Community opens church building

Faith

Years of hard work and perseverance have paid off for a small community on Fisherman Island near Port Moresby following the opening of their new church building last Sunday.
Building project committee chairman Moale Vagi said the brand new Veavu Rupuna Number 3 United Church was built at a cost of K525,000 and can sit 800 worshippers.
Veavu Rupuna means ‘fishing church’ derived from the locals’ main source of livelihood which is fishing.
Vagi said it took six years of sweat and toil through monetary contributions to finally see the islanders celebrate the fruit of their labour.
He said the initial costing and specifics of the entire building design amounted to K525,000 which was then set as a target for the islanders to raise since 2011.
“It was a big call and that the fishing island community was a little anxious at first given that their only means of financial income is through the sale of their catch.
“It also brought about mixed feelings because we have never undertaken any project of such magnitude before, however, this did not dampen their spirits. They took on the challenge and contributed every step of the way.
“We have five clans on the island that make up the entire population of a thousand-plus people. So we decided to task each clan to contribute K105,000 to meet the total amount.”
He said despite challenges along the way, divine intervention saw various businesses, corporate agencies and local MPs including Prime Minister Peter O’Neill chipping in to help.
The project was granted another blessing through the cancellation of an outstanding payment of K65,000 by Bena Construction.