Rotarians meeting felt needs

The National Weekender

THE Rotary Club of Boroko assists local communities in National Capital District and Central based on identified needs.
Its president Sanjay Shah in a recent interview said the club became involved in projects which were identified by its members from respective communities.
The club has distributed school desks, chairs, library books, hospital beds and linens amongst others worth more than K60,000 to various organisations.
At Rotary, members believe in a commitment to Service above Self.
Rotarians work to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education and alleviation of poverty.
Paul Harris began the idea of Rotary on Feb 23, 1905 in Chicago for friendship and fellowship among business people.
The first project in 1907 was installing public toilets in Chicago. Now there are 1.2million members worldwide, and more than 34,000 Rotary clubs in over 200 countries.
Shah said this donation in kind (DIK) was received from Rotary Australia World Community Service Ltd, Brisbane, Australia, with exemption granted by PNG Customs and the storage was waived by Motukea International Terminal Ltd, a subsidiary of ICTSI – South Pacific Services.
He said the club was also engaged with partners in other projects such as cervical cancer vaccination, teacher in a box, mosquito net distribution and water and sanitation projects.
Hula Clinic in Central was gifted with hospital beds, wheels chairs, linens, desks and chairs.
So far this year, the club has successfully distributed four DIK containers to Wabag, Popondetta, NCDC and Central.
Rotary Club of Boroko is also involved with following projects this year:
l Project Uplift – The club is in the process of distributing donated undergarments for girls and women provided by Project Uplift from Melbourne, Victoria for those in settlements who cannot afford such basic items, through various women’s organisation like YWCA, the Salvation Army, welfare centres, etc;

  •  Cervical cancer vaccination – Prevention of cervical cancer programme;
  •  Teacher in the Box – To help raise the literacy level throughout PNG;
  •  Water and sanitation projects – at Gemorobu Village, Sogeri and Iarowari Community Water project; and
  •  Mosquito net distribution – Rotary Club of Boroko is also involved with Rotary Against Malaria (RAM) to distribute treated mosquito nets in Central.
    Rotary Club of Boroko has also agreed to participate with Rotary club of Shendai City, Japan to do a water project at Sogeri National High School and Iarowari High School.
    Earlier this month, the Rotary Club of Boroko had donated a lot of useful items to the Bomana prison to cater for rising needs of the prisoners.
    Shah said a total of 300 mosquito nets, two beds, one movable stretcher, three bags of linens, eight cartons of bras for the women inmates and medical items useful to the clinics were presented to the prison.
    He said they have donated 1,000 mosquito nets to the prison last year. He also said all donations came from a group in Australia called Uplifting.
    Later this year, the Rotary Club of Boroko is expected to have a major event to raise funds for its projects.
    The Rotary Club of Boroko was chartered in the 1960s and currently consists of 21 active members.
    It fundraises throughout the year to continue providing many community projects such as water, health, education and the DIK programme which brings school and medical materials into needy areas.
    Its current main programme is the funding of vaccination of around 28,000 school girls to protect them from cervical cancer.
    “Our club has spent the last three years fundraising for this project and has raised over K 264,000 locally (about USD 100,000) as part of our contribution to this fund,” Shah said.
    “Through the assistance of the Rotary Club of Bribie Island, we have managed to secure funding from nine other clubs and the Rotary Foundation for the additional amount of US $229,500.”