Atzin - Service in Tlamacazapa Mexico

Editor: Carolyn Nicholson

March 26, 2014.

Chairman- President Rocco Colangelo                     

O Canada- President Rocco Colangelo

Grace-   Carolyn Nicholson

Attendance- 13 Members

Guests- Julia Bubrin, Public Consultation Coordinator for Hardy Stephenson, Janice and David Brown (Thomasburg), Ann Rempel (Caledon), friends of our speaker, and Susan Smith (Guest Speaker)

Announcements-

-President Rocco announced that the Board will be meeting at Kevin Manuel’s, Monday, march 31, 2014 at 7:30pm.

-Dhanni Ramdeen announced that there will be a Group 4 meeting following our lunch meeting, that will be hosted by Barry Smith.

Marbelous Draw- Charles Whitney did the honours and Jack Holman held the lucky ticket. Unfortunately, he was unable to find the mutant marble and was presented with the consolation prize of $5.00.

Sergeant at Arms-Dave Hardy relieved Jack of his recent winnings.

Happy Bucks- Jim Boyko was happy that he was not fined.

- Gerd Wengler was happy to announce that Bayer Munchen was indeed a  German champion, and that there were only eight games to go to the European Title.

-David Seemungal was happy to be here.

-Barry Smith was happy to announce that his granddaughter celebrated her first birthday on March 19.

- President Rocco was happy to have so many guests join us for lunch.

- Jack Holman was happy that he arrived early.

Program-

Janice Brown introduced our Guest Speaker.

The details of Susan Smith`s presentation will be provided via a voice file separately but she advised us that she was here thanks to the Belleville Rotary Club. Since arriving to speak to the Belleville Rotary Club, she has managed to visit and speak to several other clubs, as well. She has been working at her current job, in Tlamacazapa, Mexico, for the past seventeen years.  Susan works with people entrapped in poverty. She is the founder and Director or ATZIN. Please take a moment and pull this up on your computer for a more in-depth understanding of who Susan is and what she had done and is doing.

Tlamacazapa is a small town of 6200, in the mountains of southern Mexico, east of Acapulco, in the narcotics corridor. Here the women and girls make traditional palm baskets and the men and boys of the village sell them. Half of the population lives in acute poverty. They survive on two small meals a day, consisting of tortillas with perhaps a small bit of cheese or meat. Fourty percent of the children do not attend school and fifty percent are illiterate. The people here are very concerned about the eroding of their culture. One of the main concerns in the area is water. There is good water that is now pumped into the area, but it must be purchased, so most make do with the open well in the town. The average income here is one dollar per day. The people here also suffer from toxic assault, from the metals in the water, malnutrition as well as poverty of spirit. When Susan arrived here in 1997, her main focus was women. She created circle in which to exchange ideas and build trust. She then educated midwives and encouraged safe motherhood. In 2006 they set up a dental clinic. Income generation and nurturing the people came to the forefront. They facilitated an open air school, where fourteen to twenty year olds acted as teachers to the younger children, with focus on math, literacy and personal development.

Please listen to the voice file of this presentation to get it`s full impact.

Mike Mushet thanked Susan for her presentation and presented her with a certificate to restore the eyesight of a gentleman in India in honour of her presentation.

Jack Holman noticed that in the picture Susan had on the screen, the youth had smiles on their faces and a sparkle in their eyes. He asked her how long it took before that sparkle was there.

Susan responded twelve years.                                                                                                                                                                                         

https://www.dropbox.com/s/peiery5apj68cxy/Susan%20Smith%2014-03-26_001.MP3