Raising money for Rotary Oceanic Medical Aid for Children (ROMAC) by walking around Lake Illawarra from Tallawarra to Lakeside Drive. On the 18 November 2018, The Rotary Club of Dapto was involved in the Waterline Challenge. The Waterline Challenge was an Australia wide event designed to raises money to assist those who face adversity. The ‘Challenge’ was for the participating teams to accumulate sufficient kilometres so they could have circumnavigated Australia’s entire coastline during the week of the event and raise funds for their chosen charity.
The Rotary Club of Dapto walked from Tallawarra to the Recreation Park in Lakeside Drive. We promoted the event through our Facebook site https://www.facebook.com/DaptoRotary/ and our website daptorotary.com.au We chose to raise funds for Rotary Oceanic Medical Aid for Children (ROMAC). ROMAC provides surgical treatment for children in Australia and New Zealand from developing countries from our Pacific region in the form of life giving and/or dignity restoring surgery not accessible to them in their home country. ROMAC is providing surgical treatment to around 50 children from Oceania every year, making a huge difference in their lives. An example of the work undertaken by ROMAC is that of a boy from the Solomon Islands, Ken. Ken lives with his family in a remote village where they have no running water or electricity. He was born prematurely at 6 months so he was taken by canoe to a clinic and then transported to hospital, where he spent the next 3 months. However, over time, his heart started to fail. Sydney cardiologist Dr James Weaver, who was visiting the Solomon Islands, saw 14-year-old Ken in January 2017 and was concerned he would not survive much longer without treatment. He referred him to ROMAC. Ken was flown to Sydney for major heart surgery at the Sydney Children’s Hospital in Randwick in May. His operation went well under the care of cardiologist Doctor Forsey and he returned to the Solomon Islands to attend school, play soccer with his friends and enjoy a happy, healthy life. Those who walked sought sponsorship from family, friends and the general public. We managed to raise $2260! This was a great effort by club members and our International Director Margaret Uitterlinden. The walk around the lake was a wonderful morning of fellowship and teamwork. We finished the morning by having a BBQ in the park. Hopefully we will make this a yearly event for our club.