International Service Committee

The International Avenue of Service is co-chaired by Steve Dastic and Ken Parker and includes as committee members Lynn Melville, Dave Bixby, Victoria Conner, Jeff Kuster, Chuck Rylant, Billie Jo Cravello, Tony Cravello, Bob Ogden, Chris Gallas, Joe Gallas, Diane Parker and Bill Thompson.

Santa Maria Rotary South has a history of international service. Our current projects deal with clean water in Zambia and community/school development in La Paz, Baja Mexico.

Zambian Water Project

History: This project has been a partnership between Santa Maria Rotary South, Seeds of Hope International Project and a local Rotary Club in Zambia for several years. Five years ago, Rev. Steve Dastic, club member, pioneered the club's awareness of the need for this project and the opportunity. Since then, the club has funded the drilling of new wells, pump stations and bio-sand filters - delivering clean water every day to over 700 Zambians.

Strategy: Wells that have been drilled and installed are capped with new hand pumps that are maintained by trained members of the local community. Local people are trained to teach their neighbors sanitation methods that enable young mothers to use clean water properly. Local sanitation workers learn to place latrines in places that do not foul the water supply.

Funding: A District and international grant, accompanied by thousands of dollars in local club funds, have assisted in this work. Funds are sent to our Zambian partner club which oversees the dispersal of funds to Seeds of Hope International Project, resulting in clean water through additional wells for villages and sand filters for families. In the future, we hope to send a club member team to Zambia.

La Paz School and Community Development Program

History: This project came about as a result of two of our members attending the San Diego Poverty Conference in 2004. There, we met members of the Todos Santos Club Rotario who were improving the Diana Laura Colonia School located on a mountain above La Paz in Baja Mexico. After two club trips to La Paz, our clubs became sister clubs. Initial efforts brought a fresh coat of paint to the elementary school, as well as a school shade structure - very important in this hot climate. The Club has twice sponsored TARIC, a summer enrichment program which brings cultural education, sports, art and language education to children needing meaningful summer activity - all taught by mothers from the colonias trained for the effort. Consequently, 130 students have enjoyed better school achievement. More students have stayed in school longer with higher grades, more students are transferring to junior high and high school and more young girls are postponing their first pregnancy, lengthening their education and developing employable skills.

Strategy: We are now expanding our efforts from support for just the school to the greater La Paz community with 2009 implementation of a micro-banking program enabling local mothers and girls to learn how to sew and use professional sewing equipment, with the goal being manufacture of clothes for their own use, but also for resale to the tourist trade.

Current Activities: Three Club members (Ken and Diane Parker, Tony Cravello) this October visited La Paz, taking with them four refurbished sewing machines (donated by Billie Jo Cravello) that will supplement the one machine currently available to the women wishing to participate in the sewing co-op. Our Club member visitors were able to see the sewing co-op workshop with all the clothes, purses, scarves and crafts they have made with the support of a micro-loan from our Club in the amount of $1,000, the terms of which require the women to repay the loan in order to enable others to benefit from a micro-credit loan. The TARIC summer enrichment program for La Paz children was visited as part of the micro-loan/sewing machine trip.

Next Steps: Activities in La Paz are expected to continue. One possible area for more support is to sponsor first a concrete floor to enable the use of the shaded school area to be used as an outdoor classroom, with a follow-up step to include closing in of the area to make a real classroom. At that point, the state department of education would assign a third teacher and alleviate the double sessions students are now subject to, which leaves some of them home in the hottest part of the day.