by Robin Loving

“We are here because we love the people, projects, and opportunities to improve the community’s sustainability,” said Joe Ruffino, Rotary Midday’s President for 2023-2024 when he took office July 4. “We create hope in the world, the rewards of which are immeasurable. We have been recognized globally as an outstanding club thanks to outgoing President Lee and others over our 18-year, legacy-making history, and we’re not stopping there,” he continued.
 
Joe went on to say that we will focus on organizational continuity and collaboration with both Rotaract’s younger members and the 'night club' of Spanish-speaking Rotarians who meet at another place and time each week. Meanwhile, we will continue focusing on outstanding meetings, projects, and international opportunities. One of those will be with an international partner that has success in turning around youth who might otherwise become incarcerated.

Passing of the gavel from Lee Carter to Joe Ruffino Jr.

About seven or eight years ago Rotarian Nate Fultz had an idea to start planting trees in public spaces around San Miguel de Allende. It was a cool little project, he would find a space that needed trees, like parks or public facilities. Then he would head to one of the local Viveros and negotiate a price for the trees, dirt, and compost. After that part was finished, he would rally Rotarians to come out and plant them. Doing something nice for the community and creating a good fellowship opportunity.

Unfortunately, 4 years ago Nate needed to return to The United States to care for his elderly Father. 

I took over the project for hm in 2019, and except for postponing the project during the Pandemic have been doing it ever since.

This year we planted 15 trees at the Control Canino facility (city dog pound) so the dogs and the volunteers that walk the dogs could have some shade to relax in. 

The remaining trees this year will be spread across several parks.

I really don’t know exactly how many trees the Midday rotary has planted, but my best guess is around One hundred and twenty give or take. 

We have done tree plantings in La Unidad Deportiva, The Alma Retirement Home, Control Canino, Parque Las Brisas, Parque enamorada, Parque Cochinita, Parque Loreto, and at least five or six others all around SMA. 

It cost approximately one thousand pesos to plant a decent tree, maybe three to four meters tall.

My estimate is that the generous Rotarians in San Miguel have spent nearly one hundred and twenty thousand pesos to help green San Miguel de Allende. 

Fred Collins
​Midday Rotary Past President

​by Robin Loving

​Imagine: You are a campo girl of 10 – 12 who knows nothing about your body’s operation. Your house has a dirt floor, no windows or doors, no running water, no electricity, no gas. You have to work several days a week instead of going to school, and then that time of the month comes when you can’t do even those things because you have no supplies to manage your body’s functions.
 
In comes Rotary Club of San Miguel Midday with its Girls’ Empowerment Program with its Ninas Sabias (Wise Girls) curriculum. When you are at school one-week, Mexican female teachers come in and through song, dance, and ritual, teach you about your body and its importance to the world. At first, you don’t have the confidence to meet their eyes and say your name. By Friday, you are joyously celebrating your womanhood, and you have a reusable kit of supplies to keep you at work and at school.
 
Rotary began thinking about this project in May 2021. By January of 2022, the community need and concept was shared with all members and a team was formed to research resources. By the summer of 2022, Rotary was paying for local women to become trained and certified as Ninias Sabias teachers. In early January 2023, Rotary had a contract with the Secretary of Education of the State of Guanajuato to begin. Two weeks later, teachers were in schools during the school day for a week of transformative education.
 
Immediately, the boys wanted in on whatever this mysterious, private class was. By spring of 2023, Rotary had developed a SEG-approved curriculum for a boys’ program in the schools. It will teach the boys about their puberty as well as respect for the girls’ transformations. It will stress responsibility, accountability, and goal-setting in personal, family, and community contexts.
 
Both programs focus on the importance of education and staying in school to help them break the cycle of generational poverty.
 
Empowering women and children is one of Rotary’s seven areas of focus. Rotary here applied to Rotary International Foundation to fund this program and received a global grant of $91,000 USD to train 2,000+ girls over a year. Because this program is so popular with local volunteers, this money will go farther, for there now are some volunteer drivers who make their ways over unpaved, rutty, rocky roads to take the teachers back and forth each day.
 
