2 July 2006
ROTARY ASSISTS WITH HYGIENE IN EAST BALI SCHOOLS
By Andrew Charles.

For this, the second of my articles on the humanitarian projects of the Rotary Club of Bali, Seminyak (RCB-S), I want to focus upon some excellent work being done in the Amed area in the far east of Bali. This is a ruggedly beautiful part of the island with volcanic bays and fishing villages. Despite a steadily growing tourism sector, fishing and farming are still the main occupations, with many families living well below the poverty line.

Of the seven elementary schools here, all are poorly equipped, and most did not have even the basic essentials such as electricity, water or toilets. The first school to be identified as being in need of serious assistance was the Lean Beach School with some 200 pupils, many of whom live in the hills and, in the dry season, they have no opportunity to wash, as all water is drawn from wells at sea level and carried to their homes. As a consequence impetigo and other skin diseases are rife.

The RCB-S established hygiene as the first priority and resolved to install toilets and simple showers as a first step on the hygiene trail. To achieve this, a disused room was converted into a toilet block, a water tower and septic tank were constructed and a pump was connected to an existing well with good quality water. Without electricity, the pump would have been useless so, in May 2004, the RCB-S arranged for the school to be linked to the power supply. The children now have access to toilets - many for the first time ever, shower facilities, drinking water and hand-washing with liquid soap (from donations). All this was achieved for around US$3,600.

Of the other 6 schools, some are in exactly the same position and others have toilets but inadequate water storage to last through the dry season.
The Club urgently needs funds to construct and upgrade facilities at the other schools and seeks partner clubs in other countries to help with this task.
Once this has been achieved, the focus will shift to the provision of educational aids and direct assistance to the neediest families with such items as school uniforms and stationery.

In March, 2005, the second project, at Batukesani School, was started with a grant organised by Past President Noel Allan of the Rotary Club of Swan Valley, WA, Australia. It began with a clean-up of the village well beside the school, which was badly contaminated. A gravity tank was constructed, power was connected to the school to operate the new pump and pipe work was run to the existing waterless toilets and also to taps to water a garden, which previously used to die off in the dry season.

The school is at sea level in a fishing village; it has stunning sea views, dedicated teachers and some very nice children who are now a lot cleaner and healthier than they were before the improvements were made.

Once the Rotary Club's part of the project was finished, sand, cement and paving were provided so that parents could pave the school assembly area, which used to turn into a sea of mud in the wet season, and for another area beside the school temple.

While certain key members of the RCB-S play a very active role in this project, and President Patrick Scott (06-07) is especially worthy of mention, other members assist with raising the finances necessary. The donations from other countries are also extremely important and for the school hygiene project, the club is very grateful to its sister club, Rotary Club of Mount Martha in Melbourne, Australia and the indefatigable Rotarian Howard Roy. Mark and Julie Church, from Perth, W.A., Australian donate $5 to the project for every booking received by their company, 'Travel About Bali'. They also collect clothes, books and toys for distribution to these needy mountain children.

This year, the RC of Mount Martha Club is assisting with a project for the Tukabase School in Bunutan. This small school is up in the mountains, has 45 pupils from a very poor local community and has no running water or toilets. The Club will install a tank beside a fresh, clean, mountain stream around 100m uphill and pipe water to the school, construct toilets in available space and construct a bank of taps and drinking fountains. Desks will be supplied for those children currently without and school uniforms will be provided for all the children.

This school also features in the Eye Screening Program, where, after the screening 'ordeal', the children were given clothes, donated by Past President Mark Savage.

Mark and Julie Church's contributions will go towards assisting with the hygiene project for the well-run Dusun Sega School. The families close to the village and road are better off - these are the children with shoes - while the ones from further away are very poor and have little access to water in the dry season.

The village had just connected a pipeline to a spring 2kilometres away and was working on the holding tank when Rotary members visited in November 2005. The Club will run a line into the school, connect to the existing waterless toilets and build a bank of taps for washing and drinking.

In my introduction to the first article, I made it clear that the RCB-S is just one of the many great clubs throughout Indonesia and Worldwide, all of which contribute enormously to the welfare of under-privileged people. If you would like to assist Rotary in achieving its goals, please send an email to the club president at: president@rotaryseminyak.org Members give their time free of charge so 100% of any donations made go towards the nominated projects.