Connecting Communities: Rotary Service in Guyana's Corriverton

1. ROTARY CONNECTIONS:World Community Service ProjectCorriverton, Guyana St. Paul, Minnesota (Club # 10)1995 - present

2. GUYANA (formerly British Guyana) • Adjacent to Surinam, Venezuela and Brazil • 83,000 square miles • 770,000 population (almost all live along coastline) • Sugar from cane, bauxite and forestry products are exported

3. Guyana is decidedly tropical and lush

11. LASTING CONNECTIONS • 1995 -- Exploratory Trip (Jim Field, Todd Nicholson, & George Hubbs) visited with three Guyanese clubs. Decision made to partner with Corriverton club. • 1997 – Water pump installed with modest distribution piping. • 1998 -- New hip for Clifton Phillips • 1999 – Expand distribution piping and add holding tanks • 2004 – Books and backpacks for elementary students, computers, copiers, gym equipment, and medical equipment • 2006 – Fix hip for Clifton Phillips • 2007 – Copiers for schools • 2008 – Pending computer labs – three schools including Orealla

12. 1995 -- George & Todd travel upriver to Amerindian villages

13. Corentyne River 2005

14. Corentyne River November 2008

15. Amerindians at Orealla continue to wash their clothes in the river – we’ve learned that it is a cultural tradition.

16. 1997 – Bob Jones puts on a dental clinic

17. Jim and Amerindian Captain

18. 1997 -- water distribution piping • Simple white plastic piping, with vertical standoffs and hand valves. • With no dirt backfill, residents punctured the piping at a spot convenient for them.

20. 1999 – Orealla water system improvements • Expanded water distribution piping, including service to savanna uplands. • Large plastic tanks store water and allow the pump to be shut off during the day. • Piping trench backfilled.

22. 2008 still shiny pump

23. Needs Gaskets & Welding

24. Valdi handing out pens

25. A simple gift –A wonderful sense of gratification

27. 1995 – Visiting schools • Orealla School 500 kids. • Blackboards divide up children into individual grades • No heating, no cooling and poorly lit

28. 1995 – School library looks sparse

29. Orealla new government school

30. New school new library

31. Gals and Guys

32. Club # 10 donated blood pressure equipment to local medical clinic

33. P. A. system for Tagore High School

34. Hospital supplies

35. School Head Crabwood Creek High School Using Rotary Copier

36. The Process of Negotiating in a Foreign Land

37. Old Lutheran High School now Skeldon High School negotiation in 2008

38. Guyana School Area Director 2008

39. Crabwood Creek High School 2008 negotiations

40. School leaders including P.T.A.

41. Orealla Tribal Council negotiations 2008

42. Proposed 9th Project • Supply three Guyana schools with computer labs: • Orealla AmerIndian School • Crabwood Creek High School • Skeldon High School • Conditions: • Technical and teaching support • Equipment repair and replacement • Schools start “Community School Program”

43. The lasting relationship

44. In 1997 I addressed the high school in this courtyard

45. The Corriverton Rotary Club

46. My Friend Harry

47. 1995 Miss Penue 2004 November, 2008 now junior in high school in Corriverton