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It's traditional that the first Rotarian magazine of the Rotary year carries a profile of the incoming RI president and his or her family. I've always read those profiles with interest, never giving much thought to the possibility that one day, I might be the one bringing a writer from the magazine to my Rotary club meeting! I have never liked a lot of attention, and the idea of having my picture on the magazine cover made me a bit uncomfortable. But when I saw the photo the editors chose, I smiled. Because the star of that picture definitely isn't me, or even my wife, Esther. It's the flock of flamingos, none of which could care less about Rotary, all strutting past us in the same direction. All of them — except one.
I couldn't think of a more appropriate image to reflect the message I want to convey to Rotarians. That one flamingo, going the other way, represents so much of what we need to do in Rotary. That flamingo knows everyone's going one way. She sees it. But she also sees that maybe the path they're on isn't the best path. Maybe, just maybe, there's a better path over there, and she wants to get a good look before she goes marching on with her friends. And if, when she does stop and look, that new path does seem better, she'll call the rest of the crew to come over and check it out with her. And maybe, just maybe, they'll all choose that better path together.
|Presidential Message-Barry Rassin
|Carole Wolff
On November 27, 2018, Detective William Woolf III of JustAsk (501-c3 non-profit) gave a presentation on human trafficking prevention. We were made aware that Jalisco has a higher than average human trafficking occurrence than most locations in
Mexico; Guadalajara, Chapala and Puerto Vallarta being at the top of the list.
Woolfs organization is focusing on prevention of trafficking through education and information. Most victims are females between the ages of 14-17.
Rotary international is committed to ending human trafficking in the world. This topic is seldom spoken about and is a growing problem.
This event was held at Club Hacienda San Miguel in Guadalajara. Carole and Bill Wolff and Magda Silva attended this presentation hosted by Rotary of Guadalajara.
If you are interested in knowing more about this topic please contact our Club President. Dr. Santi Hernandez Martinez at firstname.lastname@example.com.
JustAsk contact information: www.justaskprevention.org
|End Human Trafficking Presentation
|Magda Silva
On November 24, 2018, 4 members of the Ajijic Rotary Club attended the Rotary Legislative forum in Guadalajara. The event was held at the San Pedro Tlaquepaque Rotary Club house.
The event focused on the review of the Rotary Policy and Procedures, Constitutional documents and code of policies. Topics included the number of members needed to create/maintain a healthy club, how many club members can be from the same business sector and review/audit of financials to maintain fiscal integrity.
These documents are open to all rotary members and can be found at www.myrotary.org. We encourage all members to review these documents.
In attendance at the forum was Carole and Bill Wolff, Magda Silva and our President, Santiago Hernandez.
Are you interested in joining Rotary Club Ajijic? Ask me how! Dr. Cherry: firstname.lastname@example.com .
|Rotary Legislative Forum
|Magda Silva
On Nov 20, 2018, Gerardo Fabian Pantoja Ramirez, director of Tech MM campus of Chapala presented information regarding the local community college. This institution opened its doors to 72 local students in the year 2000, to date they serve over 1,000 students. The institute offers courses in various computer science subjects and recently started a gastronomy course. In addition to students learning these skills; language courses and soft skills are also part of the curriculum.
The director shared how graduates are able to help their struggling families with basic needs once they become wage earners. One student was able to build the first bathroom for her family home.
The presentation concluded with an invitation from Director Pantija Ramirez to consider scholarships for a Tech MM students. The approximate tuition per semester is $2,500 pesos, some courses require an additional $500 pesos per semester. Rotarians and friends interested in sponsoring a student or students contact Chuck Doucet : firstname.lastname@example.com .
Are you interested in joining Rotary Club Ajijic? Ask me how! Dr. Cherry: firstname.lastname@example.com .
|Tech MM Campus of Chapala
|Magda Silva
A beautiful Sunday morning at the French Bakery to complete our Social for November. The Goats will have to wait .
Are you interested in joining Rotary Club Ajijic? Ask me how! Dr. Cherry: firstname.lastname@example.com .
|French Bakery Social
|Cherry Adjchavanich
The Rotary Club of Ajijic Board at their October meeting agreed to become the host club for a global grant project presented by Butterflies en Mexico. Bernadine Janzen, Rotary E Club of One World and Mac Whyte, member of RCA, have been developing the project with input from the RCA Board and Service Projects Director Gary Pidcock since November of 2017.
Bernadine and Mac were the project managers for the first global grant done by the club, "Providing Teacher Training to Create Safe and Healthy Schools & Communities in Jalisco, Mexico" that was conducted from January 2016-August 2017.
The purpose of the of the new project."Vocational Training in Hacienda de la labor-A forgotten village in Mexico " is to provide vocational training for youth and their families to expand their knowledge in a specific area of work and develop employability skills that are essential for economic development that will contribute to the growth of a healthy and sustainable community.
The USA/Mexico Friendship Conference in late October is a project fair sponsored by District 4185 from Mexico and District 5495, Az that has been taking place for 15+ years. This year it was held in Acapulco.Bernadine and Mac had the opportunity to present the project with the purpose being to acquire funding support from participating Rotary Clubs with host club Rotary Club of Ajijic. It was time well spent as these clubs/district committed to funding the project:
Catalina, Tucson, Az
Prescott Frontier, Az
Prescott Sun Up, Az
District 5495
We are also seeking an International Host Club and additional funding sources. Click read more to understand the background on the Global Project.
|Global Project In The Making With Host Rotary Club of Ajijic
|Carole Wolff
On Saturday Nov. 10, 2018, seven Ajijic club members attended the the Rotary Breakfast for district 4140 in Guadalajara. Highlighted at the meeting were projects relevant to our district areas. Projects highlight below.
*Mazatlan Club: Hurricane relief due to current storms.
*La Piedad Club: River preservation and clean up. This river runs into Lake Chapala.
*Grano por Grano: Roteract coffee fundraiser.
*Social media presentation. The presenter emphasized the importance of using this tool to elevate our mission and to bring in more member and funds.
*Presentations on ongoing worldwide projects, such as Polio.
Attending this meeting is a great way to get acquainted with your own club members and meet members from other clubs within our district. The day concluded with dinner on our way back to Ajijic.
Are you interested in joining Rotary Club Ajijic? Ask me how! Dr. Cherry: email@example.com .
|District 4140 Breakfast
|Magda Silva
On Tuesday, November 6th, with a packed house, Barbara Wilson spoke to our club about the efforts of Rotary International to eradicate polio, worldwide. She described her trip to Ghana and the team of Rotarians who traveled to the remote village of Oblogo to ensure that all children, under the age of 5, were immunized. Rotary has worked since 1985 to eradicate polio. A that time 350,000 children contracted polio annually. With partners, Rotary has immunized more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. Only 26 cases, in two countries, have been found this year. We are in the "end game" of eliminating this disease.
Rotary Club of Ajijic A.C. general meeting on November 6 with a packed house! Barbara Wilson from the Sunrise Club did a fantastic presentation on the Polio Plus Rotary Foundation. Are you interested in donating to Polio Plus? Please contact Chuck Doucet: email@example.com .
Are you interested in joining Rotary Club Ajijic? Ask me how! Dr. Cherry: email@example.com .
|Polio Plus Rotary Foundation
|Cherry Adjchavanich
Today, Rotary Club Ajijic and Salvati Foundation, teamed with sponsors to host the 2nd Annual Catrina De Feet Breast Cancer 5K Run Walk in Ajijic.
We had runners, walkers and even dogs up for adoption from The Ranch! The race began at 9:00 am on a beautiful, clear and cool Sunday morning at the Ajijic Plaza that wrapped around Ajijic's beautiful view of the Lake, up toward Brew House and circled back toward the Plaza to the finish line. The race participants enjoyed hydration provided by Comude, decorations set up by Rotary Club Ajijic members, Interact students and Dulce Luna provided fun Catrina standup cutouts. Emergency medical services ambulance by sponsor Hospital Country 2000 was on site to provide care.
The Funds raised that will benefit Salvati Foundation will help women find treatment for breast cancer.
Most importantly, today's race is in the name of Dr. Santiago Hernández's mother: Hilda Hernandez who passed away from breast cancer in 2017.
We thank all of the race participants, sponsors, and volunteers who made today's race a success!
The Rotary Club of Ajijic is one of the few English-speaking Rotary clubs in Mexico, and has been serving the Lake Chapala area since 2002. Its members are business and professional men and women, many retired, who dedicate their time, expertise, and talents to helping others in our local area. For more information on the Rotary Club of Ajijic please contact Dr. Cherry email@example.com .
Rotary Club Ajijic, Membership
|2nd Annual Catrina 5k Run/Walk - 28 October 2018
|Cherry Adjchavanich
|St. Patrick's Day - Fundraiser
|Catrina 5K - Walk - Run for Breast Cancer
At our August 15 meeting we had the pleasure of having Andre Bellon of Bellon Insurance as our speaker.
We received a lot of valuable information about insurance companies in Mexico.
There are more than 80 registered companies, and in Mexico registered insurance companies cannot go bankrupt because the government takes over if such an event arises.
However, if you are insured with a non-registered foreign company, and they leave Mexico, they will drop you. In the case of health insurance, if by then you have developed a serious health issue, you will have a problem getting insurance with another company because of the major excluding illnesses like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, alzheimer, advanced rheumatism, etc.
Andre Bellon's message therefore is: get health insurance while you are still healthy to avoid such a situation.
Bellon Insurance has been in business for 20 years and is located in San Antonio, offering home, auto, health insurance, etc. and emphasizes on providing a very personal service including assisting clients from the beginning till the end when they have to go into hospital.
For more information visit belloninsuranceagents.com.mx
|What's to know about Mexican insurance companies
|Julianna Rose
At our August 1 meeting we had a surprise visit from Assistant District Governor of district 4140, Salvador Beas Gonzalez from Zacoalco, his wife Mireya Hernandez Sayula and their son Salvador Beas Hernandez.
During the same meeting, two new members; Johan Dirkes, who transferred from the Rotary Club of Guadalajara Internacional, and Gordon Wainwright, who transferred from the Rotary Club of Calgary, Alberta, introduced themselves.
|Assistant District Governor visited
|Julianna Rose
Sam F. Owori, Rotary International president-elect, died unexpectedly Thursday as a result of post-operative complications from a planned surgery. Sam was a member of the Rotary Club Kampala, Uganda, for 38 years.
|Rotary President-elect Sam F. Owori dies
On Tuesday May 23, Club honorary member Francis Dryden graced our meeting once again as a speaker. He shared his thoughts with us about the fundraising challenges of charitable organizations, the time and efforts put into fundraising, and possibly ending up with not enough money left over after all the expenses. Hiring a professional fundraiser may be the answer. There are associations of professional fundraisers in Mexico. There is one in Mexico City, one in Guadalajara, and in seven other cities in Mexico.
|Let's talk about charitable organizations
|Julianna Rose
On May 2, Dee Mistrik, Founder of Companions and Compassion, gave a presentation about the activities of the group that conducts spay and neuter clinics in the Jocotepec municipality.
In this predominantly farming area comprising 13 pueblos, the dedicated group has already treated over 600 animals since they started four years ago. Just recently they have also administered 250 rabies shots. Mistrik explained how phenomenal the reproductive potential of dogs and cats is and that overpopulation previously would simply get destroyed. Thanks to many dedicated local veterinarians and lots of volunteers, today there are better ways.
