Our Club, in cooperation with a local Non-Profit Foundation has printed and distributed more than 1,000 colouring books to Elementary and Middle School children living in the the Nusa Dua area. These booklets focused on the potential dangers of drug abuse and HIV.

Currently two books, targeted at the grasss roots level are produced. They expalain the dangers of drug abuse and, in the case of HIV, offer guidance and direction to support groups. The club would like to expand its participation in this project by producing and distributing additional colouring books to schools throughout Bali. Additional books will be distributed through a wide network of supporters and government run health centers in rural villages.

More than 20,000 patients have been given eye examinations in villages throughout Bali. Free operations have been performed on more than 8,000 patients, of whom most were given intra-ocular lens implants. The project was extended until March 1996 with aid funding from the Australian Government.

The Rotary Clubs of Bali have extended further funding for the Mobile Eye Clinic. An Eye Hospital has been set up in Denpasar with complete equipment, including a new Jag Laser donated by Rotary Club Bali Nusa Dua and the Rotary Club of West Perth. In 1998 the program was transferred to the Indonesian Department of Health in Denpasar on a build-operate- transfer agreement.

The inspirational story behind this successful project was highlighted in The Rotarian Magazine - August 1999 – and is well worth reading . Below is a quick overview of the project’s current status and future needs.

The blood transfusion unit of Sanglah General Hospital in Denpasar, Bali serves a total of 5 million Indonesians plus the nearly 2 million tourists that visit Bali each year. In 1997, it was decided by the seven Rotary Clubs in Bali that the existing facilities were not adequate and that new facilities should be constructed and supplied with modern equipment.

Project Overview

Phase 1 – To construct a 600 square meter building. With the assistance of RC Hiroshima East, Japan (US$36,000), RC Traverse City MI, USA and District 6290 (US$ 60,000) the building was completed on April 5, 1999.

Phase 2 – To purchase two ambulances to collect blood in areas outside of Denpasar. The RC of Traverse City, MI, USA plus a Matching Grant purchased the ambulances in April 1999.

Phase 3 – To purchase new and used equipment for collecting, screening, processing, and storing blood. This is an ongoing program. In addition RC Traverse City, MI, USA and District 6290 have been very helpful in assisting us with our application for a 3-H Grant. This Grant has now been awarded in the amount of US$ 441,000. Our club, Rotary Club Bali Nusa Dua contributes by providing resources and knowledge to ensure that purchase of equipment is cost effective and the appropriate to local conditions.

More… to read the entire story, click here.

The Rotary Foundation GSE team leaders to the rescue With time and lives hanging in the balance, two Rotarians, 11 time zones apart, help save the Bali Blood Bank.

When U.S. Rotarian Marilyn Fitzgerald arrived on the lush shores of Bali, Indonesia, to lead a Group Study Exchange, she could scarcely believe her good fortune. After all, Bali is one of the most sought-after vacation destinations in the world, with its lavish resorts and easy lifestyle. “I have to admit, part of my Rotary dream was to lie on the beach, sipping fruit drinks,” she confesses.

But Marilyn, a member of the Rotary Club of Traverse City, Michigan, soon found that an entirely different fate awaited her.

Shortly after her arrival in April 1998, she was escorted by her Rotarian hosts to the local blood center. The tiny building (600 square feet; 55 square metres) served three islands and 7.5 million people. “I was horrified,” she recalls. “There was no air conditioning, so the windows were open and insects were flying in. The refrigerator door was broken and held closed with thin tape. Blood could only be stored for 48 hours. They had just two cots for donors.

“Most of the equipment dated back to the early 1970s. Staff, who lacked rubber gloves, were forced to re-use transfusion needles numerous times. Crowded, unsanitary conditions prevailed, with staff cooking facilities located next t blood-sorting areas.

The Bali Rotarians described the mounting death toll. Rotarian George Fraser, Australian consul and a member of the Rotary Club of Bali Kuta, told her that just one month earlier, he watched helplessly, as two Australian tourists, victims of a car crash, bled to death because no blood was available. In April, she learned, 100 people died from Dengue fever, a blood borne virus that can be cured with a simple but life-saving transfusion.

Not long ago, it appeared a solution was in sight. In the mid-1990S Bali Rotarians answered a plea for help in building a new Blood Bank Center. After two years of hard they finally raised the funds began to plan the ground breaking ceremony.

Tragically, Indonesia suffered a massive devaluation of its currency, the rupiah, in 1997. The value of money saved for the new blood bank was savagely reduced and local sources of funds dried up as the economy plummeted. The Rotarians learned they would need to raise U.S. $80,000 by 1 October, or the building contractor would be forced to dramatically increase the pricetag, due to the deteriorating the deteriorating economy. It seemed as though the Bali Blood Bank project would be put on hold indefinitely.

Around the family dining room table, Marilyn and her Bali host, Freddy Subiyanto, a member of the Rotary Club of Denpasar, plotted ways to save the center. “It was very hard to ask for help,” says Freddy, “But so many people were dying. Knowing Marilyn as I do, I knew she could make a difference.

