Report 3 
 
On my last report, I forgot to mention a very interesting happening.  Mary Lou has been on previous missions to Nicaragua with Innerkip Presbyterian Church.  She and others knit a 4 inch square with a cross pattern knitted in, and a message pinned to the corner.  She was not sure if the men could have pins (Of course they can), she hand sewed the message to the prayer square.  She brought a few along to the clinic at the addiction centre and when conversing of sorts to one gentleman, showed it to him, offered it and he immediately took it as a prize and thanked her.  We will send more back to the centre.
 
This mission seems to be front end loaded with off time.  Tuesday Nov 8th we do not have clinic because we go to the Rotary meeting at noon.  We have breakfast at the usual time of 7 am, and a group leaves about 8:30 to hike up a hill behind the town, led by a local hiker.  It was a strenuous, steep climb and some reported  shortness of breath and pulling themselves up by hanging onto the rocks.  We are at 6000 feet here and heavy exertion becomes a challenge for us used to being near sea level. They enjoyed it and were glad to get into the shower on return to the hotel.  
 
The Rotary meeting was held at the the Tepehua clinic and was to include the official opening of the clinic.  There were a number of invited guests including Doug Scimgeour and John Kelly of the Lakeside Association. I was presented with a certificate of appreciation, which I accepted on behalf of all the dedicated volunteers at the Stratford Mission depot, for all of the supplies we have given them to distribute  to the bombers (fire and ambulance department) in so many different villages and towns.  The team was presented with a certificate of appreciation for coming to help the people of Tepehua. 
 
The Rotary meeting was convened in a classroom kind of setting, and the guests were introduced, but we did not sing the national anthem, the first Rotary meeting I have been at that we did not sing. We always brag about how Festival City Rotary does a wonderful rendition of our anthem.  Then Dr Carlos did a presentation about the health and social challenges of this area. Our group has 7 Rotarians from 5 different clubs, and we exchanged banners. David Knoppert from London Hyde Park explained why each of the clubs in our District 6330 has a bear for the year and instead of a banner, presented a bear to Rotary Ajijic. Then a lovely buffet lunch of Mexican food along with liquid refreshments, finished the meeting. Afterward, there was an official opening of the Tepehua women’s clinic.
Then I met up with Sheila Paull who is President of the Rotary Club of Chapala. 
 
Sheila is the director of the municipal health services here and we toured the Municipal Health centre, a very clean and well organized place.  The nurses were wearing discarded scrub tops from our hospital staff that had been sent down previously.  They have staff but lack items to work with.  At Sheila’s request, we brought an ECG (electrocardiogram) machine, well packed in a suitcase, and about 8 stethoscopes, discarded from our wards, and she was delighted.  Then we went to city Hall to ask the Mayor if he could do anything to help get our medications out of customs.  He was not there so that did not happen.  Then off to the Chapala Preparation High school, to see the Rotary kitchen project completed by the Chapala Club.  For $20,000.00, they put a commercial type kitchen in the school, to teach students how to prepare and serve food, and wash dishes to be able to get jobs to help them save money to go to University and College.  
 
We actually met Moonie, our Rotary contact there and went to see the area we will work in tomorrow.  The space is adequate but we were skeptical on what we would accomplish.  These are students with monetary means, destined for College or University.  Their families were invited to come to the clinic, but the students here will be well, and they wanted us to talk to them about sexually transmitted diseases.  Really?  When we got back to the hotel, we had a team meeting to strategize for tomorrow.
 
We dressed up a little and drove to a subdivision up the hills at the invitation of Doug and Diane Scrimgeour from Blythe, Ontario.  They live here 6 months of the year.  We have been giving Doug’s group medical supplies for years.  Their house was a beautiful modern huge house with a glass wall that could be closed, otherwise the patio and pool and gardens were part of the house, and it all looked out to the lake and the far away mountains.  They had prepared Margaritas in the largest pitcher ever, a 5 gallon water bottle sitting in a cradle for easy pouring!   
 
A friend of theirs BBQ’d Kabobs and along with rice and salad, a lovely supper.  We met some of their friends who would put the word out for translators, and also told us about some communities who had no access to health care.  We wanted more information about that as we anticipate giving care to privileged teenagers tomorrow.  What a lovely evening.  As it was cloudy we did not see the sunset over the lake. 
 
In mission service, Jean