MAY 2012 EDITION.pdf(6.9mB) - The Monthly Chronicle

ACTION THROUGHCOMPASSION By Bill AitkenThirteen years ago,while on a business tripn the South Pacific,ennis Perry came face toace with profoundoverty for the first timewhen he witnessedFeel like throwing your computerout the window?...Don’t despair.Find out what you and/or your computer are doing wrongAll at very reasonable rates and true old style serviceTo find out more, ring Deirdree onWE DOWEBDESIGNSWaitara*, Warrawee and West Pymble.human beings competingwith wild pigs on arubbish dump for food.“I was shocked to seethis happening so close toAustralia and I could notstand by and do nothing,”0418 421 202or email me atdeirdree@wyverntech.comwww.wyverntech.com6 — Monthly Chronicle, May/June 2012Dennis, a committedChristian and practisingSeventh Day Adventistsaid.His response was to buyfood and go on to therubbish dump to feed asmany people as possible.“All the while, I felt thatthis was part of somewider plan for me,” thenow ‘retired’ Cherrybrookresident said.Five years ago, afterdiscussing his ‘call’ withfellow Adventist, DavidWoolley from the CentralCoast, the pair were drawnto Papua New Guinea andmore specifically to arubbish dump on theoutskirts of Port Moresbycalled Baruni. Here,around 1,000 families wereattempting to eke out anexistence and feedthemselves from what thetip could offer.Dennis and David setabout establishingOperation Food For Life(OFFL) to feed thesepeople.With little more thantheir motto “our passion iscompassion witnessed byour actions!” they begannetworking and drewsupport from local peoplefrom all walks of life; fromThe Pacific AdventistUniversity; from otherNGO’s in Port Moresbyand from a number ofsponsors both in PNG andin Australia.Today, around 100people are involved inOFFL’s core projects andlast year it was givenCharity status.“As all of us involvedwork on a purelyvoluntary basis, ouradministration costs arelow,” Dennis explained.“We have never activelygone out to fund raise andwhile we are never surewhere money and foodwill come from, God doesprovide,” he added.Today, OFFL continuesto feed the Barunipopulation which nownumbers around 3,000families.From a population of 6million, there are well over40,000 known HIV AIDSvictims in PNG. Often dueto stigma they are shunnedby families who areexpected to help withfeeding them in hospitalswhich have little fundingfor food. OFFL has beenfeeding these patients for 5years.The team has also goneinto Bomana prison whereonce a year they provide abuffet meal for 1500medium and maximumsecurity prisoners.“Around $1500 (AUD)per month allows us tofeed up to 30,000 peopleper year,” Dennis Perrysaid,“But we have realisedthat we need to do more interms of disease, healthand education if we are toimpact on the cycle ofpoverty.”To this end, OFFL isinvolved with WorldHealth Organisation(WHO) to immunise tipdwellers against cholera,tetanus and hepatitis Aand B; working with otherNGO’s such as Red Crossand Caritas to feed thehungry; working to bringforward Samuel’s School(established for 75children by a local womanunder her house) byROTARY DONATESThe proceeds of lastyear’s Christmas TrailerRaffle conducted by theRotary Club of PennantHills were disbursed at aspecial dinner meetingheld at Upper Crust,Normanhurst on Tuesday,May 8.Two cheques each for$4275.00 were presented toBev Cole, Manager ofPennant Hills NeighbourAid (PHNA) and Greg LillFundraising and VolunteerManager at HornsbyHospital.President of PHNAManagement Committee,Ron Mount explained theservices developed to makeup the 6000 hoursPROJECT GRANTSHornsby Shire Councilhas received a series ofspecific project grantsfrom different sourcestotalling almost $170,000.The grants include:$38,500 from theHawkesbury NepeanCatchment ManagementAuthority for a boardwalkand restoration at One TreeReach Wetland. Theproject total of $117,500includes other grants and avolunteer contribution of$5,000.Council has alsoreceived $49,500 from theLocal Government andShires Associations torestore endangeredroadside vegetation. Thenecessary to secure Rotary’sfunding and highlightedtwo new servicesintroduced