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Our very own Dennis B hosted Hans Ratz today. Hans did most of the talking and Linda B ran the projector. Past Prez Linda B did take the pictures which were a lot. She did do some work there though too. There were 24 on the trip which left Hamilton on Family day morning after an unscheduled 3 inches of snow which added to the stress of carrying two 50 lb bags from car to airport. 5 lbs of personal stuff and carry on were all we were allowed. The week before we gathered at Hans's factory to weigh and pack bags. It was organized chaos. Bags were packed and sorted with hats , shirts and blouses in one bag, sporting equipment in another. Bottles of Tylenol, Advil were stripped of their boxes to be able to pack more in. Feminine products in another. Bags were then weighed and reweighed to get to 45lbs and 50lb s. In all we carried 2200 lbs with us. Dennis was my roommate. ... which wasn't as bad as it sounds . Regardless what time we left in morning Dennis was up at 600 am making two jugs of Tims coffee every morning which we carried to the restaurant. Coffee drinkers were ecstatic. Tourists wondered were the Tims came from. Linda B brought her sister, and Paul Codi and Jim McPherson shared a room. We learned to carry two servesas, a vodka and ice and a drink of the day to our table . Mike Thomas was on vacation with his family and they helped out for a few days. The first day we probably worked the hardest. There was crew with cement blocks and two paint crews. I was part of the paint crew for the week . We painted 8 houses in total , pink blue and yellow... They actually looked pretty good. Some Financial details of the trip .. The trip cost $1600 which we got a tax receipt. We were asked to fund raise or donate an equal amount.. In total $38000 was raised. Most mornings were spent visiting various sites.. A garbage dump were we did a feeding program for refugees from Haiti, sorting out plastic bottles were they might make a 1$. We went to a village which was made up of mostly refugees from Haiti. We did a feeding program for the children and leftovers for the adults. Some served bowls of soup and others were on the dish washing crew. One morning we visited a orphanage run by a nun. She cared for children mostly disabled either physical or mental that had been abandoned by their parents. God Bless her! We also met a group of women from Boston there, who were there to visit and support financially. Our group of 24 were made up locally...., Guelph and Cambridge. Some were very loyal supporters and have attended for years. Phil a retired Principal brings a different grand child with him every year. Thankfully we had a half dozen or more high school age and university age students to do a lot of the heavy work. Most days we were back at the resort by 400 pm which was time for pizza wings and fries. That is were the beer vodka and drink of the day came in. It was great getting to know our fellow Rotarions. Also great fun on the beach and watching the waves flatten unsuspecting tourists. Paul and I also got to watch a few models doing a photo shoot on the beach! Prez Chad thanked Hans for coming. I know Dennis and Hans would welcome anyone that wants to go. . I had a great time as did Linda Paul and Jim. Matt Musings This wasn't part of the meeting but I thought I would share with you some statistics from the World Bank on the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic is considered a low middle income country. Latest Gross National Income per capita is $7370. Gross Domestic Product in 2018 was revised up to 7.0 % in 2018. Extreme Poverty is considered below a 1.90 a day. In the Dominican that is considered 2.1 % of the population. The Government estimates poverty in 2016 to be 30.5%. I couldn't find their exact definition but i suspect it is between 2 and 5 a day. Development Economists recommend investments in Human Capital in order to raise standard of living. Namely education and Health. Immunization for measles 12-23 months 99% ( lets pray that anti Vaccers never take hold in the DR were hospitals are expensive . A broken arm is likely to lead to a free amputation. In the DR the Primary School completion rate is 90.4% Female and 91.4% male ..Secondary school completion rate for females is 51.6% ( Fyi primary school rate was 78% in 2000 so there has been improvement. With any statistics in Developing countries one should be always wary. Do they include the refugees from Haiti which could skew numbers lower.. Sugar was a major crop for the Dominicans but since has been drastically reduced from the 90's. . The sugar lobby group in the USA is probably more powerful than the NRA. The USA has import quotas for sugar on all Latin American countries. Tariffs are 80% on raw sugar. USA Sugar Farmers have price and loan guarantees from the US Government. If American consumers bought sugar at world price it would be 8 to 10 cents cheaper. Editors note . You may notice I use the term refugees rather than migrants. Notice when you read articles in the paper on the subject. If you feel sorry for them or feel they are ok they are called refugees, if against they are called migrants. |
