Remote Central school gets water tank, supplies
By ZARA KANU
STUDENTS at the remote Maino Wiga Primary School in the Ikega circuit of the inland Rigo district of Central province received a donation of a 1,000-litre water tank, 150 school bags, lice shampoo and diapers from KK Kingston Ltd on Friday.
The school has more than 145 students enrolled in grades three to five from 13 villages in the area.
School headmistress Caroline Kila, who was overwhelmed by the donation, said even though the geographical location poses a difficulty to children in the area, they are determined to go to school and receive an education.
Mrs Kila is also the only teacher at the school and teaches all subjects to the students of all grades.
The village community leader Gebo Pole, speaking on behalf of the parents, thanked the company and the president of the Papua Hahine Sally Mokis for the donation.
Mr Pole said the donation was the first of its kind for their village and had eased a burden of many parents as with transportation and financial problems they were forced to do most of the things on their own.
“See the difficulty we are facing, living in this remote area, but these children are the leaders of tomorrow and this school is privileged and blessed to receive this donation,” he said.
Mr Pole said the tanks would provide clean drinking water for the children and the people and the school bags and other accessories would make life a little comfortable for the village children.
The donation was due to an initiative of the company to go out and assist remote communities with tanks and other promotional items.
The school was set up in 1973 and operated for 10 years before it was closed for a short term due to lack of teachers but was revived in 2006.
Villagers commended the efforts of Mrs Kila but wanted the Government and Education Department to assign more teachers to the school and others in remote areas that faced a similar situation.

Living a better life comes true for 15
By SAMSON KENDEMAN
MORE than 15 participants received a personal viability certificate after completing a nine-day course at Entrepreneurial Development Training Centre (EDTC) in Port Moresby last week.
The course was facilitated by World Vision and undertaken by EDTC to cater for stakeholders, school drop-outs and statutory oganisations, among others, to improve their living standards.
EDTC was officially launched by former Minister for Physical Planning Sir Moi Avei in 1996 at the Sion Kami Church at Boroko.
So far, more than 80,000 people have attended the course nationally while 3,000 from Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and South Africa have also attended it.
Chairman Arua Soge, who was a participant, urged others to promise themselves that no matter how difficult it could be to implement this factual knowledge practically in the real world, they should remain true to it.
“Remember that talent, skills and knowledge have no reality until we utilise them to become an asset,” Mr Soge said during the graduation of the participants.
He said that personal viability is a national asset to be taught in education system to develop the country within the next decade.

Summit a success, say participants
THE Goilala District Summit has been hailed as a success by participants and the local community. The week-long summit was held in Woitape, Central province, from April 28 to May 4.
John Inne, a participant at the summit, said most of the time they developed plans in air-conditioned offices without really seeing what was on the ground. “This summit is different. It has brought professionals and it also involved the Goilala people,” he added.
Goilala MP Mathew Poia said the summit was the first for the district and it was an opportunity for the people of Goilala and fellow Papua New Guineans to come together and contribute in providing guidance in the development of a five-year Goilala district development plan.
Mr Poia said once the plan was completed within three months, it would be used during his five-year term in Parliament to better serve his people.
The initiative was also backed by Deputy Prime Minister Puka Temu, Central Governor Alphonse Moroi, the Central provincial government and Tolukuma Mines.
The summit aimed to bring together various professionals and leaders to brainstorm ideas that would assist in developing the Goilala district development plan.

Gardener cleans up public areas
By ZARA KANU
THE current beautification programme by PNG Gardener in Port Moresby not only focuses on parks and gardens but also on cleaning up public areas in the city.
PNG Gardener Justin Tkatchenko said they had engaged more than 2,000 youths and women to carry out the contract.
“We pay these workers an average of K50 to K100; so indirectly, we are looking after 20,000 people to improve their livelihood and that of their families,” he said.
Mr Tkatchenko also said that this was an employment opportunity for the people who had no formal qualifications or skills.

Weekly News
Overwhelmed Donation...
Maino Wiga Primary headmistress Caroline Kila standing on right and co-ordinator for the district women facilitator Laeko Bala (from right standing next to the tank) receiving the donation of water tank and school bags from the promotions team of KK Kingston Ltd (standing on left). – Nationalpic by ZARA KANU