The new president of Rotary Club of Makati, Keith Harrison, shared with the Daily Tribune the six social aspects that he will be focused on realizing several projects inspired not only by the past successes of the Club but also his experiences with his children.

Harrison will lead the RC Makati for a year after he was inducted as the new president last 5 July.

First, he said, he aims to make communities more compassionate toward persons with disabilities (PWDs), including those who fall under the autism spectrum like his son.

“Some of them are highly functioning while some are terribly affected. My son does not have spontaneous speech but he’s an artist and can be taught to plant seeds. He goes to our little farm,” he shared.

While PWDs struggle with doing certain tasks, Harrison also said they possess unique talents that allow non-PWDs to become more creative and patient in navigating life’s endless challenges.

Driving force

“My wife is the real driving force and she’s a huge amount of energy for everything. She taught our son how to paint and they discovered that he could do it. It’s interesting for you and I to look at his artworks because you and I can draw a clownfish but he just chooses colors that are different,” Harrison said.

“We want communities to have a realization that they can be part of society and not locked up in a room,” he added.

Harrison shared that one percent of the population in any country in the world has people who fall under the autism spectrum. According to the Autism Society Philippines, there are a million Filipinos who have this condition.

Second, Harrison said he aims to help protect the environment by educating children with books that discuss recycling and other eco-friendly ways of living. Harrison said the Rotary Club of Makati will be visiting schools to distribute the books.

Good examples

Sharing a story about his eldest son and his wife, Harrison stressed that children can remind the adults how to become good examples for taking care of the environment.

“When I was in Switzerland and my son was then five years old, he came from school one day and he saw my wife putting a glass bottle in a red plastic bag not meant for recyclables but for general waste and my son told her she can’t do that. But she did anyway,” he recalled.

“The next morning the collector knocked on our door and told my wife that she must be new in the area and that glass bottles should not go into the colored plastic bag,” Harrison continued. “So you see, our children could, in fact, teach us how to do the right thing.”

Third, Harrison also wants to help maintain peace and prevent conflicts in any form, such as by reintroducing drug law offenders into communities and protecting abused housewives.

“Peace and conflict resolution does not have to be about wars. We have one project for rehabilitating drug offenders and we need to ensure that they are more understood in the communities,” Harrison said.

Fourth, he said he would very much like to contribute to efforts to prevent stunting and weak mental development among poor children, including those stay in Rotary Homes, Parañaque.

According to a United Nations report in 2020, there were at some 3.3 million stunted children aged under five in the Philippines. This population was among the highest worldwide, the report said.

Mental support groups

Fifth, Harrison aims to prevent suicide among the youth by establishing mental support groups which consist of health professionals and young volunteers who can lend ears to troubled people.

“It’s better to call someone within their peer group and spot the problems happening to their friends because in case of suicide, we cannot be late so you need to catch it,” he said.

Last, as part of his and RC Makati’s strong concern for the environment, Harrison said among the things he would like to do which are aligned with the Club’s environmental care advocacy is to build parks where people can plant vegetables for the benefit of their communities.

“Those are the main areas I want to focus on this year, but we’re not going to stop there,” he stressed.

As the RC Makati’s new president, Harrison is expected to mobilize members to address seven areas: the environment, disease prevention and treatment, water and sanitation, maternal and child health, basic education, economic and community development, and peace-building and conflict prevention.