The Canberra Sundowners have been running birthing kit packing events for about 5 years, well before we chartered as a club in 2021. It has been a regular annual event, and one that brings club members, friends and supporters together for a fun and productive day of service. Last year we packed 900 birthing kits, which were despatched to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Ghana, South Sudan and more locally, to PNG. This year we are working to achieve funding and sponsorship to allow more than double last year's figure with 2,000 birthing kits to be packed. If you would like to donate to help achieve this target, you can do so here.
The birthing kits comprise everything required for a woman to give birth in remote situations where she is not able to get to hospital or medical facilities. Believe it or not, this is still the case for many women in many parts of the world every year. The individual elements of each kit cost $5 for each kits worth, and we join with many other groups to pack the kits for Birthing Kits Foundation Australia (BKA) to despatch. Read more about BKA here: https://www.bkfa.org.au/.
This year we are planning to spread the packing over two days - Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 April, with two, 2.5 hour shifts on each day. To pack this quantity of birthing kits, we will need about 30 people per shift.
We have a number of partners both contributing funds and also being part of the packing experience. Our commitment of 2,000 kits will cost $10,000, which will come from our club funds, and some generous financial support from our friends and partners, including the Rotary Club of Woden Daybreak, our corporate member, Keane Consulting and RCD Consulting. While this level of support is great, we are keen to have some additional support.
We welcome assistance on the packing days from partners and friends and anyone that would like to check out Rotary and our club as well. As well as having our financial supporters also assisting on the day, we plan for about 40 women from Fearless Women (
https://fearlesswomen.org.au
) to also participate as part of their program. Contact us if you would like to find out more, or to contribute in any way.