New South Wales school children give books to Cheshire home kids

WIFE of the Australian High Commissioner, Roxanne Martens, handed over several cartons of books and educational aids to the Special Education Resource Centre (SERC) at Cheshire disAbility Services in Port Moresby last Friday.
These supplies were donated by the children of Kurrajong North Primary School, a small school of only 70 children, located in the foothills of the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia.  
The connection with Cheshire SERC was established through two sisters, Martens and her younger sister Chrissy Strickland-Bromley.
“It all began with a telephone conversation,” Martens said.  
“I told my sister about the lack of educational supplies at Cheshire SERC, and unbeknown to me, within a few days, Chrissy had galvanised her school parents and citizens committee into putting all their fund-raising efforts for the year towards buying books for Cheshire SERC.”  
The Kurrajong North Primary School library donated duplicate books, and the Australian children made personal donations from their own book shelves.
All freight and handling costs were met by Richard Lamport, managing director of Kalgin International Freight Services in Sydney.
Cheshire Special Education Resource Centre principal Paulus Pasbon thanked the children of Kurrajong North Primary School for their gift and said that children with disabilities attending school at Cheshire would greatly benefit from the donation.
According to her sister, Martens said that the children of Kurrajong North Primary School had also benefited from the project, because in the process, they had learnt about PNG, Australia’s closest neighbour.