Heartwarming, "Service Above Self"
The Xicotepec Project
Since the first contact between the Rotary Club of Xicotepec and Rotary District 6000 in 2001, this collaborative humanitarian enterprise has provided the opportunity for Rotarians, Rotaractors, Interactors, university students and others from the U. S. and Mexico to work together in carrying out dozens of Rotary projects in Xicotepec de Juárez, Puebla, Mexico. As of March 2018, project teams comprising over 1,000 members have traveled to Xicotepec to participate – and of these, more than half have been high school or university students.
Beginning in 2003, D6000 project teams have visited Xicotepec each March to work on Rotary projects there, ranging from construction of new school classrooms and playgrounds to screenings for cancer and diabetes to de-worming of pre- and primary-school students. Many educational, health care and community improvement projects have been completed, but there are many more needs in the Xicotepec community.
Beginning in 2007, the University of Iowa and The Xicotepec Project have collaborated to offer an interdisciplinary, international service-learning course, a semester-long class in which students spend Spring Break in Xicotepec executing service projects that are related to their discipline or area of study. Students of Pharmacy, Dentistry, Public Health, Engineering, Nursing, Education, Business, Urban and Regional Planning, Sociology, Theatre Arts and other disciplines have participated in the course and have carried out a wide variety of projects.
The joint efforts of Xicotepec Rotarians, D6000 and the University of Iowa have created bonds of friendship that transcend social, economic, religious, racial, age and cultural barriers and which embody Rotary's values and ideals. Over its more than 18 year history, the intergenerational Xicotepec Project, still going and still growing, has touched the lives of many norteamericanos as well as Xicotepecanos.
The application period for the March project team trip to Xicotepec opens in mid-September and closes in early November. Applications are taken online at https://www.xicoproject.org/apply.
For more information:
Visit the Xicotepec Project website via the link to the left, or
See The Xicotepec Project's Facebook page via the link to the left.
Note: The 2018 Visit Video may take a little bit to load, depending on your internet speed.