A typical one-day clinic sterilizing 80 animals needs 30-40 volunteers. Although they are on their side, the government does not provide much help. Preparation work starts 4 - 6 weeks before a clinic, booking vets specialized in sterilization procedures, working with the municipality, and volunteers going door to door spreading flyers.
Thanks to everything being very well organized, they can sterilize a male in 5 minutes and a female in 15 minutes. The animals also get treated for fleas, worms, and ear mites, are given a bath, get their nails clipped, and receive loving words and strokes. The non-street dogs even get tags with the name of the owner. Owners also go home with a certificate of appreciation and antibiotics for their animal, written instructions for the aftercare and the phone number of a vet just in case. Knowing that it can be difficult to administer medication to animals, volunteers cut up sausages and put the medicine in there to make sure.
Funding the clinics is always a challenge as each clinic costs 28,000 Pesos. The facility is usually provided for free, but they always give a donation.
The group organizes fundraising dinners. They are becoming more well known, there were 320 guests at the last one.
For more information or to help (the next clinic will be on June 18 in San Pedro Tetistan) contact Dee Mistrik on 331-447-9273 or email email@example.com.
|Companions and Compassion's Spay and Neuter clinics
|Julianna Rose
It was a full house on Saturday April 29 for the April District Breakfast at Hotel Monte Carlo in Chapala.
The event, organized by the Rotary Club of Chapala Sunrise, was co-hosted by our Club.
Governor Ricardo Preciado Partida and his wife Acela, and many rotarians from the seven states in our District (Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Queretaro, Michoacan, Colima and Guanajuato) were in attendance.
Invited guest speaker Blanche Bikuta shared her harrowing story "The Long Journey from Africa to Mexico" with us.
Dr. Whitehurst had arrived early to sign in our Club's members.
Rotarians from seven states, some had come a long way.
The breakfast buffet was plentiful.
A serious discussion at one of our Club's tables.
There were raffles and an auction.
Nice end to a great meeting!
|Well attended District Breakfast
|Julianna Rose
On Tuesday April 25th President elect Doug Lyle, and Ron Howardson took the floor once again and continued with their excellent presentation of the Fireside Chat on what is means to be a Rotarian.
The presentation will be used in the future during the briefings of new members of the Club.
|Why we joined Rotary part II
|Julianna Rose
Assistant District Governor Sandra Loridans visited our Club on April 18th to give a presentation and update us about our new District.
Loridans explained that though previously there were only 4 states in District 4150, our old district, since the merger we now belong to district 4140, comprising 7 states with a total of 131 clubs.
|Visit of Assistant District Governor
|Julianna Rose
On Saturday, April 1, a final closing ceremony and workshop was held in San Juan Cosala to mark the end of the cycle III training of our Rotary International Global Grant "Providing Teacher Training to Create Safe and Healthy Schools & Communities in Jalisco, Mexico".
Diplomas were awarded to teachers, trainers, principals, parents, and community leaders who had completed the course.
|Cycle III of Global Grant Teacher Training completed
|Julianna Rose
More than 160 people from local expat organizations turned up on April 11th at Hotel Real de Chapala for the presentation by the Mexican Immigration Office. The Lake Chapala Shrine Club had organized the event, co-hosted by the Rotary Club of Ajijic, as per the request of the INM office in Chapala. The Immigration authorities wished to update the expat community on the 2012 Immigration Laws, and explain about our obligations and rights to reside in Mexico including the proper way to use our Temporary and Permanente Mexican Immigration cards when entering and exiting Mexico to avoid having those cards invalidated.
Click on the title to see the link to the video of the presentation.
|Presentation by the Mexican Immigration authorities
|Julianna Rose
From time to time we need to be reminded why we joined Rotary.
On April 4th. Doug Lyle, Blake Cameron, and Ron Howardson did just that. The trio, with 90 years of Rotary experience between them, held a "Fireside Chat", an informal discussion, on what Rotary is all about and what it means to be a Rotarian.It was a great presentation, during which we were reminded of things we should know and learned some things we did not know. A lively discussion followed and we ran out of time. To be continued!
|Why we joined Rotary
|Julianna Rose
At our March 21 meeting we had a presentation by Myrian Mendez-Shelton Shelton, who was introduced by our member Gin Pelzl.
In October 2016, Myrian and her husband Jim started the POCO a POCO, a registered Mexican charity under the official name "Deporte y Desarrollo para Crecer A.C.". Working closely with the local Civil Protection and Firemen for the state of Jalisco, POCO A POCO supports the residents of the village of San Pedro Itzicán and its surroundings areas. Apart from extreme poverty, the residents also suffer from many health issues (kidney failure, malnutrition, and birth defects, to name a few.
The group works with people involved in improving the drinking water for residents and the setting up of a Dialysis Clinic in Chapala. In conjunction with Tepehua Community Center and Ninos Incapacitados, kids have been receiving dental treatments and families have received medical help. POCO A POCO also educates families on where to get help, and offers recycling and composting classes, etc.
POCO a POCO is continuously introducing new projects to encourage work for local women, like teaching women to sew, knit and crochet, planting herbs and vegetables for their own use or for sale, raising chickens for sale or barter.
Welcome to our new member, Mara del Consuela Lourdes Avila y Roses, who was inducted on March 21st.
|Julianna Rose
At our meeting this week we were treated to a very informative and professional presentation by our member Spencer McMullen, owner of Spencers Office S.C. Abogados, Attorneys at Law and Professional Translators (Chapala Law), in Chapala.
Spencer talked about the importance of planning ahead so that our heirs will have fewer hassles when administering our estate.
Copies of Spencer's article "How to Die in Mexico" in which various aspects are outlined and explained, were handed out to the membership.
The article, packed with important information and guidelines as to how to prepare yourself, is also available on Spencer's website www.chapalalaw.com under "articles".
|How to Die in Mexico
|Julianna Rose
Speaker to a full house at our February 28 meeting was Bernadine Janzen, Executive Director of Butterflies en Mexico. An interesting talk about the programs of Butterflies en Mexico by Mariposa Project, which are designed to offer life and/or vocational skills that lead to independence and becoming a healthy, productive adult. Encouraging youth to serve their community by "giving back".
Butterflies en Mexico is know to undertake extensive surveys before they develop a program, involving Mexican youth to conduct the surveys.
Bernadine Janzen is Project Manager of the anti violence curriculum in Lakeside schools "Guardians of the Planet", the "Front-of-House apprentice restaurant" vocational training program, and the new community development program "One Village at a Time".
Visit their website www.gomariposa.org for details and photos.
|Butterflies en Mexico empowers youth to make healthy life changes
|Julianna Rose
Welcome back Mac Whyte! Mac was our Club's Service Projects Chair from February 2011 to June 2013, and has agreed to take up the position again and head our Community Service Projects Committee. During his previous time as Service Projects Chair, Mac acquired invaluable knowledge of working with the Rotary International Grant Center, which sets the standards for Rotary projects.
Mac is a true Rotarian and a great asset to our Club, He has been instrumental in obtaining the large Global Grant of 47,000 US dollars for our project, "Providing Teacher Training to Create Safe and Healthy Schools & Communities in Jalisco", for which Mac is the Grant Manager. Mac also introduced other excellent community projects to the Club; Teaching of the "Guardians of the Planet", an Anti Violence Curriculum to Students in Grades 3 through 5, Ages 7-11, and the "Vocational Training-Provide Skill Training in Front-of-House Apprentice Restaurant" Program, a project which provides training to apprentices in all areas required to work in the front of the restaurant. And the latest, a brand new project, the Community Development Program "One Village at a Time".
Project Manager for the latter three projects is Mac's wife, Rotarian Bernadine Janzen, Executive Director of Butterflies en Mexico, A.C., who will be our speaker next Tuesday, February 28th.
At our February 21st meeting, Mac Whyte spoke to the membership. "The purposes of this club are to pursue the Object of Rotary, carry out successful service projects based on the Five Avenues of Service, contribute to the advancement of Rotary by strengthening membership, support The Rotary Foundation, and develop leaders beyond the club level."
|Meet our Club's Community Services Projects Chair
|Julianna Rose
Socorro Wonchee gives an update on the San Juan Cosala Youth Choir.
The building before.........
And after.
Our speaker on February 14th was Socorro Wonchee of the San Juan Cosala Youth Choir that our Club sponsors.
The building where the choir practises has been donated to the choir to use for 5 - 10 years. The building has two rooms.
The choir is doing really well, the children are very talented and confident. They started off with 50 children and there are now 84, ages 6 - 15. The repertoire is classic. The main expense is paying teachers.
At the same meeting new member Mary Jo Mallan gave her induction speech.
|San Juan Cosala Children's Choir update
|Julianna Rose
60 People attended the event.
Some of the beautiful objects of art that had been donated for the auction by more than 13 artists.
Auctioneer Dr. Santiago Hernandez (right) with his assistants Ron Howardson and Janie Munoz.
The 3rd annual Valentine Art Auction and Fundraiser on February 11th at the El Telpatio Hotel & Resort in Tlaguepague was a great success. Several of us had made use of a special overnight stay package and made the most of it, relaxing and staying the night and enjoying a delicious full breakfast the next morning. The event was organised by President Carole Wolff and member Dr. Santiago Hernandez.
The party started off with drinks by the pool, music, and fortune teller Tonya Melendez, followed by Valentine balloon sales and reverse draw sales during dinner.
The auction was a lot of fun. Dr. Santiago Hernandez and his assistants Janie Munoz and Ron Howardson did a terrific job of presenting the items like real pros. All of the art objects were sold, and all of the certificates donated by restaurants and other businesses were sold or won.
Many thanks to all who helped make this fundraiser a great success. The proceeds raised will be used to fund many of our Club's community projects.
|Valentine Party and Art Auction fundraiser
|Julianna Rose
Some preferred to relax and chat................
While others comfortably concentrated on what was happening on the screen.
Members and friends of Rotary who attended the Super Bowl party on February 5th at President Carole and Bill Wolff's house enjoyed good company and good fun. Carole and Bill had cooked up a huge pan of delicious chili, and the others had brought side dishes and desserts. Gin Pelzl won the betting pool.
|Super Bowl fun
|Julianna Rose
At our January 31 meeting, Club member Dr. Whitehurst was the featured speaker on "Freemasonry - Myths, Legends, and the Truth about the World's Oldest Fraternity". It was an enlightening talk with Dr. Whitehurst explaining the myths and legends from the Freemasonry's distant past, and what the actual facts are.
|All about Freemasonry
|Julianna Rose
Join us to watch the Super Bowl 2017 on Sunday, February 5th at President Carole and Bill Wolff's home at the Racquet Club. Eat, drink, and party with us from 3:00 PM until the game is over. The football betting pool is on. Carole and Bill are providing chili, you bring your own drinks and a dish to share. R.S.V.P., address and directions: Carole Wolff, firstname.lastname@example.com or call her at 333.178.8918.
We invite you to our 3rd Annual Valentine's Party on Saturday, February 11th from 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM at the El Tapatio Hotel & Resort in Tlaquepague.
Hosts: Dr. Santiago Hernandez & Carole Wolff.
