The Rotary Club of Myall Coast member will make her second trip to the island nation next month to deliver a shipping container of wheel and special needs chairs for villagers.

Among the goodies will be eight ‘corner chairs’ delivered to children who suffer cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy.

Developed to aid in the child’s posture, the chairs keep children in an upright position off the floor of their mud brick homes to develop upper body strength and prevent further conditions.

In Australia and other Western countries the chairs are not widely used because of access to specialised wheel chairs which are not possible for PNG’s terrain.

“They can sit in the chairs without someone having to hold them up. It is also easier for the child to be fed, if they are lying down while fed they don’t develop good oral function,” said Judy, a former paediatric physiotherapist.

Production of the chair came about following Judy’s first trip to PNG where she saw a dire need for the chairs.

“I was liaising with a physio from a local hospital and I wanted to do something for these children who were suffering but to do that’d I’d have to be over there for at least a year but I couldn’t so I decided to make the chairs for children with muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy. I put this to the Rotary Club and they took up the cause.”

Judy said Rotary has earned itself a status among villagers.

“People on the street would call out Rotary, and they really make you feel welcome. You really get back so much more than you give,” Judy said.

“When I went last time I didn’t know what to expect. But I found gratitude and friendship of the New Guinea people have made me really feel part of their lives.

“It’s an amazing feeling that something so small as this can make such a big impact.”

Part of the Rotary Education and Health Project, Judy will travel to PNG with five other Rotarians who will make the Eastern Highlands village of Fomu their base.

Judy said the group’s aim is to have the corner chairs constructed by residents of Geroka, a nearby village, and eventually integrate the chair construction into a training program for local boys.