MONTEREY PARK ROTARY LEARNS ABOUT BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB TRIP TO AFRICA TO BUILD A SCHOOL
MONTEREY PARK ROTARY LEARNS ABOUT BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB TRIP TO AFRICA TO BUILD A SCHOOL
Monterey Park, CA—Saturday, September 3rd West San Gabriel Boys and Girls Club Executive Director Tim Motts, Staff member Jasmine Diaz and Youth of the Year Anthony Salcido told of the trip that they took to Kenya with 33 others to build a school with no nearby running water and no electricity. They worked with “Free the Children” in this endeavor. All that could be afforded for the project was two bags of cement so the rest of the mortar came from rocks which they cracked with pickaxes and sand. The closest water was three miles away so they learned to value water.
In Kenya it is the women who do the work including caring for the children, cooking, cleaning and carrying water weighing 40 lbs. five times a day from three miles away. The water the people drink is also used by the animals. Dysentery is the number one killer of those under the age of five years. Fortunately, the Boys and Girls Club Inflatable Water Slide representatives had their own bottled water. They were only able to bathe every three days. It costs $5 per person to go to the doctor and for medication, but the people have no money. The number two killer is respiratory diseases. The people cook over an open fire in their homes. The homes have no ventilation. They are made of whatever is available including cardboard. They share beds in their huts. The third biggest slum in the world is in Kenya.
English is the official language which the children start to learn in 4th grade. The local people speak Swahili. It was winter so the temperature was a pleasant 75 degrees. It is a semi-arid land with thirteen inches of rain a year. The World Health Organization has had to cut its budget by $150 million so they had no food to give to semi-arid areas. It would cost a $1,000 to feed the children in two schools for a month.
The 26 who went on this trip raised $100,000 to go to Africa to build the school. Those who went felt that the trip really opened their eyes to what the rest of the world is like. Members of Monterey Park Rotary contributed to this effort. The Boys and Girls Club is planning another trip next year to a different country.
Rotary International is the oldest and largest service organization in the world. For information on serving your local community through the Monterey Park Rotary, check http://www.clubrunner.ca/CPrg/home/homeA.asp?cid=4711. Monterey Park Rotary usually meets every Thursday at 12:15 P.M. at Capital Seafood, 755 W. Garvey Avenue, Monterey Park. For more information on Rotary International and clubs in other communities see http://www.rotary.org/EN/ABOUTUS/Pages/ridefault.aspx.
Tim Motts (Executive Director or the West San Gabriel Boys and Girls Club), Anthony Salcido (Youth of the Year) and Staff member Jasmine Diaz. Jasmine and Anthony gave the presentation with Tim filling in a few points to Monterey Park Rotary.
