Heartwarming, "Service Above Self"

 

Since the first meeting of 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
2024, project teams comprising over 1,100 members have traveled to Xicotepec to participate
– of these team members, more than half have been high school or university students.

 

Beginning in 2003, D6000 project teams have visited Xicotepec each March (except during
the pandemic years 2020-2022) 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 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 23-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. For information on how to apply, visit
 https://www.xicoproject.org/apply, or email xicoproj@gmail.com..