• Home
  • Articles
    • Front Page
    • General Interest
    • Snippets
    • Mayoral Notes
    • Letters to the Editor
  • Competitions
  • Our Community
    • Our People
    • Question of the Week
    • Jobs in the Central West
    • Be Seen
  • Features
    • Rural Round Up
    • My Place
    • Health & Wellbeing
    • Loving Local Living
    • Just a Short Drive
    • Real Estate
  • Sports
    • Bowls
    • Cricket
    • Equestrian
    • Footy Tips
    • Golf
    • Netball
    • Rugby League
    • Rugby Union
    • Soccer
    • Touch Football
  • Contact Us
    • Contact Page
    • Advertise with us
    • Testimonials
    • Submit an Article
    • Subscribe to the Parkes Phoenix

Parkes Phoenix

Rotary Members Open Their Hearts For A Sick Boy

January 26, 2017 By editor

In early January Parkes opened its heart to thousands of different versions of Elvis, but some local residents also opened their hearts and homes to a very special young boy.

Eleven year-old Lujio Dos Reis Da Silva from Timor Leste was a very sick child. He had suffered damage to his heart valve from rheumatic fever and required urgent specialist treatment. Fortunately, he was referred to the Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children program (ROMAC).

ROMAC provides life-saving or dignity restoring surgery for children from developing countries which they otherwise would not be able to access. ROMAC flew Lujio and his mother Josefine to Australia so Lujio could undergo heart surgery at the Royal Children’s Hospital. Parkes Rotary made a small contribution to Lujio’s medi- cal costs, and became his sponsors.

During his treatment Luijo and Josefina stayed at the Ronald McDonald House in Randwick, however, once he had recovered enough the pair were invited to stay with their sponsors in Parkes.

Parkes Rotary formed a partnership with members of the Uniting Church to prepare for the visit. The Uniting Church has a strong connection with Timor Leste, and members from both Rotary and the Uniting Church generously provided practical assistance, helping with language barriers, and showing the family the very best of country hospitality.

Peter and Barbara Thompson drove to Sydney to collect Josefina and Lujio and hosted them for three nights. Lujio got to experience the simple pleasures of Australian farm life, which included catching yabbies in the dam.

Their next hosts Mel ten Cate and Beto da Silver speak Portuguese, which eased the language barriers for the remainder of their stay. Josefina and Lujio were treated to barbeques, had the pleasure of meeting Mayor Ken Keith OAM, and even got to experience the joy of the Parkes Elvis Festival.

By Raen Fraser

Filed Under: General Interest

Latest Print Editions

Click here to download the recent issue (248) of The Parkes Phoenix (1.5MB PDF) – 26th February 2020

STAY CONNECTED

The Parkes Phoenix would like to thank you, our Facebook friends, for your continued support and readership!

CENTRAL WEST RURAL ROUND UP BOOKLET

Click here to download the Rural Round Up Booklet 

SEARCH THE PHOENIX

Recent Articles

  • No More Struggles With Sleep February 26, 2021
  • Young Reporter Writes Own Newsletter February 26, 2021
  • Honour Roll Shines Light On Hidden Treasures In Our Community February 26, 2021
  • Anzac Day To Go Ahead February 26, 2021
  • Snippets… February 26, 2021

CONTACT THE PHOENIX

Head Office Phone: (02) 6344 1846

Postal Address PO Box 203 Canowindra NSW 2804  

Editorial – Maggi Barnard Phone 0403 080 085 editor@parkesphoenix.com.au

Sales – Rochelle Frame Phone 0490 517 590 sales@parkesphoenix.com.au  

View our Privacy Policy.

View our Conflict Resolution Process.

View our Ethics and Complaints Policy.

Want to advertise with us?

Information on our Community Promotions.

Submit an Article

We are always looking for new articles of interest to the local community.

Please feel free to submit an article for possible inclusion in a future issue.

To submit an article, click here to use our online article submission form.

Sign up for The Parkes Phoenix Newspaper

* = required field

Copyright © 2021 · Website setup by WebSysMan