Woh!! 2020! 2019 seems to have gone very quickly, a very full year for us, with new and ongoing projects. As I have written in the past, we can only initiate projects that we can fund. Hence the fees we pay, fund raisers and donations are what enable us to complete projects – all of which are to benefit local communities. All our projects are sustainable and ongoing and regularly monitored.
Rotary Club Bali Ubud Sunset has 3 main projects at present and I am sure after you read what they are and what they will achieve you will agree and maybe be motivated to join us!!!
PROJECT 1.
Taro Waste Management Scheme – Help the Super hero of Trash!
Wayan is the superhero- he teaches school children to compost, he teaches them to pick up refuse, he teaches them to recycle plastic for money to buy their school supplies. Taro is a rural community where many parents cannot afford to send their children to school unless the children have uniforms, shoes, books, stationery, replaced every school year. So Wyan is teaching the children to collect and sell plastic, the money he keeps, and saves it in the bank and prior to school restarting the children/ parents can purchase what they require. He is also teaching them to understand why plastics are harmful to the environment.
Now Wyan needs a machine to chop the organic waste into small particles to decrease the time from 6 months to 6 weeks, to produce compost. By producing more compost quicker they can serve many more consumers. The machine will also help process the residue of plastic into useful materials. The machine – Kubota RD 85 DI – N costs US$ 1,786.29 + US$331.65 shipping from Java to Bali. A “GoFundMe” account was set up to make this happen and as of October 2019, in less than 2 months 66% of the total needed was raised, with donations coming in world wide. If you would like to read more/donate /see pictures please go to : www.gofundme/f/help-the-trash-hero.
Initially RCBUS donated 100 rubbish bins and liners to Wayan to get his project started.
PROJECT 2.
Water Projects.
The water projects commenced in 2005 and to date 17 have been completed. They were initiated when some Rotary members witnessed the awful lack of water supply/ sanitation/ health facilities/ education in the North East of Bali in the mountainous areas. Women were carrying drinking water from coastal wells every day; 1 trip down could take 2-4 hours as they lived high up in the mountains, no roads, no transport. They were living in shacks made of bamboo and the water they carried was only for drinking and cooking, NOT for bathing, laundry, crops or livestock. Hence the high incidence of disease. The land is also very dry, no rain almost 8 months of the year so only corn will grow. NO rice, in a country that eats rice 3 times a day! Sometimes if they grow pumpkins or peanuts, they take them down to coastal villages to barter for fish. Over 15,000 people live in these mountainous areas, where the government only counts families not people. So with all this information the first steps were to try and solve the water problems. The local kelapa desa( village elders) were involved in the planning and to which areas to install the water tanks etc. The first 6 water installations were completed in 2009 and helped more than 3,000 people, 564 families. Most of the work was in the Amed area in Desa Bunutan and was financed jointly with Rotary Grants, Rotary International, and Rotary clubs in USA, Bali and India, with a total of US$ 21,500 to install the gravity fed systems, which are still working to date. The local communities are fully involved providing the labour- can you imagine every single piece of equipment has to be carried up the mountains! So now to our current water project, at Kendampel village in the mountains north of Mt Agung. This village has 514 families = 2105 people and for years they have been struggling with water because of their location and no water springs, only water from rain, when it rains! The Government built a reservoir in 2103 and also the pipes so groups of families could access the water. However 87 families, over 300 people, DO NOT get access to the water. The cost of providing water tanks, pipes, equipment etc. is approximately US$ 7,857. We are fund raising and also hoping that Rotary Club Alfredton in Australia may partner us in this project and we can complete by November 2020. Just sit for a moment and think what it would be like to have NO WATER all your life? Its incomprehensible, yes? Yet these Balinese people for generations have never had water, on supply for daily use…..
PROJECT 3.
“Sewing For Living”
This project was initiated by our President Kartika Dewi, who felt there was a need to empower and encourage Balinese women to take part in a program that would enable them to work from home and earn money. Currently Balinese women have many duties that prevent them from leaving their homes and earning- taking care of children and family, shopping, cooking, cleaning, helping in the community, ceremonial duties and assisting in the temples. They have no rights of their own and if left alone – separated, divorced, widowed, have no way of making a living. Companies will not employ them as they frequently have home duties to take care of.
RCBUS has set up a program to give women the opportunity to train that will allow them to work at home , in between all other duties, thereby increasing their self-esteem and increasing their families financial stability. Many garment factories in Bali have signs advertising for remote workers. Once this was established the planning took place, costing for machines, equipment , teachers, and initially US$2,000 was a start-up cost.
The program commenced on 28th October 2019 with 4 machines and 18 women signing up. Training is every Monday, Wednesday and Friday but as only 4 machines the women had to be rotated. The program is held at Jl. Tukad Lebah No8, Banjar Lebah Bedulu, Blahbatuh, Gianyar. Our goal is to create a sustainable program for 10 women annually and if possible to source second hand or donated machines. Then on December 18th 2019 a Rotarian from RC Seaford, Adelaide, Australia sponsored us 2 sewing machines and an overlocker. She was in Bali on holiday , browsing for RC clubs and read about our “Sewing For Living” program and decided to donate the machines to us! What a boost for our project and the women eager to learn.
Hopefully I have given you an inside to some of the work Rotary clubs do?! So when you hear of Rotary fundraisers please remember where every rupiah goes. Back into the communities who open their arms and welcome us to their island home.
For more information please visit our website- www.rotarybaliubudsunset.org. We meet 2nd Monday of the month at Kakiang Garden Café, Jl Raya Andong, Ubud and the last Monday of the month at Maya Resort and Spa, Ubud from 5.30-7 pm. You will always be welcome and greeted with a smile!!!
Written by Renee Heaton, member Rotary Club Bali Ubud Sunset.
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