From The Outrigger Issue 57, Autumn 2014

Wantok Support: A charity for Papua New Guinea

Nigel Walkinshaw

Wantok Support started as a dream of the former Papua New Guinea High Commissioner Mrs Jean Kekedo to assist PNG citizens in the UK facing financial or social hardship. It finally came into being with an inaugural meeting of committed PNG nationals and individuals with interests in the country on the 28^th May 2011. In December that year we were registered with the Charity Commission (no. 1144961). We currently have ten Trustees, with myself as Chair, Margaret Miller as Treasurer and Anita Walkinshaw as Secretary.

Much has happened since then and I am pleased to say that Wantok Support has grown and is developing in leaps and bounds. It has been successful in providing vital assistance and support for Papua New Guineans both here in the UK and abroad, which has been no mean achievement in the current economic climate. We remain active on many fronts and for a charity with a small membership I feel we punch above our weight Over this period of time, we have supported the following projects.

St Joseph's College

Since the 1960s, a Joseph's Technical College in Lae has been providing training programmes to develop practical, high-value skills of young people within the Morobe community. Students of varying educational backgrounds, ages and ethnic groups acquire technical skills that assist them in securing paid or self-employment to make a living. Teaching mainly woodworking and metalworking shifts, this community-funded college was facing a critical shortage of basic tools. The trainees were too often becoming spectators rather than gaining the hands-on experience essential to this line of work. Wantok Support and the Knights of St Columba Council jointly purchased more than £1,200 worth of industrial tools through a hardware merchant in Lae.

"We believe that every citizen must possess some skills in order to live in abundance and live life to its fullness," says Louis Worealevi, St Joseph's Board Chairman and Catholic Education Secretary for the Diocese of Lae. "It is the institution's intention to prepare its graduates with the .knowledge and skills they need to sustain their lives, especially in the rapidly changing society of PNG. You can be sure that the students will fully utilise these tools and make the most of the opportunity."

The Mission Aviation Fellowship.

We also made a donation to the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). For people living in the remote and isolated rural communities of Papua New Guinea, maintaining radio contact with the outside world can mean the difference between life and death. Clean water, food, medical supplies and equipment, and other essentials are brought to local communities by light aircraft using airstrips that can be challenging at best.

In addition to providing healthcare and saving lives, MAF's flights also help to promote educational, economic and community development, peace building, evangelism, pastoral care and spiritual support. A key part of the work involves bringing the produce of rural communities to market, enabling them to participate in the wider economy. In PNG, MAF serves some 40 communities that produce coffee but have no road access. This means that income flows back to these communities, helping them meet their essential needs.

MAF has been operating in PNG for over 50 years, providing a lifeline for more than 300 rural communities from its bases around the country and its headquarters in Mt Hagen. Complementing MAF's provision of essential air transport, the Christian Radio Missionary Fellowship (CRMF), part of the MAF international family, provides technical support for a growing network of over 850 high-frequency radios across PNG. This enables MAF to communicate directly with isolated communities, to find out what supplies are needed, arrange deliveries and receive vital airstrip information and weather reports. However, due to the rapid pace of technological change over the past few years, the wireless network between the CRMF compound and the MAF base in Goroka had become out of date, slow and unreliable. With CRMF co-ordinating more than 200 emergency medical evacuations every year, a lack of adequate radio facilities would have put lives at risk. With this in mind, Wantok Support donated £1,000 to MAF for an upgrade.

Carolyn Flanagan, Partnership Manager at MAF UK, spoke at Wantok Support's AGM in May this year: "With Wantok Support's donation, MAF have now upgraded the wireless network connection, which should last for another seven to ten years. This has enabled a stable and reliable internet connection to trackthe aircraft flight paths and the communication links are reliable for checking e-mail alerts and report updates at HQ in Mt Hagen."

Other projects

Members of Wantok Support welcomed both the Olympic and Paralympic teams from PNG to the London 2012 Olympic Games. The teams donated memorabilia to be sold at the silent auction at the 37th PNG Independence celebrations near Gatwick to raise funds for Wantok Support, which presented special rugby balls, footballs and sensory balls to Rosemary Mawe, Manager of the Paralympic team.

One of our major financial outlays this year was the shipping to PNG of a twenty foot container of sports and medical equipment and books. The container ship departed Felixstowe in July to arrive in Lae in September. Many people and organisations contributed: St. Joseph's College, Ipswich, Opro International, Samurai International, Tennis Outdoors, Suffolk Libraries, Ostomy Lifestyle and Swire Shipping.

Wantok Support also donated £1,000 to World Vision in Solomon Islands following the recent severe flooding and earthquakes, to purchase emergency Family Kits for immediate hygiene and health needs and Livelihoods Kits including agricultural supplies for income generation and to re-establish family gardens. Our next project is to provide equipment and books for Arawa Secondary School on Bougainville Island.

Anyone who would like to join or contribute to Wantok Support is invited to contact us at: ntwalkinshaw@gmail.com