Cash Bar, Dinner, Art Auction, and a Fortune Teller at the lovely Hotel El Tapatio overlooking Guadalajara. Join us to celebrate Valentine's Day with your loved ones and friends and help us raise funds for our Programs including Les Strong Scholarships for Chapala & Mescala Prepartorio, San Juan Cosala Choir, Ajijic Union Leaque Soccer, Operation Smile, ARDAT, and Projects with Tepehua, Love in Action, and Hope House.
Cocktails & music around the pool at 6:00 PM, Dinner and Art Auction at 7:00 PM, and disco from 9:00 PM. in the Red Room with a panoramic view of Guadalajara.
Party only (including dinner): 400 Pesos.
Package for 2 people Overnight which includes two dinners and two for buffet breakfast: 2159.50 pesos.* Includes a donation of 500 pesos for the Rotary Club of Ajijic.
Jr. Suite Package (Larger than the other rooms. It's equipped with one king size be and feature a Jacuzzi and beautiful panoramic views for 2 people Overnight and includes two dinners and two for buffet breakfast: 2837.00 peos.* Includes a donation of 500 pesos for Rotary Club of Ajijic. (only 3 of these available)Contact Carole Wolff for your reservation at email@example.com or call her at 333.178.8918.
|Two great events coming up
|Julianna Rose
Since 1917, the Rotary Foundation has spent more than US$3.7 billion helping people and communities.
That's a century of Rotary members changing lives and improving communities all over the world.
Through our Foundation, Rotary members have supported thousands of projects to provide clean water, fight disease, promote peace, provide basic education, and grow local economies. The Rotary Foundation has also been a leader in the fight to eradicate polio worldwide.
Charity Navigator, America' largest independent charity evaluator, placed the Rotary Foundation on the list of "the 10 best charities everyone has heard of" (large organizations with budgets exceeding US$100 million). For details visit www.charitynavigator.org
|100 years of doing good in the world
|Julianna Rose
On January 17, our first business meeting of 2017, Harvey Bernier presented President Carole with four lovely banners from clubs he visited during his trip to New England, USA.
Our member Ruben Pettersson received 2.970 Pesos from the Club for Operation Smile. To date our Club has collected enough money for five Operation Smile surgeries on Mondays.
|First business meeting of the year
|Julianna Rose
On January 12th the Union Ajijic soccer club that our Rotary club sponsors was presented with more equipment.
|Happy boys and girls
|Julianna Rose
Our December 6th Merry Christmas Brunch and Auction at Hotel Real de Chapala was a great success! We had a full house and most of the 140 objects were sold. Everyone had a great time, we had Dave Peterson as a live auctioneer, we had Francis Dryden as a live Santa, and we enjoyed the performance by the OFIRC children's choir.
The children were wearing their new uniforms displaying the Rotary wheel to show our Club's funding, which we will continue doing on a yearly basis.
Many, many thanks to Bob and Sally Salvatore, for their extremely generous donation of the auction objects. We now have the money to fund 3 semesters of 25 scholarship students!
|Successful auction results will fund 3 semesters of 25 scholarship students
|Julianna Rose
The Rotary Club of Ajijic invites you to the Merry Christmas Auction Brunch! Only a couple of days left till December 6th!
Hurry and get your tickets so that you don't miss your chance to pick up great decorative items and wonderful Christmas gifts!
This is going to be one of a kind auction with quality objects!
For a preview of some of the amazing items you can bid on, please click on the links below for the catalogue and photos of some of the objects.
We look forward to seeing you there!
|Don't miss the Merry Christmas Auction Brunch!
|Julianna Rose
Hans Beets
It is with sadness that we learned of the passing on November 23 of our member and long-time Rotarian, Hans Beets.
Hans was born in Indonesia to Dutch parents, and lived there for the first two years of his life. When the family moved back to the Netherlands, he was to spend the next 23 years there. While studying in the USA at Caltech in Pasadena, California, he met his first wife, Beatriz. She was Mexican and they were married in Mexico. They had four children together. After a few years they moved to the Netherlands, and back to Mexico again. Hans lived 22 years in Mexico and then 23 years in California. In 2006 he came back to Mexico to retire.
During his stay on a farm in the Netherlands during the Second World War, Hans was thinking of a veterinarian or agricultural career. But because his friends were interested in chemistry and were all going go to the University of Leiden, he decided to join them. He studied Bio Chemistry and earned a Ph.D in Chemistry from the University of Leiden. During his studies in the USA he served as a Fulbright Scholar and as a research fellow at Caltech, and at Yale University.
Hans' working career started at Akzo Nobel. But he felt that science, and working as a research scientist was not for him. He decided that he preferred a more business environment. So he went to work for Ciba Geigy (now called Huntsman) in Mexico. He liked that job because it had to do with technology transfer and he also enjoyed the social benefit of it.
Later in his life his career changes were not by choice, but because of economic circumstances. He worked for Shell, he was Co-Director of the Water Program at the Institute of the Americanas (IOA) at the University of California, San Diego, and he founded his own company, Hitech Trade & Transfer. In addition Hans served twice as Honorary Consul for the Netherlands in Guadalajara.
When Hans retired, he became very interested in ecological villages, visiting them and reading about them and his dream was to form a co-housing project on his property.
When he was younger, Hans enjoyed playing field hockey and did a lot of sailing. Once retired, he studied birds and butterflies and cacti plants. He spent a great deal of time on his beautiful cacti garden, and wrote his memoirs.
Hans' first involvement with Rotary dates back to the mid 1950's at Caltec, California, where they organized outings for foreign students. He then learned about Rotary. He wanted to get involved and he was a guest speaker at ten different Rotary clubs in the Los Angeles area.
Hans became a Rotarian in 1963, in the town of Ocotlan, where he was invited to the Rotary Club. He had made news there because he had organized a sailing day. In 2008 he transferred from the Rotary Club of Escondido in California to the Rotary Club of Ajijic.
In his early years with our Club, Hans was regularly consulted on water issues. Until his health began to fail him, he never missed a Rotary meeting. Hans leaves behind two sons and two daughters, and six grandchildren.
|Julianna Rose
The Meet and Greet party at Moonyeen's house
Exchanging banners
Gin Pelzl with artist Robina Nicole who has donated a work of art, "The Healing Tree", depicting the cycle of life and the Mother, to the Maternal Health unit of the Tepehua Community Center.
The visit of Canadian Medical Team that brought their medical services to the villages of Lakeside from November 2 - 14 was a great success. After our Club and the Tepehua Community Center collaborated for many weeks regarding the arrangements and schedule, the team finally arrived. With a Meet and Greet party at Moonyeen King's house on November 5, the Canadian team was warmly welcomed to the local community.
The locations chosen were Tepehua, the Men's Rehabilitation Center CREAD in Santa Cruz, the Chapala Preparatoria, and the villages of San Pedro and Mezcala. There the team carried out physical checkups and dental checks with the Health Outreach for Women mobile unit following the team to give pap smears for cancer and STD checks, including HIV.
Medication to families was supplied on the spot, and the Tepehua Communities Free Clinic will provide further service for those needing a follow up. All dental patients will be provided treatment at the Tepehua Dental Clinic.
Hundreds of patients were treated or received checkups by the Canadian medical team members, who were very passionate and caring about their work.
All medication left over was donated to the Tepehua Free Pharmacy to continue the work the Canadians have started.
The Tepehua Communities plan is to try to take the Tepehua Medical and Dental team to the villages once a month. There is already service for the Maternal Health Program through Health Outreach for Women AC.
The Secretario General of Mezcala, Joel Navarro, supplied the food for the team whilst in San Pedro and Mezcala, and our Club supplied the food for team elsewhere. Needless to say, our Club's Rotary meeting of Tuesday November 8 was held at the Tepehua Community Center, where we celebrated the completion of the Tepehua Maternal and general Health Center together. The speaker was Dr. Carlos Rodriguez, who heads the medical side of the Tepehua Community Center, and there also was Dr.George Ruwwe, who is the consultant for the Dental side.
Many thanks to the fine Canadian medical team, local doctors, translators, Rotarians, and all others who helped, for their efforts. Great things have been accomplished!
|Much accomplished by visit Canadian Medical Team
|Julianna Rose
Cycle II of the Catalina Rotary Club of Arizona and the Rotary Club of Ajijic International Global Grant completed.
A closing ceremony and data collection workshop marked the end of training for the teachers involved in cycle II of our Rotary International Global Grant "Providing Teacher Training to Create Safe and Healthy Schools & Communities in Jalisco, Mexico".
On Saturday, November 11, diplomas were awarded to teachers, trainers, principals, parents, and community leaders who completed the 8-week course. The recognition, which took place at the Escuela José Ma. Arreola, in Riberas del Pilar, was attended by Rotary Club of Ajijic member Blake Cameron, President Carole Wolff and her husband Bill Wolff, who all helped hand out diplomas.
|Cycle II of the Catalina Rotary Club of Arizona and the Rotary Club of Ajijic International Global Grant completed.
Mac Whyte, Vocational skills/Restaurant apprenticeship training Project Manager and President of Butterflies en Mexico with (from left to right) Francisco Nava, Vocational Skills Training Committee; Laura Ocha Hernandez, apprentice; Esperanza Ritchie, La Mision Restaurant; Jesús Losuna Zausedo, restaurant mentor; and Michael Ritchie, owner La Mision Restaurant.
Mac Whyte, along with the Butterflies en Mexico Vocational skills committee, presented Laura Ochoa Hernandez of Tepeque on November 3 with a diploma for the completion of her Front-of-Restaurant/English apprenticeship at La Mision Restaurant. Hernandez also received a letter of recommendation on Front-of-Restaurant Skills and was offered a part-time position at La Mision for her excellent performance.
Hernandez became the first graduate of a 96-hour Front-of-Restaurant apprenticeship at La Mision plus an additional 32 hours of private English classes, all focused on the needs of restaurant patrons.
BeM is seeking sponsorship funds of $4,536 pesos (about $239 USD) to place another restaurant apprentice. La Mision and a few other local restaurants have generously volunteered their time to provide the in-restaurant training, so the majority of the funding required is to pay an English instructor who can quickly and flexibly teach the words and phrases needed to be successful in front-of-restaurant work.
Anyone who can recommend possible future training candidates, please contact Bernadine Janzen at email@example.com. To learn more about the BeM programs of encouraging local youth to make healthy life changes, visit www.gomariposa.org
|First graduate of Front-of-Restaurant/English apprenticeship program
|Julianna Rose
A successful Long-Range Planning meeting, facilitated by Terry MacDonald, was held on November 17.
Members of our Club's Board of Directors, and several Committee Chairs got together to review member inputs from a survey, as well as draft service programs and project plans for 2016 and 2017. The focus of the meeting involved identifying key initiatives for the Club as well as identifying the resources required to carry out priority tactical initiatives and Club projects. It was encouraging to see that our Club has been making good progress having already completed various initiatives and projects since the start of the club's fiscal year in July. Another achievement during the meeting involved the creation of an ongoing planning tracking group charged with ensuring that approved Club plans were being acted upon effectively and efficiently. A further short Board meeting will be held in the near future to finalize our Club's updated long term plans, goals and budget.
