When you leave all you know and all you have and arrive in a strange place with nothing, who can you turn to for assistance? Rotary's 'Donations in Kind' service is a treasure house of goods and have been assisting our new refugees with basic essentials.
A telephone call, conversation with a request for help, a suggestion, further telephone calls and a positive outcome was achieved.
Welcome to the world of The Rotary Foundation with the motto – “Doing Good in the World”
Rotarians from the Rotary Clubs of Adelaide (Julie), Gawler Light (David), friends of Gawler Light (Vicki), Edwardstown (John), and Seaford (Ian), were able to swing into action late last week to assist the 89 Afghanis who arrived on Wednesday morning from war torn city of Kabul. In urgent need of clothing and toys for children, local Rotarians were able to call on Donations in Kind (DIK)– located at the Edinburgh RAAF base to assist with these items.
To meet a tight schedule - David with his team of friends of Rotary where able to select and pack the required items in need – clothes, bed sheets, pillow slips, towels, crockery, cutlery, drinking glasses, suitcase, food storage containers, soft toys etc. and with the help of John with his trailer, were able to transport the items (a wooden crate) to Treasure Boxes (Edwardstown) on Saturday (a volunteer organization nominated for this project) and meet the closing time of 2pm. John even changed his Saturday plans to assist.
Donations in Kind – South Australia is a program whereby Rotarians/Rotary Clubs source surplus goods and products within Australia that have no further use here. These goods are often invaluable to those in needy countries and or can be used to support Rotary projects in developing countries. Rotarians volunteer to help sort stock, load containers and arrange shipment to countries often in the Pacific region and beyond.
Treasure Boxes (Edwardstown) is a volunteer organization to who assist new international arrivals to Adelaide plus assist babies, children, teens, parents or caregivers in South Australia who need help securing essential items of need.
The 89 Afghanis who arrived recently from Kabul have been granted emergency protection visas, some are Australian citizens with Australian passports, some have been granted humanitarian visas (but not permanent residency) and all are in 14 days of hotel quarantine as per the Covid-19 rules for international travelers.