IN A burst of community spirit, one local group has gathered hospital and school supplies from all over the region to give to those less fortunate.
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Local man Jim Levy has just sent off 10 shipping containers loaded with hospital beds and school chairs to Mount Hagen and Alotau in neighbouring Papua New Guinea, with another three ready and waiting.
Mr Levy spent his childhood at a coffee plantation in Mount Hagen with his family.
After a 30-year absence, Mr Levy embarked on a nostalgic trip back to the Papua New Guinean highlands and was devastated to see the state of the local primary school where he was educated.
“I was shocked at how things had deteriorated since we were there. They didn’t have desks, chairs, chalk – they were sitting on the floor,” Mr Levy said.
“The teachers were doing a fantastic job with what they had, but they just didn’t have anything.
“The hospital was in a similar way.”
Recognising a dire need for basic school supplies and hospital equipment, Mr Levy joined Calala Rotary and founded Wantoks International in 2006.
The charity has been sending a shipping container every year to our island neighbour, but the effort was bolstered this year after the donation of 450 beds, which will see 13 containers sent.
Mr Levy said Hunter New England Health hospitals had replaced old manual beds with electric ones, meaning that several beds from Moree, Armidale and Tamworth would find new homes in Papua New Guinea.
Mr Levy said the hospitals in Mount Hagen and Alotau were still using beds from 1973.
He said 15,000 hospital uniforms had been donated, as well as school uniforms, reams of photocopy paper from Tamworth Public School, books from Boggabilla and Toomelah, and towering stacks of chairs.
Mr Levy will follow the containers when they land at Papua New Guinea and help with the unpacking process, ensuring the region’s gifts end up where they are most needed.
He was grateful for the community effort – from students at Farrer who had helped pack containers, to the shipping company, which had agreed to ship the goods free of charge, and even to a local woman who had knitted soft toys for children.
Mr Levy has already received generous donations of wheelchairs and walking frames from Moonbi House and St Andrews Village, which will make the voyage next year.
