RC Demerara: International Service Project To Renovate Playgrounds At David Rose Special Needs School

Guyana 2016 - Rotary 7910 -Playground Project - International Service from Rotary Club of Framingham-MA on Vimeo.

 

PDG Manelis heads up a Rotary service support group that each year visits countries to partner and implement needed community projects. When asked why the group chose Guyana, PDG Richard said that requests to partner with a few other districts were made and Guyana was the most responsive. He further shared that this undertaking in Guyana marked the group’s fifteenth partnership project.  Next year they hope to complete a project in Colombia. The group of twelve includes Rotarians, their partners in service and friends from Massachusetts Rotary District 7910 arrived in Georgetown Guyana on the 19th February 2016.

 

The Clubs of Georgetown got together and decided to encompass two objectives, that of providing a recreational facility and working with the special needs community.  This year, District Governor Milton Inniss’ special focus is on Dyslexia.  The previous year’s special focus was on Autism, another special needs condition.   President Renata of the Rotary Club of Demerara conducted a site visit at the David Roses Special Needs School. She recognised that the play area allocated was not only hazardous but too small and did not allow for free and healthy play activities especially for children with special needs.  The visit solidified the need for the project, and the school administration confirmed it.   It was from this need that the idea of what project the Massachusetts group could partner with us on was birthed.
 
The David Rose Special Needs School is supported by the Government of Guyana. The children of the school exhibit a gamut of developmental and physical challenges.  The school works with children who are deaf, blind, autistic, and dyslexic as well as those possessing other challenges. Officially the school caters for children who are between the ages 8 to 18 years however there are some instances where children remain in school beyond 18 because there isn’t another level of schooling for them after.   Currently the school has a mixture of boys and girls totalling 324 students.

 

The project was completed in 15 days with 10 days of preparatory work before the arrival of the Massachusetts group.  The preparatory work involved surveys, site plans, excavating, filling and levelling the ground.  The existing equipment was re-located to the new location and rehabilitated where necessary.  On the 5 remaining days, Rotarians from both districts collaboratively installed basketball rings, painted and marked the ball court, repainted play equipment, interacted with the students and distributed games.  Toys were also distributed to three orphanages, St John de Bosco, Joshua House and Hope Children’s Home.  It was six days of great work and excellent fellowships. The total cost of the project was USD 6,500.

 

The playground was handed over to the Principal Ms. Husbands on Friday the 26th February by PDG Richard, President Renata from the Rotary Club of Demerara, as well as, representatives from Rotary Club of Georgetown, Georgetown Central and Starbroek.

 

All the Georgetown Clubs got a chance to meet and fellowship with the visitors from the USA at their respective weekly meetings. This experience of fellowship and international cooperation was an eye-opener particularly to newer Rotarians as the global reach of Rotary and power of collaboration to impact lives was visibly demonstrated. Many of them were quite impressed that the Rotarians from Massachusetts would choose to spend their holidays working on a project in another country and show how through collaboration, we can all make an impact on the lives of people around the word.