Staff and management of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) handed over a donation of $1,615.00 to the Walk On Walk Strong (WOWS) Fund yesterday (17th August).
WOWS is the operating arm of the Tae Kami Foundation, which was established in 2009 to provide assistance for young cancer patients. The Foundation was established in memory of Tae Luisa Kami, the 14-year-old who died of cancer in her home in Nuku'alofa, Tonga, in August 2008.In handing over SPC's contribution, the Deputy Director-General Fekitamoeloa 'Utoikamanu said, 'Individual staff have given their own support privately but we wanted to also have the opportunity to show SPC's support in whatever little way that we can.'
Mrs 'Utoikamanu added that the staff of SPC were happy to support the cause for children with cancer.
Present to receive the donation was Mrs Sina Kami, the mother of the late Tae Kami. Mrs Kami expressed her appreciation and thanked the SPC staff for their kind donation. 'One of the things that she (Tae) wrote was that God is making a ministry out of my pain and because the people were there to support, we (parents) believe that that is the ministry. We can't do it alone - only with the support of local people and the business houses and organisations like SPC.'
Mrs Kami added that they wanted people who had supported the Foundation to feel that they owned it so that they can tell the children with cancer that they are not alone in this journey. She and her husband plan to make the walk an annual event.
'Next year we are doing the walk in Samoa,' she said.
She also spoke to those present about the Foundation and what the money raised would be used for. It will support the CWM Hospital resource centre, which has recently opened, and will also be used to support children with cancer here in Fiji in other ways.