News from Haiti

Past district governor Dawn Straka, visited our club last week to update us on her activities in world community international service in Haiti over the last year. Dawn told us that she has been to Haiti four times in the last five years and there is still much to be done in that poor country.

Due to the poverty of the country along with the disasters of weather and earthquakes, the families are split up with the children as orphans. Dawn related to us that the tents that Rotary and many other agencies have supplied to the families following the earthquake, after have tarps placed on their roofs after they have been in place for six months as the roofs leak, which makes it very poor existence.

Their efforts have been centered in the town of Jacmel which is 87 km from Port-a-Prince which takes 3 1/2 hours of travel over very poor and gravel roads. The school that they are working in like most other buildings are not built to be earthquake proof so constant maintenance is necessary. In the school there are 938 students from prekindergarten through grade 11.

The support for these poor people has been in updating their school, delivery of school supplies; relief supplies following the earthquake and the construction of computer desks and delivery of computers for the school.

Dawn spoke of the future vision of the Rotary foundation which all of our clubs will be involved in which brings into effect larger projects supported by many clubs. She spoke about the future matching grant project in Jacmel that will be $11,000 but will be supported by many clubs; she asked our club to consider supporting this project to supply books and other school supplies for this school in Haiti.

She also spoke about other two other world community international projects. Dawn suggested that if any of us were interested in the following two projects to please contact her.

- A Wheelchair Delivery Project that will be in Jamaica in March/April 2013                                                                                                             

- Rotary wheels of Learning, the delivery of bicycles to Cambodian schoolchildren is operated through the Rotary club of Gravenhurst that will happen January 2013.

- Steve Wallace of the Wasaga Beach & Area Rotary Club, is organizing a team of Rotarians from the Midland Rotary Club go to the Dominican Republic to build schools, homes and deliver medical and school supplies to those poor villages. Please contact Steve if you are interested in future trips to the Dominican Republic.

Thanks Dawn for your pictorial review and update of your efforts in Haiti.