Your correspondent is feeling a little philosophical today, so before updating some recent activities of the Rotary Club of Bali Lovina, I would like to explain something about the basic principles of Rotary International.
One of the guiding principles of Rotary International is what has come to be known as the Four-Way Test. It is a nonpartisan and nonsectarian ethical guide for Rotarians to use for their personal and professional relationships.
Rotarians should ask the following questions of all the things we think, say or do:
- Is it the TRUTH?
- Is it FAIR to all concerned?
- Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
- Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
Only if the answers to all of these questions is “Yes” should we act on our ideas. It’s a pretty good guide to behavior for everybody, not just Rotarians!
Rotary attempts to bring benefit to the people in its community – a community which may be local or world-wide. It does this through six main areas of focus:
- Promoting peace
- Fighting disease
- Providing clean water, sanitation and hygiene
- Saving mothers and children
- Supporting education
- Growing local economies
The Rotary Club of Bali Lovina has a fairly small (but growing) membership, so obviously we are not in a position to directly bring about world peace! We must direct our energies and limited finances to where they will be the most beneficial for our community, and to this end most of our endeavours come under the heading “Supporting Education”.
We believe that actually “supporting education” is the key to the other five areas of focus, and we do this with two major programs: Supporting school libraries, and Provision of eyeglasses for school students.
Our members have continued to work on the two Pondok Baca libraries which we run in cooperation with the Rotary Club of Hilversum West, in The Netherlands. Librarians from other Pondok Baca libraries came to do an internship at the Window to the World library in Lovina. The Pondok Baca in Munduk continues to receive assistance in improving the management of their library. Over the past year the Window to the World school set up a special course for parents, in which parents learn the skills of how to read books with their young children. Other Rotary Clubs involved in the Pondok Baca program have now taken on the course material and the course will now be implemented in other libraries in Bali and Java.
Our club is always looking for ways to continue to assist the local elementary schools which have received books through our past programs and collaborations. Managing the book collections can be a difficult task given the number of children handling the books – new or extra books are costly. While we continue to seek funds (anyone??) to purchase suitable books, a pilot initiative has been set up by the Window to the World School in which students from some nearby Sekolah Dasar are picked up by bus and brought to Window to the World to learn good library habits, and to borrow and exchange books.
The Rotary Club of Bali Lovina wishes to thank the Window to the World School for its great assistance in these initiatives.
Meanwhile, we have been fortunate to receive additional funds which allows us to continue our program of providing eyeglasses to students in need in Buleleng. Our most recent testing was at a sponsored program for older students run by a local charity organization, Peduli Sesama Philanthropic Work. Out of 35 students in the program, 10 were found to be in need of glasses. They will receive their free stylish glasses in a couple of weeks! The pictures show the testing being carried out by our partners in this project, Raja Optik (formerly Bali Top Optical).
Thanks to Raja Optik and Peduli Sesama Philanthropic Work for their support.
We hope that our work always passes the Four-Way Test!
Links:
Rotary Club of Bali Lovina website:
http://www.jepunsegara.com/rotaryclubbalilovina/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/rotary.lovina/
Window to the World school:
http://www.windowtotheworldschool.com/
Peduli Sesama Philanthropic Work :
http://www.pedulisesamaphilanthropicwork.org/
Pictured: Rotary Club members, Raja Optik staff and students of the Tourism and Home Assistant program in Sambangan, Buleleng.
Photo credit: Kit Hamilton
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