MALOU Deakin is a petite woman of slight stature, but her energy and enthusiasm to fill the lives of remote Filipino school children with education is immense.
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Her ambition is shared by her fellow members of the Moree on Gwydir Rotary Club, which has wholeheartedly adopted her project.
“This is the important part of Malou’s projects, that she provides books for the remote schools, rather than in the cities,” fellow Rotarian Tim Lyne said.
Malou has amassed cache of educational resources, steadily growing with donations from schools and people from across the region.
“Every year I go back to the Philippines, and I have lots of friends who are educators; school teachers or professors, and they’re always asking for books, and things like that,” she said.
She began sending books overseas following the deadly 2013 earthquake, but a recent trip home to the Philippines in January revealed only two of the 22 mostly remote schools, buried far in the bush, hours from towns on poorly-maintained roads, had mini-libraries stocked by materials she sent from Australia.
Tim said the crux of Malou’s intent grew from the destruction wrought by the 2013 Philippines earthquake, and she found a way to help.
“All the schools around these areas, get rid of books,” he said.
“Once they have them so long - out- and Malou gathered them all, got them to the Philippines and then got them to these remote (areas).”
Malou said there were so many children to supply, but she was advised to focus on one school alone to aid comprehensively.
She rejected the idea, as she was loathe to deny any child the chance of education.
“If I could help this school - give a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, and then they can share,” she said.
Any institution dispersing their current supplies is welcome to contact Malou on 0428 524 144, if they would like to donate their resources to the Philippines project.
Rotary update:
THE Moree on Gwydir Rotary Club ushered in their new officers on June 14, with outgoing president Gregg Humphries stepping aside for new president, Ross Tomlinson.
Ross was joined by incoming vice-president Brian Foreman, treasurer Peter Gall and secretary Pam Girle.
The club is modest in size, and interested to grow with new members and new ideas.
They recently catered for a passing posse of motorcyclists to raise funds for their ongoing projects, such as member Malou Deakin's bid to supply remote children with educational supplies in the Philippines.
Other Rotary projects have included community environmental improvement initiatives, Cod-catching initiative in the Gwydir River, sponsoring local students for the Model United Nation program, and Tim said they hope to revisit their student exchange program.
The club meets Tuesdays at the Moree Golf Club at 6pm, for a 6.30pm start.
For more information about the Moree on Gwydir Rotary Club, phone Peter Gall on 0428 675 215.