Seminary gets K50,000

THE Lae district administration has given K50,000 funding for agriculture at the Martin Luther Seminary.
Also announced was the pledge of K30,000 to upgrade the seminary’s aid post.
The money comes under the district services improvement programme.
Speaking at the presentation, district administrator Budds Botikie said Papua New Guinea was forgetting that the main area where service delivery should start.
“The first medicine is God’s word so this is the place to start,” Mr Botikie said.
He said that it was time the administration helped church-run institutions in ways they could.
This was the first time for the seminary to receive financial help from the administration.
Seminary principal Rev Giegere Wenge said that the help could not have come at a better time.
The school was in dire need of funds to continue its agriculture projects, he said.
“Currently, we have a self-help programme at the institution and it helps our students to self-sustain themselves with garden food for the students’ mess,” he said.
MLS currently has a piggery, poultry and is also producing rice with the help of the National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI), at 10-Mile.
“We are happy that the government is suppoting our programmes and providing assistance,” Rev Wenge said.
The money will be used to buy piglets to sell, support the rice project initiated by the students and poultry project.
“The main reason why we have these projects is to teach students the basics of agriculture to help them when they are in the field,” he said.