Grievance Debate

Wahome, Mr Solomon

Mr WINGARD (Mitchell) (15:10): I rise today to talk about someone I was fortunate to spend some time with at the 53^rd handover dinner for the Lions Club of Marion. I was seated next to the outgoing president, Solomon Wahome. Solomon migrated from Kenya with his family back in March 2010 on a skilled migration visa and joined Westpac Bank in May 2010 as a collection officer. One of the first things he did after arriving in Australia was join the Marion Lions and his energy and enthusiasm were harnessed by the group and he quickly rose to the presidency.

Added to this, Solomon served on the board of the Kenyan Swahili School of Adelaide and was vice president of the Kenyan community living in Australia. He is married to Grace, who I also had a long conversation with at the handover dinner, where we discussed many of the differences between growing up in Kenya compared to Australia. Grace and Solomon have two daughters, Beth and Charity, who consumed a fair portion of the conversation, as children often do, but they sound like lovely, grounded young women who, like their parents, give back to the community.

The handover dinner was a chance to welcome in the new officers of the Marion Lions: the new president, Bill Jolley, who has been prior president at Seacombe; first vice president, Rosemary Peacock; second vice president, Carol Holt; secretary, Graham Turner, who is a good servant of the club; treasurer, Bob Korotcoff; past president, Solomon Wahome; and also the tail twister, Bob Coulthard, who has done wonderful things in the Lions community right across the board. Kel Waters, former president, was the MC for the night too, so it was a great fun evening and great to be there.

The dinner was also an opportunity for the group to hand over some cheques to community groups from money they had raised through the year, primarily from a sausage sizzle they hold outside Harvey Norman on the second and fourth weekend of every month. A total of $17,000 was handed out, which is a brilliant effort from a smaller club.

I will mention some of the charities that were supported with the money that was handed over: the Lions Prostate Cancer Awareness Program and the Lions Prostate Cancer Research and Treatment Program received $250 in total; Angel Flight Australia, which is a great service (Erica Korotcoff received the money) received $750; the Royal Flying Doctor Service is always supported by the Marion Lions and they received $500; St Vincent de Paul Brighton for community relief, St Vincent de Paul Seacombe Gardens for community relief, Church of Christ Brighton for community relief, and Salvation Army Marion for community relief all received $250 each, which was outstanding; the Lions Eye Health program received $500; Operation Flinders (it was great to have John van Ruth, the CEO, there) received $500; the Daw House Hospice Foundation received $500; the Lions Hearing Dogs received $500; and $2,587 went towards the Trees Program at Braeside Reserve.

Solomon has been a key player behind the Marion Lions tree planting project at Braeside Reserve. Their goal is to plant 10,000 trees by 2017, and so far they have planted 4,500 since 2012. In fact, they planted 2,000 just last week. Solomon has harnessed the generosity of his employer, Westpac, which grants leave for its workers to do charity work, and he convinced 20 of his colleagues to join him and the team for this worthy cause. They were supported by nine green commandos and they delivered the project with ease.

It is this initiative that saw Solomon also awarded the Melvin Jones Fellowship Award, along with the hardworking Graham Turner, who also tirelessly devotes his time to the club. Melvin Jones is considered the most influential person in the history of Lions Club International for his guidance of the club through its formative years in the early to mid-1900s. I was told that this award was built around Melvin's motto: 'You can't get very far until you start doing something for somebody else.'

This is a motto that the Marion Lions and Solomon Wahome have well and truly adopted. I highly recommend anyone to get down and support the Marion Lions if they can. They will be at Harvey Norman on the second and fourth weekend of any month selling sausages, and they are mighty damn fine sausages as well.