WHO AM I?

I am a great grandmother, have a home business repairing modern cloth nappies and I had been supporting South Pacific Association charity for a while donating clothing and money.

While I was repairing a nappy one day I wondered what happened to the nappies that were too good to throw away but couldn't be sold or given away because they needed to be repaired.

Babies all over the world have to have something to catch what comes out so I was curious.

I contacted Debra from the South Pacific Association and asked her what the mums used over in Vanuatu because I knew that a lot of the people were very poor.

I discovered that they use cloth but that could mean hand towels, pieces of towelling or even just rags as the nappies and hand towels are similar prices to Australia but the wages are so much less.

If they happen to go to civilisation and get hold of disposables, they tend to leave them on too long and that means the babies often develop nappy rash and infections. Then, when they are thrown away, they are not disposed of properly. Most rubbish is thrown into the ocean which pollutes the beautiful waters.

I spoke to Vicki from Bubblebubs and put the idea to her and she seemed to think it was worth a try so I asked Debra if modern cloth nappies would be beneficial to the mums over there and she was estatic.

We have been offered space in a container which leaves three or four times a year. Their focus is on medical supplies, stationary and clothing but I want to focus on the mums who must have it pretty tough.

I was approached by Global Care, Russell Island and asked if there were any nappies available for donation to the mums in Fiji as they were in the same financial position as the mums in Vanuatu.

At the same time a couple of nappy makers contacted me and wanted to come on board meaning that a lot more nappies are coming in.

I moved to Darwin at end of September so have had to revamp everything.

The church that I attend in Darwin supports orphanages in Africa and I am looking into one in Vietnam. Because it costs an arm and a leg to post the nappies, I am relying on people taking them over when they travel as part of their luggage.

At this stage I am the only one repairing/remaking the nappies so if they need any sort of attention, they will need to be sent to Darwin.

Therefore, I have arranged for the nappies that are sent to Russell Island to be distributed evenly between Vanuatu and Fiji and the nappies that are sent to Darwin will be sent to Africa and possibly Vietnam after they are repaired.