Festive Greetings from us all at Links of Hope. We want to say an enormous thank you to all of our sponsors, supporters and corporate donors who have contributed to a hugely productive and successful year for our teams on the ground in Papua New Guinea. We are indebted to you all and could not do what we do without your support in partnering with our vision to empower individuals and impact communities - providing health education initiatives, support and practical care for individuals living impacted by the HIV epidemic in Papua New Guinea.
Highlights of 2022
Community Youth Champions
We were again funded by the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives to run health education holiday workshops with 70 of our adolescents in Port Moresby and Mount Hagen. The workshops coupled health education and lifeskill topics such as adherence, peer support, inclusion, First Aid, nutrition and fitness with interactive and informative sessions such as swimming, basketball, t-shirt tie-dying, a tour of the National Museum, rugby league coaching, banking, further education and more! The impact of these sessions on our young people is incredible, with one of the main benefits being the networks of peer support we are creating amongst them.
Parenting For Child Development
We have been hugely privileged to have been approved this year as an official partner of UNICEF and have teams of staff and volunteers trained to run their Parent for Child Development (P4CD) Program. We have run the program in 3 Port Moresby communities this year - Waigani, Gerehu and Hanuabada. Participant Pukari, who took part in the Gerehu program summed up her experience by saying 'I am grateful to Links of Hope for this training. This is what every parent should know. It is so important for us to understand our children and protect them and raise them well. They are our future.'
Respite Renovations
With the incredible ongoing support of key partners in Port Moresby such as Kina Bank and Kraft Heinz we have conducted major renovations to our respite facility in Port Moresby this year. The home houses 4 of our staff and 7 children permanently and now will have space to accommodate additional children who need to stay with us for short term care and social or medical rehabilitation
Medical Partnerships
Links of Hope staff and management want to pay our respects at the end of 2022 to our Board Member, pioneer of Links of Hope medical partnerships, mother of our Mount Hagen operations and our dear friend Dr Magdalynn Kaupa, who we tragically lost in September from sudden illness. We express our deepest sympathy to her family and are
grateful to them for their ongoing operational support of our Links of Hope work in Mount Hagen. Dr Maggie was a senior paediatric medical practitioner in PNG and is grieved by many colleagues also. She pioneered partnerships in the medical field for Links of Hope and this year we have worked closely with Hilary Clinic in Mount Hagen, Igat Hope, Well Baby Clinic, Family Support Centre, Child Welfare and NCD Family and Child Services - all serving to further our reach in protecting and supporting children living impacted by HIV
International News
Links of Hope is now registered as a charity in 3 nations - Papua New Guinea, Australia and most recently (as of end of November) in the UK. We have a Board sitting in each country, with some focus on raising funds in their particular region, all for the benefit of our children in PNG. Our most recent Board formed in the UK consists of Links of Hope founder Deb Bromley, project management experts Julian Kemp and Sandy Tolksdorf, media and design professional Leah Jeffery and heading up marketing and PR, Hector Smith.
The team hope to give some focus to the launch of our PNG coffee initiative in the UK, which will both support the coffee industry in Jiwaka Province and raise critical staffing and operational funding for Links of Hope in PNG.
Staff Profile - Vaughan Nash
Vaughan is one of our Links of Hope quiet heroes. He sits on our Australian board as Secretary and heads up our database management for all child information and sponsorship payments. We are currently changing our database system, which is a huge job - which Vaughan actually both loves and spends endless hours of his own time doing. Vaughan has been a long-time Links of Hope Child Sponsor himself and he has frequently visited our Operations and team in PNG.
Child Sponsorship
In this season of giving and goodwill, we again thank all of our sponsors, many of whom have been sponsoring a Links of Hope child for many years. We also want to put out a plea for new Child Sponsors. It has been a season of financial challenge and change for many in recent years and some of our sponsors have had to discontinue support. We end the year with 25 of our 300 Links of Hope children urgently needing a sponsor and 10 new orphaned children in Mount Hagen who we desperately need a sponsor for so that they can start on our program. Sponsorship is K60/ $30/ £15 per month for a child to receive a monthly care package and annual school uniforms and supplies ..... can you help?
Christmas Parties
We will close the year with a special day for our Links of Hope children in Port Moresby at the National Museum, with an art project by Canvas Corner, games and activities and in Mount Hagen with the Waghi Tumbe Rugby League team and other special guests. Enormous thanks go out to TEMIS Parent Group and the All Nations Womens Group for their support with funds to put on our parties and also to Westpac Bank in PNG who are funding school backpacks as Christmas gifts for every one of our children.
To get in touch, to make a donation or for more information on what we do please visit our website www.linksofhopepng.com or our Facebook and Instagram pages or email us at contact.png@linksofhopepng.com