The Louisiade Women’s Association in Samarai Murua District are calling on the Prime Minister to visit their district and assist them build a hotel on Misima Island to cater for the increase in tourism in the area. This call was from the Louisiade Women’s Association President Elizabeth Donald when speaking to women during their Annual General Meeting and in the presence of Samarai Murua MP & Minister for Tourism, Art & Culture Isi Henry Leonard. “Since the closure of the Misima Mines, the people of the island were left with nothing to show for.” "The people of Misima Island and the surrounding atolls had to pick themselves up again and continue their livelihood after this period without much government services." The women on Misima Island, through the Lousiaide Women’s Association have continued to make every effort to maintain its business arm through the Misima Guest house over the past years, which has not been an easy task. MP Leonard, who officially closed the Association’s AGM, thanked the women and supported their call for a visit to the district by Prime Minister Marape and a delegation soon.

Drama has become an effective tool to spread awareness of COVID-19 in rural areas. At the Ungai District Health Facility in the Eastern Highlands Province, health workers have reported a positive attendance from the community and an increase in the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine after role plays through drama addressed cross cutting issues and the importance of COVID-19 vaccines. Officer In-Charge of Nursing at the Ungai District Health Facility, Mr. Donny Bayupe reported this recently and added that he still strives to carryout vaccination programs in communities in Ungai District. “Our previous approach to address vaccine hesitancy in the district wasn’t effective but we now see that drama is breaking the barrier of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.” Mr. Donny further stated that, through collaboration with district health officers, PHA and Care International, Ungai communities have responded positively and that many people can now understand COVID-19 vaccinations. “Drama is very effective tool, to communicate with people in the community, now I see that people have begun to understand the importance of COVID-19 vaccines because we have used drama to communicate the message.” These are just some of the feedback received during the Ministerial Vaccine Task Force from the National Control Centre’s supervisory visits to the Eastern Highlands Provincial Health Authority, to witness improvement and counter its priorities. The Vaccine Task Force visited Samoga Village in Ungai and deemed it a successful one, where an estimated 400 people over the age 18 received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The partnership was arranged by the EHP PHA and Care Internationals COVID-19 Response Project Team. Meanwhile, PNG is still in its pandemic phase and COVID-19 preventive measures are to be followed. Everyone should be aware of the protocols when they have COVID-19 symptoms.

The National Cultural Commission in partnership with Paradise Palette is hosting the first-ever PNG Contemporary Exhibition at the Cairns Art Center, Cairns, Australia, that will run from May 25th until the 16th of June 2023. Arts Industry Manager and Development officer of the National Cultural Commission Mr. Hillary Miria says NCC signed an MOU with Paradise Palette last year to work. He adds that this partnership will give PNG Contemporary Artists, who usually sell their work on the streets, an opportunity to showcase their art work in Brisbane. “We chose to bring this Contemporary Art Exhibition to Cairns for the first time this year year as it is a multi-culturally diverse city, where there are a lot of tourists. So, it is a new market that we want to explore and open up a business in.” Interested Papua New Guinean contemporary artists who want to showcase and sell their pieces of art can fill in an application form available on the NCC website. You have to be 18 years and older to apply. It is free to apply and interested artists are required to submit 3 original pieces of work on 100cm by 150cm canvases no later than the 17th of April 2023. “How it works is, the gallery exhibits the art and when it is sold, they get a commission of 15% from the sale, the National Cultural Commission gets a 10% and the remaining 75% of the sale is the return of the artists.” Despite the late notice, Mr. Miria is expecting a lot of submissions of art in the coming days and said that the pieces of work will go thru a panel, to make sure it comes with quality and need to be vibrant and striking paintings selected for the exhibition. “We want to be able to help our contemporary artists, to sell their art internationally. When you see contemporary art being sold outside hotels and craft markets, you don’t see the significance of the art. But when it is exhibited properly in an art gallery setting that is when you see the uniqueness and true value of the work.” “That is why this exhibition is important because it provides an avenue that PNG contemporary artists may otherwise, not have access to.”