in the past year– a Bookworm Group andearly morning phone callsfrom volunteers to theservice’s frail, aged clientele.Greg Lill spoke ofHornsby Hospital as acommunity hospital and ofhow the community worksfor and supports thehospital in raising funds forproject will includetraining of outdoor staff,bush regeneration and theinstallation of signs.The NSW Governmenthas contributed $50,000towards the plannedHornsby Mountain BikeTrack, which has alreadybenefited from thedonation of $40,000 worthCOMPUTER TIPCourtesy Wyvern Computing0418 421 202Hi everyone,Hope the cold weatherhasn’t hit you too hard.Me, I love it. Especiallywhen I get home to mylittle nest.Here is unwelcome newsfor you Bigpond users,unless you already knowit. The following extract isfrom The Australian,February 13.TELSTRA will migrateits 4.2 million BigPondcustomer mail accounts toWindows Live starting inApril this year. Under adeal between Telstra andMicrosoft, all BigPondcustomers will be requiredto change their usernameand password “to ensure asmooth transition”.“Allnew customers will gostraight onto the WindowsLive platform,” a Telstraspokeswoman said. “Allold customers will bemigrated over the monthsahead (from April/May)and will be contacteddirectly just prior.”BigPond customers willbe given a Hotmailaccount but will keep theirexisting email address.Bigpond go on to sayhow secure the Hotmailaccount is. Not true. Weall know that lots ofHotmail accounts havebeen compromised overthe last years and thiscontinues. Peoplesuddenly start gettingemails from their Hotmailuser friends with amessage empty except fora link or an ad. This istheir only indication to theuser that their addressbook has been entered. Ialways suggest that theychange immediately to aGmail address and this iswhat I am telling you now.You still keep the Bigpondaddress but you don’t useit. Gmail will import allyour contacts andmessages and will continueto import your messagesfor 30 days. This shouldgive adequate time to letpeople know your newaddress.While on the subject ofchanges, web people oftenchange their web sites andthis is very confusing forthe older users. What hasbecome automatic,suddenly is different andthey have to learn the newway. Even computerDennis Perry andDavid Wooley caring fortiny AIDS sufferers atPort Moresby Hospitalbuilding a classroom andproviding schoolequipment such as pens,pencils and books.“We are grateful for anyhelp financially or in kindto help us continue andsustain our work,” Dennissaid.Presently Dennis isseeking crutches,wheelchairs and walkingframes for use by those atBaruni and elsewhere inPNG. Local MP, PhilipRuddock has offered tostore any donations at hiselectorate office at Level7, 423 Pennant Hills Rd;or contact Operation Foodfor Life on 9875 1406 orthrough their website atwww.offl.org.au.“We’re also hopingsomeone will be kindenough to help pay to shipthis equipment over toPNG,” Mr Ruddock said.specialised equipment. Mr.Lill explained that Rotary’sdonation will fund a hi/lowbed making it easier forelderly and physicallydisabled patients to get inand out of bed. He alsopointed to the fact thatthere are 120 Pink Ladiesand Pink Panthers (men)helping to assist the staff inproviding the high level ofcare for which the hospitalis renowned.of volunteer labour and anadvertising company hascontributed $30,000 forbushland regeneration inreserves along the M2, partof a public benefitpayment - in this case, thepayments will be made for13 years and willultimately total $400,000.literates like me don’t likeit when something thatwas relatively easybecomes a lot harder. Forinstance, I used to go tothe Kindle app on my iPadand purchase books. Thisoption is no longeravailable and what is inplace is not easier at all.The reason they changed isbecause of ownership ofthe software. Knowing thereason is not much help,however.Please let them knowthat you are not happywith the changes. Theythink if we don’t sayanything, that we arecontented. Usually whywe say nothing, is becausewe think protesting willmake no difference. Ifenough people do, thenwe can make a difference.Cheers,Your friendly Dragon,Deirdree