Rotary Club of Bali Seminyak (Thursday night get-togethers at Anantara Seminyak)
Text by the Rotary Club of Bali Seminyak

What is Rotary? Have you ever noticed those wheel signs just outside of towns or cities saying ‘Rotary International’ and giving details of their meetings? You might have met someone wearing a similar badge and they told you they belonged to Rotary. If you thought they might be part of some secret organisation, you would be most mistaken. Rotary is the largest Service Club in the world with more that 1.2 million members in almost 34.000 clubs, which are active right around the developed and less developed world.

The first Rotary Club was formed in 1905 in Chicago, USA, with a group of businessmen who wanted to form a club to meet with like-minded people and also to help their community. It has continued to grow to its present number and is still growing with 520 new clubs formed last year. The first Rotary Club in Indonesia was established in 1927 and the first one in Bali in 1983. There are now 15 clubs in Bali. The Rotary Club of Bali Seminyak was chartered in 2002 and is the only Club in the Kuta/Seminyak area that uses English as its official language. It has 45 members from 16 different countries; including Indonesia. Many of its members are expatriates employed in the tourism sector, but there are also members representing architecture, cargo, environment, export, finance, garment, jewellery, medicine and private education. Just what do Rotarians do? As well as forming a strong social network, Rotarians help the community by solving some of the problems, which, in a place as Bali, are many and varied.

Current projects that the Rotary Club of Bali Seminyak is working on include raising funds to enable children from the local areas to receive Cleft Lip and Palate operations provided by overseas doctors who travel to Bali and give their services free of charge; provide scholarships for bright children who are unable to attend school or university due to their parents’ poverty; provide funds to help a small boy to recover from severe burns caused by a motorbike accident; support a large project in Sumba to build wells to provide water for many villagers including almost two thousand people who currently have no water, as well as creating fruit and vegetable gardens adjacent to the wells. Visitors are always welcome to come along to a weekly meeting to see just what goes on at a Rotary meeting. The Rotary Club of Bali Seminyak meets at the Sofitel Seminyak on Wednesdays at 12pm for a 12.30 start. The meeting usually concludes at 2pm. On Thursdays, there is a casual drinks gathering at the Anantara Seminyak from 5.30 till 7.30pm. Visitors and friends and family members are welcome to join Rotarians and watch the sunset over the beach.

The members of Rotary Club Bali Seminyak are all keyed up about a great fundraising night on 31st March. Watch this spot for a fantastic night coming up next month at The Anantara Seminyak. Other events planned include a field trip to the Echo Learning Park (R.O.L.E.) and a POLIO Plus evening at Lestari Grill in Umalas, both in April, and a Benoa Harbour Cruise in May. Rotary International encourages individual clubs to organise ‘informal’ fellowship activities. These may include sailing, hiking, golfing, book clubs, travelling together, etc. Members of the RCBS decided last year that they would like to play ten-pin bowling together once a month. Hopefully, before the end of this June, the RCBS would like to invite several other Rotary Clubs in Bali to participate in a friendly bowling tournament. On 25th April, there will be the END POLIO NOW Fun Walk in Bali. Rotary International has challenged each of the 33.800 Rotary Clubs around the world to raise US$7000 to match the US$355 million donation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help eradicate POLIO from the world. The 15 Rotary Clubs in Bali are planning to have a Fun Walk in order to raise a portion of these funds for this challenge.

Find out more by looking at the website www.rotaryseminyak.org or contact president@rotaryseminyak.org
Good luck Rotarians!

By Stefanie