Many thanks to Terry MacDonald for his help to improve our Club with his expertise and a good long-range action plan!
|Planning ahead
|Julianna Rose
Ed Donagher, Head Coach of Union of Ajijic Soccer
Union of Ajijic Soccer Team
Trip to Torreon
At our October 25 meeting, Ed Donagher, Head Coach of Union of Ajijic Soccer gave our Club an update about the soccer team that our Club sponsors.
The objective of this project, which started in the 2012/2013 season, was to provide a school for football (soccer) to boys and girls in Ajijic. The school, called 'Hope for Poor Kids', now has over 200 kids ages 5 through 18 training/ playing football with Union Acidic.
Ed Donagher and five local Mexican trainers provide training 2 - 3 times a week with a game every Sunday.
There are two locations for the training, Tecoluta near the 6 corners area for 3 groups, and Cruz Azul Field near Salvador's Restaurant for another two groups. All children are members of Union Ajijic, the local Football team, which is supported by the local Patronato De Futbol De Ajijic.
From November 14 - 18 , three 16-year-old players, accompanied by Ed Donaghan and Moises Charraria, Vice President of the Patronato de Futbol Ajijic, went on a trip to Torreon for try outs with the Santos Laguna Juvenile Team to see if these boys had the potential to be professional players. Upon arrival, they were physically examined by the Santos Laguna Club Doctor and then registered with the Club.
The Coaches were very positive about their skills/ techniques / fitness levels and the boys will be monitored by the Guadalajara (Visore) for Santos during the season.
If they do well, they will be called up to the Santos Laguna Club.
Since the inception of the project 'Hope for Poor Kids", three players have been called up by Professional Clubs. One by Santos Laguna, one by Durango and one by Monarchos in Morelia.The annual trip to Torreon (the third annual trip numbering 11 players) is an event eagerly anticipated by the young players of Union Ajijic Club in that "maybe next year it could be me".The recent trip to Torreon to give players this great opportunity was arranged by Ed Donagher through Glasgow Celtic in Scotland, Santos Laguna in Mexico and funded by the Patronato de Futbol in Ajijic Local Ex Pats in Ajijic. Parents provided money for food for the three boys. There was no financial cost to Celtic or Santos other than Santos's valuable professional services.
|Hope for Poor Kids
|Julianna Rose
On November 15th we inducted two new members. Fred Synder, sponsored by Gin Pelzl, and Dr. Lawrence Whitehurst, sponsored by president Carole Wolff. We also welcomed transferring member, Blake Cameron, and honorary member Francis Dryden. Mike McCarthy presented the pins.
|Our Club is expanding!
|Julianna Rose
The Dr. Les Strong altar
A sign prominently displayed our Club
Luz Maria Sotelo Beltran
For the second time after his passing in 2015, students from the Chapala Preparatoria dedicated a Day of the Dead altar to Dr. Les Strong. The altar was on display at the Festival de Vida y Muerte in Chapala from 30 October - 2 November. Our Club made a donation to assist the school in the presentation of the shrine.
Dr. Strong was an active member of the Rotary Club of Ajijic, and a well known supporter of the Chapala Preparatoria and the education of local students in general.
After the death of Dr. Strong, The Rotary Club of Ajijic set up the Les Strong Scholarship Fund in his memory. Last year 70,000 pesos was donated to fund 25 Preparatoria students.
Luz (Lucy) Maria Sotelo Beltran is our Club's contact person for both the Chapala and Mezcala Preparatorias.
|Day of the Dead 2016
|Julianna Rose
With the proceeds of our successful 7th annual End Polio Now dinner on Friday October 28 matched three for one by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, our Club raised a total of 109,000 MXN Pesos for the Rotary Foundation End Polio Now program. 94 people attended the dinner and a good time was had by all. Highlight of the evening was the personal story of polio survivor, Steve Minnick. Our Rotary Foundation Chairperson Blake Cameron spoke about the Rotary Foundation.
A big Thank You to everyone who helped raise this large amount to bring us closer and closer to eradicating Polio for once and for all!
|109,000 Pesos for eradicating Polio!
|Julianna Rose
Rotary's Big Push to end Polio
October 24 is World Polio Day. Since 1985, when Rotary launched its PolioPlus program, more than one million Rotary club members worldwide have donated their time and private resources to end polio. Every year, Rotary members work side-by-side with health workers to vaccinate children in polio-affected countries. Every dollar Rotary commits to polio eradication is matched two-to-one by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation up to US$35 million a year through 2018.
The Global Polio initiative is the most successful public-private health partnership in history.
Rotary and its partners in the Global Polio Initiative (GPEI) - the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, have trained millions of health workers, and have built a network of 145 laboratories around the world that can identify the disease.
Polio is a paralyzing and potentially fatal disease. The virus invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. Though it can strike at any age, mainly children under five are affected.
Rotary has gotten this far through persistence
When Rotary started the campaign to end polio in 1985, more than 350,000 children were paralyzed every year by this deadly virus, according to Michael K. McGovern, Chair of Rotary's International PolioPlus Committee. Since then, Rotary has contributed more than US$1.5 billion and countless volunteer hours to immunize more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. In addition, Rotary's advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by donor governments to contribute more than US$7.2 billion to the effort.
US$1.5 billion more needed to finish the job
Though as of early June of this year, there were only 16 cases of wild poliovirus in the world, and polio is endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the reality is that no place on earth is safe from polio until the world is certified polio-free. Immunization campaigns must continue in 15-20 other high-risk countries. These large-scale vaccinations are an enormous undertaking, and the distribution of the vaccine is very costly.
The last time a child was affected in Europe was only last year, in 2015, when two Ukrainian children were diagnosed with paralytic polio. Many more were likely infected but did not show symptoms, given the way the disease manifests itself.
So we are not there yet, even though less than 75 polio cases were confirmed worldwide in 2015, a reduction of more than 99.9 percent since the 1980's when the world saw about 1,000 cases per day. Where vaccination coverage is low, it can re-infect populations. even in countries that have been certified polio-free.
The polio cases represented by the remaining one percent are the most difficult to prevent, due to factors such as geographical isolation, poor public infrastructure, armed conflict and cultural barriers. Hundreds of millions of children still need to be vaccinated every year.
Then once the last case of polio is recorded, it will take another three years to ensure that this was the final one. A huge amount of work will remain, at a price tag of US$1.5 billion. All the programs will still continue and will need funding. Ongoing environmental surveillance to prevent accidental reintroduction, and keeping the lab network - the most highly sophisticated infectious disease prevention network in the world - operational is complicated and costly.
Contributions to help eradicate polio can be made at www.endpolio.org.
|Rotary's Big Push to End Polio
|Julianna Rose
Dr. Rigoberto Rios Leon, a new ophthalmologist at Lakeside, was our featured speaker on October 11, talking about "Eye Health".
It was an eye opener for most of us, as Dr. Rios stressed the importance of looking after our eyes.
He said that people are using their eyes more and more these days, staring at cell phones, tablets, and computer screens for many hours per day. Especially children and young people; some of those seem to do nothing else anymore. Kids should not use devices for more than 2 hours per day to prevent eye problems in the future, he said.
People get dry eyes and then buy eye drops, but Dr. Rios is warning that, unless you get a lubricant, simple eye drops are not going to help you. It only removes the redness. In fact it can do you harm because a side effect of eye drops is that it increases the blood pressure. Also, things that people do to produce tears are no good. Best is to get a lubricant. "Systane" is a good lubricant.
People should always wear sunglasses here to protect their eyes , Dr. Rios said. They don't even have to be expensive, get them as dark as possible. Polarized sunglasses are the best.
Dr. Rios also addressed several eye diseases and conditions. Glaucoma is a silent killer for the eyes, and the damage caused by glaucoma is not reversible.
If you have a family history, you have 50% change of getting glaucoma. The first treatment is special drops; they can help for a long time.
Cataracts on the other hand, are reversible. The old lenses can be removed and replaced with new ones. Some people go back to the eye doctor and complain that the lenses have become blurry. But that does not mean that their eyesight has deteriorated, which they are afraid of. The lenses just need to be cleaned. Cataracts can increase by sun exposure.
Melanoma is also a common disease of the eye.
A retinal vitreous detachment is very uncommon. Only one in 10.000 cases. A posterior vitreous detachment is a quite common.
Melanoma is another common disease of the eye.
A macular degeneration is becoming more common. It is related to age. The patient loses central vision, which is a malfunction of the central retina. The treatment is an injection into the eye, and taking vitamins. If one of your parents had it, you have 35-40% change of getting it.
Lastly, Dr. Rios talked about eyeglasses. Many people ask about multifocal lenses as a possibility for them. Whether that is a good option for them depends on their lifestyle; do they drive at night for instance, or do they read a lot, and what they find most convenient. Trifocal lenses are very interesting, and the market is looking into them, but they are still expensive. In any case, the newest invention is not always the best, he said.
Finally, Dr. Rios asked to bring any old eyeglasses into his practice, as he gives donated eyeglasses to people who cannot afford them.
Dr. Rios has his practice at Bugambilias #17 (next to Fit for Life Gym), in Mirasol. Tel. 376-766-1521.
|The importance of looking after our eyes
|Julianna Rose
Rotary Club of Ajijic member Ruben Pettersson, a long time Rotarian, gave an excellent presentation during our September 27 meeting about Operation Smile, the organisation he has been involved with for many years.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of Operation Smile, since it became an A.C. They actually started operating in 2004.
Ruben showed brochures with before and after pictures, and explained that Operation Smile, a worldwide effort, does on average 5-6 missions a year in Mexico.
A mission means a 2-week involvement of a 75 medical volunteers group, consisting of seven plastic surgeons, nurses and other staff. This group arrives on a Wednesday. On the Thursday and Friday they do the evaluations. On average 200 kids show up, usually accompanied by parents and other family members. The group then selects 110 kids, the maximum they can handle, according to the kids' state of health because cleft palate surgery is an invasive one. On the Saturday the group gives seminars, Sundays are off. On the Monday they start the surgeries which typically last from 7.00 a.m. until 7.00 p.m.
Operation Smile pays for the airfares, hotel, etc. of the medical volunteers while the local D.I.F provides shelter for the kids and their families during this period.
The hospitals also have to be paid; only some hospitals provide everything for free.
The surgeons are all highly trained; Operation Smile sends them to the USA for training, to become familiar with the specific techniques. The surgeons travel worldwide and give up two weeks of their working lives each time, which can be translated into something like US$25.000 moneywise.
Ruben was saying that some 3500 kids are born with cleft palate each year in Mexico. Only 10% are taken care of. Those are the kids whose parents can afford the surgery, of who have insurance. The rest of these kids have a miserable life because they are often ridiculed and shunned in their community and consequently do not go to school.
Unfortunately, not much research has been done into the cause of the condition. A certain percent is genetic. Diet also has an influence, and drug or alcohol abuse during pregnancy. Another possible cause is the lack of B12 and folic acid during pregnancy.
Operation Smile would like to help many more kids than they currently can. Sometimes as many as 400 kids show up. Ruben was saying that one time, in Guadalajara, kids showed up from 12 states.
Operation smile does corporate fundraising in Mexico, and here at Lakeside they are working on sponsorships of 5000 Pesos that individuals can participate in and that will pay for a whole day of surgeries in Guadalajara. So far, they have performed five cleft palate surgeries on Lakeside kids.