Member for Samarai Murua, Isi Henry Leonard wants women to be equal partners in development in Local Level Government, district, province and in nation building. “Women are influential in their homes and communities and throughout the different sectors they are involved in and I have always made it my priority to support them in the programs they carryout in their respective LLGs.” The Minister attended the closing of the Louisiade Women’s Association’s Annual General Meeting in Bwgaoia Station on Misima Island, Milne Bay Province recently, during which he presented a double cab Toyota Land cruiser, funded for through the Samarai Murua District Development Authority (SMDDA). Previously the Minister had also presented a generator for the Misima Guest House which is a business arm of the Louisiade Women’s Association Minister Leonard said the SMDDA will continue to support associations, groups and individuals who were helping to develop and improve the lives of the people in their respective communities in the district. He added that they would also assist those that were aligning with the plans and programs through the SMDDA and District Administration. President of the Association Ms. Elizabeth Donald thanked the Member and the SMDDA for their continuous support towards the Women’s Association.

Papua New Guinean (PNG) musicians, along with artists from neighboring Australia came together recently to compose a track that encourages people to stand up for their communities. The track titled Wan Solwara (One Ocean) was co-written by Bougainvillea musician turned MP Morris Opeti and well-known all-rounder PNG musician Mr. Richard Mogu. It features Adrian Tjupurrula (Tjupurru) Fabila and his son Jake Tjupurru, who are Djabera Djabera people of the West Australian Kimberly, as well as Michael Dave, Ruth Maison, Walter Kerevio, Jolista Masu, Robertha Yansi, and Milton Garea. Tjupurru was born in Port Moresby and has family connections to Central Province and Bougainville, so he was determined that his son Jake should be part of the exchange and “carry the spear forward”. “It makes me so happy that the young Bougainvillean musicians are so passionate and strong in their culture. Now we’ve established a musical and cultural bridge between Australia and Bougainville, and we can keep building on that foundation.” Other contributors included Tsarlayse Iamu and Kawas Band and saw the production saw the use of mainly traditional and contemporary instruments including bamboo pipes, and didjeribone (a cross between a didjeridu and a trombone). The track was recorded in Bougainville in September 2022. This initiative was organized through Australia’s Development Assistance office in Buka, supported through public diplomacy funds and the Australian funded Bougainville Partnership Youth Initiative, in partnership with the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and Wantok Musik.

Ongoing failures by goverment officials to address escalating women issues involving Gender Based Violence (GBV) and Sorcery Accusation Related Violence (SARV) has become a concern and will be a priority agenda in the first inquiry of the Permanent Parliamentary Committee on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (GEWE) in May. The committee have made it known that they will use the powers bestowed upon them to ensure that the Government has proper laws, policies and institutions in place to empower women and ensure that they are safe from gender-based violence (GBV). They have agreed to hold their first Inquiry as a Permanent Parliamentary Committee on GEWE in this term of Parliament from 24 to 26 May 2023, in Port Morseby. The Inquiry will look not only at how the Government is addressing GBV and SARV but will also more broadly call on Government officials to explain whether the Government’s existing laws, policies and institutions on GEWE are in place and functioning properly. Chairman of the Permanent Parliamentary Committee and Governor of National Capital District, Powes Parkop, was clear on his vision for the Committee: “I want to make sure that our Committee wastes no time investigating how the Government is delivering for the women and girls of our country. We have been given a powerful mandate and we need to use it to shine a light on the issues that need attention if our women and girls are to live safe, peaceful and prosperous lives." "This is what our founders wanted when they included the principles of equality and non-discrimination in our Constitution. All MPs and Government officials must all aspire to implement those principles in all that we do.” Deputy Chairman and Governor for East Sepik Province, Allan Bird also endorsed these sentiments, stating: “The role of our Committee is to elevate the issues that are important to women and girls into national discussions. Before the Special Parliamentary Committee on GBV’s work in the last term, our Parliament had hardly used its committees’ powers as a check and balance on Government. " "But the GBV Committee showed how Parliamentary Committees are supposed to work by holding officials to account, in public. That kind of public transparency and accountability is critical to ensuring Government resources are better used to promote women’s rights.” After discussion amongst the Committee, Governor Parkop summed up their commitments: “We will hold our first public hearings from 24-26 in May and will call officials before us to explain what concrete actions they are taking to help the women and girls of PNG. We expect officials to explain to us how they will develop a new national GEWE policy, that will plan and budget for initiatives to empower women and girls. We also want to know when and how the Government will develop its next CEDAW report.” Governor Parkop went on: “We will also continue to be very focused on addressing GBV and sorcery accusation related violence, building on the work of the Special Parliamentary Committee on GBV. We anticipate calling agencies like the Department for Community Development and Religion and the various justice agencies to explain how they have implemented previous recommendations calling for improvements in crisis response and access to justice”. The Committee has six members, in addition to Chairman Parkop, namely: Governor Allan Bird (Governor for East Sepik) and Deputy Chairperson; Governor Rufina Peter (Governor for Central Province); Marsh Narewec, (Member for Wau Waria); Ricky Morris (Member for Alotau); William Bando (Member for Koroba Lake Kopiago); and Lohia Boe Samuel (Member for Port Moresby North-West).  

