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Brief histories of the
first clubs of each geographic regions or countries
Rotary Club of Aruba,
the First Club of Aruba
in the former Netherland Antilles
see also
Rotary Club
Curacao
Rotary International
District 4370
Part of our
History of Rotary in Central
America and the Caribbean
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PLEASE NOTE
The Netherland Antilles is also referred to informally as the Dutch Antilles,
and was an autonomous Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands,
consisting of two groups of islands in the Lesser Antilles: Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao (ABC Islands), in Leeward Antilles just off the Venezuelan coast; and
Sint Eustatius, Saba and Sint Maarten (SSS Islands), in the Leeward Islands
southeast of the Virgin Islands.
Aruba seceded in 1986 as a separate country within the Kingdom of the
Netherlands, and the rest of the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved on 10
October 2010, resulting in two new constituent countries,
Curaçao and Sint Maarten,
with the other islands joining the Netherlands as "special municipalities",
officially public bodies.
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The Rotary Club of Aruba was founded on December 10, 1938, exactly 7 months after
James Roth visited Aruba.
During these 7 months he assisted a well known local businessman, Simon (Scampi) Oduber, in finding leaders in the community willing to start a Rotary Club in Aruba.
Aruba at that time went thru an economical boom as the result of the rapidly expanding Lago oil refinery (Standard Oil).
Although the search for leaders focused on local business men, with many American executives working for the refinery and very well acquainted with ‘Rotary’, it was no surprise that one third of the 30 starting chartered members was employed by the oil refinery.
For the first four years American refinery executives took the position of President of our club and throughout the following decades the Rotary club, contrary to other service clubs, continued to exert a strong attraction to community leaders who had roots in other than the Aruban culture.
This multi-culture member base has been playing a dominant role in both club and community service throughout our club’s existence.
The club grew slowly but steadily with a top of 64 members in 1980 but is now stable at around 50 members.
The club forms part of Rotary District #4370, which comprises Venezuela (Eastern part), Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire.
The Curaçao club, established one year prior to our club, is our sponsoring club.
Among club service two remarkable dates can be reported; one is the Rotaract Club that was officially initiated on December 1, 1990, by our club and with the Curaçao Rotaract Club as co-sponsor.
The Rotaract Club is involved in community service activities such as the yearly Back-to-School campaign, campaigns on Youth and AIDS, hosting TV programs on Juvenile Delinquency.
They conduct their own fundraising activities, as well as joined events with our club.
The other date is 1996 when an amendment to our constitution was voted on, allowing women to become members.
Members in our club are widely spread in classifications, among which the most important: oil refinery, consulates, tourism industry, utility companies , banking industry, trading (importing) industry, medical practitioners, commanders of the Dutch Marines, airline industry, lawyers, accountants, shipping & stevedoring Industry, insurance companies, and general service industry. Most members are board members of charitable organizations as well and are an important source of community information, they form a link between our club and the community.
Five times our club hosted a District Conference: in 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, and 1999.
Our club also delivered a District Governor , Gustave Nouel.
Due to the close relationship with Bonaire and Curaçao, our club supported the two District Governors that Curaçao postulated.
In 1993 John Mansur, member of our club, was elected District Governor for the year 1995/6, but sudden serious illness prevented him from becoming Governor.
In 1996 our club was honored by a visit from the President RI
Herbert Brown.
Community Service projects in which Rotary played a prime role are: the establishment of a YMCA branch in Aruba in 1956, with 11 Rotarians being in the board.
On February 14, 1983 our club inaugurated the ‘Centro Kibrahacha’, a foundation entirely developed and created by Rotarians.
The centre is a gathering place for the elderly and serves to provide them with something to do and keeping them young at heart.
Today both the YMCA and the Centre, now called Club Kibrahacha 60+, have developed into showcases of community service and have remained our club’s main projects and contribution to society.
Other projects in which our club contributed largely are: the upgrading of the town’s central park, bringing out a Rotary Tourist Information booklet, establishing and maintaining kids playgrounds, and the sponsoring of two little league Baseball teams.
We contribute to the Rotary Foundation thru awarding Paul Harris fellowships; 37 of our (past and present) members are PH fellows.
Our main two fundraising events are the Fiesta Rotaria, a huge one-day flea market in combination with a raffle lottery, and the Rotary Golf tournament.
Combined these activities generate approximately US$200,000 yearly.
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acknowledgements to Rob de Zwart, Past President of the RC Aruba and to Wikipedia.
researched and posted by RGHF webmaster Greg Barlow. November 2011. |
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| First
Club of each Rotary Region or Country |
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