International Service

Our International Service has focused on several different projects over the past few months. Building on the 2007 Volunteer Dentistry Project to Guatemala, we have continued our support for the community of San Juan la Laguna by donating $1500.00 to local community projects. Preparations are also continuing for another dentistry project to Guatemala in August 2009. This project will include the shipping of a surgical microscope to an ophthalmology clinic dedicated to the prevention of blindness among the poor population.

In October, members of our club joined together to pack and prepare 4 pallets of donated books to be shipped to Nsambwe School in Uganda. This school is situated in a poor rural area of the country, 100km outside the capital city of Kampala. We collaborated on this project with Dieter Howald, a former member of our club who now lives in Kelowna and is presently a member of the Kelowna Sunrise Club. Dieter and his wife will be traveling to Uganda in March to oversee the library project along with the Rotary Club of Kampala. Along with the library, our club also agreed to help provide school uniforms to an orphanage. Two hundred dollars was generously donated by members during our regular Tuesday meeting. A further $500.00 was taken from International Service funds for a total donation of $700.00.

Finally, the club has also agreed to provide funding for our local high school. These funds will be used to partially fund a student trip to Costa Rica to carry out development work in the community. We are supporting the newly formed McMath Interact Club with their international initiatives.

What makes Rotary International projects work is the direct involvement of our members overseeing the projects, the ability to partner with good local volunteer organizations, and the ability to partner with other Rotary clubs regionally and worldwide.

These are the projects that we have supported:

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