The Mauberema Conservation Center in the Sinesine Yonggomugl District of the Chimbu Province, is now in the process of establishing a seed multiplication bank. The objective of this seed multiplication bank is to improve food security in the area and to assist the conservation center’s livelihood programs. The conservation center is undertaking this in collaboration with the Simbu Provincial Government, through the Food Security Division of the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Livestock and the Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO). Founder of the Mauberema Conservation Center, Mr. Moses Kerry said officers from these organizations traveled out to the area recently, to carry out an assessment and found the environment ideal to establish a seed multiplication bank. “We were given seeds for a range of foods including corn, beans and cassava, as well as gardening tools.” From the initial seed multiplication project, Mauberema Conservation Center will then supply seeds to the surrounding Community Based Organizations, to plant and harvest their own food.    

It is a story of people helping people, of the human spirit, in this case, of Papua New Guineans banding together to help out a victim of Gender Based Violence. Board President of Advancing PNG Leaders Network and staunch Human Rights Advocate, Ms. Ruth Kissam reached out to her network of friends and colleagues on her social media, seeking financial assistance, for a mother and her two children to escape a dangerous situation. In her appeal posted to Facebook, Ruth stated that they had raised enough money for the family facing violence that needed to be repatriated as soon as possible and that they had hit their target. “I appreciate all the people who reached out to me to help, especially in this trying times, people were still able to help out, with most sending K20s and K10s. The largest amount we received was a donation of K300 from a mother and daughter.” The overwhelming response saw a total of K3000 raised in just under 2 hours after Ruth Kissam posted the appeal. “And even as we speak, people are still messaging me to assist and sending in cash.” Ruth said in the case of defending the helpless, such support from people is a real blessing for first responders. Even though she was unable to provide any details about the victim of Gender Based Violence, as the matter is before the courts, Ruth Kissam did however reveal, that she was on her way to purchase tickets for the victim and her children and expressed her utmost gratitude to all the people that responded to her appeal for help.

All previous COVID- 19 measures have been officially revoked after the Controller of Papua New Guinean’s National Pandemic Response Mr. David Manning revoked all the existing ones and replaced them with four new measure. Manning said these four new measures minimize limitations, whilst supporting the role of the Controller as the state continues to monitor the COVID-19 environment. Measure 1 revokes all previous measures and directions - This provides a new foundation and prosperity for the new measures. It cancels all previous measures, including anything related to provincial control bodies, travel, price measures, social gatherings, and liquor restrictions. Measure 2 is new and designed to ensure continued situational awareness. It provides the Controller with oversight in surges of COVID-19 presentations in larger hospitals and medical facilities. Measure 3 relates to Customs Duties. This enables the Controller advice and control on continuing ad-hoc COVID-19 resource procurement activities, as it remains relevant. Measure 4 relates to Price Controls. This dictates market price control parameters and anything over and above this measure must be approved by the Independent Consumer and Competitions Commission (ICCC). “We have all had to adapt to changes and challenges brought on by this global COVID-19 pandemic. As the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary Commissioner and Controller for the National Control Centre for COVID-19, l thank you for contributing towards a safer PNG,” Manning said.  

