Narrabri Rotary is engaged in a project which will bring significant benefits to a remote Solomons Islands community.
The project is to build a medical aid centre for Molotavi village on the Solomons island of Malaita.
The nearest other medical facility is 25 kilometres away.
The main hospital on the island is 85 kilometres away on a road which is impassable in the wet season.
The project is being undertaken at Rotary district level by under the auspices of Rotary Australia World Community Service.
Former Narrabri resident, Rotarian Mark Hanrahan who now lives in Queensland, is a member of the Rotary District 9650, which encompasses Narrabri.
Mark has been closely engaged with the Solomons project.
“Narrabri is the sponsoring club for the project,” he explained.
“The Molotavi project will involve building a medical centre seven metres by 24 metres, which will include a maternity section, a general admission ward, areas for day clinics to be held, administration office and a small malaria testing lab,” Mark said.
“Malaria is a significant health issue in the area.
“The centre is being developed in conjunction with the village community and will serve about 5000 people in the local area.
“At the moment there is a road to the village but no one has vehicles so they have to walk or get a boat.
“The closest alternative facility is 25 km away so, a pregnant woman for example, has to walk 25 km to give birth under medical supervision.
“So this project will have quite an impact on the local community.”
The centre will be staffed by the Ministry of Health.
There are many projects in the islands being undertaken by Rotary clubs and other agencies, Mark added.
“Rotary tends to partner with the local communities so they have some ownership of the facility” he said.
“The village’s contribution was to put down a foundation which is now completed.
“We have had the frame built by Palmer Frames in Narrabri and that will be containerised, shipped to Honiara and then taken by barge to the nearest jetty which is about 10km from the village.
“Then it is the village’s responsibility to arrange transport and unpacking.
“I will be going over to the village to supervise that.”
Mark has been engaged with the project for two and a half years.
He and his wife Sue left Narrabri at the end of August last year, travelled overseas and moved to Victoria Point, Queensland, on their return to Australia.
“Basically I was interested in these kinds of projects and there was an opening on the committee so I stepped up,” he said.
“We will have someone else take over at some point.
“The first stage of the centre, the building construction, is expected to be finished by the end of September.
“Narrabri Rotarians will among those involved in the erection of the building about July. There will probably about three teams of six to eight.’
The project draws on the skills of people with building experience, like Narrabri Rotarian Wayne Wheeler, who is closely involved in the project.
“We need a builder to supervise and the remainder are people who are a bit handy,” said Mark.
“And it is also helpful to have someone with the team who happy to be just a gofer.”
Each visiting team will be at Molotavi for two weeks. “We have a limited window of opportunity because of the rainy season and condition of the roads” said Mark.
“And after the rainy season we have to wait for the road to be repaired.
“The 85 km route takes about seven or eight hours to travel.”
Mark regularly returns to Narrabri for work commitments and attends Rotary meetings to bring members up to date on progress at Molotavi.