austraLasia 1498
Container for Fiji sports gear, but not for Peter's
enthusiasm
(A 'Toward #1500' entry from Fiji. Cf
#1492 for details)
SUVA: 22nd March 2006 -- A shipping container full of
sports gear: new, second-hand, unloved, dearly loved but donated,
arrived in the Fiji capital's port yesterday, and with a bit of luck
and yet-to-be-fulfilled promises of various Fiji officials, it will be
off-loaded at minimal cost and made available to a civilian mission by
Salesian past
pupil Peter Cole, a 23 year old from Melbourne whose enthusiasm is
somewhat uncontainable. He is one of those who has dreams,
convinces people of their value and then makes them happen.
Peter set to work three months ago to organise the
venture, after
two visits to Fiji over the past five years that have left some
permanent memories with him: "I've visited schools in Fiji in the
past five years" Peter said to media back in Melbourne: "What struck
me was how meagre is the playground equipment over there".
He is correct of course, at least once you are outside the city
limits. Fijian kids are sports mad (which kids aren't?) and
consider
themselves world masters of Rugby Sevens, for example - but you rarely
see a rugby ball. It's enough to have a coke bottle or a school
shirt bundled with string; it's usually too hot and too
muddy to bother much about sports tops anyway.
So Peter decided to do something about the balls and
the bats at least. He has collected $120,000 worth of them with
some sports shoes thrown in for good measure - not that they'll be much
use - Fijian kids don't need boots for feet as tough as leather
anyway. He
has some experienced teachers with him, and is using the Don Bosco
House, Nakasi complex as a distribution point. In the meantime,
and
with some local help he has been able to make contact with Fiji
Government, Australian High Commission and Suva Catholic Education
authorities both to smooth the import and distribution processes and
also to ensure some sort of fair distribution. There are 70
Catholic
schools throughout the Fiji Islands but some of them take days to reach
in small boats. Peter would be hard pressed to reach those
islands
even if he had time, and he rarely has much of that. And some of
the
schools on the main island have no vehicle access - it's boat, then
horse, then 'shanks pony'.
Let's hope he has included some saddles and kept some of the boots for
himself!
It would seem that Peter has had an excellent
response from ordinary
Australians, ready to give a Pacific neighbour a helping hand.
They
cannot but be moved by his obvious motivation. "It's no good
sitting at home watching TV", he says, "You get nothing out of
that".
But he does get a kick out of helping people.
GLOSSARY
shanks pony: a reference to legs -
walking, in other words.
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