Terry checking out the local bus.
First, Terry Nielsen from the Courtenay Rotary club had been in Mexico for nearly 2 weeks and really wanted to see what was happening with the rural Mexican schools we had been helping for the past 7 years. Terry and I met up as soon as I landed in Puerto Vallarta and early the next morning we set off on a tour of Cabo Corrientes. We were able to visit many villages and schools in the area and saw many completed projects and other projects that badly needed help. While we were there we were fortunate enough to stay with my good Mexican friends in the pretty fishing village of Tehuamixtle and Terry got to see the broken down bus that services this area. After a very productive and fun couple of days I drove Terry back to Boca Tomatlan where we had a great lunch on the beach watching the young kids surfing in the bigger than normal waves; then it was time for him to hop a bus back to Puerto Vallarta and then Canada, while I headed south towards Bara Navidad where Bob and Annette were staying.
fun mural
Bob Mason and kids at the orphanage
Second, Bob Mason and his good wife Annette had asked me to visit and possibly do some painting at a nearby special needs center if I was in Mexico around this time. We had never met but had corresponded over the years and they had been a great help with our fundraisers. As I have described in an earlier post the Masons had dedicated their lives for many years to running an orphanage in northern Mexico, and they had only recently moved to this area. I had a fun time painting at the school where one of the children’s fathers had just painted one of the cutest murals I had ever seen. It was also very nice catching up with the Masons. I learned a fun game of Dominos called Mexican Train, saw huge crocodiles that lived on the property, and possibly got a great lead on some wheelchairs that were badly needed at the new center in Cabo Corrientes. As soon as I returned to Puerto Vallarta I got in touch with their Bob and Annette’s friends Nigel and Phillipa Gow.
Wheelchair/Walker for young boy at Sp. Needs center in El Tuito
The Gows were the third good reason for my quick return to Mexico and Lady Luck was surely shining down when I contacted them. They belong to a great organization called “Amigos de Teacapan” who help with medical, educational and just about any other kind of need in this area. Their president Rod Buranen gave them the go ahead to help us out and boy did they ever! They helped us locate a great wheelchair and a sturdy walker for a young boy in El Tuito that was without both. Then their friends Ken and Janet Jones from Richmond B.C, who were in the area, volunteered to deliver the wheelchair and walker down to Puerto Vallarta where they delivered them right to where I was staying.
For the past 25 years a Penan friend of mine from Sarawak, Borneo has been fighting the big fight while living in a foreign land … Canada. As a result of his efforts to stop the 
Last year he mentioned the dire need for a kindergarten school in Upper Limbang where the last of the nomadic Penan are living. Currently there is no preschool/kindergarten in the area, especially for the villages of Long Gita, Ba Peresek, Long Pusit and Ba Nyakit. Over 100 preschool/kindergarten children are living in camp situations with no schooling at all.
improve living conditions for the people of Sarawak. As well, a group of international teachers, churches and organisations working in this area have agreed to provide teacher training, salaries and ongoing support for the teachers and school.
Who would ever believe that I could break down in 3 different vehicles in 3 different countries within one month. The Universe must know I am no mechanic!
Just before the California border there are a set of mountains that the van did not want to go over and it heated up quickly. I hobbled back into Grants Pass and found the only mechanic open on a Sunday. I spent the whole day at the mechanic’s as the crew tried to figure what the problem was – no luck and I was held over until Monday when the boss was due to arrive. I drove the van to the Walmart parking lot and spent the night there in the van, what an experience !!! There were half a million dollar motor homes on one side of the lot and on the other the displaced and homeless. It was quite the contrast. Back at the mechanics they discovered it was the radiator (only more money) : -) Next, I was off to see Ken and Sandra who have an organic farm just outside Santa Cruz. After a short visit a donated sewing machine plus lots more clothing from friends it was off to Puerta Vallarta where a group of Rotarians was waiting for me.
One of my favorite HAPPY Places. This year we helped to raise funds to finish their badly needed renovations. They look after over 100 children a day so the parents can go to work in an area the size of a shoe box.
This was our big project for the year that the local government, who does not have a lot of money, decided that teacher housing was a major priority and asked us to help. There are 5 teachers at the only high school in this very remote area ( Villa del Mar), and they are sleeping in make shift tents, on the school floor, or being passed around to different families in the community. This is a big problem as most teachers are from the cities and not used to these sparse living conditions. They get fustrated , some leave, and in other cases the school closes.
Thanks to Barb Crompton, Patsy Duggan AND MANY FRIENDS who threw a very successful, very fun, fund raiser for this project in Vancouver last year. Along with continuing support from the Sunrise Rotary Club of Medicine Hat AB this fundraiser allowed us to help see this project completed. The local people of the village have done all the work and we have been able to get all materials at cost..