His vision is to help improve the lives of school children living on a remote island in Vanuatu – and he’s searching for help from the Hawkesbury community.

Located on Vanua Lava, a northern island of Vanuatu, Arep High School boarding school has fallen on hard times due to the country’s difficult economic climate.

As a Rotary Club of Windsor member, and a member of the district branch of Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS), Mr Hoile is currently in the process of fundraising to help replace Arep High School’s boat – a valuable resource in providing food, transportation and an income for the school.

Until 2006 the school had a wooden boat, which was irreparably damaged while transporting a cement mixer to the school.

Mr Hoile and other Rotary volunteers are also working to fix up the school building, which is in desperate need of repair.

“One of the jobs that we’re doing is totally refurbishing the school and bringing it up to an acceptable level,” Mr Hoile said.

“And that’s all been through fundraising we did privately. I’ve been there four times now to the island.”

Various locally owned businesses, including Richmond Caravans and Stramit Industries, have donated supplies and building materials to the project – and all volunteers for the project have funded their own trips to Vanuatu.

The boat Mr Hoile hopes to buy for Arep High School will be made from heavy grade marine aluminium, fitted with a four stroke engine.

To be used as a workhorse, the boat will have none of the items regarded as standard in Australian pleasure boats – but even without such luxuries the estimated cost of an appropriate boat is $35,000.

The boat will be used to gather fish, and fresh fruit and vegetables from villages on the other side of the island to feed students from the boarding school, and to transport students to and from the island and to inter-island sport competitions.

Mr Hoile said the parents of Vanua Lava students struggled to find the money to send their children to school at all – let alone funding the replacement of boats and buildings.

“The average weekly income is $10US,” he said. “We spend more than that on lunch.”

Mr Hoile and the RAWCS volunteers working on the project intend to apply for a ‘matching grant’ from Rotary International – but first they need to raise the funds to be matched.

So far, they have managed to raise an enormous $14,000, with the help of various donations from Rotary Clubs in Australia, Vanuatu and even Japan.

But another $10,000 is required.

As a result, Mr Hoile is putting the call out to Hawkesbury people, businesses and organisations – asking for support for the project.

“I’m putting out a call to anybody who can help,” he said.

“It is totally tax deductible.”

RAWCS is an arm of Rotary set up specifically to complete works overseas.

Numerous other projects have been completed by RAWCS in countries like Tonga, Somalia and Papua New Guinea.

To get in touch with Mr Hoile or offer support call him on 0418 245 743, or email vanualava1@yahoo.com.au