36 given a future

2013 DUX (centre) and now on a scholarship to study medicine

“These past years could not have been successful without Rotary’s help and I sincerely thank their support and the great help provided to me from the club”.  Shama Naaz was one of 36 scholarship students of the BucaLevu Secondary School on Taveuni Island who have literally been given a future thanks to Rotary sponsorship by Taveuni Island Rotary.  All these students come from very poor backgrounds and disadvantage circumstances with 80% of them only having a single parent or a parent who is very ill or crippled.  As a result they know that without performing well in their studies they have little to fall back on to succeed in life.  Of the eight students completing their secondary education in 2013, seven have achieved high enough to receive Government scholarships to university of which one student will be studying medicine. The rest remain high achievers in the school with most receiving academic awards.

Secondary education is not compulsory in Fiji and without this financial assistance for school fees, books, uniforms and boarding these students would never have been able to continue their education and create a future that positively impacts their lives, their family and the wider community.  The scholarship established by Taveuni Island Rotary is ongoing with more assistance needed to continue to sponsor the students on scholarship. 

This is a story of two halves.  In 2014 the outside support has come from the Rotary Club of Auckland who in turn doubled the funds raised by their members with a district simplified grant from District 9920.  Such a grant is of course is only possible thanks to the support of clubs for The Rotary Foundation who in turn make grant funds available to the district for use in worthy projects such as this.  To complete the cycle, grant projects are encouraged to widely publicise the good work done although this is not required by the grant reporting structure.  This in turn creates support for The Rotary Foundation and the projects they support.