2019/2020 – Service Activities

Support to Timor Leste

Early in the 2019/2020 Rotary Year a commitment was made by the Board of the Rotary club of Salamanca to use the funds raised through the inaugural BOOKFEST of March 2019, to support the educational needs for young people, locally and in Timor Leste.

To realise this commitment the Club opted to partner with the Rotary Club of Port Melbourne (District 9800), in an ongoing RAWCS Project 22 of 2014-15:
‘To provide a General Health & Dental Clinic, upgrade schools and civic infrastructure in Balibo and surrounding villages’.

This project is in partnership with the Balibo House Trust and Spend it Well.

The specific focus of our Club’s contribution will be at Ai Asa, a small community close to Balibo. The current school is in a terrible condition and with many  of the 124 student unable to attend due to the unsafe state of the buildings.

The rotary club of port Melbourne has committed to supporting the refurbishment of the old school building, the building of 8 Timor style toilets and the installation of a water tank. Our Club has provided $5000 towards this project.

Secondly the Rotary Club of Salamanca will support the Rotary Club of Port Melbourne by donating $1000 for the shipment of donated used school furniture, from Victorian schools to Timor Leste.

Thirdly our Club has provided funds to enable one teacher to undertake the Tetun Literacy and Teacher Training Program offered by Mary Mackillop Today. The course runs for 12 months and costs $1,385

Australian Bushfire Appeal

The devastating bushfires which affected all states (particularly, Victoria, NSW, Queensland and South Australia) of Australia during the Spring to Summer of 2019 into 2020 caused catastrophic loss of life, property, fauna and flora. The Rotary Club of Salamanca, along with many other individuals and organisations, decided to do what we could  to raise funds to support people as they attempt to rebuild their lives.

On Saturday 18th January, 2020 with the support of the Hobart City Council, Club members ‘shook tins’ in Salamanca Market to raise funds and thanks to the generosity of the market patrons raised $5 388.

On Friday 31st January, a member of the Club organised a Bushfire Relief cocktail party which netted $7 862. Graham Family Funerals were generous donors to this event.

All in all the Club was pleased to send $13 250 to the RAWCS (Rotary Australia World Community Service) Bushfire Relief Appeal.  100% of all funds donated to this appeal will go to projects aimed at the rebuiding in the fire affected areas.

Water for a Village

Water for a Village is a small Australian-based charity that provides clean fresh water to villages in the Simien Mountains of Ethiopia.
In 2014 Dr Catherine Wheatley fell in love with Ethiopia while walking through the Simien Mountain National Park (SMNP) in the north of the country. She wanted to make a difference to the people who live there in complete poverty and under very challenging conditions.

She decided to install a hand dug well in a village where the women walked many hours a day to fetch water, and where the children were ill from water and hygiene related illnesses. So Water for a Village was born.

On 9th July, 2019, Catherine Wheatley spoke to the Club.  As a result of her presentation, the Board decided to provide $4000 towards the project.

In early February 2020, the  Rotary Club of Salamanca received news from Water for a Village that construction had commenced on the water tank the Club funded in Nonaniya, in Ethiopia’s Simien Mountains . The tank is being built by the villagers who will use it under the supervision of a trained and experienced contractor.
The local people have been collecting and using water from a contaminated hole on the side of the road, also used by animals. It is great to be in partnership with and making a difference through Water for a Village.

Click here for further information on the Water for a Village project

National Youth Science Forum (NYSF)

The Club sponsored a student to attend the 2020 NYSF in Canberra in January.  It is unfortunate that due the density of bushfire smoke in Canberra at the time of the NYSF, the forum had to be cancelled.

Click here for further information on NYSF

The Science Experience

The Science Experience provides Year 10 students with an opportunity to participate in three days of ‘hands-on’ science studies and related activities on campus at the University of Tasmania. The activities display to students that science and technology can be an interesting career choice.

The Rotary Club of Salamanca had the joy of providing a BBQ lunch for the students during the event in December 2019.

Click here for further information on The Science Experience

Tassie Mums

Tassie Mums is a not for profit volunteer based group that is passionate about providing essential items to babies and children in need. Following a visit by CEO Clair Harris in May 2019, the Club made a donation to the organisation in July of the same year.

Click here for further information about Tassie Mums.

Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE)

During the 2019 to 2020 Rotary Year, the Club has not accepted an incoming exchange student, however one of our members has accepted the responsibility of providing a home for an inbound student for three months as an assistance to another local Rotary Club which is hosting the student.

The Club has sponsored an outward bound student, who left for a 12 month stay in the United States in February 2020.

For more information on RYE click here