The Rotary Club of Bali Lovina is an English-speaking Club with enthusiastic members from several countries. Our club holds biweekly meetings every second Wednesday from 10.00 am till 11.00 am in the Tempo Doeloe restaurant, Jalan Binaria Kaliasem-Kalibukbuk Lovina (near the dolphin statue). We are involved in projects primarily aimed at assisting the less fortunate people of Buleleng Regency (North Bali). As the only club in Buleleng we have a lot of ground to cover!
Currently we are running two major ongoing projects: The Eyeglasses for SMP/SMA students which the BA Rotary News corner reported on earlier this year, and an extensive literacy project.
Why and what do we do in the field of improving literacy in our area? First a short introduction: Rotary is dedicated to six areas of focus to build international relationships, improve lives, and create a better world to support our peace efforts and end polio forever. One of these areas of focus is basic education and literacy. More than 775 million people over the age of 15 are illiterate. That’s 17 percent of the world’s adult population. Rotary’s goal is to strengthen the capacity of communities to support basic education and literacy, reduce gender disparity in education, and increase adult literacy. Rotary supports education for all children and literacy for children and adults. Most Rotary Clubs, big and small are running literacy projects.
Our Rotary Club started its first literacy project in 2006, the year our club was chartered and has since then had a proactive education and literacy committee. Nurturing reading interest begins with making books available; hence, the first children’s library in the area, the Window to the World library was the first one to receive help in the form of book donations. Over a period
of several years, thanks to sponsors including the Rotary Club of Kenwick, WA, the SKKI foundation and Rotary Club Hilversum West, The Netherlands and the Indonesian Pondok Baca foundation, we have been able to provide books and other literacy materials to a number of elementary schools in Buleleng. We have been able to give books to schools in areas where children had never had the opportunity to read books before.
The school library project is currently surveying the participating schools to determine their needs, whether it be more books, more literacy materials, further training, and so on. It is anticipated that one of the major needs will be for more books and materials for protection and repair of books. Donations to this project are most welcome!
However; being literate does not just mean the ability to read a book or a newspaper. In our schools’ locality most children will follow a basic education and will learn how to read and to write. Being literate means being able to comprehend the instructions on a medicine bottle, a set of directions, or a job posting. Literacy means being part of the larger society. It means inclusion, and it means empowerment. Teaching children reading skills is of the utmost importance and this is how we moved to the next step in our literacy program. But this requires years of gentle tutoring, committed teachers and involving parents in the process.
Realizing that getting children into the libraries isn’t enough to solve illiteracy, our Rotary Club has broadened the program including mentoring and coaching teachers and librarians. Currently, under the auspices of the Window to the World school in Lovina, and with the help of a generous donation by VBJ Architecture, The Netherlands, a series of workshops is being held to assist the schools and their library staff in the more active use of these library materials in improving literacy. During these workshops teachers and librarians learn how to actively develop a love of reading and better reading comprehension skills among students as well as how to manage their libraries better.
Conchita de Jong – President Rotary Club of Bali Lovina
For more information about the Rotary Club of Bali Lovina, and also how to assist the Club’s literacy program, please visit our website at www.jepunsegara.com/rotaryclubbalilovina. How to donate to the literacy program of our Club? Click on the “Donations” link on the website, or contact one of our members.
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