Ngari Nurses’ Aid Station,

On Monday 22nd March, 2010, the first team of eight Rotary volunteers led by District 9600 RAWCS Chair, Trevor Taylor, from the Glasshouse Mountains Club left Australia for Gizo to begin construction of a Nurses’ Aid Station in a remote area, known as Ngari.

The project was unusual (and something of an experiment) drawing Rotarians together from clubs in two districts to finance and undertake a fairly large project in the space of four weeks.

The clubs represented in districts 9600 and 9750 were Glasshouse Mountains, Sydney Cove, Ashgrove/The Gap, Maleny, Kings Cross, Mooloolaba, Sydney and Caloundra.

As an “outstation” of the Gizo Hospital, this new “clinic” will be equipped and staffed by the hospital.

In the first week, the team excavated the site, concreted-in the metal “stumps”, constructed the deck and began manufacturing the roof trusses.

Most of the team were camped in an unfinished building belonging to the nearby primary school. Others endured a daily truck ride to and from their more comfortable “digs” in Gizo.

The second week saw some dramatic progress to the project, with framework going up, followed by the roof trusses. The ablution block was “boxed up” ready for the slab and the framework to go in.

This took us to the midway point when the first team returned home and our second team arrived.