Ngari Nurses’ Aid Station,
On Monday 22nd March, 2010, the first team of eight Rotary volunteers led by District 9600 RAWCS Chair, Trevor Taylor, from the Glasshouse Mountains Club left Australia for Gizo to begin construction of a Nurses’ Aid Station in a remote area, known as Ngari.
The project was unusual (and something of an experiment) drawing Rotarians together from clubs in two districts to finance and undertake a fairly
large project in the space of four weeks.
The clubs represented in districts 9600 and 9750 were Glasshouse Mountains, Sydney Cove, , Ashgrove/The Gap, Maleny, Kings Cross, Mooloolaba, Sydney and Caloundra.
As an “outstation” of the Gizo Hospital, this new “clinic” will be equipped and staffed by the hospital.
In the first week, the team excavated the site, concreted-in the metal “stumps”, constructed the deck and began manufacturing the roof trusses
Most of the team were camped in an unfinished building belonging to the nearby primary school. Others endured a daily truck ride to and from their more comfortable “digs” in Gizo.
The second week saw some dramatic progress to the project, with framework going up, followed by the roof trusses. The ablution block was “boxed up” ready for the slab and the framework to go in.
This took us to the midway point when the first team returned home and our second team arrived.
The roof was now our priority, being covering the main building before the weather could threaten the schedule
The last Monday saw Rick and Leo completing the external cladding and Mike arranging for the water tank to be transported from town.
At lunchtime on Friday, the local ladies decorated the entrance with flowers, officials from Gizo Hospital appeared, along with the Rt Hon Danny Kennedy, representatives from local churches, Ngari School and the community. The Rotarians were bestowed with leis and given lunch. There were speeches and expressions of gratitude to Rotary for providing the facility. Mike replied on behalf of the teams, thanking the local community for their help in carrying a large amount of materials and equipment to the site on foot (there is no vehicular access) and the ladies for tirelessly and generously feeding us. Children, delightfully sang and danced for us and a group played some traditional pipe instruments. To close, our “dinner ladies” all sang a song of farewell – quite moving!
Whilst we have created a building that is ready for use, there are a number of things that need completing, However we consoled ourselves that we have done our best in the time available and have left Ngari with a building that they (and Rotary) can be proud of.
We returned to Australia on Tuesday 20th. April, 2010.
From a report by Michael Austin
Links
Read full report on construction (pdf download)
Report from RAWCS Project Leader (pdf download)