Warrane College Workcamp Samoa 2010

In the Pacific, November to April is the wet season and cyclones can occur then. We will constantly monitor weather warnings and follow all safety procedures and instructions of our hosts in this regard. In terms of immunizations, each participant should independently visit his medical doctor and ask for advice. Naturally, each person should be up to date with their usual injections, however nothing specific is required for travel to Samoa.

There is no risk of Cholera, Malaria or Yellow Fever in Samoa. There are two hospitals in Apia, the nation Moto’otua and Medcen hospitals. They are very accessible from where we will be living and working. In the unlikely instance of a serious injury, we will contact parents immediately. If necessary we will arrange flights back to Australia if deemed necessary and prudent, for medical treatment. This cost would be covered by travel insurance.

Visit Smartravellers to view current health and Safety information for travellers to Samoa: http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/Samoa

For international travel, you will need to have your passport up to date. This means that it needs to be valid up until 6 months after our return. It is important that you look at this now, as the passport application process can take time.

While we are unsure as to exact amount required at the moment, we are definitely going to need to raise a large sum, so that we can complete the work we have committed to do. In this sense, the project begins now, as we start to write letters and speak to people about donating to our worthy cause.

As well as seeking corporate sponsorship and fundraising, each participant will be charged with raising $500, from among friends and relatives. This will go towards the cost of the project, so this is separate from any fundraising that participants need to do to support themselves.

Please be aware that this information is still to be confirmed. Dates and Cost may vary slightly to what is shown. Final dates and cost will be published shortly.

Depart: 19th November 2010

Return: 13th December 2010

Cost: $2000

A deposit of $1000 is due on Wednesday, 1st September, 2010
(Contact Tom with any questions about the deposit)

Account name: Workcamp Account
BSB: 032083
Account number: 216806
Reference: insert your name, please

Our aim is to spend three weeks living in Apia and working with locals on some much-needed refurbishment that would otherwise not occur for years, if not for our efforts both in fundraising and manual labour.

Among other things, this will include:

Projects at the Theological College.

Paint some classrooms. This will involve cleaning, scraping, sanding and painting.

Doing repairs / replacements for the library computers. There are about 8 computers there but they look old and many are breaking down. We are trying to get new ones donated to be shipped over and installed there.

Projects at the School for Disabled Children

We have recently accepted an offer to spend some time working in the local school which cares for mentally and/or physically disabled children. Our main project will be upgrading the already existing computer lab. The current computers have so little memory that they can only run MS Paint. Fortunately several sponsors have donated enough computers and software products to upgrade the entire computer lab. Our project will be installing these computers and fixing any of the school's that are salvageable.

We are also clearing a field (with bush knives) for a future project that the school is planning.

Projects at the Home for the Aged

The main thing is to paint the roof. From the photo of the aerial photo of the building you can see that there is a lot of roof! Some parts are newer than others, so there is no need to do all of it. She wants it painted the same colour, which is simply the grey metallic colour of corrugated iron, so it’s not as if there is going to be a super change in appearance, but it is a good job. In fact, there will need to be some minor repairs to the iron and perhaps sealing with an anti-rust paint first.

The building has carved wooden poles around the place holding up the roofing. They would like these to be painted again, as a way of protecting the wood.
There are some minor repairs to the gutters and downpipes as well.
There is some painting of white walls to be done, from up on the roof, of the 2nd-storey rooms.

And, of course, we'll be assisting the nuns in their everyday work of feeding and looking after the elderly residents.

On the whole, it is not a ‘start from scratch’ building project like we have had in recent years. But don’t let this discourage you. The Little Sisters still operate as their founder instructed, which is to ask for alms and they still go around asking, even here in and Australia. It is a worthy project for a group doing much good without government funding.