When I am ask
how I joined Rotary I answer: ”unwillingly!”.
I was told by a friend to assist him in doing a slide show presentation on the
project of the Beautification of Luganville (Espiritu Santo). I came to assist
my friend by passing the slides in his old slide projector, he was doing his
talk presentation to Santo Rotary Club.
I was amazed when I realised that all
the members of what I took for a semi-clandestine society were good friends of
mine or people I knew for years and who never mentioned to me they were
Rotarians. At the end of the presentation I was proposed to stay and assist to
the meeting, few weeks later I was inducted.
Nothing was new
to me as I had been doing Rotary work unknowingly when I was assisting
communities in setting up rain catchments or repairing Aid posts or classrooms
using funding from French Embassy.
My connection with Aid Donors and Volunteers
networks became an asset when few years later I was told at 11.30am to prepare
a project worth Euros 40,000 by 1.30pm. I used my lunch time giving some phone
calls and getting quotes to prepare a draft project of providing rainwater
catchment to remote communities. I started with a list of 80 tanks mainly
needed for communities in the Shefa Province.
The project was approved and while
I turned the draft into a formal application I recalled David Hutchinson,
Director of Communities Services, telling me through RAM (Rotary Against
malaria) I can get you 50cents to one dollar. By Magic the €40,000 where joined
by NZ$40,000 as at that time the rate was 1€ to 2NZ$.
Finally the 80 tanks
became 131 tanks and the Islands of Malekula, Epi, Malo, Santo, Ambae were
added to the Shefa Islands. In five months, with help of Volunteers based is
all these islands we gave more water tanks than in the ten previous Rotary
years.
