Newtown Rotary And World Help Foundation Unite To Aid South Africa

A 40-foot ocean-transport container loaded with more than 30,000 books, 90 computers and ancillary equipment, and three medical electro encephalograph machines is being shipped from Newtown to South Africa as the result of a Rotary Club exchange trip.

Rotarians Ed Osterman, Harvey Sellner, and Bill Watts traveled to South Africa on a Rotary Friendship Exchange in 2002 where they learned first-hand of the need for materials to help the South African people, many of whom are still illiterate because of the previous practice of apartheid.

“South Africa is a growing nation with the urgent need of educated people to staff the many industries setting up factories,” Mr Osterman said.

The Newtown Rotarians urged other Rotary Clubs to contact their school systems and local businesses for used schoolbooks and used computers that could be sent to South Africa.

With the cooperation of Rotary Clubs and school systems of Newtown, Fairfield, Ridgefield, East Hampton, and Old Saybrook, enough books were delivered to the Newtown-based World Help Foundation (WHF) warehouse by the Rotary Clubs to easily fill a container. At the same time WHF obtained three medical machines and computers from companies who had upgraded their computer systems.

Newtown Rotary members then arranged work parties to package and palletize all the material. When everything was packed, John Giusto, plant manager of Curtis Packaging Corporation, volunteered to provide a forklift and driver to load the container. 

Everything went well on the day of loading and the container is currently on a ship on its way to South Africa. When it arrives in Johannesburg, it will be delivered to the Rotary Club of Bedfordview, whose members will unload the material, sort it, and distribute it as required. The Bedfordview club under the direction of Ray Levenberg, has distributed more than two million books since Mr Levenberg started the Bedfordview Book Project nine years ago.

Shipping arrangements were handled by Mr Osterman who has been involved in exporting for more than 45 years. This is the third container shipped to South Africa from Connecticut based on Mr Osterman’s original visit to South Africa in the year 2000, when he first became aware of their problem in obtaining school text books. Books were in such short supply that many teachers divided the books into three parts so at least more pupils had something in their hands. The first two containers shipped from Connecticut contained 140,000-plus schoolbooks.

“Because of the high illiteracy, unemployment ranges as high as 70–80 percent and naturally to crime,” Mr Osterman said. “It will take a generation for the current schooling to be effective but if a better future is desired, action must be taken today.”

Rotary is committed to ensuring the improvement in life worldwide, one person, one family, one village at a time. Twenty years ago Rotary International took up the “Impossible Dream,” of eradicating polio from the face of earth by the year 2005 (the 100th anniversary of Rotary) and with the help of its many partners, is in the last stages of this incredible project.

Newtown Rotary meets every Monday evening at 6:15 for a supper meeting at the Fireside Inn on Route 25. Anyone interested in learning more about Rotary is urged to attend a meeting.