Central women receive passbooks

By DULCIE OREKE 
SIXTY women from Vanapa, Central, received their new passbooks on Saturday after three years of waiting.
The delay was due to the Papua New Guinea Women in Business (PNGWiB) not having an office, officials said.
Programme manager Nelson Mandela said there were three different passbooks for its micro finance scheme that financial members acquired after registration.
He said the first passbooks presented were the current saving mobilisation.
Mandela said the PNGWiB had 8,000 financial members and aimed to reach K2 million, a requirement to open its own banking facility.
He said although the organisation had branches in Port Moresby, Central, Wewak, Madang and Kavieng, they aimed to cover more areas.
Businesswoman Joan Aihi, wife of Office of Higher Education Minister Paru Aihi, called for women to change their thinking on “hand- me-out mentality”.
She challenged them to rise up and work with their leaders to move their communities, homes and children forward.
She said as a business woman there were challenges faced everyday but that did not discourage her from continuing.
The women who gathered were told their homes were the first learning institute.
Monica Dick, coordinator for Trans-Vanapa representing three groups, Vanapa, Doromoku and Veikabu, was a jubilant woman, saying it had been a long wait for the registered group.