In August 2012, the House of Hope was erected in Apia, Samoa. Since then, the Rotarians and volunteers at The Shed made over 1,840 wheelchairs, valued at roughly $184,000 in raw materials and providing inestimable value to the 1,840 disabled children throughout the world who received this gift of movement as a result. But still, since the House of Hope, the current Samoa School project was our club's largest single undertaking. Like its predecessors erected in Vanuatu, Thailand and Mataa'fa (Samoa) before, this building was pre-manufactured and "test assembled" at The Shed over several months. A team of volunteers which included teachers and students from the fundraising Northern Collegiate of High Schools (Helensvale, Upper Coomera and Coombabah), flew to Apia, all paying for their own flight and accommodation expenses. They completed the building right next to the House of Hope, where it will be used as a classroom for its resident children. Last Wednesday, Mark Twyford and Al Sirovs, two of the team members who were not just involved in the pre-assembly stage but also went over with the construction team, reported on the event. With "A huge Thank You! go to the guys at the Wheelchair Shed" Mark acknowledged the hours, days, nay, weeks of volunteer work performed at The Shed to pre-manufacture and pre-assemble the building to Des La Rance's design. But it wasn't just the physical on-site work that needs to be recognized: Mark also brought the huge contributions of Rosie McIntyre and Mario Fairlie to our attention. As he had done numerous times before, Mario again did a lot of work behind the scenes. Rosie not only went over to Samoa to work on site (together with her husband Andrew and daughter Trinity), but as our club's Project Director, she had principal
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responsibility for the project. You may also recall that she organized the fundraising raffle earlier this year with a prize donated by Bartercard. Then there was Peter Morgan who took care of the legal affairs and, together with Mario, liaised with the relevant authorities over there.But, as Al Sirovs dryly remarked, "it went together as it should have". [No, Al is not exactly loquacious... ☺ Ed.]. "We opened the container and everything fell out..." he quipped. This only means that there really wasn't any empty space anymore. Mark, on a personal perspective, remarked that for him and his wife Tanya, working on this project went very close to their heart: "We came from here, where we have resources, and went over there where they have no resources. We consider our work to have been very rewarding - personally" he said. "Still, being confronted with the extremes of Samoan life, the wonderful culture, the fun loving atmosphere and people on the one side, then on the other side the stark reality, such as of a 3 year old girl having been severely abused by her own family. This school provides a safe place". What greater gift? Moreover, it is sustainable - the locals have been given instructions on how to maintain it.
There was a bit of a worry with the weather (it rained a lot), but still the basic structure went up by the first Friday. The team, which included some teachers and students of the Collegiate of High Schools, worked like clockwork. Some quite unexpected talents were discovered, such as our District Treasurer (and, in his professional life, Chartered Accountant) Doug Lipp, who displayed a remarkable aptitude for construction work - if not for stomaching the local fare: he ended up having to go home with, well... "Samoa Belly"...
A book could be written. A picture tells a thousand words: there is an entire album by Rosie McIntyre on the web - click on this link. But some words are worth re-telling: DG Darrell Brown, at the handover ceremony, said
"It's not the building that's important. It's the education that will happen in this building because without education, we can't progress in the world and we believe Rotary is making a difference."