Page 14 - Rotary DIN Feb 16
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Hope in the Townships many deliveries of knitted baby clothes and
It’s a little-reported fact that, every day, three deliveries of food and nappies, and so on, every
babies are abandoned in Greater Johannesburg. month for the past three years. The knitted
Poverty has led to new-born children being left in clothing is carried out by wives of members of our
the streets, abandoned, abused, orphaned. It’s a club, with help from the Inner Wheel. We have
dire situation, which caused Otter Valley managed to extend supplies for about one more
Rotarian, Paul Floyd, a Flight Engineer who was in year and so this will total four years’ support. It’s
South Africa three years ago, to want to do great to think that a small town in Devon can
something. reach out to South Africa’s children at the Door of
Luckily, he had just joined Rotary and he had Hope, all through the work of Rotary.”
come across a charitable organisation that could
help on the ground. It is called Door of Hope and Contact: Paul Floyd of Otter Valley on
this Jo’burg-based charity has dedicated itself to 07801 369050 or flighttech-eng@hotmail.com
rescuing as many of these abandoned babies and
children as it can. Thus far, it has given 1,477 of All smiles in Bali
them a home.
Crediton Rotarians have played a pivotal role in
December’s delivery getting 700 toothbrushes to children in a very
rural part of East Bali.
Paul said: “I just did a presentation to 60 people
within Rotary, and so the work at Door of Hope is The venture has sprung from Crediton Rotarian
being well publicized. Our club have supported Keith Davies and his nine-year-old grandson Kai
Davies, who lives at Perth in Australia. With the
help of Rotary Clubs in Australia and Bali, they
have helped support a free medical clinic in
Bhunutan, Bali, Indonesia, called Rumah Sehat,
which means Healthy House.
The clinic has a portable dental surgery including
a dental chair, donated by Rotary Clubs, and
visits to eight schools are carried out at the rate
of one school per week. Treatment consists
mainly of extracting badly decayed teeth.
Incredibly, less than 10 per cent of local children
had access to toothbrushes (usually a single
communal family brush) and knowledge of dental
hygiene is almost non-existent.
