Hello to our committed sponsors and supporters around the globe!
We apologise not to have been in touch for a few months and hope you enjoy this snapshot of what we have been upto. It has been election time recently in PNG, which has caused disruption to our programs for a couple of weeks. Other than that our teams on the ground in Port Moresby and Mount Hagen have been busy with business as usual, visiting children in their communities, at clinical reviews and in hospital as well as distributing our monthly care packages to children and carers. Our health education project work continues to thrive with 2 key project deliveries in communities happening through 2022. Consolidating partnerships is important to our work and we have appreciated recent connections with IGAT Hope and the Hillary Clinical Team at Western Highlands Provincial Health Authority, as well as being part of the National Technical Working Group on HIV in Papua New Guinea.
Respite Home expansion
Our Links of Hope Respite Home in Port Moresby is a permanent home for 5 of our Links of Hope children. With our ongoing partnership with Port Moresby General Hospital, we are increasingly asked to take additional children for either short or long-term care. We currently have 3 additional girls staying with us. We love our respite family and always love to help more of our children, but have some space constrictions. With the help and support of the family of late Nancy Moka, Links of Hope founding board member and our partners Kina Bank and Kraft Heinz in Port Moresby we are underway with some major expansion renovations. Thanks to the rapid and committed working of our contractor Tiare Vaine Ltd, our expanding respite family will soon be reaping the benefits of their new home.
UNICEF Positive Parenting for Child Development Program At the very end of 2021 Links of Hope received the exciting news that we had been successful in being approved for partnership with UNICEF to be trained in delivery of the Parenting for Child Development Program through 2022. Our Links of Hope team plus members of local communities who are carers of children on our Child Sponsorship Program were trained back in March and we are currently at the end of the first program and about to embark on our second training in community in Gerehu. Feedback from parents on the program is that they are learning new concepts and ideas that they have never heard before to help them support and raise their children and build better relationships that will impact positively on whole communities.
Community Youth Champions We have received news in the last month that we have been successful for the 3rd year running in receiving funding from the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives from the Canadian High Commission in Canberra. In 2020 we ran a health education initiative targeting our links of hope carers in local communities. In 2021 we ran a health education initiative with our adolescents, delivering workshops in partnership with FissPotts Rugby Club and PNGRU. This year our Community Youth Champions Project will run over the July, September and December school holidays, educating adolescents on issues of GBV, equality, health and nutrition through educational workshops and skills trainings in Port Moresby and Mount Hagen. Our fIrst workshop in July saw us take 40 of our adolescents to the Nature Park in Port Moresby where they learnt about animal care and the natural environment as well as took part in a peer support workshop on medication adherence.
Staff Spotlight - Port Moresby Pastoral Care Team We'd like to introduce you to Paul, Mian, George. and Freddie!
This motivated and committed team are responsible for the day-to-day visitation and care of our children spread across Port Moresby and surrounding villages. They work in the critical space of 'linkages to care' (as defined by the WHO goals regarding HIV and Aids). The team visit children and families to assess living conditions, follow up on individuals who have missed clinical reviews and ensure children remain on critical medications. They relate on a daily basis with our families and assist with practical needs as required - George has visited remote locations to bring children in for hospital reviews; Mian is our Community Nurse and often dresses and treats wounds to prevent infection in community settings; Paul is a Pastor and visits children who may be admitted to hospital - taking food and offering prayer; Freddie is one of our P4CD Facilitators and is a trainer and counsellor. Hope you enjoy meeting some of the heroes on our Links of Hope team of staff! Thank you to each and every individual, organisation and partner who gives into the work of Links of Hope, both financially and in many other ways. We appreciate you!