The Building Education Revolution (BER Program) was set up to give advantage to the young people of Australia while stimulating the economy. The BER reached communities in Australia that gave benefits to their local economy. But the program had further benefits

The Rotary Furniture Goodwill Program started in September 2009. It was presented to a RAWCS in November where it was endorsed with some reservations.

• Negotiations commenced with Department of Education and Training in November 2009.

• A pilot program was started to prove the viability of the concept. This proved very successful!

• The final agreement was gained on July 2010.

• The program was centred round Hansen Yuncken, a managing contractor (MC) for the Building Education Revolution (BER).

I have gained great support from Hansen Yuncken which allowed the smooth and efficient processing of the furniture collection and transport.
They have truly been the ideal corporate citizen in providing direction, impetus and resources to make this program happen.

It was difficult to engage other managing contractors as they were not able to see the enormous benefits and reduced costs that came from the program.

To date over 108 containers have been shipped to ten different countries. That represents over 1,080 classrooms and about half a million student years if the furniture lasts 20 years. The cost to Rotary for the shipment from Australia is NIL.

There is a cost however, for the customs and port charges and the distribution of the furniture.Hansen Yuncken was able to send 97 containers which is quite an outstanding humanitarian effort. The value of the furniture sent is estimated at $11 million however the benefit to the young students around the world is immeasurable.

The containers have been sent to ten countries – Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Philippines, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Timor L’este, Chile, India and Sierra Leone.

The second phase of the program has been the Goodwill component which the matching of schools at each end of the furniture line – senders and receivers.

Schools are being matched and the exchange of letters has commenced creating a cultural and social relationship. It is hoped that this will gain momentum as schools return from holidays.

The method used to effectively pack and send containers was to take a twenty foot container on a rigid truck directly to the school, pack the container while still on the truck and take to the wharf. This was found to be the most cost effective and easily managed process. We rented a small transit depot where the odd furniture was taken and packed into the next available container.

We used Big League Removals for the packing – they were very obliging and understood our needs. The road transport company and also the depot provider was R A Campbell Transport who provided the logistics of picking up the containers, taking them to the school, storing them when required and taking them to the wharf at the appropriate time. They were a key to our success offering lots of assistance and meshing nicely with Big League.

We used Bollinger Shipping Agents as the freight forwarding company and here we again were on a winner as they gave much advice, understood our peculiar needs and were always on top of issues when they arose.

• The volume of containers being packed reached 10 per week.

• This is quite a task to co‐ordinate schools, MCs and the packing team to pack 100 classrooms.

• It is also a challenge to gain the support of the shipping companies as we met many obstacles of shipping containers to various ports.

The distribution has been an exercise in complex logistics. Although we hand over the responsibility to others at the wharf there are many issues to deal with to complete the arrangement. Here we relied on operatives in Australia and people on the ground in the destination country. Our Australian operatives proved to be wonderful, dedicated people who are trying to help others.

SYDNEY REPORT
A total of 108 containers have been packed and sent. There only remains a limited amount of furniture to pack as the BER Program is winding up. Hansen Yuncken has officially completed its region.

Most school construction in other regions has been completed and handed over by the Managing Contractors to the schools.

Hansen Yuncken has sent 97 containers from its region – South West Sydney. This includes 3 containers of beds from Liverpool Hospital.

Bovis Lend Lease has sent 4 containers of school furniture and Reed Constructions have
sent 3 containers so far. Abigroup has sent 2 containers.

This is a wonderful result as there are 1,080 classrooms of furniture which equates to $11 million replacement value or 27,000 student places. It also amounts to more than a half a million student years if the furniture lasts for 20 years – that is a remarkable statistic!

Big League Removals have worked tirelessly to pack the containers, sometimes filling as many as 10 in one week.

They have been flexible and adaptable to meet the many challenges that confront such an operation. In most cases we have taken the 20 foot containers to the school on a rigid tabletop truck and packed the furniture directly into the container to reduce handling.

The containers were delivered to the school and to the wharf by RA Campbell Transport Road Transport who also provided a depot as a transit station for the surplus furniture that gathers from time to time. They also have been very accommodating and resolved lots of issues before they presented a problem.

Our shipping agent was Bollinger Shipping Agents with Peter Willars at the helm. He has great experience and does a wonderful job. He has been supported very ably by Kennes Xue when he was away overseas. It is so important to get the shipping right as costs are quickly incurred if the Bill of Lading isn’t at hand or the payment for the shipping isn’t complete before docking the foreign port.

FOREIGN PORTS REPORT
The containers take varying lengths of times to arrive at the destination port. Some take as short as one week while Sierra Leone is 51 days. The challenge has been to get the containers off the wharf in as short a time as possible. Delays have been considerable in Papua New Guinea. It seems that they are under manned in the Customs Department.
Many containers have been cleared and furniture delivered to schools. There are many stories of delivery. One such story is of kids and parents carrying the furniture some 14 kilometres to the school through bush tracks or in Apia furniture is loaded onto boats for a sea voyage to the school.
I have travelled to Solomon Islands and also Papua New Guinea to see, first hand, what was the effect of the furniture delivery. In all cases the furniture was much appreciated. Students were very comfortable using the new furniture. I have found that the furniture encourages parents to send their children to school (and pay for the privilege). In Hairo, PNG the primary school gained a school classification upgrade and as a consequence has been promised a new library which will be constructed, starting in February. This is a marvellous consequence and heartening for the many people who have contributed to making the program work.

There are 10 countries that have received furniture so far and 17 different destination ports.
Please provide me with your special story of success and comments from people so that I can tell others of the success of this program.

ALLIANCES
One of the great successes and personal joys has been alliances with several groups and companies. Kokoda Track Foundation, Kanga Schools, Gold Ridge Mining Limited, Ethica Coffee, Higaturu Palm Oil Company, the Catholic Church and Intercontinental Fiji Golf Resort have all volunteered and played a wonderful role in getting the furniture to the destination schools.

The greatest alliance of all has been with Hansen Yuncken with their totally committed support.

THANK YOU!
To the many people who have participated in this program, both in Australia and overseas, I thank you and congratulate you for your support, dedication and success. I give thanks to PDG Elaine Lytle for her encouragement at the beginning and ongoing support throughout the program. I also give thanks to Dept. of Education and Training for their whole hearted support for the program.

And a special thanks to David Beslich, Director, Hansen Yuncken. His vision, counsel and continued support has made this project. It is hoped that from this program will spring further opportunities to deliver much needed aid to developing countries.

There is a way – we just have to find it and convince others that it is worthwhile.

“The journey is enjoyable and exciting knowing that success is the final objective.”

Kind Regards
Graeme Boler
Co-ordinator of the Rotary Furniture Goodwill Program

Rotary Clubs supporting this Project - 107 shipping containers exported