of Los Rios to do more WASH Training and install the first community chlorinator! 350 people in that community now have access to safe drinking water!

    (Image Left: Water Team with Chlorinator) In April Timmy Global Health hosted a Water & Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) Training for the health promoters and members of five Community Water Councils.

    In mid-February, Timmy Global Health conducted their first Water Chlorinator Installation at a partner hospital Stadler Richter, in Archidona, Ecuador (see the Timmy Global Health video about the project at the hospital). With the help of funding from the Rotary Club of Indianapolis’s World Community Service Committee, here’s a link to the blog post that Timmy Global Health put together about the pilot installation.

    In January 2014, Timmy Global Health hired a Safe Water and Medical Programs Coordinator to manage and implement a water project in the Amazon Basin. This, position was created to ensure sustainability and growth of the project. Read this blog post that outlines the Safe Water project in more detail, and emphasizes the Timmy Global Health partnerships with both MedWater and the Community Water Councils of the chlorinator installation sites.

    The Rotary Club of Indianapolis World Community Service Committee (WCSC) is responsible for identifying and supporting international service projects for the Club. Projects generally have a club member & champion who ideally works in partnership with an overseas Rotary Club and personally travels to the location of the project to help create relationships and oversee the project. The committee currently supports clean water initiatives in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Haiti and Ecuador; multiple projects in Kenya including support for a legal aid clinic, mother-child hospital, and school classrooms; an aquaculture project in Moshi, Tanzania; a microfinance project in Calnali, Mexico; and peace learning projects in Jamaica.

     

  • Day 6, Rotarian Debra Des Vignes – The Final Day – 24/7

    Day 6, Rotarian Debra Des Vignes – The Final Day – 24/7

    “It doesn’t take long in Guatemala to know the papaya stand owner by name, to taste the chocolate water in your sleep, to have tired hands and an achy back. You move along to the beat of the city and you adjust in the poverty stricken villages. In a single day you meet a coffee farmer and a Jade miner and they both welcome you into their home as a best friend would. Together we communicate in broken words. “Okay, okay,” he says. “Si, si,” I say. You worry about asking if they have a baño (bathroom). Am I prepared to walk for miles? The return home isn’t easy. It never is. On the flight back excitement to see family is overpowered by tears of what I have just left behind. I have left behind work that still needs to be done. There is a green plastic bucket that needs to be filled with coffee beans. There are nails on walls of the home that still need to be hammered, and I forgot to hug the Jade Miner. I forgot to tell him that his hard work and his profits will help send his kids to school. I can’t make that promise because I know that he is unselfish. He shares his profits with others because he wants to benefit his entire community. He sees the bigger picture. They all do here. The return home to 24/7; those days are never easy. The mind races, faces slide in and out, conversations surface. It was in Central America where the coffee farmer in the fields taught me to be less rigid with my time. And savor coffee. I mean really let the scent of the beans linger. The Jade miner taught me to stay in the present and keep a razor-sharp focus. The construction crew taught me to hammer away. Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. Our sponsor daughter. Her dreams. My dreams. They intersect. They did along that dusty gravel road in San Rafael. Remember that road with no pavement or water for miles. Do you remember? When I give here I see the change almost immediately. Find your reason. Stop and talk about it. I worry we are all just shuffling through this life.”
    Read more and Follow Debra through her journey, this week.

  • Day 5 – Rotarian Debra Des Vignes and The Jade Miner

    Day 5 – Rotarian Debra Des Vignes and The Jade Miner

    The Jade Miner(EXCERPT) “When you walk into Francisco’s tiny front yard you are in a mini-jungle where gorgeous tropical flowers cascade from garden beds crafted from small boulders of unprocessed jade. You are not stuck by the overwhelming amount of trees, plants, and priceless Jade he owns, but his warm brown eyes and calm demeanor. He’s soft spoken, but you cling to each word like a ballad in a beautiful Christmas quartet. His words linger and bounce off plants and in the end you are left with a feeling of calm. I feel both lucky and under dressed in his presence. Francisco is first man to discover Jade in Guatemala. He stands about 6 feet tall with a slight slouch. A slouch, perhaps given, during his search for Jade in the mountains during the past 44 years. He was featured in a 1987 edition of The National Geographic.”
    Read more and Follow Debra through her journey, this week.

