DIK West Footscray dispatched two 40 Foot conatiners to Tonga in April and May 2022 to provide urgent relief following the damage caused by the volcano eruption and associated tsunami in January.
The small island nation of 100,000 people suffered significant damage to infrastructure and caused major disruption in this community. Rotary were able to focus on humanitarian relief and swing their resources towards assisting. DIK West Footscray played a major role is assembling, packing and shipping the two containers.
See details of this project on RAWCS website.
A third container is scheduled for dispatch to Tonga in march 2023. Planning for this container began in September 2022.
Container #1
The conatiner shipped in April provided humanitarian relief to three major high schools:
- Queen Salote College
- Apifo’ou College
- Tupou College
Each school has approximately 1000 students, including boarders from outlying islands. They have 20% of all enrolled high school students.
Goods supplied:
- Each school will recieve equipment and supplies to establish a fully-functional Dental Clinic. The clinic will service students, staff and members of the local community. The facility will also be used for training.
- They will also receive medical equipment to cconvert the school sick bay into a small medical clinic.
- Each school is self-sufficient with qualified medical and maintenance staff.
- Queen Salote College will receive 113 cartons of books and shelving facilities to establish a new library. This has been possible ddue to donations from Ballarat City Libraries.
- Seven dental chairs provided by Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne will go to the Ministry of Health
- A significant amout of medical equipment and consumables were included, (see table below.)
- The Rotary Club of Nuku’alofa will receive goods including 122 rolls of cloth to assist communities.
- 200 feminine hygeine kits were donated by Days For Girls to be distributed in the schools.
| Item | Number | |
|---|---|---|
| Medical | Hospital beds | 4 |
| Hospital mattresses | 10 | |
| Blood pressure monitors | 3 | |
| Examination tables | 4 | |
| Cartons of supplies | 220 | |
| Bags of hospital linen | 30 | |
| Pairs of crutches | 9 | |
| Wheelchairs | 3 | |
| Dental | Patient chairs | 9 |
| Stools | 5 | |
| Dental camera | 1 | |
| Cartons of supplies | 29 | |
| Cartons of equipment | 7 | |
| Compressors | 2 | |
| Suction motors | 3 | |
| Autoclaves | 5 | |
| Water distillers | 3 | |
| School Equipment | Desks | 16 |
| Chairs | 35 | |
| Cartons of supplies | 24 | |
| Filing cabinets | 2 | |
| Cartons of library books | 113 | |
| Bags of library books | 3 | |
| Cartons of school equipment | 1 | |
| Pedestal fans | 6 | |
| Pallets of library shelves | 7 | |
| Office chairs | 4 | |
| "Days For Girls" kits | 200 | |
| General | Rolls of cloth | 122 |
Container #2
Goods Supplied:
- Equipment for a 16-bed medical isolation ward in the Tupou College.
- Supply of hospital beds and equipment requested by the Vaiola Hospital. Financial support from the RAWCS allowed for the purchase some new equipment needed in several departments in the hospital.
- To supply additional equipment previously requested for the Apifo’ou, Queen Salote and Tupou Colleges. Nucleus Computer Donations were of great assistance providing commercial computers and printers.
| Item | Number | |
|---|---|---|
| General Goods | Library shelving (pallet) | 1 |
| Computer | 7 | |
| Printers | 8 | |
| Cartons of library books | 26 | |
| Office chairs | 7 | |
| Hospital beds and mattresses | 30 | |
| Bedside locker | 16 | |
| Overbed table | 16 | |
| IV poles for beds | 26 | |
| Bed linen (pallet) | 1 | |
| Sphygmomanometers | 3 | |
| Gloves (boxes) | 36 | |
| Masks (pallets) | 8 | |
| Tables | 2 | |
| Disposable hospital gowns (cartons) | 75 | |
| Patient monitor | 2 | |
| IV stand | 4 | |
| Table top autoclave | 1 | |
| Ladder | 1 | |
| Soldering kit | 1 | |
| Water blaster | 4 | |
| Water blaster wands | 2 | |
| Demolition hammer | 1 | |
| Tools case` | 1 | |
| Mop set | 1 | |
| TV monitors | 25 | |
| Hospital masks (cartons) | 13 | |
| Consumables (cartons) | 22 | |
| Dental hoses (cartons) | 1 | |
| Mobile suction monitor | 1 | |
| Tooth paste (cartons) | 1 | |
| Wheelchairs | 3 | |
| Medical cupboards | 2 | |
| Medical drapes (cartons) | 15 |