Posted by Sam McCurdy
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Who would have thought that playgrounds from Mornington would travel to Sri Lanka. The Rotary Club of Mount Martha are currently delivering playgrounds to Sri Lanka.
The Rotary Overseas Recycled Playgrounds began as a project of the Rotary Club of Flemington Kensington. It involves collecting unwanted playgrounds from councils and schools and sending them to disadvantaged overseas communities. This is environmental sustainability in action. Starting with a single playground to a girls school in Sri Lanka, this project has now collected over 50 playgrounds from across Victoria and sent them to Timor Leste, the Philippines and Tanzania, as well as Sri Lanka.
There are now 35 councils involved and RORP has also partnered with a number of schools; each donor pays a small fee to contribute to shipping costs. Individual "cells" have arisen at Ivanhoe and Mount Martha where those Rotary clubs manage their own contacts, harvesting and delivery to Donations in Kind.
Playgrounds that otherwise would have gone to landfill have been received overseas & are now bringing joy to many children. This is a win-win project and it is cost neutral for Rotary Clubs. The usual cost to donating councils or schools is about $660, just sufficient to cover the cost of shipping a container of 7 playgrounds on a major shipping route. Timor Leste and Nepal are more expensive, so the donation/funding model will be negotiable there.
Would you like to be involved? Do you have a school, council or country connection? If you are interested in learning more about this fast growing project, contact the Rotary Club of Mount Martha via Facebook, or email them at mountmartharotary@gmail.com.