Who are the people who are members of Rotary Club Bali Ubud Sunset [RCBUS]? We are people of action, people who want to be impactful in our communities, people who want to create sustainable, positive change around the world, in our community and in ourselves. Over the next few months, we would like to introduce you to these people who make a substantial difference in Bali. This is an introduction to our President, President Elect, Secretary and Fundraising Chair.
KARTIKA or “TIKA” DEWI is the President of RCBUS and definitely a woman of action. Tika is from Bedulu and continues to live there with her husband and three children. She became interested in Rotary by first joining Rotaract, the division of Rotary International’s program for young adults designed to support members who want to hone their leadership skills and give back to their communities. She joined RCBUS because she recognized it as a place “where her voice can be heard.”
Tika owns a local convenience store which sells items which her neighbors need on a daily basis. Despite being a merchant and a busy mother, Tika is involved in all RCBUS projects and ably runs each meeting including those that occur via Zoom. She is the mastermind behind the Sewing for Living project which teaches local Balinese women to use sewing machines and to crochet, enabling them to earn money and independence by working out of their homes. Tika recruited teachers, sewing machines, supplies and students for this amazingly successful project. Whether a project is happening in Kedampal, Taro, Karangasem, Ubud or Keramas, Tika is there and involved.
KADEK EREWAN, President Elect, is a new member of RCBUS and a person of action. Born in Keramas Village, he is a successful entrepreneur who owns and operates the world-renowned eating and meeting place, Warung Legong, located in Keramas. You can check it out at http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Restaurant_Review-d4274987?m=19905 Kadek also owns and operates a convenience store across the street from Warung Legong. His newest entrepreneurial endeavor is Lotus House Guest House, located on Keramas Beach.
Kadek studied food and beverage management at STP Nusa Dua in 1999 and worked for Holland America Line [cruises] as a dining room steward. He is married and the father of three children, but still makes it a priority to find time to serve others. Kadek has helped to secure and distribute food to those Balinese in need food in Keramas Village, Tojan Village, Siut Village, Tampaksiring Village and Serongga Village. He also works with Bali Sehat to distribute food to those in need.
Kadek is an enthusiastic new member of RCBUS. A member since August of 2020, he has helped the Club bring running water to eighty-seven families in three rural villages in the Kedampal area of the Kargangasem region of Bali. He has also helped to install two temporary sinks outside of two different temples in Gianyar, enabling people to comply with governmental mandates in efforts to slow the spread of Covid-19. He also donates meeting space to RCBUS where we can properly socially distance and included our members who cannot come to the meeting via Zoom.
SUE and RAY BISHOP, Secretary and Fundraising Chair, have been members of RCBUS for 10years. They, too, are people of action. Ray grew up in Adelaide, Australia where he played for the Australian Football League before he moved to Canada where he met Sue. Sue was born in England and moved to Canada when she was a child. As an adult, she had an active career in sales and marketing. They married and moved back to Australia in the early 1990’s where Sue pursued her career and Ray owned and operated a hardware store. In 2011, they retired to Keramas, Bali. Between them, they share four children and six grandchildren on two continents.
Sue and Ray fell in love with the Balinese people, particularly those in the Karangasem Region, and recognized their dire need for better local health resources. They founded Bali Sehat [Healthy Bali] http://www.balisehat.org, a nonprofit health initiative in order to meet that need. Thanks to Sue and Ray’s effort and some financial support from RCBUS, Bali Sehat currently provides healthcare to villagers, many of whom live on less than $100 a year, in the poorest regions of East Bali. Thanks to Sue and Ray’s excellent leadership and management skills, the foundation conducts four to five ”pop-up” clinics a year. They involve volunteer doctors, nurses, dentists, and pharmacists, among others who travel to remote areas in the region and administer medicine, medical advice, dental care and even sometimes perform minor operations during these day long ”pop-up” clinics. Typically, they see between 200 to 400 local villagers. Some patients walk hours to these “pop-up” clinics to access the health care. RCBUS helps to fund these clinics.
Today, thanks to Sue and Ray’s tireless efforts, Bali Sehat is constructing and equipping a large medical clinic to better serve the medical needs of the people in the Karangasem Region. This new space will be able to serve more patients with equipment, a maternity section, dental services, an emergency department, separate male and female wards, and the ability to get patients to a major hospital. They hope to open the clinic early in 2021.
Sue and Ray are also involved in other RCBUS projects. Ray helped provide running water to three rural villages in the Kedampal area, and Sue helped secure funding to make that happen. Sue donated yarn and fabric to RCBUS’ Sewing for Living Project. Ray has worked tirelessly to secure raffle prizes for fundraising events and the raffles held at RCBUS meetings. Over the course of their membership, Sue and Ray have been involved in over three dozen other projects.
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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