Helping rebuild Usino-Bundi

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By PHOEBE GWANGILO
Vincent Kumura from Yandera in the Usino-Bundi electorate of Madang has a double master’s degree in business and finance.
This 35-year-old bachelor had been living and studying in the United States from 2004 to 2012 where he graduated with a degree in business management and marketing at Oakwood University.
He continued his study and graduated with a master in finance and accounting at La Siera University.
Although he completed his basic education in his electorate, the thought of coming back and serving his people was never on his mind until he visited PNG in 2010 that led him to do what he was doing today.
“I am directing several community impact projects in remote Bundi, some of the projects are healthcare, education, eco-tourism and other basic and community services,” Kumura said.
“It is the realisation about the struggles of my people in 2010 that pushed me to do what I am doing now.
“I see pregnant mothers walking the rugged mountains for 14km to reach Brahaman Health Centre in Ramu Valley. Many do not make it.
“A pregnant mother from Biom, a small village up on the mountains of Bundi was walking to Brahman Health Centre at the Ramu Valley floor to seek medical help.
“The pressure of walking caused the mother to deliver her baby 200 metres before the foot track adjoins the main road. Unfortunately, she died due to loss of blood.
“The was meri (guardian) stood by the road side with the infant in her arms with blood pouring down all over her arms and clothes.
“She was shaking with tears. Just then my elder sister, Anna Kumura, a trained nurse was on one of her medical field trips to rural Brahman with an ambulance.
“She rescued the infant with the was meri (guardian)and rushed them to Brahman Health Centre where she attended to the infant. She did everything she could to save the infant.
“In Bundi alone, every year, about four to six mothers or children die on average from child delivery complications.
“The main reason is the long distance between the villages and the nearest health centre.”
Another struggle Kumura saw was “Zone 4” primary schools in upper Bundi such as Yandera (established in 1979) and Snow Pass (2004). The schools had no libraries since their inceptions.
“Given the isolation, teachers’ absenteeism and closure of schools for an extended period is quite a norm,” he said.
Such situations have made Kumura question how far the country had come since Independence in 1975.
Kumura was surprised by the changes and development he saw in Port Moresby compared to Bundi.
For more than a decade the airstrip was closed. There were no public servants, no missionaries at the Catholic station, the hydro-power was shut down.
The road once accessed by vehicles was now only a foot track.
This reality was the turning point in his life. He committed his time and effort in helping his people realise their potential and also putting smiles on their faces.
His community services began in 2013.
Some of the highlights of his work include:

  • Organising and supervising the building of a water supply project for the Bundi station and primary school;
  • organising and donating  160kg of medical supplies from the US and Australia to the remote Bundi Health Centre; and,
  • organising and directing a week-long medical frontier work from Bundi to Kegesugl in Chimbu with the help of two volunteer medical doctors from Australia and the US.

From April 2014 to present he:

  • Organised for 1500 medical prescription glasses from the US. Arranged an eye specialist to conduct eye checks in Bundi and gave free glasses to those who needed it. About 22 eye patients from Bundi were scheduled for eye operations at the Fred Hollows Foundation in Madang next month;
  • built the Snow Pass Medical Dispensary in June 15, 2015, serving a remote population of 4000 people of central upper Bundi. Through the dispensary, over 10 frontier medical patrols to remote areas were conducted which saw more than 2000 patients to date;
  • worked with the Ramu Community Resource Centre Association (RCRCA) and donated more than 3000 library books from Western Australia to two primary schools (Snow Pass and Yandera) and six elementary schools of remote upper Bundi. He received 500 more library books from Australia to donate to a dozen of schools in Usino-Bundi;
  • established the building of Snow Pass Eco-Lodge in Bundi. The Snow Pass Eco-Lodge is a community-based initiative to preserve the rich cultural heritage of the locals, conserve the natural environment and develop eco-tourism products and services to help provide job opportunities for the locals. This in turn will help improve their livelihood. The ultimate goal is to reduce poverty and violence through the eco-tourism income earning activities;
  • recently he completed the Mt Wilhelm National Park Management and Development Plan. A consulting work awarded by Arts, Culture and Tourism Minister Tobias Kulang; and,
  • Organised (August, 2016) the historical and largest rural outreach medical programme at Bundi impacting more than 800 lives.
    The six-member medical team from the Kundiawa General Hospital saw 389 patients with 43 referrals.

He was currently working on sourcing funds to assist Bundi sub-health centre to provide children’s immunisation which had not been happening for the last 15 years as well as getting mattresses for patients.
Kumura was also organising to build a health centre at Snow Pass, and seeking assistance to get an ambulance for Bundi Health Centre.
He said his most difficult challenge was to manage locals’ expectations.
It seems many don’t want to volunteer for community development projects. They seem to give up easily if work was on halt due to limited or no funding. With lack of funds, long delays were expected but this could be misinterpreted by the locals.
He conducted meetings to inform the locals of his attempts to secure project funds.
Kumura encouraged them to take ownership over the projects because the project would benefit all members of the community.
“I found out that maintaining an open and truthful dialogue with the locals is the key to managing their expectations,”Kumura said.
“Also giving respect and equitable treatment to everyone whenever we secure some project funds is a good thing to sustain the project.”
On April 15, last year, Kumura won the Atlas Steel PNG Community Ingenuity Award and the Digicel PNG Foundation Men of Honour PNG Community Ingenuity Award.