ADRA Allocated All Funds to Safari and Community

8th January, 2010

Wahroonga, New South Wales —In response to allegations in the media yesterday that the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Australia has not spent funding received for Safari and his community, ADRA Australia would like to assure all its supporters that it has allocated the entire $180,000 it raised.

ADRA Australia has allocated the $180,000 received for Safari and the completion of community development projects in his home village of Kasaala in Kenya. The funding was sent to the ADRA office in Kenya in October 2002 for the following:

$143,000 – community development projects all completed by early 2004
- ADRA built four school classrooms and refurbished two school classrooms, built an administration block at the secondary school, provided funding for a science lab and provided some office furniture
- ADRA refurbished the government health centre
- ADRA constructed two new water tanks and four new wells
$26,000 –support for Safari prior to and during his initial visit and operations
- ADRA provided air tickets, a pre-departure medical visa and provided funds for Safari’s living expenses to his Australian carers, Frank and Janet Scaysbrook.
$11,000 – support for Safari’s education
- ADRA Kenya is currently holding this funding, as explained below.

ADRA Australia, as a government accredited and regulated international aid agency, has to allocate all funding to the project for which is has been specified and is not permitted to give money directly to individuals. In the case of the $11,000 for Safari’s education, the specified project was to help fund his education through his school. Shortly after returning to Kenya, Safari left his local school and neither ADRA Kenya nor ADRA Australia have been advised where he was completing his education and could not locate him. When it became clear that ADRA was unable to spend this funding as originally specified, it sought advice from the NSW Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing and the NSW Justice and Attorney General’s Office on reallocating that funding to another education project within Safari’s village, to continue benefiting his extended family and community. ADRA Australia has only very recently, in a letter received 11 December 2009, been advised by the NSW Justice and Attorney General’s Office on how to spend these funds. ADRA Australia is now working with its partner ADRA office in Kenya to use this funding as per the agreed recommendation.

ADRA Australia has always fully cooperated with the NSW Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing and the NSW Justice and Attorney General’s Office (the two NSW Government bodies responsible for reviewing charities’ expending of donations) regarding funding for Safari and his community. This issue has already been formally investigated by the NSW Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing, which found Frank and Janet Scaysbrook’s complaint to be unjustified. ADRA Australia is also independently audited every year.

ADRA Australia is a non-government organisation (NGO) engaging in sustainable development projects and emergency management activities for people in need in Australia, the Pacific, Asia and Africa. It is a member of the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) and has full accreditation with the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). It is a member of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) and is a signatory to ACFID’s Code of Conduct. ADRA Australia is part of the international ADRA network, which has a presence in 125 countries. ADRA is the worldwide humanitarian arm of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. For more information about ADRA Australia, or to sign up for email updates, visit ADRA Australia's website.

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