In 2008 the Rotary Clubs of Pakenham and Kooweerup-Lang Lang raised funds to erect a three-classroom building at Chamabondo School in a deprived area of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.
Pakenham Rotarian George Blenkhorn and his wife Sue visited the school in 2009 and were moved to see a sign on the wall acknowledging both Rotary Clubs.
In 2021, members of the Rotary Club of Pakenham visited the Rotary Donations In Kind (DIK) warehouse in West Footscray to deliver some wheelchairs. After noticing the amount of goods there, they decided to support another international project.
Following consultations with the Rotary Club of Victoria Falls, plans were made to send them a container of goods from DIK to be distributed to places of great need. Their rapid response included a wish list for four sites in their area; the list for the Victoria Falls hospital alone would have required three-to-four, 40ft containers. DIK provided quotes of $7250 for a 40ft container and $17,500 for transport from Melbourne to Victoria Falls.
The Rotary Club of Pakenham paid for the container and the Rotary Clubs of Berwick, Casey, Cranbourne, and Greater Dandenong were contacted and all agreed to support the project. In 2022 arrangement were made to proceed, but Russia invading Ukraine saw the shipping costs increase to $36,500 forcing the project to be delayed.
In August this year DIK advised that we could send the container from Melbourne to Bulawayo for $17,000 if paid within seven days. The five participating clubs raised these funds and the Rotary Club of Victoria Falls agreed to pay costs from Bulawayo to Victoria Falls.
On the 10th of this month members helped pack the container to be transported to Port Melbourne for shipping. The contents of the container included 30 modern hospital beds and bedside cabinets, 132 cartons of assorted surgical instruments and consumables, a baby resuscitator machine and baby care stations, and school desks and chairs.
All the goods that DIK provide are donated from hospitals, schools, and businesses when upgrading stock and equipment, or from old stock and over-ordered goods. DIK distributes the goods, both nationally and internationally, helping communities in Australia and around the world through Rotary.