For more information about the program in mexico, visit http://www.operationsmile.org/approach/where-we-work/mexico
|10 years Operation Smile and over 3000 cleft palate surgeries performed in Mexico!
|Julianna Rose
The container has arrived!
The Lakeside Assistance Group has received a 3rd shipment of donated Firefighting and Medical equipment. The entire contents, with a second-hand value of over US$1 million, of the 53-foot shipping container from Canada were on display in the group's new warehouse in Riberas.
The equipment will be distributed among more than 60 fire stations and emergency response units in Jalisco.
Gin Pelzl, our club treasurer, is working with the Lakeside Assistance Group. Our Rotary Club has donated US$1000 to help bring this container down.
|The container has arrived!
|Julianna Rose
Today we had as our speaker Tim Shubert, talking to us about people's fears of speaking in public and the benefit of joining the local Toastmasters Club. The club also has a Gavel Club for 14-18 year olds to familiarize themselves early in their lives about speaking in public.
|Julianna Rose
Today we had as our first speaker our own member, Ken Koyama, talking about "Management of an Organization". Ken has spent many years conducting workshops for organizations, often multi nationals, and helping them with strategic planning.
Our second speaker was our Vice President, Doug Lyle. He updated our members about our scholarships and introduced Luz Maria Sotelo Beltran, our contact person for both the Chapala and Mezcala Preparatorias. Doug explained that currently 22 students in total receive Rotary scholarships. Luz had brought three students, Karina, Renaldo and Manuel, along with her for us to meet, and was saying that some 200 students who may qualify have very serious money problems. Anyone who might like to support a student may contact Doug Lyle.
|Management of an Organization, and Rotary scholarships
|Julianna Rose
On the 5th Tuesday of August there was no Club meeting. Instead a number of members went by coach, courtesy of Bob and Sally Salvatore, to Plaza del Sol in Guadalajara for shopping and lunch. Highlight of the day was the lunch at Italian restaurant Ma Come No. A great time was had by all and the food was deemed fabulous!
|5th Tuesday bus trip
|Julianna Rose
On August 23, local musical performer Francis Dryden shared his love for live music and his weekly entertainment newsletter "Keep it Live at Lakeside" with our members.
Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, Francis worked in real estate for 25 years before retiring in 2009. He moved to Lakeside in 2012 and lives here full time with his wife, except for mid-November to Christmas Day when he goes back to Canada to play Santa Claus. Only not this year, because he will be playing Santa Claus here at Lakeside!
Francis has been musically active since he was 12 years old, and when he is not busy for the Masons and the Shriners (he writes a Masonic newsletter that goes out to readers throughout Mexico, the USA and Canada), he plays drums in a few local bands. Francis also writes a Lakeside entertainment newsletter "keep it Live at Lakeside" which he sends out every week to 1100 people who have signed up for it. He said that there are a lot of very good musicians at Lakeside and that he enjoys keeping his subscribers informed where and when these musicians will be performing.
|Keep it Live at Lakeside
|Julianna Rose
That's what our members were curious to find all about at our August 9 meeting. Our speaker was Jose Antonio Jimenez Aguilar, President of H.O.W. (Health Outreach for Women). He was accompanied and assisted by Sylvia Flores of Centro de Desarrollo Jocotepec, A.C., and Olga Lara Aguilar, a registered nurse for the Ramon Garibay Hospital in Guadalajara.
The three of them spoke to a full house on the Mobile Maternal Health bus that travels to isolated villages every week, taking maternal health to locations that otherwise would not get any such help. H.O.W. is basically a combination of three A.C. organizations. They joined forces which makes the project stronger and far reaching.
The Mobile Maternal Health bus project, which is still fairly unknown, started in 2014 in Chapala and now serves seven remote areas. President Jose Antonio Jimenez Aguilar, an electrical engineer, drives the bus, and maintains the bus. He has two nurses that travel with him. All three are paid by anonymous private donors. Together they educate women and help them make choices about their health and family planning. The prevention of diabetes, the detection of lung diseases, cancer prevention, etc. are important issues. They conduct tests and bring the results back to the women. On Sundays, leaving at 7 a.m. and returning at 4 p.m. they take women up to Guadalajara for sonograms for 50 pesos instead of 450 pesos. For women who require further tests or treatment, appointments are made by the nurses who also negotiate good prices from doctors for any procedures needed. The three were saying that the women are eager to see them come and are happy and very appreciative about this new service. All the more because, whenever they had any help in the past, if at
all,they never got results from tests back, leaving them in the dark about their health issues.
Moonyeen King introduced the speakers
The bus
Women gathering for consultation
The group makes house calls too
|What is H.O.W.?
|Julianna Rose
The April fools Fun-Raiser Party benefiting the Tepehua Centro Comunitario (Chapala, Mexico) was a great success, a total sell out and a very happy event. Moonie would like to thank all the volunteers...to the clowns Harvey Bernier, and the Bellistic couple Michael and Michelle, whose antics kept everyone amused. Gin Pelzl who kept the bar going with David Eccles...even the waiters joined in the fun by dressing up as jesters in spite of the heat.
|April fools Fun-Raiser Party Benefiting the Tepehua Centro Comunitario Great Success,
|Carole Wolff
Joan and Bernie Suttle arrived for lunch from the San Luis Obispo Daybreak Rotary Club to present at Rotary Club of Ajijic to Moonyeen King, President of Tepehua with a check from San Luis Obispo Daybreak Rotary Club for the Tepehua organization with $1000. US Dollars. A Great Day for Moonie and all of us. Thank you !
|San Luis Obispo Daybreak Rotary Club Presents Check
|Carole Wolff
Michelle and Michael Bell were our speakers at our Rotary Luncheon Meeting on March 8th and shared their motorcycle journeys and adventures with their presentation of techniques with their camera equipment documenting by filming on their motorcycles. They are engineers out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada but their souls are on the adventures in between. They also have done some great documentations for our Rotary Club of Ajijic on Tepehua with more to come of our club on the move. We are so grateful for all their sharing and assisting in making a difference for our club now and in the future. Thank you Michelle and Michael. See more adventures on their web site http://bellistic.net of their motorcycle journeys and adventures around the world. Click this video to see the presentation they did on Tepehua https://youtu.be/Tx5_V1VA7Z0 .
What are we all about? Hi its us, m&m, and this is a web site of our motorcycle journeys and adventures. This site is our answer to the question of…..how do we keep track of our adventures and share them with others (especially those not on…
|Motorcyle Journeys & Adventures with M & M
|Carole Wolff
The White Elephant Auction was held at our December 1 meeting where our members brought in White Elephant items to Auction off for fundraising for the club in conjunction with Tepehua Sewing Center selling Christmas hand crafted items for the Holidays. A great time by all and net the Club 2,500 pesos for future speakers and events at our Luncheons. A great thank you to Anita Hocker and Moonyeen King in organizing this event; President Gin as auctioneer; and to the overwhelming tequila and amenities purchased by our visiting Rotarians Katie and Lou Adams.
|White Elephant Auction Luncheon
|Carole Wolff
Rotary Club of Ajijic with new Interact members from the International Institute gathered at the Hotel Real de Chapala for the Club's weekly Tuesday Luncheon.
|Luncheon with International School Interact Club
|Carole Wolff
La Mision Restaurant with restaurateur and Rotarian Michael Richie, who played host to our Annual Polio Fundraiser this 2015 with La Mision serving a three course meal, cash bar, presentation by Galen as a victim of Polio as a young boy and a short concert by Galen at the Piano. By all measures it was a complete success. The Mayor (Presidente Municipal) was in attendance and showed his support for our Rotary Club as well as for the cause. Thank you all for your continued support. Remember Bill & Melinda Gates will not only match but double the funds we raised at this event which will total 66,000 pesos to go to end Polio. (Click the photo album for more pictures of the gala event on the left side of the bulletin.)
|Big Push to End Polio
|Carole Wolff
Tuesday, December 8: Ballet Folklorica Program. Invite your friends for the Lunch and Program put on by the Chapala Elementary and the Prepatorio students at the Hotel Real de Chapala. Event starts at 12:30 and ends at 2:00 PM. See you all there.
|Ballet Folklorica Program and Lunch
|Carole Wolff
It was an extraordinary day today for The Lake Chapala Society in celebrating their 60 years in Ajijic making a difference for the community and it's members. The community organizations were out in full force on the lawn of LCS, sharing in that celebration along with the community; and how they also make a difference by participation. Rotary Club of Ajijic was among the organizations there with our President Gin Pelzl, who is also Treasurer of Tepehua; Rotarian Moonyeen King, President of Tepehua; and Volunteer Tepehua Dian Abell. All committed to the community and making a a global difference through education as is LCS.
|The Presidents On the Move at LCS 60th Anniversery
|Carole Wolff
The Day of the Dead in the Chapala Square with the students of Chapala Preparatoria (University of Guadalajara connected) choosing noted decease to commemorate who have made a difference in Mexico and their community. One chosen was Les Strong, a Ajijic Rotarian who past this year and a scholarship program was made in his name for students in need at Chapala and Mezcala Prepartoria. For further information go tohttp://www.lakechapalacharities.org/charities.html and click Rotary Club of Ajijic and choose Les Strong Scholarship Fund. Photo of Gardner Marcia, Chairperson of the Scholarship Committee with Luz Maria Sotelo Beltran. She is assisting greatly in helping Gardner with the Preparatoria. She teaches many subjects to a core class of 45 students. Subjects include English, geography, science, history and math. She has a law degree.
|Les Strong Commemorated at the Day of the Dead
|Carole Wolff
The Sixth Annual Stop Polio Dinner of the Rotary Club of Ajijic, A.C.'s invites you to The Big Push To End Polio, November 12, 2015 at 4:00 PM at La Mission Restaurant, Rio Bravo No. 7, Ajijic, Jalisco. A three Course meal, cash bar with a short Concert and Presentation from Galen as a Polio survivor. Cost 350 pesos. Your donations will be matched two times by the Melinda & Bill Gates Foundation.
Your Donation
|The Big Push To End Polio at La Mision
|Carole Wolff
|Paul Harris Award for Thomas Hellyer
Chapala Fire chief Lorenzo Salazar and his men were delighted to receive a generous donation of used personal fire gear, brought over by Lina and Rick Bleier of the Rotary Club of Montrose, Colorado, USA.
After touring the Chapala Fire Department with the Ajijic Rotary Club last winter, and seeing the deplorable lack of equipment and poor condition of what the men were using, the Bleiers were determined to help. Back home in Colorado they talked with their Rotary club fellow member Allen Weese, Deputy Fire Chief of the local fire department. Within no time, action was taken and the Bleiers were invited to the Log Hill Volunteer Fire Department to come and pick up some gear. "Some" was an understatement because upon arrival they encountered a pickup truck fully loaded with heavily insulated bunker jackets, pants, helmets with visors for fighting structure fires, and sets of wildland fire fighting gear. Also included were special fire retardant back packs with personal drinking water canteens to be used outdoors where the fire fighting time can be much longer.
