The Rotary Club of Brisbane has been a proud supporter of the Kyeema Foundation, a Brisbane-based not-for-profit organisation since November 2018. The project we are supporting involves the breeding and conservation of indigenous village chickens in Papua New Guinea (PNG). RCOB initially supported set-up of a village chicken farm for Haus Pikinini in Wau, Morobe Province, which is a community home that looks after 30 children from the local community who have no-one to provide for them. We supported the set-up of the chicken shed and yard, purchase of local chickens for breeding and training in village chicken keeping. Kyeema are still providing support to Haus Pikinini with the management of their chickens.
In April 2020, RCOB provided a donation of A$3,980 to support setting up of another village chicken farmer in Gabagaba village. Kopure Airi (Kopsi) was trained as a Master Farmer in Fiji in October 2019. Since then, he has returned to his village in Gabagaba, Central Province and with funds provided by RCOB, has been set up as a Master Farmer of village chickens for his community. The picture below shows the chicken house built and stocked using Rotary funds as part of this project.
The RCOB support is part of a larger project being supported with funds from the Australian Government’s NGO Cooperation Program, which means that every dollar provided by RCOB has been matched by an additional five dollars from the Australian government.
This project also includes support of community-led no fish zones and coral reef gardening activities. One of the nutrition problems faced by coastal communities is that of reef degradation, reducing available protein sources. The solution for the reef is a rebuilding and re-seeding process, but this takes time and requires that the reef become a no-fish zone for an extended period of time. Without a replacement source of protein, this would potentially result in malnutrition. This is where village chickens come into play. They provide an alternative food source and livelihood activity while the reef is being mended.
In 2020, the Rotary Club of Brisbane provided an early grant of $50,000 to the Mater Foundation for the establishment of a specialist perinatal mental health facility at the Mater Hospital in South Brisbane. In Queensland, more than 60,000 babies are born each year, yet there is only one public 4-bed mother and baby perinatal mental health facility in the entire state. 
With the support of the Rotary Club of Brisbane and other donors, work on Catherine's house started earlier this year, but much more help is needed. To find out how you can help, you can download more information by clicking on the button below.
The Club is pleased to announce a grant of $50,000 to the Mater Hospital, South Brisbane, to assist in the establishment of a service to provide perinatal mental health support to mothers, babies and the broader family network in our community.
Brisbane, QLD 4000
Australia