Books for Vanuatu schools A chronology of shipments from New Zealand to Vanuatu

Over 20 shipments of useful school material have been made to Vanuatu so far.  This list shows the shipments that have been made to date.

List of Containers, etc. sent to Vanuatu Since 1995:

• A group of Kiwanians took a small number of boxes up when they accompanied the then District Governor Clinton Green on his trip to Vanuatu and New Caledonia in 1995.
• A similar small number of boxes were taken up by the group who went up in March 1996 to replace the roof on a school building in Ulei village, Vanuatu.
• from 1996 to 2003 quite a number of smaller crates were sent at irregular intervals as items were available for dispatch and as shipping space was provided [gratis] by Sofrana lines.  The crates were donated by Vodafone.
• Since then 20 foot containers, usually weighing around 11 tons, have been sent in Jan 2003, July 2004, August 2005, April 2006, March 2007, July 2007, November 2007, May 2008, Jan 2009, April 2009 and July 2009.  The freight costs for the shipment of the containers were, apart from the last 3, was borne initially by the clubs providing the goods and labour force for packing the containers, but during the period covered these clubs have been progressively assisted by more and more clubs throughout the District.  The shipment of some of the more recent containers has been funded by the Kiwanis Club of Port Vila, Vanuatu.
• In addition, in 2006, about 35 cartons of childrens books and journals were sent up to Vanuatu by an Air Force flight taking the Hon Winston Peters on a visit in his role as Minister of Overseas Trade.
• In January 2010, a 40 foot container was purchased for Port Vila club and they paid for this and the freight involved in getting it, full of school furniture and books etc, from Auckland to Vanuatu.  On this occasion 33 Kiwanians from a variety of clubs assisting in the packing out at Waiau Pa.
• May 2010 saw a second 40 footer sent, packed by 22 people from 9 clubs - again containing boxes of books etc. and another large quantity of furniture.  This nearly cleared out our store - but not quite.
• A third 20 foot container was dispatched in November 2010, containing another big dispatch of desks and chairs, books and clothing - and this time the freight cost was waived by Reef shipping (now Matson) which was a great contribution to the project.
• March 2011 saw another 40-footer sent on its way containing 256 boxes of books; 37 boxes of stationery and drawstring bags; 15 boxes and 6 bags of soft toys; 5 bundles of sports gear; 25 boxes of miscellaneous teachers' resources; school uniforms; 2 knitting machines and some school science equipment; along of course with innumerable school desks, chairs, bookcases, cupboards, teachers desks, and other school furniture.
• A 20-footer has been sent in September 2011 containing more school furniture, books, soft toys, secondhand school uniforms, teaching resources and lots of scrap paper for classroom use and another 20-footer with similar material was shipped in early December.
• The end of May saw the first container to be sent in 2012 - once again a 20 footer full of school furniture and other educational goodies - but still the barn has more furniture to be sent - and books and other items carry on being donated to our project.
• In August, 2012, two 20 foot containers were packed on the same day and shipped to Vanuatu in September.
• A further 40 foot container, packed in March 2013, went in April 2013.  September 2013 saw another 20-footer.

The list continues to grow and each container sent is really helping the children of Vanuatu to receive more education. A fabulous project!