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Sara David walked the Camino Frances, Really!
Applecross Rotary got to know Sara as the face of Living Child, a charity she helped set up in 2013, in remote villages along the Sepic River in New Guinea. Living Child up-skilled local people in midwifery to deal with the high levels of Maternal and Child mortality during labour.
Applecross Rotary became a big supporter of Living Child, with Sara giving members regular reports at our breakfast meetings. We also awarded her a Paul Harris Fellowship, Rotary International’s highest award, to recognise her outstanding service to the community. However, in April 2024, Sara developed some health issues which helped her to decide that it was time to step away from “her" Charity and trust the other volunteers to continue the good work.
Sara’s health began to improve. It may have been because one of her sons was spending a year in France, but whatever the reason, she decided travel to France recently and walk one of the many pilgrim trails with her friend Deborah.
The popular name for the pilgrim path is El Camino Real but in fact there are four main trails and they chose to walk 200km along the most popular one, Camino Francés (the “French Way") that begins in Geneva and runs all the way to Santiago in Spain.
Sara’s health began to improve. It may have been because one of her sons was spending a year in France, but whatever the reason, she decided travel to France recently and walk one of the many pilgrim trails with her friend Deborah.
The popular name for the pilgrim path is El Camino Real but in fact there are four main trails and they chose to walk 200km along the most popular one, Camino Francés (the “French Way") that begins in Geneva and runs all the way to Santiago in Spain.
They walked 10-15kms each day, staying overnight in basic shared accommodations which cost around €100 (AUD180) for dinner, bed and breakfast, and often included a packed lunch. Sara and Deborah shared one piece of luggage that was taken by truck to the next overnight stop. In case you haven’t worked this out, you need to plan ahead, especially as Camino Francés is the most popular walk. Around 2500 pilgrims complete the walk every day!
The BEST chocalate eclairs!
Few of the other pilgrims they met spoke English so Sara was glad she had taken a crash course in basic French in Alliance Francais, before she flew out.
Sara loved everything about her pilgrimage: the wildflowers, the wild chestnut, walnut and other trees, the old churches, attending Mass in French, meeting other pilgrims, including a lot of older women walking on their own.
Sara loved everything about her pilgrimage: the wildflowers, the wild chestnut, walnut and other trees, the old churches, attending Mass in French, meeting other pilgrims, including a lot of older women walking on their own.
Thanks for sharing the journey with us Sara.
WFKA began as a labour of love, putting together these life-changing wheelchairs to make a difference in the life and future of some kids a long way away. Come to think of it, it still is a labour of love. Over 250 volunteers, whose average age is in the mid 70’s, now turn up at the Malaga workshop every day to make 30 wheelchairs every day to WHO standard. The wheelchairs are shipped overseas to 81 countries in a partnership with a local in-country charity - WFKA makes them and the charity gets them from Fremantle to the grateful recipient.
We saw a container load of 350 wheelchairs destined for kids in Gaza, but given the issues regarding delivery of aid to Gaza, they’re being shipped via Jordan. Many of the injured kids from Gaza end up in a hospital in Jordan so that makes sense, in a region where sense is in very short supply..
Greg also took us to the room where pre-loved soft toys, wheelchair covers and knitted or crocheted lap rugs, made by Beppie's 300 volunteers. They are stored under Beppie’s watchful eye, until they are shipped with each wheelchair.
