Morialta Midwifery Support

About 830 women and 7,000 newborns, mainly in low- and middle-income countries, die each day because of complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. These deaths are mostly preventable. Midwives are key to preventing them, so an initiative organized by Rotary members is supporting the essential work of midwives in Papua New Guinea and Australia.

The program is rooted in collaboration. Australian midwives are paired with midwives from Papua New Guinea for five-day leadership workshops. The process culminates in a yearlong community health project designed and led by the midwives in Papua New Guinea, with continued support from their Australian counterparts.

Project organizer Judith Brown, a retired midwife and past president of the Rotary Club of Morialta, South Australia, says the exchange between the midwives is reciprocal and prioritizes learning from one another’s strengths. The partnership enables midwives to learn about other cultures and develop their professional skills, Brown says, but the primary focus is “trying to help women just have a voice in both countries.”

“I am 10 years old and never
set foot in a real classroom”

✨ 80 Ukrainian Children Go Back to School – For the First Time in Nearly Four Years ✨

Imagine being 10 years old and never stepping inside a real classroom. For the children of Sofiivs’ka, the epitome of our “forgotten villages”, this has been reality.

Sofiivs’ka is a small farming community of about 800 people, a 4-hour drive north-east of Odesa, with the nearest town 40 km away. Life here is simple: families tend chickens and small plots, the school is the heart of the village, and everyone knows everyone. The village was never occupied by Russian forces – but war still changed everything.

Since February 2022, the school has been closed. Not because of damage in the war, but because no school in Ukraine can reopen without a functioning bomb shelter. For over 3½ years, 80 children studied online, following straight on from months of COVID lockdowns. For many, their entire childhood learning has been through a screen, in isolation.

When the community asked for help, led by Rotary Northern Yorke Peninsula, Rotary members from seven clubs from Rotary District 9510(Adelaide, Campbelltown, Morialta, Mount Barker, Gawler and Gawler Light), and with many generous donations from Rotary Members, Rotary clubs and individuals right across our zone – joined with Rotary District 2232 (Ukraine) and our partner NGO New Dawn to Unite for Good.

The villagers had the skills to build a shelter, but not the means to buy materials. Over nine months, Rotarians funded supplies while local people built a 200m² bomb shelter to government standards. Rotary also supplied 100 school chairs with tablet arms for the shelter, ensuring that if air raid alarms sounded, classes could safely continue underground without disruption.

In September 2025, just in time for the new school year, the doors of the school finally reopened. Children returned to classrooms for the first time in nearly four years. Whenever the sirens sound, they now walk safely downstairs into the shelter.

To celebrate, Rotary’s partner New Dawn NGO hosted a kids’ fair inside the new shelter – complete with a clown– bringing back laughter and joy to a place where silence and waiting had become the norm.

Huge though this impact is on the schoolchildren, the positive ramifications go further. Before the war there were 120 children of school age. A number of families moved, in part because of the lack of proper schooling. Those departed families now have a strong incentive to return home. Rotary has not just helped to bring back schooling but is also instrumental in rebuilding the community.

For just US$12,000, Rotarians helped transform a “forgotten village” into a place of hope, where children can once again learn, play, and dream of a future beyond war.

💙💛 Rotary is about connection, compassion, and community. Share this story and help spread hope further than ever.

👉 If you would like to support Ukraine by donating, please click here: New Dawn Rotary Ukraine Crisis – Support

 A Walk for Respect
United for a Safer, More Respectful CommunityRecently hundreds came together in Adelaide for Rotary District 9510’s (South Australia, Alice Springs, Broken Hill & Sunraysia) Walk for Respect, taking a powerful public stand against domestic and family violence.

It was a morning filled with purpose, compassion, and community spirit — a visible show of unity for those who deserve safety, dignity, and respect.

This walk also shone a light on the remarkable organisations who work tirelessly every day to support individuals and families affected by domestic violence. Their dedication changes lives, builds hope, and strengthens our communities

Rotary Does Make A Difference

Rotary and our partners at Farmers Relief Agency delivered 11 Tonne of Hay direct to the Forster’s farm in July. This was a life saver for their entire family. Olivia and Ashleigh now see smiles on mum and dad’s faces for the first time in ages; not to mention the very happy sheep and cows on their farm. They bound out of bed now with renewed hope!

Brenton & Nerissa’s farm is one of 245 Farms to receive Rotary fodder so far!

