Long trek to empower women

THROUGH the trekking industry the income to the Buna and Sanananda communities in Northern over the last 10 years has been more than K3 million.
Mostly this has been earned by the young men as carriers and guides along the Kokoda Trail. This is a very important source of income for the Northern Beaches as well as giving pride to those young men. But what about the women?
Living in a remote community creates many challenges, including some few of us would think about. For women, managing their monthly cycle can be problematic, with limited availability of sanitary products.
Jean Ememei, of Buna Village, talked about some of the issues women in her village face. “We can buy sanitary products in Popondetta, however they are not always available and when they are, they’re expensive.”
Jean said that many women simply used cloth alternatives, which can be difficult if, for example, the cloth slips from their undergarments while they are working in the garden.
“This can be very difficult, and also embarrassing, and it would be great if we had other solutions,” Jean said.
Getaway Trekking, an Australian-based trek operator, employs up to 250 men from Buna and Sanananda as carriers, cooks, guides and hygiene officers for guests. Sue Fitcher, chief executive officer, said the business really wanted to help.
“We were very keen to get involved – our trekking business operates in PNG so we feel it’s our responsibility to provide some support to the people we work with,” Fitcher said.
“We have been supporting these villages with employment, health and education assistance for more than 12 years. We train the men in leadership, cooking, first aid, and skills to help our clients and to be able to look after themselves.
“Our business is owned and run predominantly by women. So naturally we are passionate about what we can do for empowering women. Education, women’s health and wellbeing and creating micro-businesses are very close to our hearts.”
Fitcher knew of a programme being run from Cairns where women from an Australian indigenous community had learned to manufacture re-usable sanitary packs. Yolonde Entsch, founder of Empowering Women|Empowering Communities, had been working on the Moon Sick Care Bag project with the group of women in the remote Queensland Aboriginal community since August 2017.
“My Pathway, the social and economic development organisation in Cairns, contracted me to work with the Doomadgee ladies to identify ways to grow their skills and potentially produce some income,” Entsch explained.
“Moon Sick Care Bags really caught the women’s enthusiasm – they contain everything a woman needs to manage menstruation, including four washable sanitary pads, underwear, face washer, soap, a diagram of a monthly cycle and a colourful bag for all the contents.”
Fitcher immediately saw the worth of the programme, and ordered 200 bags, the first of which were delivered to the Buna Health Centre.
“When provided to women and girls living in remote areas of PNG the bags can make a tremendous difference to their lives. Instead of girls being forced to miss school each month, and women having to withdraw from family duties, they can manage menstruation with dignity and confidence,” Fitcher explained.
Getaway Trekking is no stranger to ‘giving back’ to the communities with which it works. After lobbying extensively for a female health worker to be based in the village of Buna on the north coast of PNG, an area home to most of its staff, the business committed to fund the position itself.
“This is what now gives us the opportunity and means to distribute the Moon Sick Care Bags, by encouraging women to come into the health centre for checks,” Fitcher explained.
“In order to be given a bag the women will need to come in and have a health check. This will create a relationship with the health centre and – hopefully – will make them more likely to be proactive about their healthcare in the future,” she said.
After the 200 bags are distributed, Getaway will review the programme and work with local women to discuss the next step. Fitcher said one option was to look at ways its trekkers can help support the women in Buna to make and sell washable sanitary pads themselves as a microbusiness venture.
“Our contributions need to be sustainable,” said Fitcher.
“There’s no value in us providing services that aren’t wanted by the community, or that require us to continue our involvement. These ladies are absolutely capable, and want support themselves. We just want to help out getting them started.”

• Story and pictures supplied by Sue Fitcher of Getaway Trekking.