FROM Vullierens, Switzerland, TO Tumavia, Fiji, VIA Melbourne, Australia!!!

With such a title, I should be writing about a fabulous holiday, but my story today is quite special because it is about caring and sharing.

Tom and Lisa are two children who live in Vullierens, Switzerand. They heard of Kids With A Cause-Europe’s ongoing support of the library created by “Godmother” Lizzie from Texas, to bring books to the children of Tumavia village in Fiji.  Tom and Lisa were moved by the idea that they could do something to contribute more books to the Tumavia Library. Last year, they persuaded their mother that they could earn some money by baking cakes and selling them at the Vullierens village fair!

Their efforts earned 146.03 Swiss Francs. At around the time that the foundation received this money, my friend Pam was visiting from Australia. She is a retired teacher and published author. Since Australia is closer to Fiji than Switzerland, I asked Pam if she could help me maximise the value of the money we received from Tom and Lisa and get the most books for Tumavia Library, bearing in mind that postage had to be factored into the equation.

When she returned home to Australia, Pam discovered that postage form Australia to Fiji is rather expensive. Once she had worked it all out, she decided to see if she could get books donated, which would leave the money to pay for the postage. She contacted the librarian from her old school to see if she had any ideas. As luck would have it, the librarian told her that they were in the process of replacing a lot of books, and Pam could have the ones that were being taken out of the library. Pam was delighted and accepted the kind offer, which produced a huge number of well cared for books that still had plenty of use left in them!

Pam eventually sent two huge boxes of books to Tumavia, Fiji. They arrived on 1^st January 2011. Wati Davetabei in Tumavia emailed me the news of their arrival and asked me to extend a very special thanks to everyone who contributed to the successful conclusion of this unusual “long journey”. 

She asked that I pass on a very special thanks to Tom and Lisa for their donation, which is helping to make the start of 2011 very special for the children using the Tumavia Library. More particularly, she wanted to thank them for caring enough to do something, in order to show their solidarity towards their less fortunate peers, the children on the other side of the world in Tumavia, Fiji!

We look forward to your visit to the foundation's website where you will find more information and pictures:
http://www.kidswithacauseeurope.org/