Event
Qantas Jumbo Joy Flight in association with the Rotary Club of Turramurra
The Jumbo Joy Flight first took to the skies in the 1970's. Over the following years thousands of disabled, disadvantaged and ill children - along with parents and carers - have enjoyed a 90 minute flight at low level over Sydney.
On the flight the atmosphere is amazing. Most of the children, and many of their parents and carers, have never flown before. The time in the air passes very quickly. The joy of the children is irrepressible. A day to remember.
It is also a day to remember for the Cabin Crew, Pilots, Ground Staff, Customs and Quarantine, airport personnel from so many areas, Rotarians and Pathfinders' members. All volunteer their time to get the flight up up and away. Qantas provides the 747-400 aircraft and all airport and landing fees are waived.
To join the flight the children are sponsored through the Rotary Club of Turramurra.
Long Haul and Short Haul Crew, who would like to operate on this flight, should wait until they have the day free and then contact Long Haul, CSM Neville Frazer by email: frazer4@tpg.com.au
Where: TBA
When: TBA
For further information about this event, please see the contact details below:
Website: www.ridbc.org.au
Address: Private Bag 29, Parramatta NSW 2124
Telephone: (02) 9872 0329 or (02) 9871 1233 (switchboard number)
Fax: (02) 9871 2196
Email: kaye.bailey@ridbc.org.au
Vincent's story
In June 1993 Turramurra Rotary members, John and Marlene Pickford, visited Africa looking for eligible school children for Rotary Sponsorship. The children needed to be academically or creatively gifted and unable to continue their education because of family circumstances.
The Pickfords got lost on a back road in Zimbabwe which brought them to a very remote small Communal School called Sikombingo Primary. The School’s very humble Headmaster told the Pickfords of a gifted and destitute 13 year old student called Vincent Bhebhe (Bay-bay); the Headmaster was reluctant to introduce Vincent to the Pickfords as Vincent was also physically disabled. Having travelled many thousands of kilometres throughout central Africa the Pickfords were quite fatalistic so, without hesitation, they met Vincent Bhebhe.
Vincent was indeed both gifted and destitute but as far as crippled it was hard to go past Vincent’s happy young face - his gentle smile that morning changed the rest of his life. The disability was a very major deformity of the left foot (see photo), the repair of which would involve a rotation of approximately 90 degrees. Vincent was very definitely on the list for potential sponsorship by Rotary.
The question posed itself: How could this young man reach his full potential both academically and physically?
Upon the Pickford’s return to Australia the wheels of Rotary and the hearts of Rotarians went to work: Eminent orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Donald Macdonald, saw X-Rays and photographs of Vincent’s foot sent by the Rotary Club of Gweru, Zimbabwe. Dr Macdonald and his colleague, anaesthetist, Dr Warwick Wilson, both offered their considerable expertise at no cost. Zimmer Australia donated the equipment for the operation, and the Sydney Adventist Hospital Board offered hospital accommodation and post operative care.
Qantas Airways Limited, who already had a long standing relationship with Turramurra Rotary through the annual Children’s Jumbo Joy Flight, became the catalyst to get Vincent and his benefactors together, by donating a return ticket from Harare, Zimbabwe to Sydney. Without the support of Qantas many of Turramurra Rotary’s African projects, particularly their work in Zimbabwe, would not have come to fruition.
Telecom (now Telstra) made a most generous donation of free telephone calls to Zimbabwe. This gift greatly assisted in the co-ordination of the whole project.
For Vincent, a young boy who had never really been outside of his own small village, coming to Australia would have been daunting. At 13 years of age Vincent travelled alone to Australia for the operation. It must have been a great comfort for Vincent’s family, back in their remote African village, to know he was in such caring hands. The project had the blessing of His Excellency Lucas Tavaya, then the Zimbabwe High Commissioner to Australia, who personally organised and co-ordinated Vincent's travel documents and passport.
Vincent arrived from Harare on Friday, 29 October 1993 for the next 5 months Vincent was at home in Sydney with the Pickfords.
To make the transition easier for everyone Telecom approved a call to Vincent's small rural school - the school had a multiple party line so it was no mean feat to organize! This enabled Vincent’s family to come to the school to talk to him and know that all was well post operatively.
Wahroonga Bush School students, great supporters of Rotary’s Zimbabwe projects, befriended Vincent and undertook a roster for hospital visits. Vincent was also invited to visit Knox Grammar School, by the then Headmaster, Dr Ian Paterson. Attending these schools in the last few weeks of the Christmas term Vincent was able to find out what an Australian Christmas was all about.
During Vincent’s stay in Sydney he was a special guest on the 1993 Qantas/Turramurra Rotary Children’s Jumbo Joy Flight.
Pathfinders’ members, some of whom are Qantas Long Haul Flight Attendants, and were on Vincent’s flight to Sydney in 1993 have followed Vincent’s progress over the years. In November 2008 Vincent was, once again, a special guest at the Qantas/Turramurra Rotary Children’s Jumbo Joy Flight. He was thrilled to meet some of the original Qantas Crew from his childhood flight (see photo).
In March 1994 Vincent returned home to Zimbabwe. For the first time in his life he was wearing a pair of shoes! Vincent had already been approved for sponsorship to his secondary school at Fletcher High School in Gweru, Zimbabwe which he attended as a boarder.
As the political situation became extreme in Zimbabwe, Vincent appealed to the Pickfords to assist him to return to Australia. Once again the wheels of Rotary went into action. Following a long telephone examination Vincent achieved a position with Price Waterhouse Coopers. When Vincent’s Visa was finally approved he travelled with Qantas landing in Sydney in March 2008. Back in Sydney he said: “I have finally come home.”
Now almost sixteen years since the Pickfords took a wrong turn on a back road in Africa, and with the help of his Australian family, Vincent has completed both secondary school and a Commerce Degree with Honours at University. Now in Australia Vincent has completed his first year of bridging examinations at Deakin University, with Honours and Distinctions, and has been awarded a Price Waterhouse Coopers’ Prize of ‘YOU’RE AWESOME’. Vincent began his Professional Year of Accountancy in June 2009.
To tell the story of a child is to tell the story of what tomorrow might be ……………… AND TOMORROW IS HERE …………………
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