Thanks to Anne for this weeks story
WHAT HAS JILL FORSYTH BEEN UP TO?
Tonight's speaker, Jill Forsyth, is the quinessential Rotarian, who has initiated some of the best known projects in the world of Rotary in District 9800 and beyond. She never stops creating new projects, and tonight, she informed us all about her current areas of interest.
On a trip to Darwin, she discovered that the dental health of remote communities is extremely inadequate. In our daily lives, in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, it is easy to manage our dental issues. This is not the case for indigenous people in the Northern Territory. The only real option for dental treatment is to extract teeth from the mouth. Jill described that fact that there were not many smiles and many members of the indigenous community have dentures.
The other area in which Jill has devised projects is in Timor Leste. In this particular Rotary project, a job creation scheme was devised which provides income for food for families and enables students to remain at school to undertake post-compulsory education.
Through a presentation in the Rotary Club of Balwyn, she encountered Dr Martin Hall, the state Chief Oral Health Advisor for Dental Health Services in Victoria. He and Sally Vong ( from Timor Leste) have assisted children with chronic pain who are unable to eat properly. They also train dental professionals in the Northern Territory. Through the implementation of preventative dental care, children's oral health has been improved.
Finally, Jill highlighted the following elements:-
1. Cultural learnings in all aspects of life - through the court system and the police force
2. the plight of indigenous children - who often roam the streets
3. the focus of women in indigenous communities - with particular reference to the fashion industry and art.
So many solutions were offered to ameliorate the way of life of indigenous people. It is now up to the clusters of Rotary Clubs to join together to participate in these projects.
Here's Jill receiving her certificate of appreciation and our hugely expensive pen!