The plan is to return to these same 168 communities every two years to ensure that more children who are coming of age have this essential, life-changing education. As well, a future phase will bring this program to urban schools, as well.
 
If you would like to volunteer to participate in this impactful community project, contact Andrea Spessard at alspessard@gmail.com. 

By Etelka Lehoczky

After imagining the future of Rotary in Melbourne, Australia, members and speakers at the 2023 Rotary International Convention looked ahead to next year's gathering in Singapore and being able to share hope with the world by focusing on mental health and well-being.

"Singapore is a city that embodies the spirit of service and giving back to the community," said Jennifer Scott, chair of the 2024 International Convention Committee. "This city-state is a hub of culture, cuisine, and innovation, and is renowned for its architecture, natural beauty, and bustling nightlife. There is something for everyone in Singapore."
​
During the convention's closing session, 2023-24 Rotary International President R. Gordon R. McInally explained why he's asking members to make mental health a priority. When his only brother took his own life, McInally said, he became determined to fight the stigma around mental health issues and expand access to care.

"I might venture to suggest that one of the main reasons that my brother and so, so many others like him reach the point they do is that mental health remains such a taboo subject, and that mental health services remain in such short supply," he said. "I know that Rotary can do something about that. I am confident we can illuminate mental health needs near and far."

"We can help one another feel more supported as fellow Rotary members and as neighbors," McInally continued. "We can advocate for mental health services. And we can build bridges with experts in the mental health space to help expand access to treatment."

McInally urged Rotary members to Create Hope in the World by getting involved and taking action at a critical moment in history.

"To create hope, we must continue doing our important work, and do it better than ever before," he said. "We must refocus our efforts to build peace across the globe. And we must help each other find peace within — and share that ethic of care to the people we serve."

Earlier in the day, Kunle Adeyanju, president of the Rotary Club of Ikoyi Metro A.M., Nigeria, reflected on how to fulfill the promise of a polio-free world. In 2022, Adeyanju rode a motorcycle from London, England, to Lagos, Nigeria, to raise money and draw attention to the cause.

"We're in the last mile of the push toward polio eradication. That's quite encouraging," Adeyanju said. "But when you're so close to the tipping point, the whole gain you've achieved in the last 30 years could go away in one day."

He compared the commitment to end polio to his marathon ride.

"There were several instances where I was in the Sahara and I kept asking myself, 'Why am I doing this? Why did I get myself here?' But the resilient spirit in us says, 'Yes, it's difficult, but it's doable.' That's the same mindset we need to put into eradicating polio around the world."

During another session that focused on the difficult but doable, past Rotary Peace Fellow Ryan Rowe introduced Haitian Rotarians who have been working to bring clean water to 770,000 people in seven counties throughout the country as part of HANWASH, or the Haiti National Clean Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Initiative.

Over the last three years, the organization has raised US$1.8 million to dig wells, build latrines, and modernize water systems around the country. Organizers also plan to invest US$400,000 in a mentoring and training program for local engineers.

This "is an incredible story of Rotary impact that the entire world needs to hear," Rowe said.

In her closing remarks, Rotary International President Jennifer Jones, who made history as the organization's first female president, made the connection between imagining Rotary — the idea of her presidential theme — and hope, an element of McInally's.
​
"We don't imagine yesterday — and we also don't look for hope in past actions," Jones said. "'Hope' and 'imagine' are words for tomorrow — words that propel us forward. They build upon each other and offer a path forward. A path of continuity."

Graduation Day is always extraordinary! This week we had 4 graduating classes with 86 new WISE GIRLS!

We want to give you a SNEAK PEEK at what happens on the last day of our workshops.

​"The Girls' Prayer" ~ Words by our Wise Maestra, Arleth

It is the last module of the Wise Girls' workshop.

On this day, the Girls bring flowers and seeds to create their altar, "a matrix of flowers".

Each seed, flower, leaf, or carving carries an intention, a prayer to life, to the Girls of this earth, to the 4 elementals: fire, earth, water, and wind.

When it is ready, we circle around the altar to circulate the word; the Girls share what they liked best about the workshop, share a thank you and a commitment to themselves, and present a drawing as an offering.

