Editor: Nora Zambreno

A group of Logan Rotarians and USU Rotaract Club members completed a service marathon from Logan to Agua Prieta, Mexico, and then home again in just three days. Fred Berthrong called it “an extreme makeover of a hovel” while Dottee Watkins exclaimed it was a “valiant” effort. Read on for both Fred and Dottee’s synopses of the visit.

Fred: Add one Jeff (Larsen) and a Ralph (Bair) plus seven Rotaractors (five chicas and two chicos), and what do you get? You get an extreme makeover of a hovel into a livable home with an inside bathroom and shower, toilet, sink, plus a new room for a kitchen, a thorough cleanup job, a closet for all the clothes that were in piles on the floor, a newly painted bedroom and bunk beds for two lovely daughters (ages 8 and 6), plus another bed for someone else. The parents have a new bed to replace the sway-backed mattress on the floor. The beds were made possible by a generous donation from Brian Smith.

The real impact was made in building a eight-foot-high brick wall around the front yard with a security gate to both protect the children and to keep them contained. It was a mess and now it is a livable front yard complete with a brick patio and garden space. It was amazing what we accomplished in three days. We were also able to finish the plumbing in the bathroom of the house that the Interact Club built last year, and it is only two houses away from the one we tackled this year. So there you have it.

Dottee: The team of ten from Utah confronted a terrible task in transforming this awful place into something livable in three days! The group was absolutely valiant in their non-complaining, vigorous, focused enthusiasm although sunburned, muscles cramping, hands cracked, and painful.

Fred installed pipes and fixtures for Clothilde’s bathroom, which had not been finished since we were there a year ago.

Then Fred piped and installed fixtures in Maria’s home. The crew re-roofed the shack, built a stunning ladrillo security wall around the property to enhance the space for the little girl artists and their autistic brother, which will contain him. There is a sunny space with a brick floor on the patio where everyone can assemble to eat and to study. The donated beds were set up as the last act.Congratulations, Rotaractors and Rotarians! We are grateful, and we are proud of you. More information will follow about Logan Rotary’s collaborative efforts and accomplishments in Agua Prieta in future editions of the Rotator. Stay tuned!

NOTE: Dottee Watkins is a Rotarian and our contact with the Wings of Angels Foundation Crisis Intervention Center in Agua Prieta, Sonora, which shares the border with Douglas, Arizona.

Posted by Wings of Angels on Monday, March 30th, 2009 @ 6:28AM
Categories: 2009