God's Wondrous Works, The Rotary Way

Indeed, God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform. Call it Miracle, Divine Providence, serendipity or simply destiny. Things have an odd way of falling into place since 2005, when I was re-inducted as a “balik-Rotarian” of RC Makati San Lorenzo.

I first joined Rotary in 1995, quit after 4 years and turned to a cause I thought was equally important as “feeding the body” nourishing the soul by supporting the struggling Filipino artist. To some, including my family, my civic work seemed frivolous and too “pa-social”.

A year after I rejoined, I reluctantly accepted the nomination to be the club president. My six months as PN breezed by, thinking I could wiggle myself out of the situation and knock some sense into the head the heads of my Rotary Family. Didn’t they realize that my emotional and psychological make up just doesn’t constitute and exemplary Rotarian and certainly not a Rotary Club President.

Another of God’s mysterious ways sparked my awakening. Now a PE, I was drawn into a huddle of veteran Rotarians where my ignorance could hardly be veiled. That launched my relentless quest for knowledge about Rotary, being a Rotarian and a Rotary President. I logged on to www.rotary.org almost nightly, read the President’s Manual upon the advice of my CP Rennie Andrews from cover to cover not once but many times. That was when I began hitting the ground running so to speak, only to fly to the moon and reach for the stars and make dreams real. Strangely, the more I learned about Rotary, the more I became committed.

Early on, I realized that funding is a major concern. And so I began appealing, begging, cajoling, pestering and cashing in IOUs for donations from family and friends. I also started fund raising thru garage sales and “Pera sa Basura”.

The outcome is a wonder in itself not to mention the fact that we are helping reduce garbage and recycle items that would otherwise go to dumpsites.

Last February our club organized an RCC in our benefiting community in Calawis, Antipolo and held several meeting with them. Being a self confessed O.C. (obsessive compulsive), one who brooks no delay, I arranged the club’s two day strategic planning session in Mount Purro in Calawis March 1-2.

The turn of events again showed God’s Hand in all this. It was a very fruitful and touching weekend especially during the visioning with the community.

The villagers concretized their vision and dreams for their community by drawing their wish list on a Manila paper after which a discussion ensued. We knew right them that we had to do something to make them believe that yes, there are people like us, Rotarians who genuinely care and are willing to help. And this was the start of fulfilling a dream, the community’s and ours: We will plant bamboo in 1000 hectares of forestland together with 1000 farmers.

Putting together an ambitious long term project can be daunting. There were endless meetings with the core group composed of Pres. Erwyn, CP Rennie, PPs Maridel, Mari, Tyrone, Tot. Marie, Fred, Munte, myself, our social development specialist, Angel Tatlong, our bamboo expert Romy Sta. Ana, mayor Sumulong and the community.

The painstaking process of gathering information and data from government records (DENR and the LGU), from key informants in the area and from the local villages themselves proved to be very difficult. At last, we have a business plan for our Bamboo project code named “CALAWIS-wis Kawayan Project.”

After we thought we completed the most challenging part of the task, we struck another hurdle. Where do we get the staggering 37 million to fund the 5 years project? We identified possible donors and of course the matching grants of The Rotary Foundation.

I researched in the Rotary website for information about funding projects and also found the No Contacts list, meaning agencies or individuals we cannot ask for donations. On the lighter side, PP Maridel was seriously concerned that we cannot tap Bill Gates because he already donated 100 million dollars to RI Polio Plus. We told her, it is alright because we don’t know him anyway. But that simply illustrates how serious we were in making this project happen by exploring all possibilities. I also visited local and international funding agencies, including ADB, Embassies and UNDP.

During a meeting with Nash Pablo, the group decided to apply for 3H Grant, barely a week before the submission deadline. Since we already have a comprehensive project study we were able to submit our proposal on March 27, four days before the deadline.

As we waited for the response from TRF, we continued our work related to the project, like pursuing our other benefactors including our sister clubs and co-sponsor, RC Taipei Capital.

We also laid the ground works for the project by regularly visiting the community and implementing small parts of the project like construction of the water well in the village, conducting medical missions to establish rapport and bring goodwill to the indigenous farmers.

Exactly a month later, I received communication from the 3H grant committee informing us that our proposal is being considered and that the project is very competitive.

More documents and requirements were sent for us to complete. Although we have not actually received the grant, I am gratified to enjoy my own rewards for the months of arduous work. People who knows where I come from understood my dreams, appreciated my efforts and gave their unwavering support. That in itself is again God’s wonderful handiwork.

For sure, there were many disappointments along the way. But this didn’t dampen our spirits nor weaken our resolve.

We faced valid questions and problems squarely. We didn’t dwell on problems but concentrated on the solutions, we didn’t focus on the questions and doubts but only on the answers. It was wonderful to discover that my wellspring of resources would be own Rotary Family.

Be it money, time, knowledge, expertise, skills or wisdom, everybody was just willing to contribute his or her share. And all I had to do was ask and I received.

The whole process was a labor of love that has produced invaluable results. The result is an astonishing picture of dedicated Rotarians of diverse personalities working together with one purpose in their hearts.

Only by continuing in this vein can our club finally achieve success in this endeavor.

Yes, God worked in mysterious ways in RC Makati San Lorenzo, His wonders to perform. But the rest is up to me and my Rotary family to MAKE DREAM REAL!

Words by: Pres. Cha-Cha Camacho