The UNFPA has come on board to support the first ever Arts Awareness Month – which is a celebration of performing arts in Papua New Guinea (PNG). This partnership with the UNFPA recognizes the importance of arts as advocacy to encourage audiences to start the conversation on sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence. This past month of March, saw the latest of a three part series, titled ‘Letters from Bradley’, written by local playwright Andrew Kuliniasi and produced in partnership with Focus Marketing Solutions, played out to an audience of over 300 audience members. The other two plays are ‘He is Victor’ and ‘For my Father’ and all three plays confront audiences with questions of acceptance, sexuality, violence and grief, bringing audiences behind closed doors and into the unspoken realities of modern Papua New Guinea. One key takeaway has been the repeated calls to bring these pieces to wider audiences and to more locations in the country. UNFPA will continue to work with the producers to keep the conversations going and bring these plays to more audiences through 2023.

Despite dropping out of high school, self-taught artist Mr. Edwin Siroi has been using his passion for art to carve out a living for himself and has really come into his own as a fine art painter. “I discovered that I had a natural talent for drawing and art early on in life and most of my earlier artwork are pencil sketches.” Edwin does different types of artworks, including sketches, signwriting and screen-printing, but it is his fine art acrylic paintings of unbelievably beautiful landscapes and life like portraits, that are quite captivating. Growing up, Edwin was consumed with drawing and often spent most of his school days, sketching in his schoolbooks and he soon found himself out of school. “I left school in Grade 9. My parents saw that all my school books were filled with drawings only and they decided to send me back to the village, to ‘wok kopra’ on the family’s coconut tree plot.” This was in 2013 and it wasn’t until 2016, did Edwin pick up his pencil again, to do some art. “I drew some illustrations for books for the Paladine Primary School and after that, I decided to give more of my time to do painting.” The painter is now doing commissioned work that is charged according to canvas size. “I do portraits on A4 and A5 canvases for about K400. It usually takes about 3 to 4 days to complete off a piece of art, depending on the details.” So far, Edwin’s most prized work has been a mural he did for the local Catholic Church depicting the ‘Last Supper’ that saw him earn in excess of K10 000. Edwin now uses his social media platform to share his art and do business and so far, he continues to do commissioned work for people in Australia and in PNG

The City Pharmacy Limited (CPL) Group has expanded the reach of their City Pharmacy & Lab Supplies business into Lae, Morobe Province. The launch was attended recently by medical professionals and industry partners at the Lae International Hotel and was warmly welcomed with enthusiasm from guests. City Pharmacy Medical & Lab Supplies is the latest brand in CPL Group after taking the business over from leading Australasian medical, pet & health supplier, EBOS Group two years ago. Head of Pharmacy at CPL Group, Mr. Pradeep Panda says the healthcare sector is slowly emerging in PNG and it’s one of the core focus areas by the new government and will be accelerated with the launch of the National Health Plan 2021-2030. He added that there is reduction on different health indicators over years, but still a long way to go. “Providing right diagnostic tools at point of care will help us to reduce this significantly. Imagine a portable ultrasound with each trained midwives to check our mothers or a portable x-ray across all health centers. It will not only improve the health dynamics, but will reduce mortality & morbidity too”. With over 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical business, CPL Group has established synergies and alignments in the market that is well positioned to offer quality sales and after sales service of medical and laboratory equipment to Papua New Guinea’s healthcare system. Group Founder Sir Manesh Patel added that it was a proud moment to expand the branches reach further into Papua New Guinea (PNG) and that CPL looks forward to supporting the community in Morobe and the region with all Medical & Laboratory support needs. As guided by their vision statement to make a healthier and better PNG, all sales at CPMLS is supported by training and after-sales service of equipment by their supportive biomedical technicians, and well-connected to a robust network of quality suppliers around the world.