It was a joyous moment for David Max Ibwasa seeing him with full smile while pumping the water for himself. Couple of days ago he was carrying little containers to fetch water for his family but now the pump has made life easier for him coz its just few meters away from his house.
Thanks to the social media for making it possible for our lovely friends from afar to react positively to help us. I and the Oyabia and Rabesi community want to send our sincere gratitude to CFK team and Jodi Lawton from Aussie and Toks Bwaina from Pom with the local team here in Trobs for putting things together for our pump to function.
Thank you all so much. Kamatokisi.
From Enos Enos, from Rabesi Village, thanking CFK on behalf of Oyabia/Rabesi people.
Update – Friday 19th Nov 2021: Oyabia/Rabesi water pump was out of service yesterday due to broken part. I called Koega last night and today he went to Oyabia to restore the water pump.
Now the water pump is back to operation. Oyabia/Rabesi people convey their heartfelt appreciation and thank you to CFK.
Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors and donors we are able to provide more PPE, COVID-19 education material. Our plumber is also working on fixing the water pumps which is proving to be a constant challenge. Thank you for all your support!!! 💖
PNG is now facing impacts from the third wave of COVID-19. Almost all Provinces are affected and there has been an increased surge of COVID-19 on Kiriwina.
We are currently purchasing more PPE to send to our CFK representatives on Kiriwina as soon as possible.
Thank you to all our sponsors and donors for making this support possible🙌.
Covid’s Delta strain is overwhelming Papua New Guinea’s fragile health system, forcing the closure of Port Moresby’s only public hospital to non-critical care and sparking emergency oxygen deliveries to the remote highlands.
Port Moresby General Hospital – where only 10 per cent of nurses are vaccinated – issued a bulletin this week announcing a “scaling down of services”, including the suspension of all elective surgery and GP consultations.
The hospital’s chief executive, Paki Molumi, said 61 percent of patients presenting at the hospital with flu-like symptoms were testing positive for Covid-19.
“The third (Delta) wave is hitting most parts of the country. This is the worst phase of the crisis,” Dr Molumi said.
With just 0.2 percent of PNG’s population currently vaccinated, the Delta strain of the virus is now spreading unchecked across the impoverished country, which is Australia’s nearest neighbour.
Earlier in the week, the Eastern Highlands Provincial Health Authority put out an emergency call for more oxygen supplies and 100 extra hospital beds, as it was swamped by Covid patients.
But with only 191,000 tests conducted nationally, the nation’s health authorities are unsure of the true extent of the crisis.
“We have a low rate of testing so we are not clear about the level of the pandemic,” Dr Molumi said.
“And also the vaccination rates are very low, and that has put healthcare providers under great stress. We cannot predict what numbers we will expect the next day, or the day after that.”
Dr Molumi said vaccine hesitancy was rampant, driven by social media disinformation.
“It’s not only the general public (who are hesitant), but the health workers as well,” he said.
“For our medical workers, 60-70 percent are vaccinated. But among our nurses the vaccination rate is less than 10 per cent.”
Australia this week delivered an additional 26,500 Covid vaccine jabs to PNG, lifting the nation’s vaccine donations to the country to 75,000.
Far more could have been supplied, but thousands of earlier donated jabs expired due to lack of demand in PNG.
The Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Zed Seselja, said Australia was doing everything it could to help, including bolstering clinical care capacity, testing and surveillance.
“We know PNG faces a steep challenge in addressing the current (Delta) outbreak, which is why we are providing our closest neighbour with wide-ranging support to strengthen their response,” Seselja said.
“Australia also provides comprehensive assistance to PNG to improve its health system for the long term, including staff training, new hospital infrastructure and equipment, and service delivery.”
Lowy Institute Pacific program director Jonathan Pryke said social media misinformation and logistics difficulties had created “a degree of complacency in the system”, where Covid was viewed as simply another health challenge to add to the myriad of others facing the country.
He said PNG’s health system was faltering under the weight of the Delta variant, and warned of longer-term consequences.
“In the medium term, an unchecked outbreak without acceptable levels of vaccination will make it more challenging for PNG to open up to the rest of the world, which will have significant economic and health implications,” he said.
“In the long-term, this would create a risk of mutations, something we already see in PNG’s western province with extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis,” he said.
Pens distributed to all Grade 10 students of KSS before their exams on Monday. This student (left) was possibly still feeling the effects of studying all night the night before the exam.More boxes waiting to be distributed to the Grade 12’s for their exams next Monday.
Thank you to all the sponsors and donors for these essential donations and good luck to all the students doing their exams.
Photos of water pump tool and materials delivered to Koega to keep the 4 CFK water pumps in good repair. Clean drinking water in constant supply thanks to the generosity of our sponsors and donors.
It is a great relief to the parents and students for CFK coming to their aid. The CFK sponsored students of grades 10 and 12 will sit for their final National Examination next month and graduate with certificates.
CFK sponsored 19 students attending various grades from 9 to 12 of Kiriwina Secondary School (KSS) and 1 student attending grade 11 at Aiyura National High School (School of Excellence). The school fees (parental component) for the 20 students are being fully paid so that the students can complete their studies until to the end of the year.
CFK greatly and sincerely appreciates all sponsors for your support to these students.
These fees are only for one year, please donate for the following year/s, each quality adds one year. If any students finish year 12 this year, or leave school for any reason a new student will go through a vetting process before being chosen to join the Scholarship program.
Ilai Tobitam got his new crutches at Chemcare Pharmacy yesterday after his first review. Stitches were removed today and sore dressed. Ilai is recovering and soon will return home to the Trobriand Islands.
Photo showing Ilai with his new crutches and shop assistance helping to adjust Ilai’s new crutches.