A recollection is made of everything learned and shared in these 5 days of workshop with songs corresponding to each module.

This is an inspiring day. Finally, the Girls graduate from the Wise Girls workshop. There is nostalgia and joy, laughter and tears.

They receive their sustainable management menstrual kit (made by Days for Girls International) and dance around the great containing "womb."

As a final closure, the Girls raise the altar and choose a tree to sow their prayers and intentions.

This is how this closing day is lived, very emotional and rewarding for the Wise Girls and Wise Teachers.

Learn more about the Girls Empowerment Program HERE.​​

​By Tom Schneider
 
San Miguel’s two local Rotary Clubs and Rotaract are sponsoring a series of public events to promote peace in March and April.
 
On Tuesday, March 21, at noon, gather at the Peace Pole obelisk in Parque Juarez to celebrate the spring equinox when local indigenous elder Alicia Mayo will lead a four-direction ceremony including the chant “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in four languages: English, Nauatl, Otomi, and Spanish. Then, hearing-impaired students from the Escuela de Educacion Especial will present the same in Mexican sign language, and Maggie Sperling, a visually impaired Rotarian, will read the Braille version.

By Robin Loving
 
San Miguel’s Midday Rotary Club is proud to announce that the 16th annual Farley W. Wheelwright Citizen of the Year is Red Cross Board President Lety Fernandez de Noyola. She was selected for her outstanding service above self, which is the motto of Rotary International.
 
The ceremony was held on Tuesday, March 7, at the Biblioteca’s Teatro Santa Ana.
 
“Lety is deeply committed to serving 24/7/365 happily and effectively,” said Rotary President Lee Carter. “She has transformed the Red Cross in her 19 years of dedication,” he concluded.

In her volunteer capacity, Fernandez manages 21 staff members including a doctor, an ophthalmologist, a dentist, a psychologist, a podiatrist, and 250 volunteers. They offer13 programs, not just the fleet of 14 ambulances, medical supplies, and training programs. Fernandez also manages a meeting facility for up to 70 people, a pharmacy, an optical center, a COVID test site, and temporary housing for people in emergencies.
​
“I am proud that we have collaborations with the Polytechnic of Mexico and UNAM as well as with a team of 20-30-year-olds who provide services for as little as $30 pesos,” said Fernandez, who began with the Red Cross as a fundraiser. “My passion is caring for people in San Miguel,” she concluded.

​By Stu Dearnley
 
The Midday Rotary of San Miguel was honored to host the U.S. Consul General, Scott Renner and our local U.S. Consular Agent, Erika Montes, for a "Meet and Greet" social hour and Q&A session on Thursday night.

Among the services consulates provide for their citizens are passport renewals, birth certificates, and visa issuances. They also ensure Americans get their Social Security/disability benefits while abroad, visit with the 1,000+ Americans being held in Mexican prisons, and work to recover abducted children. Renner has worked for the United States in a slew of countries including Nigeria, Chile, Poland, Bogota, Haiti, and Toronto. He helped Americans leave China when Covid was starting, then helped them leave Afghanistan when America pulled their troops out. Needless to say, he’s got a lot of stories!

When pressed for the one thing he’d like Americans to know, he said, “Passports and visas need not approach their expiration date before you renew them.” Since Covid, the backlogs have been long, and he suggests starting the process as far as two years before the expiration date. If an emergency passport is needed, by far the fastest way to obtain one is in person in Mexico City.

Renner said that firearm possession is the #2 reason Americans get incarcerated (drugs is #1) and reminds us that it’s our responsibility to be aware of local laws. The consulate does not get you out of jail. Instead, they do their best to get you your prescriptions while you’re behind bars. He suggests registering with the consulate, which can be done through their website. By registering, you’re letting them know to look for you in the event of a natural disaster. It also facilitates their contacting you if, for example, an American family member is having trouble making contact.
 
Part of the consulate’s job is protecting you from scams. So, if you get an email that looks suspect, call them up and ask if it’s legitimate. If it is legitimate, you’ll be glad you called! The embassy is manned 24/7/365, so “If you call, someone’s going to pick up.”

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