10th Taveuni Eye Project in Fiji: What goes on behind the scenes

Nurse Vicky checking the eye of a patient - Photo: Jan Malden, Inner Wheel Boronia

“The timing of the 10^th Taveuni Eye Project in October 2015 could not have been more perfect for patients.  All patients have returned to their homes, families and friends and were able to participate in the Christmas and New Year celebrations. For many it was the first for a long time, so consequently very special,” said Project Lead, Rotary Club of Taveuni Island President Geoffrey Amos.

 

“In the developing world, every blind poor person has a family member who is chosen to be his or her caretaker. Frequently it is a child who becomes the “seeing eye child” for the blind person. Neither can attend school, work, or provide for the family, prolonging the cycle of poverty,“ commented Head Surgeon Doctor Jeff Rutgard.

 

Over the last ten years, the Taveuni Rotary Club has come to the aid of the visually impaired throughout Fiji by reaching out to them, giving 2500 of them a second chance, a chance to see for the first time for children born with cataracts and for adults to see again after being blind for years.

 

Worldwide support for the Taveuni Eye Project has made all this possible.  What a marvelous gift for the patients and their families. Without the wonderful team of supporters and volunteers, the largest totally free Cataract Surgery Program would not take place.

 

Support comes in many ways; some give their skill and time, some people provide vital funding, and others contribute food, accommodation and transport. This successful project grows year by year.  Last year 33 volunteers from Fiji, New Zealand, USA and Australia were involved for two weeks. Each year the project raises $FJ150,000 to provide this vital service to people in rural and remote communities, and each year it gets harder to fund the project.

 

The project has both local and overseas donors. Local Taveuni Island donors grow one ton each of dalo and cassava, others supply vudi, pineapple, bananas, pawpaw and meat.

 

In this unique project, the patients pays nothing, irrespective of where they live. The project pays all transport, accommodation, meals, surgery and post-operative medication for door to door via the Taveuni Island Hospital. In its 10^th year, the project team returned full vision to 339 eyes for 255 patients including 4 children. All patients returned to their homes with renewed vigor for life as full working members of their community, with the children now able to go to school.

 

Once the yearly fundraising is complete and everything is planned, the volunteers all arrive and commence the numerous tasks required to take care of the patients.

 

The Logistics Team arrange the travel for patients coming from all over Fiji, coordinating passenger services (including ships, buses, ferries, hire vehicles and donated local vehicles), the number of patients arriving and departing daily, planning surgery numbers, liaising with Patient Services for beds and food, attending to the Theatre Team’s requirements. They are the first to arrive at the hospital in the morning and last to leave at the end of the day. Past President Michael Prasad has done this role for all of the last ten years.

 

Over the same time period, Rotarian Joey Korovata has managed the Patient Services Team. They produce all the meals (totaling approximately 2500 over the two weeks), wash thousands of sheets, pillow cases and towels, and of course make the beds and care for patients.

 

The Medical Team carry out the medical procedures and supply the very best of care for the patients. With 35 operations per day, sometimes three at once, plus the pre-screening and post-operative care, their days are full from 6.30am to 6.00pm.

 

The total team compassion and dedication to the blind disadvantaged throughout Fiji, supported by the Taveuni Rotary Club and Rotary Clubs in New Zealand, Australia, and the US, along with SEE International and the Hawaiian Eye Foundation have made it possible for over 2,500 Fijian children and adults to have received the gift of sight.

 

“I witnessed patients who had travelled for over 36 hours who were so happy to be there and so appreciative of the work that this incredible group of people accomplish. These patients who are transported, accommodated and fed while having their sight restored, all provided by Rotary Foundation Global Grant, donations of money, voluntary time and the gift of love.  It is a truly an amazing humanitarian project,” concluded District 9920 Governor Jennie Herring.

 

Planning and fundraising has already commenced for the 11^th Annual Taveuni Eye Project.  To find out more, go to the Rotary Club of Taveuni Island’s website www.rotarysouthpacific.org/club.cfm?ID=365 or contact Geoffrey Amos directly via raikivi@me.com.

Words: Past President Peter Malden, of the Rotary Club of Boronia, Vic (a sister club to Rotary Club of Taveuni Island, Fiji)

 

Bridging the Digital Divide

 

Students discovering the wonder and power of technology in Taveuni Islands

Some communities are being left behind and severely disadvantaged simply because they are digitally excluded. 

 

The Rotary Club of Newmarket in Auckland, NZ has developed two projects to accelerate and widen education in disadvantaged communities, in partnership with AUT University.

The initial pilot project was at the Refugee Centre in Auckland.

Following a demonstration of tablet-based education, Geoffrey Amos who is a past president of the Rotary Club of Taveuni Island in Fiji, championed having tablet-based education on Taveuni to improve employment opportunities.

 

A tablet-based system was developed suitable for two high schools there, where internet speed and power supply is limited.

 

This was funded by a Rotary Matching Grant with contributors including the Rotary Clubs of Newmarket, Ellerslie Sunrise and Botany East Tamaki throughout Auckland, and Taveuni Island, plus Rotary Districts 9920 and 9970 District Designated Funds.

 

Project Leader Dave Birch, of the Rotary Club of Newmarket, developed a partnership with AUT University and Rotary that combined the latest digital teaching techniques (pedagogy) to be combined with Rotary’s community reach.

 

Well researched apps were selected before a Joint Rotary / AUT team travelled to Taveuni in March to set up the system, then train the teachers and students. This was ably led by Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar Kelsi Cox and supported by International Youth Exchange Student Jon Glendon.

The teachers were quick learners. The students seized on this new technology and were rapidly developing cultural videos.

 

A dedicated Digital Learning Room has been set aside at both schools for the tablets and their supporting equipment. Enthusiasm is high, so additional tablets have been supplied.

Training the teachers in digitally-based education is critical for sustainability.

 

This project was presented at the Sydney Convention. Already interest has been expressed from Armenia to Tanzania, and five sites in the Pacific are being considered for Digital Learning rooms.

 

Digital Learning Rooms tailored to the conditions, provide a break-through opportunity to lift educational outcomes.

What’s next?

 

The goal is Digital Learning Rooms used in 100 schools across the Pacific. 

 

A “Digital Learning Room” with 35 tablets, related equipment, setup and training costs around US$20,000.

Rotary International Video is about doing good in Fiji. With community engagement and support from a Rotary grant, a Digital Learning Room tablet technology became a reality for one school on Taveuni Island. 

 

Go to www.digitallearningroom.org to get involved in this Digital Learning Room project that is powered by Rotary by using your skills in Technology or Teaching, supporting financially via a donation or Rotary project, or nominating a potential Digital Learning Room site.

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.