Lawrence Rotary - International Service - Dominican Republic October 2007

The Rotary Club of Lawrence and the Rotary Club of Bonao, Dominican Republic are working closely together for the second year to assist an impoverished village called El Chispero in providing water purification filters and latrines along with health and sanitation clinics and education.

Club and district donations totaling over $5,000, along with a Rotary Foundation Matching Grant of $19,000 allowed Rotarians in both Lawrence and Bonao to offer continuing support of an International project that actually began in 2006.

On October 20th, 2007, five members of the Rotary Club of Lawrence, including club President Frank Firicano, Kay Frishman, Peter Lafond, David Dreyfus (and his 13 yr old son Gregory) and Stephen Anderson arrived and joining them on this week-long mission were Stephen’s brother Peter Anderson (also a Rotarian from Northern California) and his wife Elena.

For decades, the impoverished village of 200 had suffered health problems from parasites since the only water they had to drink was from the river. The general area being predominantly cattle ranching resulted in much of the animal waste running into the river and polluting the water.

Joined by members of the Rotary Club of Bonao, this mission installed 30 water filters and erected seven 10’ x 10’ x 10’ concrete block latrines. According to Club President, Frank Firicano, “This was an eye opening experience for us. To see the level of poverty that exists in this world and how much we all take for granted when we return to our comfortable lives. I’m very glad that I came along to partici-pate in this very worthy project and to help make a small difference in adding comfort and health to these very needy people.

"Since the airlines allow two suitcases of 50 lbs. each, we filled what we could with clothing, linens, shoes, first aid supplies, books, and just about anything we could gather as donations from fellow Rotarians. These were left for the village people to share through their distribution center. In addition to the sweat equity portion of this mission, with the help of the Bonao Rotary Club, we were able to conduct a health clinic on Sunday, providing anti-parasitic medication to adults and children along with a dental clinic and on Wednesday afternoon, distributing toothbrushes and offering instruction of the proper brushing techniques and dental hygiene."

The Lawrence Rotarians returned home on October 27th, just in time to avoid the devastating hurricane Noel that struck four days later and took 66 lives in various parts of the Dominican Republic. Efforts by Lawrence Ro-tarians are currently underway to raise money to assist with the emergency relief efforts in that country.