Papua New Guinea

Some time back I told you about Kiribati, one of the Island nations where we have several humanitarian projects in progress. This week I want to give you a brief introduction to Papua New Guinea (PNG). PNG is a fairly large country of over 8 million people. It has twice the population of New Zealand. Its main island is split down the center with Indonesia on the west and PNG on the east of the dividing line. It has been an independent state for about 25 years – previously controlled by Australia. It is a very poor country with a Gross Domestic Product of only $1,300 per person per year. The people in the highlands are mostly just subsistence farmers, self-growing and/or scavenging what they need to survive.

We recently completed a wheelchair project in Port Moresby and in Lae. We provided over 700 wheelchairs for the physically disabled. The wheelchairs we sent to them were all-terrain styled, with extra wide tires and a wide center wheel, for stability. The chairs were provided at no cost to the recipient or their families.

Most of the pictures I have to share with you are of different schools. We just received approval for two projects at five different primary schools.

The government has constructed permanent structures in most of the communities for the children to attend.

The first project will provide school kits to 250 primary age school children. The schools provide lap boards (slate), but the children have to provide their own pencils, paper, eraser, pencil sharpener, crayons, etc.

The children cannot enroll in school until they have these basic supplies. Since most of them are too poor to purchase these supplies, they are not able to attend school.

Note that only the teacher has a chair to sit on. All of the students sit on the ground. In this picture the tarp on the ground provides a cleanable surface for the students to sit on.

The second project involved the distribution of basic hygiene kits to the school children to take home. These kits are pretty standard with tooth brushes, tooth paste, soap, wash clothes, comb, and towels. The school will teach a series of lessons about personal hygiene, and then we’ll come and distribute the kits to the students. (We’ve learned that if we give the kits to the schools, the children never see them).

Just this week we received approval to provide emergency response aid to several communities in the highlands above Lae, PNG. They are experiencing a serious outbreak of cholera and dysentery, which has claimed the lives of more than two hundred people so far. Teaming with the provincial government and health officials, we will provide 2,000 plastic buckets, like the one in this picture. The health officials and military will distribute disinfected drinking water to each family in these buckets. We will also provide 14,000 bars of soap to be distributed at the same time.

We have been very busy for the past several weeks, but it has been most gratifying to be part of this effort in representing the Savior of all mankind in relieving the suffering of the poor and the needy.