At our meeting on Monday 10 March 2020 we had the pleasure of the company of Anthony Spagnolo who has been pre-selected as the Liberal candidate to contest the State Legislative Assembly seat of Riverton Liberal; and Kieran English's son, Winston. There were fewer members than usual and despite our best efforts, we hadn't been able to find a guest speaker, so I devoted the time to Hands Across The World which the Club has previously supported and of which I am a Director and the Board Secretary..

Hands Across the World's (HATW) is an Australian not-for-profit organisation which tackles the atrocities of human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and human slave labour through the medium of a quality education for disadvantaged communities in Cambodia. Since it was established in 2013 HATW has constructed and commissioned two schools (one including an extensive library and fully equipped computer room) and through an Interactive Programme has trained twenty four (24) teachers working in nine (9) schools reaching two thousand and eight (2008) students. It has also provided school books and stationary to two hundred (200) students. 

The program has been very successful, but has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic which has forced many schools to close and left teachers without income to support their families, a situation made worse by the lack of a welfare safety net in Cambodia,  

To help these teachers, many of whom have found creative ways to continue educating house bound children, our Club has been successful in obtaining a Rotary Foundation District Grant for HATW to use in conjunction with its own limited funds, to provide some short term financial assistance of about USD 90 per  teacher. It isn't much by Western standards, but will make a quite a difference to them.