Country: Mexico

Organization: Freedom Shores Resort

Year the initiative began: 2005

Project Website: Http://www.freedom-shores.com

Positioning in the Mosaic of solutions:

• Main barrier addressed: Cross-cultural myopia
• Main insight addressed: Education through hands-on experience

What is the goal of your innovation?
Our (my wife and I) goal is to build Freedom Shores into "the destination" or all of those with handicaps who wish to vacation in Mexico. By doing that, we will be able to employ more locals.

How does your approach support or embody geotourism?
By building this resort for the handicapped and their able-bodied friends, we are attracting guests from all over the world who interact with our employees. That awakens in them a desire for education, to learn more about the outside world. All of our employees are bettering themselves educationally. Some only finished the third grade, but we supply them with the teachers at the time they need to progress.

Describe your approach in detial. How is it innovative?
We used our own funds to purchase a very old hotel in a little fishing village on the Campeche Coast of the Yucatán. We employed locals in the immense renovation of that property. It took more than two years! When we were done, I asked the workers if they wanted to learn how: to work in the kitchen of the restaurant, learn the proper preparation and presentation of food, learn about cleanliness, learn about the proper preparation and presentation of mixed drinks, and learn to speak English. After a few days of thought, they all returned and answered in the affirmative! Guests in wheelchairs to tell the community and this is something the locals are not used to seeing! The community is very enthusiastic about what we are doing! We are now one year into the post-construction phase and every day as a learning experience for them and for us! It is all very exciting!

What types of partnerships or professional developement would be most beneficial in spearding your innovation?
Of course, money is always a problem! My wife and I do not have unlimited resources. The project is going much slower than I would like because of that. I would love to have professional developers who are associated with Inclusive Geotourism come here and look at what we are doing! We would love to hear their input about what we are doing right and what we are doing wrong.

In one sentence describe what kind of impact, change, or reform your approach is intended to achieve.
We want to offer Inclusive Geotourism to this tiny fishing village in Mexico and, if it works here, then to the world!

Describe the degree of success of your approach to date. Clearly define how you measure quantitative and qualitative impact in terms of how your approach contributes to the sustainability or enhancement of local culture, environment, heritage, or aesthetics? How does your approach minimize negative impacts?
This business is growing exponentially! When we opened on March 18, 2006, that first year we had very few customers and no one in wheelchairs! This year the handicap community has begun to come. Their comments on Freedom Shores have all been laudatory. The education program of our local staff continues and grows. Increased revenues are pumped into the community. All of our profits are utilized to upgrade and improve the resort. Because we implemented and environmental cleanliness campaign on the property on the beach, the community has taken notice.

How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?
When a guest arrive, we make sure that he/she is introduced to everyone At Freedom Shores. Our guest especially have a close relationship with the locals who work in the restaurant. Like one guest put it lightly, Freedom Shores has a "Family Atmosphere!" Every one of our guests who have stayed here, have left generous "financial incentives" for our staff. One of the things I always do with all of our guests, is to take them on a walking/rolling tour of Isla Aguada. Because I am fluent in Spanish, I engage in conversation with the locals and they asked me questions about my guests. An exchange of comments and ideas take place! I explained to our guests about the history of this tiny fishing village. Many of them say that this was one of their favorite things about their stay at Freedom Shores!

In what ways are local residents actively involved in your innovation, including participation and community input? How has the community responded to or benefited from your approach?
Local residents, more than 40 of them, helped us in the construction of Freedom Shores. Because I'm C3, C4, C5, C6 quadriplegic, they are amazed by what I can do! They are truly astounded by the fact that I can drive a 40 foot motor home and a Ford van! When the disabled here in this community see that, they want to do it themselves! I have promised them that I will help them do that by offering them employment at Freedom Shores. Once employed at the resort, they will be eligible for loans to improve their life. For example, because of working here one of our employees built a house, another saved enough money to start a business, another bought a piece of land which he thought was beyond his reach, one of our young women who went through the nurses aide program now works your full-time!!

Describe how your innovation helps travelers and local residents better understand the value of the area's cultural and natural heritage, and educates them on local environmental issues. How do you motivate them to act responsibly in their future travel decisions?
When I take the guests at the hotel on a walking/rolling tour of Isla Aguada, I stop at various places in the community to point out the villages cultural history. Many of the locals asked me what I'm talking about and I explain to them. Many of them didn't consider the cultural and natural value of things in their community. While the locals see the guests harvesting turtle eggs on the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico and then incubating them, they realize the value of the sea turtle. They are beginning to participate in this conservational effort. Because the guests form a personal relationship with the locals at the hotel and in the community, it didn't still send them a desire to return.

Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? What is the potential demand for your innovation?
We certainly could use more help both in the financial and in the organizational arena. But, if we have to, we will do this alone. It will take a long time to come to fruition. Perhaps I will not see it in my lifetime. But it will happen! It will become a reality and this community and its citizens will be changed forever!

How is your initiative currently financed? If available, provide information on your finances and organization that could help others. Please list: Annual budget, annual revenue generated, size of part-time, full-time and volunteer staff.
Beginning in November of 2005, with the destruction/construction my wife and I have financed this entire endeavor!

What is your plan to expand your approach? Please indicate where/how you would like to grow or enhance your innovation, or have others do so.
My approach will work almost anywhere within reach of an airport or a highway system. We did it in a tiny fishing village 30 miles from the nearest city! The selling point was the location. We have 300 feet of beautiful beach on the Laguna de Terminos which empties out into the Gulf of Mexico.

What are the main barriers you encounter in managing, implementing, or replicating your innovation? What barriers keep your program from having greater impact?
Bureaucrats! Bureaucrats! Bureaucrats!

What is the origin of your innovation? Tell your story.
I was injured in the Marine Corps on November 3, 1961 in a diving accident in Hawaii. I was sent to the VA hospital in Cleveland, Ohio for rehabilitation. I learned quickly that being in a wheelchair and trying to move about was snow on the ground is almost an impossibility! I left the VA hospital and went to Cuernavaca, Mexico to live. Eventually, there were five of us in wheelchairs living in the same house. It was a wonderful experience and my wife and I always dreamed about buying a house in Mexico and make it available to people in wheelchairs from the USA/Canada.

Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.
I was born in Michigan are strawberry farm. I joined the United States Marine Corps in June of 1959. I was trained to be a radar operator and I was stationed in Kanehoe Bay Marine Corps Air Station in Kanehoe Bay, Hawaii. On November 3, 1961 I was injured on a military problem (war maneuvers in preparation for Vietnam) of the island of Lanai, Hawaii. After the maneuvers were over, we went down to the beach where they were supposed to pick us up. They weren't there and when we contacted them by radio, they told us to stand by on the beach for a couple of days. We all went swimming and I dove into shallow water and broke my neck. I was paralyzed from my neck down instantly! I was sent to Crile V A Hospital, near Cleveland, Ohio for rehabilitation. I left there after about 6 1/2 months and I went to Cuernavaca, Mexico. We purchased Freedom Shores in 2005 and we have been working here almost constantly!

Please write an overview of your project. This text will appear when people scroll over the icon for your entry on the Google map located on teh competition homepage.
Freedom Shores is designed to fulfill the philosophy of "Inclusive Geotourism." Everything on this property is accessible to someone in a wheelchair! Every day we try to make it better and more accessible!

Contact Information
Mr. William Bussear
Your Job Title
Freedom Shores Resort
Fin de la Calle Marina S/N
Isla_aguada@msn.com