The Year That Was - International

In 2021-2022 International Committee again broke its recommendations to the Rotary Club of Warrnambool East into three groups, a small number for which funds would be released early in the year, a second group for which funds would only be released after the February wash up of the HIO fundraising results, and a set of contingences. In the latter half of the year several emergency relief style projects were identified and addressed.

 

Interplast Australia is a non-profit organisation, which provides voluntary medical teams to undertake a program of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in neighbour developing countries where Interplast Australia has been asked to assist with local medical and nursing education.  We have supported Interplast now for at least 14 years, this year we contributed $500 to Interplast in our early release of funds.

 

The purpose of ROMAC, an initiative of Australian Rotarians, is to bring seriously ill or injured children from developing countries where medical attention is unavailable for life-saving or dignity restoring treatment. Children from over 20 countries have had treatment facilitated by ROMAC over the last 10 years. The Committee agreed to continue our support this year, and again contribute $500 to ROMAC in our early release of funds.

 

The battle against Malaria requires a global effort. Rotarians Against Malaria is focused on implementation and provides the means to have the largest impact for the dollars expended. Malaria is relatively easy and inexpensively preventable and treatable. Malaria control can have a dramatic impact on economic development. The Committee agreed to continue our support this year, and again contribute $500 to RAM in our early release of funds.

 

ShelterBox is a global Rotary humanitarian program that provides shelter, comfort and dignity to people affected by natural and other disasters.  Since 2001, it has provided the rapid deployment of emergency shelter to more than 500,000 people in over 40 countries. This year we released the budgeted $2,000 in September and $1,000 for a third ShelterBox towards the end of the Rotary Year.

 

Rotary Australia World Community Service Ltd. (RAWCS) was formed to enable Australian Rotarians, Rotary Districts and Rotary Clubs to assist disadvantaged communities and individuals through humanitarian aid projects. Over the years we have been supporting RAWCS, it has morphed into a financial infrastructure that facilitates fundraising for projects that deliver humanitarian aid and charitable support in Australia and overseas. So, to support RAWCS we need to identify a specific project on the RAWCS web.

 

This year in the early release we forwarded the budgeted $500 to a project in Timor Leste aiming to provide solar panels to and provide a reliable & sustainable electricity supply to the Teresa Orsini Clinic, boarding house, and local village. The Teresa Orsini Clinic is the only maternity and health facility in the sub-district of Maucatar located in the Cova Lima Province south west of Suai in Timor Leste. The clinic also supports approximately 50 teenage girls in a separate boarding house.

 

In May we were contacted by the Geelong Rotary Donations in Kind team, to assist them in funding a container dispatch. In response to their request and after discussion at the May Board Meeting, we agreed to send an unbudgeted $1500 to the DIK team via RAWCS.

 

We also used the RAWCS structure to lend support to the Volcano eruption and Tsunami appeal for Tonga (RARF) and the RAWCS National Flood Appeal to assist families and businesses following the major floods in Queensland and northern New South Wales.  $7000 was allocated to the Tonga Appeal from the budgeted International Committee Emergency Relief and Emerging Projects contingency set aside at the start of the year.  $4000 was allocated from the budgeted Community Committee Contingency to support the Australian based relief appeal after discussion at the March Board meeting.

 

The Fred Hollows Foundation is inspired by work of the late Professor Fred Hollows, whose vision was for a world where no one was needlessly blind. Working to continue Fred's vision, The Fred Hollows Foundation in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom form a global network to increase our collective impact in eradicating avoidable blindness around the world. This year we released the budgeted $1,000 in September.

 

Over the last fifteen years the Club has been involved in the support of an ongoing project in East Timor.  This started with the support of the efforts initiated by Dr Noel Bayley and has involved hands on projects driven by Andy Graham ably supported by many from our Club and the Water East Timor Committee. 

 

Water East Timor (WET) and our Team were unable to launch the planned new initiatives last year because East Timor continued to be ravaged by Coronavirus. So, we carried forward $10,000 from last year.

 

This year after a series of discussions with the WET committee members we agreed to support their planned Asulau Water Project. This effort will provide running water to around 250 people, including 50 households, and a school with around 120 students. Water will be sourced from a perennial spring, this project is like those in other villages we have supported in the past. The primary benefit of the project will be equitable access to a safe and secure drinking and hand-washing water supply for 250 Asulau villagers (including 120 pupils at the village school).

 

We released the budget $10,000 after discussions at the May Board Meeting. The WET Committee have agreed to give the Club an update on this and their ongoing projects early in the next Rotary Year.

 

$1,000 given to the special fund established by The Rotary Foundation to receive funds aimed at providing humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine.

 

For over ten years Rotarian Joy Irvine (now deceased) supported the Cambodia Trust in her retirement, spending a significant amount of time in Cambodia and working on overarching committees. The Club supported Joy’s work over these years. 

 

For some years now, the Club has budgeted to support Joy’s family in some form of recognition of Joy’s work in Cambodia. Unfortunately, their original plans did not come to fruition. However, Wendy Mitchem and I have found another way to recognize Joy’s work. Paul Lougheed, the CEO of Southern Way, identified a project supporting the youth in Cambodia – a Rock Climbing Wall. Paul was a little short of the funds needed to complete the project and we agreed to fund that shortfall by donating $500, a plaque recognizing Joy’s work in Cambodia will be attached to the completed wall.

 

Expenditure Summary 2021-2022

            Regular Projects

                        Interplast         ..          ..          ..          ..          ..          ..               500

                        ROMAC         ..          ..          ..          ..          ..          ..               500

                        RAM   ..          ..          ..          ..          ..          ..          ..               500

                        Shelter Box Australia  ..          ..          ..          ..          ..            3,000

                        RAWCS Timor Leste Electricity Project       ..          ..               500

                        Fred Hollows Foundation       ..          ..          ..          ..            1,000             6,000

 

            Additional Projects

                        RAWCS Tonga Appeal          ..          ..          ..          ..            7,000

                        RAWCS Donations in Kind   ..          ..          ..          ..            1,500

                        RAWCS Queensland & NSW Floods (Community Budget)   4,000

                        East Timor Water (via WET) ..          ..          ..          ..          10,000

                        Ukraine Appeal           ..          ..          ..          ..          ..            1,000

                        Cambodia Trust (EXCEED)  ..          ..          ..          ..               500             24,000

 

            TOTAL           From International      ..          ..          ..          ..          26,000

                                    From Community       ..          ..          ..          ..            4,000             30,000

 

Bill Hewett

Director