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Motorcycling Rotarians Club Completes Its First International Service ProjectSince its July 2, 2018 charter, our Rotary Club of Motorcycling Rotarians has completed its first International Service project. We raised the funds to refurbish a 4 wheel drive pickup truck and provide it to Mateo Nicolás, the nurse practitioner that runs the Casa Colibrí clinic in remote Guatemala. Imagine having to travel weekly commute by foot for 3 or 4 hours through treacherous mountain jungles to be at work by Monday noon and then returning home Friday Noon enduring the same risks.
Since its July 2, 2018 charter, our Rotary Club of Motorcycling Rotarians has completed its first International Service project. We raised the funds to refurbish a 4 wheel drive pickup truck and provide it to Mateo Nicolás, the nurse practitioner that runs the Casa Colibrí clinic in remote Guatemala.
Imagine having to travel weekly commute by foot for 3 or 4 hours through treacherous mountain jungles to be at work by Monday noon and then returning home Friday Noon enduring the same risks. Your only other choice is to hike an hour out to the “nearby” highway, arriving early enough to catch the public transportation bus. Then hoping that bus makes it in time to catch a smaller van to travel the rest of the way to your own remote small village home. Now imagine it often rains, and rains hard in these mountain jungles.
Dr. Jay and Linda Eastman of the Rochester Rotary Club have long been involved with Casa Colibrí which is dedicated to support and help the Mayan people of northwest Guatemala improve the quality of their lives through programs in health, education, and related infrastructure. Casa Colibrí provides services to an area that covers more than 40 villages and 12,000 indigenous peoples that make their homes in this remote area.
Several years ago, our district sponsored a large Rotary Foundation (Health, Hunger & Humanity) grant for the purpose of extending the capabilities of the Casa Colibrí clinic in remote northeast Guatemala. A significant portion of that grant was to put a local Mayan man (Mateo Nicolás) through a professional nursing school and then, upon his graduation, to establish his practice within the clinic.
For reasons of maintaining his ancestral home and heritage, Mateo must keep his home and family in a different village than that of our Casa Colibrí clinic. For several years now, since his graduation from school, Mateo has been making the weekly trek to and from the clinic via the long and treacherous trek described above.
During a presentation about Casa Colibrí at one of our online meetings earlier this year, the Rotary Club of Motorcycling Rotarians learned of Mateo’s plight. We also learned that for large portions of his commute, Mateo was without communication and should something happen to him, it might not be discovered for several days. And if (God forbid) should something happen to him, the clinic, and those that the clinic serves, would also suffer great loss.
The club took on finding a solution and became aware of a used 4 wheel diesel pickup truck that, if refurbished, would be ideal to solve Mateo’s dilemma. The truck’s body was in good condition but was in need of both engine and drive train work.
A commitment was made by the club and repairs were initiated. $3500 of repairs later, the truck was fully refurbished and in sound condition, ready to handle the rough roads of remote Guatemala. In September the truck, now an asset owned and maintained by Casa Colibrí, was delivered to Mateo. His commute is now significantly less risky, shorter in time, and allows Mateo further comfort to focus on the clinic needs of his peoples.
Congratulations Mateo, Casa Colibrí, and the Rotary Club of Motorcycling Rotarians.
Imagine having to travel weekly commute by foot for 3 or 4 hours through treacherous mountain jungles to be at work by Monday noon and then returning home Friday Noon enduring the same risks. Your only other choice is to hike an hour out to the “nearby” highway, arriving early enough to catch the public transportation bus. Then hoping that bus makes it in time to catch a smaller van to travel the rest of the way to your own remote small village home. Now imagine it often rains, and rains hard in these mountain jungles.
Dr. Jay and Linda Eastman of the Rochester Rotary Club have long been involved with Casa Colibrí which is dedicated to support and help the Mayan people of northwest Guatemala improve the quality of their lives through programs in health, education, and related infrastructure. Casa Colibrí provides services to an area that covers more than 40 villages and 12,000 indigenous peoples that make their homes in this remote area.
Several years ago, our district sponsored a large Rotary Foundation (Health, Hunger & Humanity) grant for the purpose of extending the capabilities of the Casa Colibrí clinic in remote northeast Guatemala. A significant portion of that grant was to put a local Mayan man (Mateo Nicolás) through a professional nursing school and then, upon his graduation, to establish his practice within the clinic.
For reasons of maintaining his ancestral home and heritage, Mateo must keep his home and family in a different village than that of our Casa Colibrí clinic. For several years now, since his graduation from school, Mateo has been making the weekly trek to and from the clinic via the long and treacherous trek described above.
During a presentation about Casa Colibrí at one of our online meetings earlier this year, the Rotary Club of Motorcycling Rotarians learned of Mateo’s plight. We also learned that for large portions of his commute, Mateo was without communication and should something happen to him, it might not be discovered for several days. And if (God forbid) should something happen to him, the clinic, and those that the clinic serves, would also suffer great loss.
The club took on finding a solution and became aware of a used 4 wheel diesel pickup truck that, if refurbished, would be ideal to solve Mateo’s dilemma. The truck’s body was in good condition but was in need of both engine and drive train work.
A commitment was made by the club and repairs were initiated. $3500 of repairs later, the truck was fully refurbished and in sound condition, ready to handle the rough roads of remote Guatemala. In September the truck, now an asset owned and maintained by Casa Colibrí, was delivered to Mateo. His commute is now significantly less risky, shorter in time, and allows Mateo further comfort to focus on the clinic needs of his peoples.
Congratulations Mateo, Casa Colibrí, and the Rotary Club of Motorcycling Rotarians.