All children deserve better lives

By TONY PALME
THE bible in Proverbs 22:6 says ‘Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.’
Children are the greatest blessing from God to parents. The kind of man or woman a child becomes later in life is determined by how their parents shape and mould them.
The family unit is the first and most important building block of a community and society. Society then builds a nation. The kind of Papua New Guinea we see today reflects the kind of families individuals come from.
The kinds of attitudes and characters that people display is due to their upbringing and how they were molded by their family, community and institutions they passed through.
The buck stops with the family as parents are the first teachers. When God is the made the head of a family, it is a step towards a better future for all. A family that is not knitted by the word of God is a family that has a weak foundation and is likely to be demolished by strong winds that come in the form of alcohol and drugs, crime, etc.
If you have watched 2006’s ‘The Pursuit of Happyness,’ single father Chris Gardner (Will Smith) told his five year old son Christopher (Jaden Smith): “Don’t ever let somebody tell you, you can’t do something, not even me. You got a dream you gotta protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they wanna tell you, you can’t do it. You want something, go get it. Period.”
The movie won positive reviews and even got nominated for an Oscar award for the brevity of young Jaden and his dad to survive in the face of adversity.
This movie can teach us that despite the difficulties and unbearable circumstances they face in life, life goes on and for those who never give up, there’ll always find light at the end of the tunnel.
There are charity organisations set up by caring Papua New Guineans to help underprivileged kids get a decent education, in addition to feeding and clothing them.
Some of the names that come to mind are Life PNG Care, founded by Collin Pake and wife Freda, based at Gerehu in Port Moresby.
Collin and Freda have taken in children from around Port Moresby streets and settlements into their family home. These children come from unfortunate family backgrounds – some come from parents who have died while some were abandoned. Others yet, were from parents who were accused of sorcery or were involved in tribal fights and evicted from where they were living as a result.
In Chimbu, Jimmy Drekore left his job as an analytical chemist to found the Simbu Children Foundation. He established an orphanage center at Irugl, at the foot of Mt Wilhelm, and is providing home to less-privileged children, many of whom had lost parents to AIDS and shunned by their extended families and communities.
In Mt Hagen, Rosa Kepo through her organisation, Bible Faith Outreach Inc. is giving hope to the homeless and neglected children in the western settlements of Mt Hagen city. Rosa and her husband have given up their home so that these children can have a home, they are sent to school, and, more importantly, are founded in the word of God.
Pake, Drekore, and Kepo share the same view; neglected children are God’s children and they have the right to be clothed, fed, put in school, receive medical care and most importantly loved.
“There’s a lawyer, pilot, economist, engineer, evangelist, doctor, prime minister, you name it, sleeping hungry under a tunnel, or in the pipes or walking down the street. They have no hope. They have the same rights like other children. They need a second chance,” Kepo said.
While these, and other Papua New Guineans I may not have mentioned, have given up their own lives and that of their families, to take in and care for extra children, there is always something that they need help with. Funding.
To be able to give homeless and abused children a chance in life, money is needed. They need our help to continue to provide service to the community.