So . . . what do a merchant from Bedulu, a retired BMW executive from Germany, a product development manager for a silver and gold company in Bali, a retired not for profit director from the US, an owner of a health industry business in Ubud, the owner of a restaurant in Keramas, a retired AFL player, an expert in sales and marketing, a retired teacher living in Australia, an active teacher living in Australia, the owner of a panini shop in Ubud and an almost retired operations and project manager in Australia all have in common? They are members of Rotary Club Bali Ubud Sunset (RCBUS). All make Rotary International’s Four-Way Test an active part of their personal and professional lives.

Since 1905, when Rotary was founded in Chicago, Illinois, USA, Rotarians have been concerned with promoting high ethical standards in their professional and personal lives. The Four-Way Test was created in 1932 by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor after he was asked to manage a company that was facing bankruptcy. He gave this simple test to the company’s employees, requiring that they use it as a guide for sales, production, advertising, and in all relations with dealers and customers. Thanks to The Four-Way Test’s implementation, the company survived. It was adopted by Rotary in 1943. It is not based on culture or religion and transcends generations and national borders. The Four-Way Test is as relevant today as it was in the past because the issues of morality and ethical behavior that have always existed still exist today. It has been translated into hundreds of languages. An interesting side note: currently, there are more Rotary Clubs in the world than there are McDonald’s restaurants.

The following RCBUS projects all comply with The Four-Way Test:

1. Through a local regional charity, Yayasan Bali Sehat, RCBUS helps to provide basic services to communities in the Karangasem Region of East Bali. In pre-COVID-19 days, this included helping to finance pop-up Healthy Days clinics in remote villages which provided medical doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, and free or low-cost medication.   Bali Sehat has recently completed a building which will house a permanent clinic once the building is equipped and furnished.
2. RCBUS helps to support the John Fawcett Foundation. JFF has mobile labs that travel around Bali to small villages. These labs provide eye exams, supply glasses, and perform cataract surgeries.
3. A mobile library, managed by Rotaract, is a RCBUS project initiative where RCBUS assists with funding boxes of new books for the library along with paper and pencils for under-supplied schools.
4. Members of RCBUS has been involved in water projects in the mountainous Karangasem region of East Bali for almost two decades. Over many years, a rapport has been established with the local communities. During dry season, for sometimes up to 8 months, women and children from these villages have the fetch water from the rivers in the valleys. Some villagers walk 3-4 hours every day to bring water to their families. RCBUS helps to develop an acceptable solution with a design and scope for a water system that will bring spring water directly to the villages. The village members install the pipes and fittings while club members provide technical support and assist with commissioning. The average system provides water to 80 to 400 families.
5. Sewing For Living, another project sponsored by RCBUS, is teaching local women to sew and crochet. Balinese women have always had multiple jobs: take care children and family, doing all the housework, providing help to the community, and assisting at temple and cultural events, among other duties. Many of these women are marginalized: they have no rights to any family assets and go to their husband’s village upon marriage. If they try to separate from their husband, the original family will not take them back, leaving them with no livelihood. It is important for women to make their own money, not only for their self-esteem, but to enable each of them to support her entire family. Sewing For Living teaches marketable skills that women can use from their homes.
6. RCBUS is about to launch a Water Harvesting educational program for any who are interested. It will introduce no to low-cost methods of saving rainwater for daily use.

Do these projects look interesting to you? RCBUS can always use your help. Your help can be generated from your home without violating any of the current Covid-19 protocols. So if you are wondering what interesting thing you can do while you are waiting for the opportunity to socialize and travel, contact RCBUS and be connected to the project that interests you. Alleviating your own boredom could make a huge, positive difference in someone’s life who lives on this island that we all love. And, no, you do not have to join RCBUS to help out with our projects, but we’d welcome you if you did!

If you would like to know more about water harvesting, no matter where you live, please contact http://rotarybaliubudsunset.org.

If you would interested in joining 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/.

Incidentally, RCBUS meets in person when we can and by Zoom when we cannot. Sometimes we meet in person and conduct the meeting on Zoom in order to include our members who cannot yet return to Bali. We like to stay connected!

 

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