The Berkeley Rotary Club is partnering with the La Penita Rotary Club and ten (10) other clubs to improve a Kindergarten classroom and make other school improvements in Los Ayala, near Puerto Vallarta.

Los Ayala is a small beach town and fishing village located in the municipality of Compostela, in the Mexican state of Nayarit. It is one of the three towns on Jaltemba Bay, the other two are Rincón de Guayabitos and La Penita de Jaltemba.

The Los Ayala kindergarten school is one classroom with a student population of 38 with a second teacher arriving in the fall with the community led completion of a second classroom. We will help community members finish the classroom and rehab the existing classroom. The Conafe schools are one room primary schools in rural communities. We will be building furniture for the Los Ayala Kindergarten and some of these schools. With support from a Calgary Rotary Club, La Penita Rotary will be able to add to the furniture for these schools, especially chairs and white boards.

There will be two (2) trips and two (2) groups led by the Project Leader, Grier Graff from Berkeley Rotary. Norm Lundberg is putting together a Richmond Rotary team. You can e-mail Norm for more information about the trip and previous international service projects.

If you are interested in participating in this project, follow the instructions below to submit a reservation. You will receive a project registration confirmation e-mail once Grier receives your reservation request. Once hotel accommodations are reserved by the La Penita Rotary Club, you will receive confirmation of the actual trip arrival time.

WHEN

The first group trip is tentatively scheduled for Arrive on Thursday, November 30 – Depart on Friday, December 8 and the second group trip for Arrive on Friday, December 8 – Depart on Sunday, December 17.

The plan is to work every day except Sunday. There will be two worksites, the school and a furniture work room. Lunch will be provided by the parents at Los Ayala Kindergarten.

After lunch, there will be free time and a group dinner in the evenings. There will be an opportunity for a day trip on certain workdays for part of the crew. Accommodations will be in a small hotel and some will have kitchenettes.

The estimated total cost is $1,400 USD plus airfare per person. This covers meals, beach drinks, accommodations, ground transportation, and a contribution of $150 to the project. There is no payment required at this time to make a reservation.

HOW TO RESERVE

Email your RESERVATION INFORMATION to the Project Leader, Grier Graff from Berkeley Rotary

RESERVATION INFORMATION

• Your name and names of any partners participating, phone, email and mailing address
• Your preferred group. Can you move to the other week?
• Indicate your skills and skill level.  Let us know if you are a Spanish speaker
• Your preferred Shirt sizes using Men’s sizes for T-shirts,  for Polo shirts, use Men & Women sizes.

NOTE: We may need to adjust your travel week to accommodate the skills needed. We will discuss this directly with you. Scheduling preference will be given to volunteers from clubs that have contributed $1,000 or more.