For San Diego Rotary, International Service is just across the Mexican Border in Baja!
Since, 2009 Old Mission Rotary Club has regularly contributed to a public health program in Baja called VIIDAI. Club members have traveled to the Colonia Lomas de San Ramon at least once and often twice per year to support the needs and wants of the Salvador Diaz Elementary and Octavio Paz Schools in Colonia Lomas de San Ramon near San Quintin. This community consists of agricultural workers and their families from the interior of Mexico who work in the vast tomato fields in the area and is a four-hour drive south of the border.
VIIDAI, or Viaje Interinstitucional de Integración Docente, Asistencial y de Investigación, is a public health project partnership between the School of Medicine and Psychology at Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC) in Tijuana, the San Diego State University School of Public Health and the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. The mission is to collaborate on a program in which students provide health services and conduct research in underserved communities in Mexico.
Old Mission Rotary provides support based on what the leaders of the school and colonia communities need and request. Our philosophy has always been to purchase materials and hire labor from the San Quentin community to support the local economy.
Here is a summary of what Old Mission Rotary has accomplished:
- In 2008, we contributed to the commercial kitchen at the school so students can get hot meals.
- In 2009, we supplied over 1000 grade appropriate books for the school
- In 2010, we contributed eight Desk-top PCs for a new computer lab.
- In 2011, we contributed an additional seven Desk-top computers. All PCs were funded by OMR and were purchased and installed through the UABC technology department.
- In 2012, we furnished 360 soccer shirts, numbered 1 to 30, in 12 different colors to help keep the students occupied in sports and away from local gangs.
- In 2013, we donated $8,000 to the UABC University Medical School for a transport van to serve local communities and the VIIDAI Project.
- In 2014, we obtained a Rotary District 5340 Grant of $6,000 and an additional $16,000 from the Art Pratt Foundation of Old Mission Rotary to build an 1800 square foot raised patio and metal shade cover for the school. Previously, children had no cover from the sun, wind and/or rain while they ate their meals.
- In 2015, we provided paint, ladders, brushes, rollers and other supplies to paint the entire school, both inside the rooms, offices and kitchen and the outside. The inside areas were painted by the teachers and parents, while the outsides were spray painted by a local contractor. The Old Mission Rotary Foundation donated $2,000 to build a roof over the school entry area.
- In 2016, we completed installing additional lighting in all school rooms, offices and the kitchen and repaired light switches and wall plugs. We also purchased an oven for the kitchen.
- In 2017, a new school classroom was needed. The Mexican Government agreed to supply all of the building materials and fixtures, but not the labor and contractor supervision. We engaged the contractor and labor for the foundation and walls. At this stage, the government pulled out of the project, and Old Mission Rotary Foundation donated the balance of $12,450 to complete the roof, windows, doors, electrical, paint, fixtures and security walls and fences.
- In 2018, we helped with clean water for the school. Historically, the municipal water in rural Mexico is not healthy to drink. As a result, almost all homes buy their drinking and cooking water and store it in tanks on the roof. The SDSU group of Public Health students tested this purchased drinking water and found it to also have impurities, which are unhealthy for children. We partnered with San Diego’s water purification company, Aquacycl to install a reverse osmosis water purification system to ensure the school’s drinking and cooking water was healthy.
- In 2019, we funded the purchase of a second 500-gallon storage tank for the new high-quality water and installed the piping to both the morning and afternoon kitchens.
- In 2020, we discovered the Mexican government had funded a new and expanded kitchen for the morning school. Unfortunately, the government did not hook-up the water, gas or electrical for the new kitchen and we provided funding for our Mexican contractor to install the water, gas and electricity to the new kitchen.
- In 2021, we donated $2,220 to our Mexican contractor to replace the fluorescent lights in the 1800 sq. ft. shade structure with new LED light bars and to purchase eight folding tables and 48 chairs for student seating in the new cafeteria area.
- In 2022, the Mexican government funded the remodeling of a second school kitchen (Octavio Paz). However, the appliances for the Octavio Paz kitchen were loaned to the school and are inadequate for preparing food for the students. We donated $4,250 to purchase a new Stove/oven and permanent gas tank for this kitchen and had it fully installed.
- In 2023, the Octavio Paz afternoon kitchen had a lunchroom but no tables or chairs for the students to sit and eat. Old Mission Rotary donated 8 folding tables and 48 chairs.
The most recent project concerns a very serious outbreak of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) in northern Baja. The disease is transmitted primarily by ticks on dogs. Symptoms include fever, headache, rash, and muscle pain, typically appearing 2-14 days after a tick bite and early diagnosis and treatment with antibiotics are crucial for recovery. The mortality rate can be as high as 30%. A plan was developed to put flea and tick collars on all domesticated and stray dogs. Over $100,000 was raised through a Rotary Global Grant with many Rotary clubs in different districts participating. The Old Mission Rotary Foundation contributed $10,000. The dog collars were so successful in slowing the transmission of the disease that another round of funding is now in the works.
Old Mission Rotary is very proud of our 17-year support of VIIDAI and the schools and community of Colonia Lomas de San Ramon in San Quentin Baja! Club Members Stan Vogelsang, Bob James, Mark McAnelly and Gerry Hosenkamp deserve special recognition for their years of devoted service to VIDAII.
Photos shown above:
- Photo 2: A District 5340 grant helped to build an 1800 square foot raised patio and metal shade cover for a local school. Previously, children had no cover from the sun, wind and/or rain while they ate their meals.
- Photo 1: The Old Mission Rotary Foundation supplied a grant of $8,000 to the UABC University Medical School in Tijuana for a transport van to serve local communities and the VIIDAI Project in San Quentin.