Page 26 - Lion Oct Nov 2016

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Reaching New Heights
After the phenomenal success of the initial Reading Action Programme (RAP) with the conformity of the members of the International Board of Directors, then International President Wayne Madden, extended the RAP to a 10 year commitment to increase literacy. It is a call to each and every member of the Lions Clubs International to organise service projects to underscore the importance of literacy as well as addressing specific problems related to literacy within our communities, such as providing correctional glasses for children. Lion members of Aberystwyth Lions Club and their partner club, Laoac United Lions Club (LULC), Northern Philippines, recognised that without literacy, children living in low income families can never achieve what they wanted to be in life. To accelerate RAP it was concluded that the Sharing the Vision drive must be implemented first to reinforce the programme.
Responding to the challenge, Aberystwyth Lions Club supported and funded a RAP in one of the villages in Northern Philippines with the members of the LULC carrying out the ground work. They coordinated with the village leaders, who got in touch with parents, who have children in
need, to take advantage of the opportunity offered. The response from the community members was one of great enthusiasm and 22 villages have benefited so far.
Daily basic school requirements such as reading books, writing pads and stationary were also purchased, funded by Aberystwyth Lions Club. No matter how important it is to acquire the ability to read and write, it is a challenge without the necessary learning tools! This prompted Abertystwyth Lions Club President Ben, who is the Charter President of the Laoac United Lions Club, to request further financial and material assistance to finance the project from Aberystwyth Lions Club. Consequently, 3,600 books for beginners were also shipped to Northern Philippines to supplement brand new local reading materials provided by Laoac United Lions Club.
Another common problem for children was poor sight. This is often attributed to the use of contaminated water. To address the root cause of the problem, there was a determined
effort to provide clean supply of sanitary water. This was done with the drilling of pump wells that was made possible through the generosity of some clubs in MD105 and private organisations who spontaneously offered to finance the pump well project. To date, 24 pump wells have been drilled in the Northern Philippines. These will provide up to 30 long years of service with minimal maintenance required.
In addition to this, Lion Ben of the Aberystwyth Lions Club with global cooperation was able to carry out the unprecedented distribution of 1,500 reading glasses in Northern Philippines. These reading glasses come in handy for parents and elders to read together with their children. In one day alone, during the District Convention on March 5, 2016 in Newport, Wales, 7,500 pairs of reading glasses were collected.
A vision without action is just merely a dream. An action without vision is merely passing away time. But a vision with commitment and passion can change the world.
October/November 2016
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