Villagers receive sewing and financial literacy training

BENEFITS are beginning to flow to local communities in Western – thanks to Horizon Oil’s proposed Western LNG project.
The company organised a two-week course in partnership with the Kiunga Vocational Training Centre and Bank South Pacific, on sewing and garment-making, followed by three days of financial literacy training at Gusiore village in the North Fly district.
Villagers are now setting up their own small businesses.
The courses they undertook were part of Horizon’s initial commitment to the development of sustainable community programmes.
Horizon Oil is yet to start work on the 1.5 million tonnes per annum LNG project.
“At this stage in our project lifecycle, these initiatives are small in scale,” a statement from the company said.
“However as Western LNG gathers momentum, so too will the level of investment in sustainable community programmes.
“The programmes are deliberately skewed towards the women in remote rural communities who are often the most disadvantaged members of the community.”
Horizon gave out manual sewing machines, threads, clothes and needles to the villagers.
“The interest was overwhelming. There were more than 30 participants – 90 per cent of whom were women,” Horizon said.
Widow Lina Abraham, of Gusiore village, after attending the sewing skills training course, began sewing meri blouses and other garments for women in the village.
She earned K250 on her first sale which she used to expand her business and buy roofing iron to fix the leak on the roof.
She now has a bank account where she is depositing her savings.