On Sunday, 22nd of November, the members of Wauchope Rotary formed a working party to pack & load several pallets of goods for transport to the Donations In Kind warehouse in Sydney. These goods were donated by the school children of the Hastings/Macleay area, & by the Rotarians of Port Macquarie, & District 9650. Although The Hastings Macleay is the point of primary donations, & the centre for packing & transportation, acknowledgement must be made of the efforts of the other clubs in D9650, especially with regard to funding. The financial contribution of the Rotary clubs in D9650 go a long way in providing the funding for containers etc. & are most welcome.

The goods comprised of over 50 school desks, approximately 400 plastic stackable chairs, literacy kits, baby kits, sporting goods, & even steel beds & mattresses. The goods packed will go a long way to alleviate the primitive conditions under which the people of Vanuatu, specifically the island off Tanna live. The goods are mainly aimed at improving education & literacy among the children of Tanna. The branch of Rotary charged with this task is Rotary Australia World Community Service, or RAWCS. So far, RAWCS has sent 2 containers of similar goods, including solar lights.

RAWCS has also sent many working parties over nearly 20 years, to rebuild a hospital, school buildings, & are now involved in building a community centre. This article is about Rotary's involvement in Vanuatu, but it must be remembered that Rotary, through RAWCS, is involved in programs & projects in New Guinea, Samoa, Bali, & even Tanzania, to name a few. These range from active participation in repairs to, or the complete re-building of, structures destroyed by cyclone or flood, education & training in the control of malaria, clean drinking water, & the repair of Cleft Pallets in the children of Bangladesh.

In areas of extreme destruction, Rotary has provided emergency shelter with the deployment of Shelter Boxes. These provide temporary shelter & cooking utensils for up to 10 people. Also, in conjunction with the ABC's "Wrapped With Love" campaign, warm blankets & clothing have been sent to many who have lost everything in disasters such as cyclones, earthquake & flood.

So, although we'll send another container of goods to the island off Tanna, Rotary's work in the world is far from finished. But we will never stop trying to make the lives of less fortunate people more comfortable.

Reg. Pierce
District Chairman
International Service.