Though absolutely delighted with the generous gift, the Bleiers wondered not only how they were going to pack all these items in their SUV and small trailer along with their personal stuff, but also how they were going to get it all across the border into Mexico! They decided not to dwell on this but rely on Lina Bleier, who is a Mexican national, and on her qualities as a good organizer and talker. Thanks to her efforts they managed to get across the border without having to pay any duty on the haul!
|Christmas gift from Colorado for Chapala Fire Department
|Julianna Rose
12 students from the International Institute Ajijic received their Interact Club certificates and pins during a short ceremony on November 19 in the auditorium of the school.
Several Rotarians from the sponsor club, the Rotary Club of Ajijic, and visitors, were present while club member Dr. Victor Youcha, a long time Rotarian, addressed the students in Spanish.
An Interact club is a service club for young people aged 12 to 18 to work together helping others in their communities and across the globe, whilst having fun and learning about the world. Interact clubs are self governing, based in secondary schools or colleges, and organize at least two service projects a year: one that benefits their community and one that benefits international understanding. Every Interact club project, great or small, has a lasting impact on society worldwide.
Rotary Interact has a membership of over 250,000 youth in more than 11,000 clubs. It's one of Rotary's fastest growing programs. It encourages service among youth, fosters their active interest in the community and offers opportunities for them to develop as leaders. The name Interact is a combination of the words international and action. With clubs in over 120 countries and geographical areas, Interact is truly an international phenomenon. Brazil, India, the Philippines, and the United States boast the highest number of Interact clubs.
|Rotary Interact Club inaugurated
|Julianna Rose
With the proceeds of a successful Stop Polio Now 5th Annual Dinner on Saturday November 8, the Rotary Club of Ajijic generated in total 75,000 Pesos for the Stop Polio Now! Foundation. The club raised 25,000 Pesos from the dinner which will be matched by 50,000 Pesos from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
95 People attended. Highlight of the evening was the attendance of an actual polio survivor, Lakeside resident Marianne Swanson, who told the diners how she overcame the crippling disease.
The students of the Rotary Interact club of the International Institute Ajijic had created and personally signed delightful Thank You cards that adorned each place setting.
The Rotary Club of Ajijic is deeply appreciative to everyone who helped generate this large amount, which brings us even closer now to eradicating Polio for once and for all.
|75,000 Pesos to go to Stop Polio Now! Foundation
|Julianna Rose
On November 2, the Day of the Dead, Rotary scholarship students from the Chapala high school had created a memorial altar in honor of Paul Harris. In line with the Mexican common conviction that the souls of the dead return to earth for a one day visit, the altar, right outside the church, was laden with Mexican traditionally assorted items to welcome his departed spirit and honor his life. All arranged in a colorful display of brightly colored paper cut-outs, seasonal sugar coated breads, candles and votive lights, platters of food, and beverages. Complete with a washing bowl, a bar of soap, a towel and a mirror to freshen himself up. A framed photo of Paul Harris was shown in the background.
|Day of the Dead Paul Harris Memorial altar
|Julianna Rose
At a recent meeting commemorating World Polio Day (October 24), members of the Rotary Club of Ajijic learned about the similarities of the Polio virus and Ebola. (Click to read his presentation on the web.)
Rotarian Santiago R. Hernandez, Medical Director and Owner of the Chapala Med Clinic, was the speaker, referring to the Ebola virus that is currently causing panic worldwide. Dr. Hernandez explained to fellow members and guests that the Polio virus is equally as dangerous to mankind.
"In the United States, the 1952 Polio epidemic became the worst outbreak in the nation's history. Of nearly 58,000 cases reported that year 3,145 died and 21,269 were left with mild to disabling paralysis. Paralysis occurs in only about 0.1 percent of all poliovirus infections, but such an infection can lead to respiratory depression and for those old enough to remember can bring to memory the images of children laying in their IRON LUNGS.
The Polio virus shares many similarities with other viral infections during its infectious course. Poliovirus is transmitted by fecal-hand-oral contamination. During epidemics, it also may be transmitted by pharyngeal spread. Ninety to 95 percent of poliovirus infections are asymptomatic. There is NO TREATMENT or CURE for Polio, not even an experimental one as is the case for Ebola.
However, vaccination against Polio has had a profound effect. The last case of endemic, naturally occurring poliomyelitis in the United States was reported in 1979. The last such case in the Western Hemisphere was reported in Peru in 1991. The only known wild poliovirus infections in the Americas after 1991 were imported cases.
The basis of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, initiated in 1988, has been immunization and surveillance. The results have been dramatic. In 1988, Polio was endemic in more than 125 countries, and paralyzed at least 350,000 children per year. By 2011, the number of cases of acute flaccid paralysis due to poliovirus was reduced to 650. By 2012, there remained only three countries in which endemic wild poliovirus transmission had never been interrupted: Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan.
Despite this progress, new outbreaks of Polio continue to occur, and the World Health Organization declared in May 2014 that the spread of Polio had become a global public health emergency, posing a major threat to the global eradication effort. These outbreaks highlight the risk for wild poliovirus reintroduction due to a combination of international travel, health systems with limited resources, areas of low oral poliovirus coverage, and delays in recognizing and testing cases of acute flaccid paralysis. These risks are exacerbated in areas of military, political, and social conflict, such as Syria and Pakistan.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative partnership was launched in 1998 and is led by five organizations: the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United Nations Children's Fund, Rotary International, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The partnership includes numerous governmental and non-governmental donors and the ministries of health of all affected nations who plan and carry out the program's initiatives at an overall cost that exceeds $1 billion per year. The global eradication program is based on four strategies: routine infant immunization, supplementary immunization campaigns in many middle- and low-income countries, surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), and mop-up campaigns."
Dr. Hernandez: "I believe that, although Polio may not cause the same dramatic signs and symptoms in the same rapid manner as a hemorrhagic virus such as Ebola, it is equally if not more important that we address its eradication in a very pro-active manner. "WE ARE THIS CLOSE!"
Polio cripples thousands of children around the world. To help wipe this disease off the face of the earth forever, the Rotary Club of Ajijic is holding its 5th Annual Fundraising Dinner on November 8 from 5.00 - 8.00 p.m. at Roberto's Restaurant, proceeds of which go to the Rotary Foundation Stop Polio Fund and will be matched 2 for 1 by the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation. For tickets and information contact Anita Hocker at firstname.lastname@example.com or call 376 766-2410.
|We are THIS close to eradicating Polio
|Julianna Rose
Photo: President Mike McCarthy and Mac Whyte signed a Memorandum of Agreement on September 2
Reflecting Rotary International's evolution into the "digital age," The Rotary Club of Ajijic A.C. is sponsoring a new type of Rotary Club to serve the Lake Chapala area.
According to president Mike McCarthy, the club sees the global reach of the Internet as an effective way to expand membership and funding opportunities for worthy local projects.
The sponsorship enables E-Club members the opportunity to fully participate in Rotary activities, both individually and as an independent club.
Initiated by Mac Whyte, Bernadine Janzen, and Allan MacGregor, the Satellite E-Club of Lake Chapala is the first club of its kind in Mexico.
What is a Rotary E-Club
Rotary E-Clubs follow the same policies as traditional Rotary Clubs, but the key difference is that they conduct their required weekly meetings on the Internet. Rather than being physically present at an appointed day and time, this format allows members the flexibility of time and space that supports their lifestyles, which may include physical or location constraints, busy schedules, and travel. Members attend meetings at any time and any day of the week from anywhere in the world by contacting the Satellite E-Club website via the Internet. They are also welcome to attend regular meetings at any Rotary Club worldwide.
Not virtual clubs
Rotary e-clubs are not "virtual" Rotary clubs. Rotary works in the real world and Rotary E-Clubs are comprised of real living, breathing, working Rotarians doing Rotary projects. They simply use the Internet as a tool to manage the club and manage projects.
The mission of the Satellite Rotary E-Club of Lake Chapala is to focus on funding local projects that meet demonstrated needs of lakeside communities and that can be effectively co-managed by the Satellite E-Club and members of the community. A sound plan for the sustainability of a project by the community, after funding has ended, will be a critical criterion for project approval.
When the Satellite E-Club reaches 20 members it will become a fully separate club and be chartered by Rotary International. Until that time, those who join will be members of the Rotary Club of Ajijic and of Rotary International, the largest and one of the most respected service organizations in the world.
The Satellite Rotary E-Club of Lake Chapala welcomes applications from individuals who are committed to helping lakeside communities meet a wide variety of serious social needs but who may not be able to attend regular weekly Rotary meetings.
For more information about opportunities to make a difference in your lakeside community please visit the web site of the E-Club at http://www.erotarychapala.org/
|Julianna Rose
Following the establishing of a school-based Rotary Interact club at the Instituto Internacional, the Rotary club of Ajijic gave a presentation in Spanish for parents and staff on August 26. The hour-long program "What is Rotary, Who are we, and What is an Interact Club" held at the school was attended by more than 50 people. Ajijic Rotary President Mike McCarthy and several members of the Rotary club of Ajijic were also on hand to provide information during a small reception afterwards.
Past President Norma Tapia-Cannon gave a PowerPoint presentation, followed by a briefing from past district Youth Exchange Chair Maria Enedina Arellano, who explained how the Rotary Youth Exchange program works. The school is very interested in a youth exchange program with clubs in other countries.
The Ajijic club's members, many retired from successful careers, will take an active part in guiding the Interact club students through Rotary's "New Generations" service by providing vocational guidance. They will arrange for "meet the doctor/lawyer/chiropractor/company CEO" days.
Dr. Don Culton, visiting past President of the Ajijic club's sister club in California, which has a successful Youth Exchange program, was also present to provide information. The founding members of the Interact club will be officially installed by Rotary District Governor Arturo Ruiz at an inaugural ceremony.
|Students, parents, learn about Rotary, Interact, and Youth Exchange
|Julianna Rose
|Spencer McMullen Induction Into Rotary Club of Ajijic
|Carole Wolff
On Tuesday January 28 there was not a regular club meeting, as we had a special speaker that day for which the public was invited. A notice in the newspaper prompted more than 170 people to sign up! (note photos of the event in our album section) Hotel Real de Chapala gave us a large room for this event and provided a set lunch for 70 Pesos. The speaker was Lori Vinh Sok Brown, a Cambodia genocide survivor, sharing her story of how, as a young mother of two, she had escaped the killing fields in the late 1970s. For those of you who could not make it to the event; Julianna Rose interviewed
Lori Brown.
SURVIVING THE KILLING FIELDS: A COMPELLING STORY OF HOPE AND RESILIENCE by Julianna Rose
Little did Lori Vinh Sok Brown know as a young Cambodian girl growing up in the farming village of Or Prasath that only a few years later she would be embarking on a dangerous and harrowing journey. A journey that would ultimately land her in another country, thousands of miles away from her beloved homeland. Although her mother had passed away when Vinh Sok was four, she was taken care of by the village, which consisted of 50 families, all their members related. Life was relatively peaceful except for her father beating her every day and not allowing her to go to school. Only boys went to school. But she was a smart girl, and determined to learn, so she went secretly after doing her work at home. She cut her hair short, dressed like a boy, and sneaked into the classroom, continuing this until the age of 14. She then helped run her family's 50‑acre farm. By then her entrepreneurial spirit had emerged: she sold farm products, and she was good at it. She married, though not for love - an arranged marriage - and had her first child when she was 21.
