The Rotary Club of Kenora has committed $10,000 towards Phase I of the building of San Miguelito School in Guatemala in partnership with the Ripple Effect Program.  More partners are needed to make this $40,000 World Community Service project successful.
 

The father of several students at the San Miguelito School shyly stood before his audience. There were several Rotarians from the Guatemala Rotary Club of Huehuetenango, the teachers of the school, parents and members of the Parent Council and many students, as well as Gord and Deb LeMaistre representing the Ripple Effect Program. The father began to speak emotionally and from the heart about the fear he had for the future of his children. He said that if his children were unable to go to school they could be lured into one of the many gangs that maintain their posts along the Mexican - Guatemalan border. He was concerned about the children in the community having to leave for larger centres to attend school and being "lost" by their families and community to the gangs and drugs. The man pleaded for help to build a nice school in San Miguelito so the children there could be given a chance at a better life. His heart wrenching speech ended with a promise that if Rotary could find a way to help them, the people of the community would take very good care of the school.

 Thanks to the generosity of a Canadian Dr. and the community raising money, there is a nice sized building site for a new school .

The students attend school in a makeshift shack, a basement of a church that is damp and cold and in a room of a nearby house.  Inscription for the coming year shows registrations for 175 students.  There are 2 classrooms in the existing school structure made of rough sawn lumber walls, a tin roof and dirt floor. The partition is made from bed sheets strung on a wire. There is no electricity or running water.  One toilet exists for use by all children and the school staff.

Gord and Deb LeMaistre report that there is great support from the community of San Miguelito, teachers, parents and students as well as from the Rotary Club. The Rotarian Project Manager is a dentist who visits the community once a month to volunteer his dental services.  The Huehuetenango Club has already shown support with the donation of 100 second hand desks.   

The need is great; the opportunity to help will be beneficial to all.  We are making a difference in the lives of children and affording the hope for a brighter future through education.

If you can help and/or your Rotary would like to be a partner in this project, please notify Gord LeMaistre at glemaistre1@hotmail.com or call 807-548-5390. Private donations may be made at www.canadahelps.org search for "Ripple Effect Program", or by sending a cheque to District 5550 treasurer Brian Cocks.