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ACCESS IN ACTION • FEBRUARY 2017

Stuart is a Director on the Board of

‘Changing Nations’ and a founding

member – a philanthropic trust with

a mission to change nations by

engaging with less fortunate third world

communities to train and skill people so

their lives may be transformed.

And he is calling on the hire industry in

Australia for help.

“I would like to engage the hire

community to contribute older and/or

under utilised plant, tools and equipment

which we could collect and freight to

Uganda,” Stuart said.

“Equipment we ship, (we have the ability

to get containerised freight there) can

be used in building, construction and

farming projects and in the trade training

centre we plan to establish.”

Currently the Changing Nations focus

is on Uganda, a country war torn and

ravaged by unrest. It has been a very

volatile area in the recent war years – the

region was terrorised by the LRA led by

Joseph Kone, with many massacres/mass

graves, forced child soldiers and child

brides, Stuart said.

“We have moved away from the

traditional ‘aid’ model to a training model

which will enable communities to be self-

sufficient rather than reliant on external

support.

“Currently our main focus is the

community of Pader in Northern Uganda

– a community devastated by war and

A new use for used hire equipment

As we start the new year, Stuart King of Swan Hill Hire in Victoria reminds us not

everyone in the world has it as good as we do here in ‘the Lucky Country’.

conflict since the 1970’s. One of our

main aims in the next three to five years

is to establish a secondary school and

trade training facility where we can train

the next generation in skills such as

farming, building and construction and

mechanical skills.

“Changing Nations would not just be

educating students but also be educating

the community as a whole in order to

prosper and advance them by giving

them greater understanding of how to do

farming, building, mechanics, etc.

“I have experienced firsthand the

construction equipment, or lack thereof,

in Uganda. The classic example is the use

of bamboo/stick scaffolding to construct

multi storey buildings – it is actually

pretty incredible what good old fashioned

hard manual labour (and no safety

parameters!) can achieve. I’ve witnessed

wheelbarrows of brickies mud being

wheeled up ramps inside stick scaffolding

to the third storey of a building. It is

not primitive – they have cars, trucks,

machines, etc – however in the more

remote areas where we are focusing

there is less of this, and often where they

are available there are not competent

operators or people to maintain/fix

machinery.”

This is where the hire industry could

come into play.

“In the short term budding

philanthropists could contribute

financially to assist in the acquisition of

land and construction of the secondary

school and training centre,” Stuart said.

“In the longer term, my vision is the

hire industry can assist by donating

surplus and/or disused equipment for

shipping to Uganda for use in training

and commercial projects. There may also

be opportunity for those experienced in

training to provide training in Uganda.

“For me, Changing Nations is an

opportunity to give back to those in need,

and provide specialist skills and support

to develop a region that has massive

needs. Success in business is not all

about me or just us, but about being able

to use our resources to help and develop

others in need.”

Contact: 03 5032 2107 or email Stuart on:

stuart@swanhillhire.com.au

Changing Nations is calling for used hire

equipment to help Ugandans in need

ACCESS in ACTION

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