On Average – we’ve delivered about 10 Tonne of fodder per farm

We’ve delivered to farms from : Eyre Peninsula through to the Mid-North region; Flinders Ranges; Riverland; Murraylands; Murray Mallee; Cooke Plains; South East and across the Adelaide Hills
Some farms get 700kg Bales of first grade hay; Some get 1 Tonne Bags of high nutrient; high protein Sheep Pellets perfect for mummy sheep and separate pellets for their cuddly lambies!
We’re directly aware of 5 Farmers Lives we’ve saved now … just by turning up! Our caring truckies (farmers also themselves) often stick around for a chat AND of course provide a delivery of HOPE in the form of fodder.

WAIT, THERE'S MORE…

2 more Triple Deck truck loads of Hay have crossed the Nullabor, carrying 192 bales weighing 134 Tonne.
2 more will come the following week.

By Friday 29^th August, a further 18 Farms will have received hay deliveries, taking our total farms helped to 263.

Our aim continues to focus on delivering responsible volumes of fodder to each Farm to get them through the 5 months ahead, until local hay supplies have either grown in their own fields, or become available again in the local fodder stores at affordable prices.

BEES say thank you as well!

Now you’re scratching your head aren’t you!! Why bees!?

Our South Australian Bee Keepers have being doing it tough as well. No flowering crops such as fields of yellow canolla, means not only are their bees not producing honey, the bees themselves don’t have food to eat to survive.

Bee keepers have been needing to also FEED their hives to keep them alive.

We are very thankful for a set of $500 AMPOL fuel cards supplied by the Rotary Club of Sydney!! Yes … Sydney!! These cards have enabled us to activate Bee Keepers and other local community members to be Hay Delivery agents, keeping them busy and drastically improving their mental health.
Other similar locals in the community benefit from this local Rotary project in similar ways. It’s a huge, well coordinated effort to do our best to reach into all sorts of nooks and crannies across South Australia. Beyond Olivia and Ashleigh’s thank you cards, Rotary receives so many messages of thanks for ‘turning up’ … for stopping to chat … for on the side hugs and showing our local community cares.

SPECIAL THANK YOU to our partners at Farmers Relief Agency doing the really hard work (Michael and Martin are also Rotarians based in Victoria) … but also to our lead truckies Matt and Tim Eckert & family – plus their entire team at Mentara Park Farms at Meningie. In fact, the passion that these 2 Brothers and their family have to work with FRA & Rotary is to be commended.

It’s more than just delivering fodder!

FUN FACTS
Matt Eckert (pictured below at rear with Rotarians Bill Marles and Michelle Tink) has himself driven to and from Western Australia 4 Times so far for Rotary.
Each trip is about 2,800km over and 2,800km back. So Matt alone has covered 22,400km in the last 2 or so months.

Just his truck alone has brought in 270 Tonne of Hay.

DON’T BE FOOLED BY THE GREEN DROUGHT !!
You may have driven around the hills and Adelaide surrounds and seen green fields everywhere.

GREEN DROUGHT – is where the fields look pretty, but in fact because the rain came so late, the COLD days and nights mean that if a crop has germinated, it’s growing very slowly.

It’s likely to be November / December before harvest can occur.

Many fields you’re seeing could be just grass or weeds coming through.

Or the crops are simply so small, they have not nutritional value, even if the farmers allow their livestock into the paddocks to graze.

MUCH of our Community do not realise there are many country zones in particular through the Riverland; Murraylands and Mid-North who have NOT received robust rainfalls.

A lady on a farm 20 minutes south of Berri telephoned us last week to say their farm has only received 22mm of rain since June!

VISIT & PROMOTE : our Project Page please. We update it all the time with our latest deliveries. Have a look at some of the Town Names we’ve been to – Dig out Google Maps for a bit of fun to see how far and wide Rotary has gone.

https://rotaryadelaidecentral.org.au/projects/save-sa-farmers-livestock-giant-hay-bales-appeal

ASK : your friends to consider making a Tax Deductible donation please. Every Dollar we raise goes to buying the fodder! PIRSA (Govt of SA) are currently still funding our Transport Costs.

https://donations.rawcs.com.au/42-2024-25

Bill Marles
Project Manager – S.A. Drought Relief project

0410 523 106 • Hay@RotaryAdelaideCentral.org.au