In Gear | Rotary in Southern New Zealand Issue 2 | Page 51

Timaru club puts desks
back in Fiji classrooms
When Cyclone Winston smashed down on Fiji in
February, it brought with it the most ferocious winds
ever recorded on the island nation, killing more than
40, and impacting 350,000 people – including 120,000
children.
Among the youngsters affected were children living
on islands east of the main Viti Levu Island. Bringing
wind gusts of up to 325kmph as it bore down, Winston
left their primary schools devastated, peeling off roofs
and destroying school work, resources and furniture
as it went.
Earlier this year, Rotary New Zealand World
Community Service put out the call: school desks and
chairs were desperately needed. The Rotary Club of
Timaru answered.

And that’s when the hard work
started.
Rotarians banded together
with cars and trailers and,
with help from Hilton Haulage,
did the rounds of the schools
Lionel Wilson
collecting the furniture, which
was stored in a shed at the transport company’s
Washdyke complex.
“We then had to disassemble all of the desks, and load
them and the chairs into a 40-foot container, which
Hilton Haulage transported up to Christchurch before
they were shipped out to Fiji where they’re now being
put to great use,” Lionel says.

“The immediate repair work had been
done, and the kids were back in their
classrooms – but without any desks or
chairs, so they were having to do all their
schoolwork on the floor or share the few
desks that were available,” says Lionel
Wilson, who co-ordinated the project at
the club.
“After everything they’d been through,
not having even the basics in the
classroom has to have further impacted
on their learning.”
The Timaru club put out the word to
primary schools throughout South
Canterbury.
The response, says Lionel, was
overwhelming. Eight schools – Geraldine
Primary, Woodbury, Winchester Rural,
Fairlie’s St Joseph’s, Pleasant Point,
Waimate’s St Patrick’s, Grantlea Downs
and Bluestone – all came forward,
offering to help.
“All in all, the schools donated more than
300 desks and 240 chairs.”

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