Day 4: First Day of Conference, Copan Village and Service Project

Everyone at breakfast.
see all photos »

Journal Entry by Lily Zeng

We were awoken at 6:30 a.m. by loud strangers banging on our door and told that we must be ready to leave the hotel at 8:30 a.m. for the conference. We were given official matching t-shirts and beautiful woven bags to carry our t-shirts and the free toothpaste samples they also gave us. The conference lasted the entire morning. It was very uplifting to meet so many Rotaracters from all over the world (but mostly Central America) all working towards the common goal of helping the less fortunate and making the world a better place. The speeches at the conference were all in Spanish, but two girls kindly came over to translate and to make sure we understood what they were discussing. The focus of the conference was a debate on how to improve future conferences, and everyone stood up and presented their different views. We then split up into individual districts for more intimate group discussions until it was time to eat.

In the village of Copan.
see all photos »

After a musical and festive lunch by the pool, Amelia, a Rotaractor from Guatemala, showed us to a nearby village, where we wandered around the marketplace and soaked up some local culture. We came back to meet up with the other Rotaracters to work on our community project: we sorted and organized an entire roomful of donated clothing to give to impoverished members of community. We helped children choose clothes that fit, and then watched them scramble away smiling as they eagerly clutched their new belongings.

At a cafe in the village.
see all photos »

We returned to our hotel to prepare for our safari- or animal-themed dinner. After a candlelit meal by the pool, we went to go see the Miss and Mr. Central America Rotaract contest, which our lovely Uliana was a contestant in. There was some very intense competition, but Uliana triumphed as Queen of Central America with an improvised ballet rendition to “Lady in Red,” with her King of Central America being a wonderful young man named Hershel from Belize. Still glowing with victory, we all headed to bed.