Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Several years ago, a number of Puerto Vallarta residents visited a kindergarten in the village of Los Rastrojos, Jalisco, a small village south of El Tuito in the municipality of Cabo Corrientes.

The building consisted of a shed roof on the back of a barn, a dirt floor and one wall. The visitors decided that the classroom needed to be replaced, but there was no money in the local government's budget to do anything. Several of the visitors were from Canada, so they presented the situation to the Rotary Club in Medicine Hat, and the club took on the project to build a proper kindergarten.

There was land adjacent to the elementary school in Los Rastrojos that was the perfect site for the new kindergarten. The Rotary raised enough money to buy the materials and the local people furnished the labor to build the school.

In talking with Ignacio Palomera, president of the El Tuito Rotary and an employee of the city of El Tuito, the question was raised about teachers. He explained that there was a problem as there was no place for the teacher to live in Rastrojos so the teacher had to travel from El Tuito, which was a problem as the teacher had no car.

Four of the Vallarta visitors, all residents of Molino de Agua, suggested that a teacherage be attached to the back of the new kindergarten, when it was built. Earlene and Jim Callan and Carolina and Randy Vandean posted the money to add on two bedrooms, which could house both the kindergarten and the elementary teachers. They also paid for the rest rooms to be expanded to include a shower.

Over time, the men of the village completed the work. The Los Rastrojos kindergarten now has a new classroom, and the kindergarten and elementary teachers have a place to live.

In February, the official ribbon cutting was held for the new facility. In appreciation of the teacherage, plaques were placed on the two bedrooms thanking the Molino residents. Ignacio knew that Jim Callan wrote books, so he had a book added to the Callan's plaque. As the Vandeans were active in the Rotary in Canada, that was mentioned on the plaque on the second bedroom.