Your local Cumberland newspaper

Best pals deliver

15May08

Emily Free and Isobel Ellis spearheaded a major charity drive

WHEN Isobel Ellis and Emily Free met in kindergarten, no one could have known that their growing friendship would eventually result in a huge relief operation for impoverished children in Vanuatu.

The Eleebana Public School students, now aged seven and in Year 2, have become best pals, and the resulting friendship between their families has led to shared social occasions and even holidays.

And it was on one of these holidays, to Vanuatu, that the seeds were sown for a fundraising initiative which saw both families return to the island nation last month with gifts for the children in the Pango village school on the island of Efate. Emily's father Stewart said the families had been chatting to expat Aussie Cameron McLeod, who worked with the Boardriders Association, obtaining surfboards for the use of Vanuatu residents.

"We decided we'd like to do something similar and got in contact with the local school," Mr Free said.

"It is located in idyllic surrounds but the 181 children who attend had just two packets of coloured pencils to share.

"We contacted Eleebana Public School principal Ian Graham and he threw his support behind our project to raise money to buy equipment for the children."

With the support of individuals, businesses and fundraising, the school was able to deliver 45 backpacks for the kindergarten children and sporting equipment valued at more than $700.

"The backpacks were filled with everything a child needs for school," Mr Free said.

"Our Eleebana kindergarten children each coloured a stencil of Australian animals one to be included in each backpack." And the two little girls who started it all were at the Vanuatu school with their families in April to witness the hand-over of the gifts. Stewart and Bronwyn Free and Nic and Sonia Ellis stood back as Isobel and Emily, along with Isobel's sister Rebecca, 11, and brother Jack, 5, also Eleebana students, delivered the goods.

"The girls were pretty amazed as they toured the classrooms from kindy to Year 8," Mr Free said.

"They were blown away by their first foray into seeing how 50 per cent of the world lives.

"It's great to do something like that once, but the trick is to continue. We are looking at a sister-school relationship and also looking into the needs of the village's other school."