Rotary International, with over 1,2 million members worldwide, focuses its action on 7 areas: peace and conflict prevention/resolution, disease prevention and treatment, water and sanitation, maternal and child health, basic education and literacy, economic and community development, and protecting the environment. So how do 14 Balinese and expat members of Rotary Club Bali Ubud Sunset [RCBUS] coordinate with Rotary International members from 200 other countries in the world? It’s simple! All of us focus on the same 7 areas.
Fighting Disease – Rotary International believes that good health care is everyone’s right and that disease results in misery, pain, and poverty for millions of people worldwide. The international organization helps to fund the set up of temporary clinics, blood donation centers, and training facilities in underserved communities struggling with outbreaks and health care access. They design and build infrastructure that allows doctors, patients, and governments to work together. Rotary International members like RCBUS combat diseases like malaria, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and polio. Prevention is important, which is why Rotary International also focuses on health education and bringing people routine hearing, vision, and dental care. As an individual club, RCBUS Supports Bali Sehat’s clinic in Culik along with their healthy days pop-up clinics, which provides access to health care and preventative health care education to the impoverished people of Karangasem Regency, supports the John Fawcett Foundation which helps restore sight to people who can not afford other eye care, and helps to support various other charities that offer support and education for women’s health issues, children’s safety and protection, HIV education and the administering of polio shots.
Providing Clean Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene – Rotary International believes that clean water, sanitation, and hygiene education are basic necessities for a healthy environment and a productive life. When people have access to clean water and sanitation, waterborne diseases decrease, children stay healthier and attend school more regularly, and mothers can spend less time carrying water and more time helping their families. Several members of RCBUS have participated in as many as 15 clean water projects in northeastern Bali which included several Rotary Clubs both here and abroad. This year’s RCBUS clean water project was responsible for bringing water to 87 families in Kedampal Village.
Saving Mothers and Children – Rotary International believes that high-quality health care available to vulnerable mothers and children so they can live longer and grow stronger. It works to provide access to quality care, so mothers and children everywhere can have the same opportunities for a healthy future Along with supporting the Bali Sehat clinic, the John Fawcett Foundation and other charities that focus on health issues, RCBUS has supported a motorbike helmets for children program, programs that teach children to swim, and is working on a program which will deliver basic hygiene education to young children.
Supporting Education – Rotary International supports basic education and literacy, the reduction of gender disparity in education, and an increase adult literacy. RCBUS supports education by helping to sponsor children to attend school by providing the school supplies they need but that their parents cannot afford to purchase. A mobile library is an Ubud Rotaract (Rotarians between the ages of 18 and 30) Club initiative where Ubud Rotary assist with funding new books for the library and paper and pencils for schools to primary school children in poor schools.
Growing local economies – Rotary International believes that service projects enhance economic and community development and create opportunities for decent and productive work for young and old. It also strengthens local entrepreneurs and community leaders, particularly women, in impoverished communities. Currently, RCBUS supports a program called Sewing for Living. With all the responsibilities Balinese women have, it is almost impossible for them to be hired for a job in a company outside of the home. Few are will hire a woman because of the high probability she will have to miss work frequently because of her other duties at home. RCBUS has the opportunity to help these women by providing training that will allow them to work within their homes in between all of their duties, allowing these women to earn money without leaving their homes, improving their self-esteem and increasing their families’ and communities’ financial stability.
Protecting the Environment – Rotary International believes that all are responsible for protecting the environment. RCBUS is supporting the WEHEA Project in Kalimantan in an effort to protect the rain forests and the wildlife that lives there. It is also developing a water harvesting project primarily targeting the subsistence farmers in the Karangasem region.
Promoting Peace – Rotary International encourages conversations to foster understanding within and across cultures. RCBUS works side by side, hand in hand, with the people who live in the areas they serve. We work, rest, eat, talk and laugh together. And we all encourage peace!
If you would like to join this dynamic group of people who love Bali and work to help the people who live here, information to do so can be found at http://rotarybaliubudsunset.org/how-to-become-an-rcbus-member/.
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