Then the day came, in April 1975, that stands as one of the worst days in the history of Cambodia. The day the Khmer Rouge soldiers stormed Phnom Penh and overthrew the corrupt regime of General Lon Nol. Literally overnight, the entire population of Cambodia was thrown into the streets and told to move to the countryside, under the ruse that America was going to bomb the cities. Once the population was in the countryside, the Khmer Rouge tortured and starved roughly 2 million people. Those that did not die from starvation were worked to death. Millions of people simply disappeared never to be heard of again. The genocide, which followed the communist takeover in Southeast Asia after the Vietnam War, killed first the country's leaders - politicians, academics, doctors, teachers - in Pot's attempt to establish an agrarian utopia.
Lori's baby was only two months old when she was forced to abandon her beloved home. It was to be destroyed, along with the entire village, and she, with many others from her village, was sent to a concentration camp to work in the rice fields. Fourteen-hour days, with an additional two hours walking from the camp to the fields and two hours back. Husbands were sent to a separate camp, far away. Once a month, families were allowed to get together. There was no food; the government took all the rice. People were fed banana root, and papaya root, the latter being dreadful and extremely bad, causing thousands of people to die each day. Many also died from being forced to eat soup that soldiers had poisoned. Lori, determined to survive, ate scorpions, large spiders, and snakes. It was not long before she realized that adults and children who admitted they could read or write, or sing, were called to "meetings", never to return. Lori pretended that she had no education.
During that time, she became pregnant with her second child. When she was not forced to work in the killing fields in inhuman conditions under the hot blistering sun with little food and water, she had to nurse other women's children, a life-draining task. Children under five were sent to a "grandma", who would have to take care of 20 or so infants. All children of five and above would be brainwashed by the soldiers to spy on their families. Anybody who made negative comments would be summoned to come to a "meeting". People who protested would get rags soaked in gasoline pushed down their throats and set alight.
Living in constant fear, Lori wondered when the day would come that she would be told to come to a "meeting". And in January 1979, that day came. Her immense yearning for freedom gave her the strength to grab her children and run. Her little girl was four and her little boy only 20 days old when she made her daring escape. The Khmer bullets miraculously missed her, and though her feet were bleeding, she kept running, thinking only of saving her children. After four months of wandering, during which time she made it back to her village to look for her family, left once more and found her uncle, who then helped carry her baby, Lori returned to her village again. The Khmer Rouge had lost the war, but had destroyed everything. Some people decided to stay, but Lori did not want to, thinking there would be no education and no future for her children. She stayed for only for six weeks to collect enough food for herself and her family, and then left with her husband and children, her father and stepmother and a group of almost 200 other people from her village, to seek refuge in Thailand. Paying guards to help them and to remove landmines, they walked for 15 days and nights through the jungle, full of dead bodies even on the only trail. Stepping over the stinking bodies was the only way. When they washed with water from a pond, they discovered that even the water contained dead bodies. All they had to eat was dry rice, which they just sucked on to make it last. By then, Lori did not only have her own children in tow, but also two little boys who had lost their families and begged to walk with her. When the guards decided to split up the group and make everyone hand over their money and jewelry to them for "safekeeping", Lori hid hers in her clothes. During the journey people got sick, died, or became separated from Lori's original group of 50. Exhausted, and not having eaten any food for days, they accidently stumbled upon the Thai border. To their horror, the Thai soldiers did not want to accept them and said they would send them back. They abused the group and raped the women. Lori managed to save a 14‑year‑old girl from the soldiers. The group, then down to 40, was told that a truck would come to send them back. They sobbed, begged, and finally just waited in defeat. Great was their relief when, miraculously, a United Nations truck pulled up and the soldiers were given orders not to send the people back, but to give them food and water.
A 24‑hour bus ride later, the group arrived at a Thai refugee camp, where Lori and her husband and children lived from 1979 to 1981. As her father was Thai and she could speak Thai, as well as being smart, Lori had the privilege of working for the camp Commandant General. She had learned French in school, but France said no to her immigration application, and so did America at first. But Thailand accepted her, so she was moved to a Thai camp. Food was better; they gave her two cans of rice and two fish a day. Lori however was not satisfied to just sit there, waiting like most of the others, and started a weaving business in the camp. She remained there until her sister, who had escaped earlier and immigrated to Hawaii, sent a letter sponsoring Lori. America then accepted her.
Once in Hawaii, Lori did not want to hold out her hand to receive benefits. Though she did not speak a word of English, she started sewing and made clothes, including Hawaiian shirts that she sold at swap meets determined to provide for her children and give them a good education. But her hardship did not end there. She had a third child, a boy, who appeared to be sick. Lori thinks because of medication that had been administered to her in the Thai camp while unaware she was pregnant. The boy developed seizures and Lori had to helplessly watch him lying in coma until he died at the age of 22. During those years, she and her husband became estranged and later divorced.
One day in 1990, when Lori was taking a day off and relaxing on the beach, she was spotted by her present husband, Jerry Brown, an American who had moved to Hawaii from California. Jerry had owned several companies and Lori's entrepreneurial spirit struck him. Thanks to his help and encouragement, Lori started a cleaning business, took an accounting course at night school, and became an American citizen. She built her one-woman cleaning business into a successful enterprise of over 100 clients, making around US$150,000 a year. She was loved and respected by everyone, clients and employees alike. Never forgetting her roots, she hired any Cambodians that entered the country. Happily married for 23 years, Lori and Jerry retired in 2006. They travelled the world, the fulfillment of a lifelong dream of Lori as a little girl. To date they have visited 33 countries together. She has been back to Cambodia several times, for the first time with her children in 1997, 18 years after she escaped the killing fields with them. Tay, her daughter, and Tam, her son, are exceedingly proud of their mother. Both graduated from college and are successful in their careers.
Lori and Jerry have spent several winters in Ajijic. While here, Lori sews beautiful dresses for local Mexican children and donates them to Needle Pushers.
Lori's courageous journey to freedom ultimately ended thousands of miles from her homeland. Today, even though Cambodia has made immense progress, the scars of the war remain visible. The country is marked with 30,000 mass graves, and 40 percent is still covered by land mines. About 85 percent of the population lives off farming, in part because the Khmer Rouge executed the country's academics. Despite its scars and the past suffering of its population, Cambodia is a beautiful country, with lush green vegetation and great historic sites. And Cambodia's people are friendly and helpful to visitors.
Lori is very thankful each day for the freedom she and her two children enjoy. Her message: "Whatever situation you are in, don't lose hope. What is past is past, don't dwell on it. Focus on the present and look to the future".
|Surviving The Killing Fields
|Carole Wolff
Rotary Club of Ajijic, A.C. will be visiting Tepehua, located on the hillside above the downtown Chapala, for our Tuesday Meeting, December 3rd, 2013. This event is in place of the regular Tuesday Meeting at the Hotel Chapala Real.
Susan Netherton, Vice President of Tepehua and a member of our club, will be the host. There will be a complimentary lunch, cash bar and a tour of the grounds. All members and guests that need to carpool need to meet at 11:30 AM at the Walmart Parking lot in Ajijic at the intersection of the Carraterra and the Libermente to travel to the site.
The Mission of Tepehua is in helping a village to help itself. Tepehua Centro Comunitaro AC is committed to providing assistance to families in the Tepehua community of Chapala, one of the poorest in all of Jalisco. Offering support through education, counseling, nutrition and health with the hope of bringing back independence and self-respect to the people of the village. The website for this organization is http://www.tepehua.org/ .
Any questions please contact Anita Hocker, Club Administrator by emailing her at email@example.com or call her at 766.2010.
|General Membership Meeting at Tepehua
|Carole Wolff
Ajijic Rotary Club celebrated November as Rotary Foundation Month
Ever wondered how Rotary Clubs manage to fund the many, sometimes expensive, community projects they are involved in? Of course, they do fundraising like all other on-profit organizations, depending on the generous support of local businesses and lakeside residents, and heavily rely on their members, known as Rotarians, to physically help and spend many hours on projects, using their expertise and talents. But that is not the only way that Rotary Clubs can maintain their local activities.
The Rotary Foundation plays a fundamental part in empowering Rotarians to take action to improve lives in their communities. The Rotary Foundation helps fund the humanitarian activities of the Clubs, from local service projects to global initiatives such as the eradication of polio throughout the world. The Rotary Foundation, founded in 1917, has awarded more than US$1.9 billion in grants, which are distributed by local Rotary Clubs. However, there are 33,000 Rotary Clubs worldwide, and to obtain a grant from the Rotary Foundation, a Club has to go through a time-consuming application process, whether or not in partnership (matching grant) with another Rotary Club. The Foundation is very selective. Its decisions are based on assessed community needs and the commitment of experienced project managers. A thorough review of each application in terms of post-funding sustainability is also part of the process. In adherence to Rotary International standards, projects must be completed on time and within budget. Officials from the Foundation may come to view and inspect a site for themselves.
The Rotary Club of Ajijic has been serving the community and making a positive difference in the Lake Chapala area since 2002. It is very fortunate to have 42 dedicated members composed of Mexicans, Americans, Canadians, and other nationals, who work in Mexico or are retired here. They are leaders, and business or other professionals. The Club currently has 19 international partners in other Rotary Clubs in the USA and in Canada.
Among recently completed projects in the last year or two are:
A solar energy water and electric system, together with commercial kitchen equipment, at Hope House;Industry-standard woodworking machines and tools for a comprehensive furniture making training program at Hammers;
A solar energy system at Love in Action;
Computer lab equipment and musical instruments at the San Nicholas de Ibarra Secundaria school;
A potable water facility in Tlachichilco.
The Rotary Club of Ajijic is excited to have the following community projects constituting the current project plan, and for which the Club is seeking partners and funding:
Love in Action Facilities Repairs. Maintenance repairs to buildings, and upgrading of kitchen equipment.
Humane Education Alliance. Anti-violence/bullying prevention/intervention and conflict resolution curriculum for lakeside public schools.
San Juan Cosala Malecon Expansion. Additional recreational facilities.
San Juan Cosala Soccer Sponsorship. Funding to purchase uniforms, shoes, and equipment for the formation of a soccer league.
Stop Hunger Program. Distributing meals in poverty-striken/poor areas.
Ajijic Fire Department Equipment. Fire trucks, apparatus, personal protection equipment, and an ambulance
Tepehua Young Adult Education. Educational program for drug and violence prevention, and sexual awareness with gender perspective for young adults.
Hope House Multi-Sport Field. Building an athletic field where the boys can exercise, learn different sports, and learn how to be team players. The field would also benefit the local village of Ixtlahuacan.
Codeni Dance. Workshops for developing dance and music skills, and providing positive alternatives to urban street life and delinquency. The program is intended for all youth at risk in Guadalajara and other communities.
Hope House Industrial Arts/Literacy Training and Agricultural Training. Outfitting an existing facility with tools for life-skills training purposes. Providing a solar water heating system, a storage shed and tools. In addition, the purchase of fish, seeds, and other items to yield a thriving aquaponics system for providing both food and a meaningful agricultural training for the boys.
Tepehua Maternal Health. A contination of the Maternal Health Program. Education and prevention instead of just curing problems.
Habitat Tepehua and Foundations of Hope. Teaching the men in the local community how to repair and build, especially foundations that will not move or crack, and contain water pipes for connecting to city water supplies.
