Back in September 2025, this was really just a thought bubble.
Could we fill a container with medical equipment and supplies that were no longer needed here in Australia and send them somewhere they could genuinely make a difference?
There were plenty of questions and, as always with these projects, a few hurdles along the way.
But today, a 40-foot shipping container full of medical equipment and supplies was unloaded at Children’s Surgical Centre in Cambodia.
And your Club, Port Phillip Rotary, helped make it happen. Together with 16 other Rotary Clubs, The Rotary Foundation and Rotary Donations in Kind, you backed an idea and helped turn it into something very real.
A message came from the hospital’s Medical Director, Dr Jim Gollogly: “It was like Xmas again for most of our staff, so thank you all a million.”
We think that says it all.
The photos coming through from Cambodia showed hospital staff inside the shipping container, sorting their way through equipment and cartons. Everything then had to be manually unloaded from the back of one truck, transferred onto another truck and finally moved onto the hospital grounds. And just to make it a little more challenging — they were doing all this in temperatures over 40 degrees, in Cambodia’s wet season!
Later, Jim sent another message:
“So we would really like to thank you all…the anaesthetic machine, microscope, OR tables, slit lamps, arthroscopy tower and other electrical equipment are all being tested out by our engineers today, and we’ll have a full report soon.”
Reading that list made us realise again just what we had managed to send. So, where did Club's, TRF and DIK support go?
Children’s Surgical Centre provides free and low-cost surgery to Cambodians living with disability and to people who simply could not otherwise afford specialised surgical care. It is also doing something incredibly important for the future of healthcare in Cambodia. Cambodian surgeons and hospital staff work alongside international surgeons and medical volunteers, learning, sharing skills and developing expertise in spinal surgery, brachial plexus injury repair, total joint replacement, limb-lengthening procedures, retinal surgery, complex ear surgery, plastic surgery and many other specialist areas.
Dr Jim Gollogly returned to Cambodia in 1998 and Children’s Surgical Centre began as a small project helping victims of landmine injuries — many of them children. Today, it is a tertiary teaching hospital with more than 100 Cambodian staff performing free and low-cost surgery across numerous specialties for economically disadvantaged patients.
Quite a journey. And then there is the value of what we sent…
It is almost impossible to put a dollar value on everything that arrived at the hospital today. If you pushed me to estimate what the medical equipment and supplies might cost to purchase on the second-hand market, I don't think $500,000 would be an unreasonable figure.
What I find equally remarkable is that much of this equipment became available simply because Australian hospitals regularly replace and update their inventory. Without somewhere like Rotary Donations in Kind, many of these items could potentially have ended up as waste.
Instead, today an anaesthetic machine, operating theatre tables, a microscope, slit lamps, an arthroscopy tower and a huge range of other medical equipment and supplies are sitting at a hospital in Cambodia. The engineers are testing them. The surgeons are waiting to use them. And ultimately, Cambodian patients will benefit from them.
This is what your Club helped do When your Club agreed to support this project, you probably received an email, a project outline or perhaps heard someone talk about “a container to Cambodia”.
It can sometimes be hard to imagine what happens after a Club approves the funding and the money leaves the bank account. Well — this is what happened. A 40-foot container travelled from Australia to Cambodia. It arrived at a hospital providing free and low-cost surgery to people who need it most. It was opened today. And, according to Jim, it felt a little like Christmas.
From a thought bubble back in September 2025 to what happened in Cambodia today, there have been a lot of people involved. But without Rotary Clubs being willing to back projects like this, they simply don't happen. So, to each of the 17 Rotary Clubs that supported this project — thank you.
You helped make this happen. And we really wanted you to know where your support went.
Bronwyn Stephens & Stuart McIntyre