  • Day 4 – Rotarian Debra Des Vignes and The Coffee Farmer

    Day 4 – Rotarian Debra Des Vignes and The Coffee Farmer

    The Group on the Coffee Farm(EXCERPT) “Timoteo’s hands are worn thin. His calluses show years of hard work. He reeks of coffee. The coffee farmer led us up to his piece of land on a plantation. To get there we walked one hour up a steep and treacherous mountain at a 75 degree incline. His land sits atop San Miguel Escobar and up the mountain we passed families of farmers. Kids tend the farms as young as three. Guatemalans value family and community and it shows during harvest season. Red beans are for picking and under the hot sun we walked from plant to plant plucking beans. Timoteo is a farmer with As Green As It Gets.“
    Read more and Follow Debra through her journey, this week.

  • Day 3 – Rotarian Debra Des Vignes – When the Pavement Ends

    Day 3 – Rotarian Debra Des Vignes – When the Pavement Ends

    Debra Des Vignes Day 3(EXCERPT) “You know you have arrived in San Rafael when the pavement ends. Located 45 minutes north of Antigua, San Rafael is one of the poorest communities that Common Hope serves and is completely indigenous. People here speak Kekchi instead of Spanish. It is where I met our sponsor daughter (Simon’s sister) Marisela who is 7 years old. She loves to draw. Brenda, our case worker, was my translator. She is one of three case workers in the area responsible for 80 families.”
    Read more and Follow Debra through her journey, this week.

  • Day 2 – Rotarian Debra Des Vignes – Running Water

    Day 2 – Rotarian Debra Des Vignes – Running Water

    (EXCERPT) “Everyone should have an opportunity for running water and electricity but water is a luxury in San Miguel Escobar. It’s where I met a family of eleven who walk at least one mile for water. The family is affiliated through Common Hope and their small home is made of concrete slabs. They have two small rooms and no bathroom or water. A family typically works 250-300 sweat equity hours doing landscaping, cleaning or cooking at the Common Hope site to receive their home. Forty to fifty volunteers help with the build. That is what brings me back here each year.”
    Read more and Follow Debra through her journey, this week.

  • Day 1 – Rotarian Debra Des Vignes Lands in Guatemala

    Day 1 – Rotarian Debra Des Vignes Lands in Guatemala

    (EXCERPT) “I am remembering how to find my way again. Four years ago I was terribly lost when I stumbled off an American Airlines flight close to midnight drunk on rum and coke and lost in pretentiousness. With no cell service, internet or knowledge of the native tongue, I felt conspicuously powerless. I found the van that took me away up the mountain and back down again to Antigua, Guatemala. A two-week volunteer experience would later impact every decision I make today.”
    Read more and Follow Debra through her journey, this week.

  • Follow Rotarian Debra Des Vignes – to Guatamala!

    Follow Rotarian Debra Des Vignes – to Guatamala!

    Recently, we told you about Rotarian Debra Des Vignes and her upcoming (fourth) trip to Antigua, Guatemala to serve on a Vision Team for Common Hope. Well, that time has a arrived and beginning Dec 2, you can follow her BLOG (click the link) while she is there! Debra will be there for a full week and plans to post each evening about her experiences.

    Debra travels to Central America on behalf of the Common Hope that supports community schools and provides housing to families that want to participate in a process of development, improving their lives through education and health care.

    Rotarian Debra Des Vignes in GuatemalaDebra is deeply passionate about creating better opportunities for willing children and their families. She actively supports U.S. and international programs that address poverty through better access to education. This, along with the life-changing opportunity for international travel, is why Debra and her family have supported Common Hope, including a sponsor child, Marisella, for more than five years.