Wheelchair Distribution and Seating Clinic. Providing wheelchairs and other mobility equipment to disabled poor children and adults in Guadalajara and the surrounding area, including the training of physiotherapists.
Hands On. Providing labor and addressing maintenance needs of two orphanages and a community center.
And of course Education. The Club's long-established program Scholarships, for which the Club has set up an Endownment Fund that enables others to contribute to the program; and the ongoing program ARDAT (Rotary Dog Assisted Therapy), which utilizes trained dogs to help children improve their reading skills and teach them respect for animals (and hence for each other). This should help prevent violence and bullying.
To contact the Rotary Club of Ajijic, view photos of projects, or obtain information about membership, please visit www.rotaryajijic.org.
|Rotary At It's Best
|Julianna Rose
President Juan Eufracio Marquez Flores, Treasurer, Gin Pelzl and Secretary, Carole Wolff would like to thank our Membership for re-electing us for the year 2014-2015 and President Hal Brown for 2015-2016 as a team in working on making the Rotary Club of Ajijic the best it can be in our community, national and International.
President Juan spoke to the Membership on our continue effort as a club to focus on our special projects with community and the importance of each member to work within their committee groups as an important strength in making things happen. He also spoke of our need to work on the retention of our membership through friendship and respect and to remember that we are here to serve our club and community.
Again thank you for your trust and support in electing us for these leadership positions for Rotary Club of Ajijic Year 2014-2015. We promise to serve you you well as a club and to the community.
|Rotary Club of Ajijic Year 2014-2015
|Carole Wolff
Welcome to Jim Ewing!
Joining Jim, (L-R) Ann Drake, Public Relations, Jim, Alicia Salcido, sponsor and President Sandra Loridans
|Welcome to our New Members!
|Mac Whyte
Rotary Club of Ajijic currently sponsors eleven students with scholorships at the Chapala Preparatory (high school). Pictured with Marvin Hancock, Rotary scholorship chairman, are six of the students at a Rotary luncheon where Marvin spoke on "Education in Mexico - It's not Free."
All six of these girls want to go to the university and appreciate the value of a college educaton.
|Rotary Supports Education
|Marvin Harthcock
The Tepehua CC Kitchen Expansion Project was showcased at the October Festival of Brotherhood.
|Festival of Brotherhood Showcased Project
|Mac Whyte
In response to the humanitarian crisis which hit parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, the Foundation has established the Rotary Fund to Fight Famine and relief to refugees in the Horn of Africa, through which finance reconstruction projects in the affected areas.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in six decades, which has caused a severe famine in parts of Somalia and triggered the displacement of hundreds of thousands of residents to Ethiopia and Kenya for assistance. The victims number more than 10 million in the drought-stricken countries, of which 3.7 million are in danger of starvation.
Cash contributions to the Rotary Fund to Fight Famine and relief to refugees in the Horn of Africa will be recognized for Paul Harris Fellow recognition - Extraordinary Giving. Although donations are credited to the contribution goals set by clubs and districts, the donations will not count toward the goals of the Annual Fund Programs.
It is hoped that your Club will make a decision to support this project.
Mr. Manuel Nandayapa Garcia.
Govt. RI Dist 4150.
|Rotary Fund to Fight Faine in Africa
|Mac Whyte
John Gonzalez is all smiles as his wife pins on his Rotary pin as our newest member.
|Welcome to our newest member!
|Mac Whyte
Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work. Peter Drucker
Reverse Water Osmosis-Love in Action. The system installed needs to be upgraded.
Vocational-Sewing, Bakery, Horticulture. Love in Action. The training of students in skills that will enable them to enter the job market is critical. This project involves building remodel, purchase equipment, furniture, materials to start programs, funds for trainers in the first year.
|Community Service
|Mac Whyte
The top five clubs in the district in terms of active members;
|Rotary Club of Ajijic Tops District Membership
|Mac Whyte
September 27th....club members are making presentations about Rotary!
|Mark Your Calendars!
|Mac Whyte
"Perhaps dreaming is not so bad if one dreams good dreams and makes them come true."
|A Quote from Paul Harris, Founder of Rotary
|Mac Whyte
As we move forward to planning for future projects and funding its important to know that the expectations and rules have changed.
Areas of Focus-When developing project ideas we need to address a need within one of the 6 areas.
Rotary clubs serve communities around the world, each with unique concerns and needs. Rotarians have continually adapted and improved the way they respond to those needs, taking on a broad range of service projects. The most successful and sustainable Rotary service tends to fall within one of the following six areas:
The types of grants available to fund projects have changed.
|What You Need to Know About Future Projects & Funding
|Mac Whyte
When Rotary pledged its effort to eradicate polio worldwide, in 1985, there were 125 polio endemic countries and 71 polio-free. Since then 2 billion children have been vaccinated in a global effort to eradicated the disease.. Rotarians alone have contributed over $1Billion and participated in National Immunization Days around the globe.
One of the last countries to report a case of polio was India. It has been two years since that Indian case in West Bengal was documented.
Since the polio virus can live in the ground or sewage for the up to three years, the World Health Organization (WHO) is about to declare India "polio free".
The Indian government continued its strategic approach to ensuring that all children under the age of 5 continue to be vaccinated.
This year's National Immunization Day was February 24, and local Rotarians, Barbara and Bill Wilson flew to India to be part of this grand effort.
|Ajijic Rotarians Immunize Against Polio in India
|Barbara Wilson
In Lisbon today, Ajijic Rotarians Barb and Bill Wilson met up with frequent visitors to the Ajijic Club, Bernie and Penny St.Louis. The couples are attending the Annual Convention of Rotary International.
At the plenary session earlier in the day, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced a 2 for 1 matching grant for new monies donated by Rotarians up to $35 million, for each of the next 5 years to End Polio Now. Three countries; Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan are still polio endemic and neighboring countries continue to be threatened by the possibility of polio crossing borders. At the meeting, one Nigerian Rotarian announced a personal donation of $1 million to help kick off the matching grant.
The Wilsons and St. Louis's attended training and workshops on Future Vision, global grant writing, Water, sanitation and health strategies, Rotary partnerships with the United Nations and USAID, and Rotary Foundation donations and recognition.
|Barbara Wilson
We received notice this week that two of our projects for which matching grants applications were submitted were approved.
The Hammer Hammers Equipment grant is for $26,277.0 USD which will cover the purchase of large equipment, small power and hand tools.
The Hope House Solar Energy grant is for $29,204.0 USD. which will cover the installation of a solar system to generate hot water and electricity.
|Project Grants Awarded
|Mac Whyte
As of February 26th we are moved our general Tuesday meeting to the Hotel Real de Chapala.
|We Moved our Weekly Meeting!
|Mac Whyte
The Santa Clarita Rotary Club of California has contributed $1500 (USD) for the sealing of the roofs at Love in Action in Chapala.
Members of their club are coming to Ajijic during the period of February 7-13, 2013.
On February 8th, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with time off for lunch, we are working on the roofs at LiA. The main roofs we are working on are accessed by stairs.
The roofs are flat. The roofs need to be cleaned and then the sealer applied.
A member of the LiA maintenance team is directing the work. We need a total of 10 workers.
Then at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, February 9th, we will have a dinner with the members of the Santa Clarita Club and their spouses at the Neuva Posada.
We do need a total count for the dinner.
Please let Mac Whyte, email@example.com, if you are planning to be in the work party and/or at the dinner.
|Mac Whyte
|Rotary Year 2011-12 . "A Look Back"
|Mac Whyte
At the general meeting of May 15, 2012 the Tarahumara Students visited the club as part of their annual field trip to the State of Jalisco. The leader and organizer of the trip is Doug "Diego" Rhodes, a fellow Rotarian. The Rotary Club of Ajijic, AC had donated $350 USD to help fund the trip. In addition club members donated personally, helped plan activities for the group and went with the group on activities. Additional photos are in the Photo Albums section.
|Visit of Tarahumara Students
|Mac Whyte
It was an exciting night in San Juan Cosala, Friday, May 11th as players got their uniforms. The Rotary Club of Ajijic and the Rotary Club of Sparks, NV are sponsoring Chelsea who are the defending champions from last season. This is part of the team, others were in school, working. At present Chelsea is 5-3 in 3rd place for the current season. You can more soccer pictures by clicking here to take you to an online album.
|Youth Soccer in San Juan Cosala!
|Mac Whyte
We had a wide range of presentations during the meeting, with the featured speaker being fellow member Victor Youcha who volunteered his expertise as a chiropractor at the Para Panamerican Games that were held in Guadalajara. Great work by Victor in helping athletes compete!
Bill Wilson speaking on the Rotary Code of Conduct
Induction of new member Nancy Heine
(L-R) Membership Chair Johanna Burton-Fuller, Member Walter Heine, Nancy Heine, President Sandra Loridans
|General Meeting Highlights for April, 24th, 2012
|Mac Whyte
ARDAT (Ajijic Rotary Dog Assisted Therapy) is an ongoing community program, providing therapy dog visits to institutions, as well as education to increase respect for animals and preventing animal cruelty in the lakeside area. The objective of the program is to utilize dogs for education, and in a therapeutic method that provides joy, comfort, and motivation to the elderly, children and adults in the lakeside area who are sick, mentally or physically handicapped, or have emotional problems. ARDAT dogs also provide comfort to victims of disasters. It has been clinically proven that great emotional and physical benefits are achieved through petting, touching, stroking, and talking to dogs.
|Ajijic Rotary Dog Assisted Therapy (ARDAT)
|Julianna Rose
|Its our 10th Birthday!
|Mac Whyte
|RI president makes membership a priority
|Mac Whyte
This is RotaryEN from Rotary International on Vimeo.
|Service Above Self....Making a Difference
|Mac Whyte
|This is Rotary!
|Mac Whyte
|Rotary International Theme
|Mac Whyte
Maria Magdalena Sanchez de Nandayapa, wife of, Ing. Manuel Nandayapa Garcia-Governor of District 4150,
Member Norma Cannon and President Sandra Loridans enjoy the spirit of Rotary during the Governor's visit on August 23, 2011.
|Visit of District Governor
|Allan MacGregor
ClubRunner is a tool to aid us in how we manage our day to day club activities, as well as communicate more effectively. ClubRunner is an all-in-one membership and communication software package designed for Rotary.
|What Can Club Runner do For You?
|Mac Whyte
ClubRunner secures all your private information using the latest security technologies. Hosted in a world class data centre with redundant power, Internet backbones and 24/7 security and monitoring, you can rest assured that your club data is safe and protected. Your members' contact information is secured behind unique logins and passwords. Access to information is also restricted, for example, a member can only view the list of members, but can modify his or her own personal information.
Data on the server is protected by TCP/IP filtering, firewall and anti-virus software that protect against any unauthorized intrusion. Backups of data are made daily and stored off-site.
|Security and Integrity of Your Data
|Mac Whyte
Each week or as needed Whats Happening Now! is sent to all members. Generally sent out by Monday of each week, it includes the past weeks meeting mnutes and the Tuesday agenda.
|Whats Happening Now!
|Mac Whyte
LiA Director Dina , Ed Gresham, Rotary Project Manager, Gustavo Marquez, Contractor
|Community Service
|Mac Whyte