“When I saw the blood center, all could think was, “Of course we’ll help” Marilyn says. “It never occurred to me what a task this would be.”

In May 1998, Freddy led a Group Study Exchange team from Bali (District, 3400) to Michigan and Canada (District 6290). The pair talked informally with local Rotarians and determined that there was interest and support. So in August, he returned to wage a full-scale.

“People said it would take a couple of years to raise that kind ‘Marilyn says. “But we only had two months. We thought of all kinds of fundraising gimmicks. We thought we’d raffle off a car or a vacation. But we just didn’t have the time.

“So we stood in front of one Rotary Club after another and told our story. When Freddy said that people were literally bleeding to death every day – indeed, that very day – because there wasn’t enough blood, they pulled out their checkbooks.

“In 14 days, Marilyn and Freddy gave 12 formal presentations and numerous informal presentations around District 6290. They presented a video produced by the Rotarians in Bali showing the current Blood Bank Center.” Many days the task, seemed overwhelming and some days even close to impossible,” Marilyn says. “But there always seemed to be a Rotarian around to us encouragement and let us know that Rotary dreams can come true if we all work together.

“Freddy gave me courage,” she adds. “The first time he stood at the podium, he said simply, ‘Look, we’re desperate.’ He couldn’t finish the sentence. I realized then how very hard it was for him to ask for help.”

She also says she was inspired by watching the Bali Rotarians in action. During the GSE tour, Marilyn’s team visited many humanitarian projects, including orphanages, village for Hansen’s disease (leprosy) patients, polio immunization drives, a mobile health care unit, and a cataract replacement surgery center. “It really helped to see such hard-working Rotarians,” she says.

Traverse City Rotarians responded with $17,500, and Rotary Charities of Traverse City stepped in with $10,000. With the aid of then District Governor Tom Bos and Rotary clubs throughout the district, the pair managed to raise an additional $20,500 in two weeks.

But one final problem remained. Most of the contributions were in pledges, and, therefore, not immediately available. The pair again approached Rotary Charities of Traverse City, which advanced the needed funds. When Freddy returned to Bali with his good news from District 6290, his fellow Rotarians shared some good news of their own. While he was away, two Japanese Rotarians arrived carrying five million yen (U.S. $36,000) -in cash- from the Rotary Club of Hiroshima East, for a grand total $86,000.

The new Bali Blood Bank opened its doors in February 1999. Thanks to the extra money, the new center was furnished with necessities such as air conditioning.

The project also received a Matching Grant totaling $30,000, with $12,000 contributed by District 6290. The Rotarians used the grant to buy two new bloodmobiles, urgently needed to travel to outlying villages, where most of the people live.

In June, Freddy was back in Traverse City. He and Marilyn are making the rounds, thanking local Rotarians. They’re also on a mission to replace the center’s 30-yearold equipment and provide staff training.

“People need to see beyond the Group Study Exchange as just a nice trip to another country,” Marilyn says. “We really learned how districts can. link up and become partners.” The Rotary Foundation of R.I. sends about 550 teams on GSEs each year, she observes. “Imagine the impact on the world if only half of those teams worked on humanitarian projects with the host countries.”

-Paul LaPorte & Janice Somerville Chambers (The Rotarian, Aug. 1999)

This year together with RC Zwartewatersteden, The Netherlands, RCBND has received a RI Matching Grant of US$47,500 to continue and expand this vital program.

Currently there are approximately 8,000 children in Bali who were born with Cleft Palates. The major reasons for such a high incidence of this deformity are interfamilial marriages, poor diet and poor prenatal care during pregnancy. Whilst we understand that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” we are not currently in a position to tackle all issues which lead to this deformity.

RCBND began cleft lip and palate operations in 1994 and through 1998 performed over 300 operations. Operations were suspended in 1999 due to the Asian Financial Crises. Operations resumed in 2000 with a local plastic surgeon, Dr. Asmarajaya, who donates his time for free surgical procedures for as many children as his schedule will permit. More difficult cases are collected and once a year the renown Dr. David David of the Cranio Facial Institute in Adeleide, Australia, comes to Bali at his own expense to lead a team, together with Dr. Asmarajaya, to perform these difficult operations.
Rotary Club Nusa Dua Bali provides the money to purchase the needed medicine, supplies such as x-rays, a hospital room and pay for the support staff assisting Dr. Asmarajaya.

Rotary Club Bali Nusa Dua will continue to sponsor as many cranio-facial surgerical procedures for severely handicapped individuals as possible. In most cases, an individual will need as many as four operations (until his/her facial structure stops growing) to correct his/her deformity. Our club aims to ensure that each child will be given followup procedures as needed. As new children to come into the program a continuous flow of funds into this program is essential. We forecast that the funds needed to continue the program over a period of 12 months to be approximately US$30,000.