Rotary Club of Thimphu is a Global Grant Donor

In the past five years since our Charter in 2012, the Rotary Club of Thimphu has received tens of millions of Ngultrums from the international community of Rotarians - to fund meaningful projects in the Club's core areas of focus: Agriculture, Education and Health. For once, the tables have been turned on us - we recently received a request from a Club in Australia - to be a Global Grant donor to a project they are endeavoring to do.

In a swift decision made yesterday, our Club Members decided that being poor was no justifiable reason not to give. Our Club will, for the first time, act as a donor and not a recipient. As requested by the Australian Club, we have agreed to donate the requested sum to help them do their humanitarian project.

It is a joy and a privilege to belong to a comity of people who are more heart and less mouth.

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Dear Rtn. Bruce,

This is to acknowledge the receipt of your mail dated 14th November, 2017 soliciting our support in being a Global Grant partner in your drive towards raising funds to eradicate FASD among the First Nation people of the Kalgoorlie-Goldfields region of Western Australia.

In my capacity as the Club Secretary of the Rotary Club of Thimphu, I had the opportunity to put up your request to our Club Members for their consideration, during our weekly Club Meeting held yesterday.

While making a pitch for your cause, I presented the following to our Members.

1.  More than half a century ago, in 1962, it was the then Australian

     Prime Minister Sir Robert Gordon Menzies who invited Bhutan

     to attend the 14th Consultative Committee Meeting of the

     Colombo Plan – as an observer. This resulted in the Colombo

     Plan making the rare exception of admitting a none-qualified

     Bhutan as a Member. Thus, Australia has been pivotal in

     Bhutan’s joining a world body for the first time in its history.

     This was a prodigious moment for Bhutan – being admitted as a

     member of the Colombo Plan meant that Bhutan was now

     recognized as an independent sovereign country.

2. In the last one decade alone, more than 500 Bhutanese have

    received scholarships from the Australian Government. This year

    alone, over 60 scholarships are on offer to Bhutanese academics.

3. In recent times, Australia has emerged as the most preferred

    destination for the Bhutanese – both for education as well as for

    employment. Bhutanese prefer Australia over even USA. There

    are few thousand Bhutanese currently domiciled in Australia

    – very happily and comfortably.

4. In the last two months, Disaster Aid Australia (a project of the

    Rotary Club of Endeavor Hills) has donated 6 SkyHydrant water

    filter systems to 6 of our schools in rural Bhutan. Valued at tens

    of thousands of dollars, these innovative water filters dispense

   10,000 liters of filtered water every day, for the safety of

    our school children's health.

5. Bhutan is grateful to Australia – for its role as a longstanding

    development partner. In recognition of this fact, you may be

    happy to know that the Royal Government of Bhutan has

    declared the year 2018 as a special Bhutan-Australia Friendship

    Year. In celebration, the Royal Government of Bhutan is

    allowing all Australian nationals to visit Bhutan without having

    to pay the mandatory Minimum Daily Tariff. During the

    3 months of June, July and August 2018, all Australian Passport

    holders can visit Bhutan on payment of the sustainable

    development fee of US$ 65.00 only.

For us at the RC Thimphu, a request from Australia – perhaps first of its kind - is no trivial matter. I am happy to inform you that after a short discussion, all our Members were emphatic in their support for your cause and have agreed that they will contribute personally to raise the requested US$2,000.00 as our Club’s cash contribution to your humanitarian cause.

We are a poor Club but we all agreed that being poor is not good enough justification not to give. We thank you for offering us this opportunity to give.

Please let us know when is the dateline for us to remit the money. Please also let us know how or where we may make the payment.

Thanking you and wishing you success in your endeavors, I remain,

Yours in Rotary,

Yeshey Dorji
Club Secretary 2017 - 2018
Chair for Vocational/Youth Services
ROTARY CLUB OF THIMPHU
RID 3292