Rotary motto: service above self

We gather for breakfast at 7, and as I eat sweet papaya and drink strong Santo Domingo coffee, I learn there are about 70 people in our service group. The vast majority are members of Rotary International here to inspect sites of water filters already installed, to learn more about the need for clean water, or to look for new projects for their clubs to sponsor. There are also students from Central Michigan University here to formulate business plans for the long-term commercial sustainability of the water projects. It's quite a team, with heads full of ideas and hearts full of compassion.

I am already reaching one of my goals on this trip: to understand more about how the parts fit together in my father-in-law's Rotary organization, Thirsting to Serve. Jim is the president of his Rotary district's clean water project, finding funding and partners to make clean water possible for families in Honduras, India, the Dominican Republic, among others. The effort requires many partnerships, as cooperation is needed to produce the water filters, research their effectiveness, ship them out, raise funds, reduce costs, and deliver to homes. During the hour-and-a-half drive to the city of Santiago, representatives of the different Rotary districts stand up on the bus and explain their parts of the water project.

At around 10 am we arrive at the towering Santiago monument to war heroes. Local Dominican Rotary groups are waiting to greet us and to drive us around town to see their service projects in progress. The heat is intense as they organize us into separate groups, and several shoeshine boys mill around asking for money.

Mom & Dad Van Dyke and I are paired up with Jose, a civil engineer, and he leads us to his Lexus while talking on his cell phone. Very soon we start to see the vast disparity between those who have dinero in this country and those who have not.