News for September/October 2015

A Change of Mission Plans!

The planned mission to Purepecho, Michoacán, Mexico has been postponed. In its place... Mission Ten (10) to the Toledo District of Belize is tentatively planned for December 2016. RCI's first mission to Mexico will be rescheduled when one big hurdle can be overcome.

Several priorities must be met or resolved before a mission is conducted. If not resolved then the mission is in jeopardy of not meeting its goals. For RCI the steps needed to insure goals are met are:

1. Establishing a need
   Sustainability over time will not happen if there is no true need for a resource center. No true need translates into a lack of interest and the center will fail for lack of use, monitoring and maintenance.
2. Skilled personnel to operate the center
   All good intentions may come to naught if the personnel in charge do not know how to use computers, take care of the mini-library or utilize the toys and games.
3. Rotary participation
   Needed to help insure that product sent gets to where it needs to be. Our International Rotary partners also help select the recipients and then help monitor centers after they are established.
4. Educators/Ministry of Education
   The Ministry of Education and the host country Project Coordinators identify institutions with needs and then monitor and help support the sites once centers are established.
5. Mission Teams
   Mission teams are made up of technical and educational professionals who can help establish the centers, insure that product sent is properly distributed and revisit centers on succeeding missions in order to evaluate successes... or areas where improvement is needed.
6. Product to Send
   Product not only includes the hardware (tables, chairs, televisions, books cases ,etc) but also the educational materials (books, toys, sporting equipment, etc.) and software that is loaded onto the computers. Hours of preparation time are necessary to insure product integrity prior to loading a container.
7. Financing each mission
   Financing comes from three areas; the Rotary Clubs of District 6600, Rotary Grants and finally individual contributions. Without the proper funding there is no mission.

The mission to Purepecho will be rescheduled to a future date because we have not received any educational software to place on the computers. This item is very important considering the difficulty in obtaining sufficient numbers of books in Spanish to outfit 21 preschools with centers. When we get electronic books and educational software to load onto the computers we will reschedule the mission to Purepecho.

Applications for Resource Centers

Tell a Story

Mission 9 to Belize is on schedule.
It will be a thirteen day mission from approximately March 12th to March 24th, 2016. The original plan was to open 17 centers in schools and also support the Punta Gorda Library and Hospital. Part of the process in choosing schools is to complete an application. We now have 23 applications from schools and 8 from community libraries and one from the Punta Gorda Library. It has become obvious that a second mission is needed to meet the demand. The final decision to go ahead with a second mission will be made at the completion of the March, 2016 mission.

Online applications have just been instituted and they tell a story about needs of the schools in Belize. The online Application (taken from our website: https://resourcecentersinternational.org/) is printed below. Following the Application is an analysis of the data inputted by applicants.

Resource Centers International (RCI) is a project of Rotary International District 6600. The project is designed to provide materials that will help students, ages 3 through 8, be better prepared for the primary school curriculum. This is accomplished by donating the educational materials necessary to establish a Resource Center in your school.

On the following page is an online application for you to complete. In order to be eligible for the program it is necessary to complete the application and have a pre-inspection prior to receipt of any educational

List of available supplies:

• Computers loaded with educational software
• Children's books and bookshelves
• Tables and chairs for the computer station
• Television set with vhs and children's tapes
• Games, toys and sporting equipment
• Exercise mats
• Overhead projectors

These items will be donated to your school for the use of your infant student body.  A Rotarian Mission Team will help you set up/install the donated equipment soon after it is picked up at the distribution site.

Application for Educational Equipment

Summary of Applications received

The total number of students, ages 3 to 8, in the 23 school applications is 1571. These students have access to 6 computers. Five in one school and one in another. The other 21 schools have no computers for students 3 to 8 years of age. All the schools stated that they have little to no sporting equipment as is the case with toys and games. Only one school said they had a complete library. A few schools said they had books for children, but they were worn and old. With only one or two exceptions the schools had no television sets, VCR machines or overhead projectors. None of the schools had exercise mats.

When asked to Please describe any other education needs that they have. We were flooded with additional requests: the primary one being the need for creative arts materials such as crayons, paper, paint, musical instruments, scissors, etc.

Below are two applications: one from one preschool with a small census and the other a relatively large census school. These will give you an idea of what is on a typical application: I have removed all indications of which schools the applications came from.

Number of Students Enrolled: 15
Number of Students Ages 3 to 8: 15
City/Town:
State/District/Province: Toledo
Country: Belize
We have 0 working computers available to students ages 3 to 8.
We have been using computers since the year .
We have enough but they're worn books for students ages 3 to 8.
Bookshelves: We need bookshelves
Media: We need a VHS player, We need children's tapes, We need an overhead projector
Activities and equipment:
Mat needs: We need mats for indoor activities.
We have some but not enough toys and games for students ages 3 to 8.
We have little or none sports equipment for students ages 3 to 8.
Outdoor space:
Other education needs: easel for painting, File box & files to organize,  activities and materials, Easel or butcher paper, Poster board to use as a portable easel, bulletin board, Clear contact paper or laminating sheets, Wiggly Eyes Round (Assorted colors & sizes), Wood craft sticks (small and large), Paper plates, standard 9" and dessert size, Craft knife (for adults), Washable felt-tip color markers, 1 dozen Clear Tapes & tape dispenser, Computer paper (white & colored),
Construction papers, Children's scissors, Stretch and match geo boards, Different children Costumes, Basic Skills Learning Board, reading chairs, White drawing paper (9x12 and easel size),  Cardstock,  Buttons, Rickrack, Ribbon, Yarn,  Sequins,  Beads, Stickers, Baby dolls and accessories (stroller, cradle, etc.)
Puppets (all of the hand puppets ), Dress-up clothes & shoes Big books" , large-scale books to be used on an easel, Sand Table,  Light Table, a variety of paints and paint brushes, Jumbo Coloring books

Number of Students Enrolled: 171
Number of Students Ages 3 to 8: 97
City/Town:
State/District/Province: Toledo District
Country: Belize
We have 0 working computers available to students ages 3 to 8.
We have been using computers since the year .
We have some but not enough books for students ages 3 to 8.
Bookshelves: We need bookshelves
Media: We need a television, We need a VHS player, We need a DVD player, We need children's tapes, We need an overhead projector
Activities and equipment:
Mat needs: We need mats for indoor activities.
We have few or none toys and games for students ages 3 to 8.
We have little or none sports equipment for students ages 3 to 8.
Outdoor space: We have an outdoor playground, We have a football field
Other education needs: CD players, speakers, art supplies, puzzles, math and literacy games, sentence strips, printer and ink, projector for power point, laminator, science kit, math kit, globes, maps, puppets, beach balls, cubes, pe equipment, musical instrument, flannel boards, timer, play food set, dice, school supplies (crayons, paper etc) 10 row overhead abacus

WOULD YOUR CLUB LIKE TO ADOPT ONE?

Donations during the months of September & October:

Educational Equipment and Materials

Monetary

Your donation can be here next month. Our next mission to Belize this coming March is fully funded. We now need to seek funding for our mission.

Purchases

Presentations

Invite us to present at your weekly Rotary Meeting. There are lots of changes going on as we move forward and we would like to bring you up to date on our MESA projects.