News for March 2015

Mission 2, Jamaica

From the beginning Mission 2 was destined not to be completed while the Mission Team was in Jamaica. The container never made it out of customs. The Ministry of Finance never released it and this is what I was told was the issue. The annual budget had to be finalized by April 1st. The Ministry had been working on this for months in an effort to meet the target date. Getting containers requesting exemptions took low priority and they were not going anywhere until the National Budget was in place.

The Team still made good use of the time we had in Jamaica. We checked old sites, visited new ones, made new connections (The Sandals Foundation and Manning's High School) and renewed old ones (The Ministry of Education). We also started conducting interviews of Jamaican educators. This was in preparation for making a new video production of our work in Jamaica.

Our Rotary partner in Jamaica, the Rotary Club of Savanna-La-Mar, will be completing the mission by unloading and then distributing the educational materials to the schools selected for the project. The decision has been made to purchase an RCI container. After its initial shipment the container will be stored in Jamaica and all future shipments will be unloaded and then placed in the RCI container. Mission teams will buy their airline tickets after the container clears customs and product is available for distribution... problem solved.

Special thanks has to be given to past Savanna-La-Mar President Robbie Robinson who once again opened his house to the mission team... and to Hilda Hibbert who gave her time and energy to helping the team meet the achievable goals of the mission. We greatly enjoyed the warmth, friendship and help given by the Rotarians of the Rotary Club of Savanna-La-Mar and we all are looking forward to the next mission.

Mel Honig, Project Coordinator

The Mission Team From Left: Mel Honig (Sylvania Rotarian), Kent Iler, Jillian Riddle, Tory Fisher, Amber Fisher (Elyria Rotarians)

Jillian presenting the Rotary Club of Elyria banner to Savanna-La-Mar President Viviene Richards

Kent checking out and then downloading educational software onto computers that were installed during Mission 1 to Jamaica. This process was repeated at several Basic and Infant schools. All the computers sent to Jamaica for this mission have educational installed.

Preschools in Jamaica conduct traditional learning classes. Prior to entering Primary school all preschool age children are tested to evaluate their strong points and areas they may need help. Yes, they are adorable!

Whenever the team visited a school, Kent became our Ambassador of Goodwill as all the children naturally flocked to him.

Tory was our Videographer on the trip, conducting interviews of key personnel. Here she is interviewing Robert Swaby a computer expert at the Elite School.

At a meeting at Manning's High School with Kevin Campbell, Technical Instructor and Megan Berry, Principal (not in picture). As a rule, Basic and Infant school playground equipment is lacking. Manning's High School has agreed to participate in a project to update playground equipment. RCI will pay for the materials and the High School will provide the manpower to evaluate, build and then put together the playground. All playground equipment will be built/repaired to standards set by the Ministry of Education.

Jillian buying vegetables and fruits at the local market. To her left is Hilda Hibbert, Savanna-La-Mar Rotarian and Project Coordinator in Jamaica. Hilda was our constant companion and coordinated our activities during the mission.

Donations

Educational Equipment and Materials

Monitary

Purchases