Kurai continues supporting Catholic Church

By DANIEL KUMBON
ENGAN businessman Paul Kurai has given K21,000 to the Tsikiro Catholic Church for the first time through his new Kurai Foundation established recently in honour of his late father Kurai Tapus.
He has yet to officially launch the foundation both in Wabag and Port Moresby but requests for help have already started pouring in, some from as far as Mendi in neighbouring Southern Highlands.
Kurai said the K21,000 he gave to the Tsikiro Catholic mission was for the congregation to do church maintenance work.
In receiving the cheque, local priest Fr James Kambao said he was grateful to for the money on behalf of his parishioners and they would make good use of the generous donation.
Fr Kambao said Paul Kurai has continuously supported the Catholic Church in the province but he gave more to Tsikiro Parish.
Paul Kurai had previously given Tsikiro Parish K25,000 as well as providing benches inside the building worth about K250,000. On top of that he had given a brand new 25-seater Landcruiser troop carrier.
“That is where I went to school in 1964 and I must continue to give,” Paul Kurai said.
He completed Grade 6 there in 1969 but due to limited spaces in high school, Paul Kurai repeated Grade 6 the following year at Wanepap Catholic Mission in Laiagam and went onto do Grade 7 at Fatima High School in today’s Jiwaka, in 1971.
The rest is history.
Now, he is the managing director of K Star Construction company and several other businesses. He owns Ribito Hotel in Wabag town.
Last month, Paul Kurai officially made the announcement of the establishment of the Kurai Foundation at the burial site of the late Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare in Wewak.
His company has been awarded several infrastructure improvements projects in both the East and West Sepik provinces by the European Union under its Support to Rural Entrepreneurship, Investment and Trade (STREIT) programme.
‘I am happy to announce the establishment of Kurai Foundation right here in Wewak where the great chief stands watch over all of us in PNG,” Kurai said then.
“I will use funds from my Sepik contracts to firmly establish my new charity organisation to ensure blessings from the European Union continue to flow to many more people in Enga and other people in PNG,” he said.
The Kurai Foundation will be officially launched in both Wabag and Port Moresby soon.