The Club was set up in 1998.
The objective of the club was to group together buyers of Italian brand SAME
tractors with a view to:
- Grouping together the buyers
- Training them in the use, maintenance and repair of the machinery
- Exchanging experiences on the use of the machinery
- Organizing educational trips and master classes
- Making this experience accessible to the farmers of our island.
A number of educational trip have been made:
- A visit to the SAME factories in Italy
- Participation at a conference on the mechanization of the sugar cane industry
and on agricultural machinery in Mauritius.
- An exchange and discussion session with the Coopérative des Avirons
on the importation of a new type of cane cutting machine
- An exchange and discussion session with the Coopérative des Avirons
on the production of a small automatic cane cutting machine
Beyond this serious technical side of club SAME, it remains an association
in which the members have become friends and look forward to seeing one another.
Recreational activities are organized as well as exchange trips with other farmers
from the South Indian Ocean region.
It was during one of these trips to Madagascar that the members of the club,
hit by the terrible conditions of the bush people, decided to lead a humanitarian
operation: organization of fundraising to make a modest contribution to those
touched by the tropical cyclone GALIFO in the province of MAJUNGA in Madagascar.
The money raised was distributed personally by the members of the club to ensure
it reached the people it was intended to reach.
During their stay the members of the club were particularly conscious of the
fact that the schools had little in the way of school materials and the children
had none or very little.
They therefore decided that the club should make a contribution to a school
by way of a second humanitarian action.
This action enabled the renovation of the school building, the provision of
a library and most importantly the provision of pens, copybooks, school bags
and various other school materials to the children thus enabling them to learn
under the best conditions.
This was another success story.
An association of the city of Saint Louis which was interested in taking
part in this operation with the club SAME became a partner of the club with
a view to making young people in Reunion Island aware of misery and poverty
elsewhere. Fifteen young people and three accompanying adults came on the trip
and helped us renovate the bush school and the library.
A new exchange and educational trip is planned to go to South Africa during
the international agricultural trade show.
Membership of the Clubs Board:
- Chairman : GONTHIER Gislain
- First Vice Chairman : GONTHIER Jérome
- Treasurer : HOAREAU Rito
- Deputy Treasurer : HOAREAU Noël
- Secretary : PAYET Jean-Yves
- Deputy Secretary : LEBON Philippe
