2013

Keeping the Spirit of

Kokoda alive

PAPUA NEW GUINEA...

Land of the unexpected… Australia’s nearest neighbour...Just 3.6 km separates our two countries… so close and yet in other ways so far, because of all nearest neighbours in the world, Australia and PNG have the greatest disparity of poverty and wealth as measured by the United Nations Human Development Index. Since Independence in 1975, PNG’s population has more than doubled and is now over 7 million people. Yet in those 38 years, PNG’s services and infrastructure have withered and thousands of schools, health centres and aid posts have closed, fallen apart, or have no adequately trained teachers or health workers. 90% of Papua New Guineans are subsistence farmers and half the population lives in poverty... on less than $1 a day. More than half of the population is under 20 years of age. PNG’s remote areas languish without access to the basic education and healthcare systems that would unlock this poverty cycle. As a result, diseases long eradicated in the developed world - malaria, tuberculosis, cholera – are rife in PNG and preventable disease is widespread across the nation. High birth rates and lack of adequate prenatal and neonatal services mean that many infants die before their first birthday and maternal death rates are among the highest in the world. An estimated 12,000 children under five die every year - around the same number as 20 years ago - and as a result, PNG is one of just a few nations worldwide not to have made any improvement in this area.

THE KOKODA TRACK...

The Kokoda Track is 96km long and crosses the Central and Oro Provinces via the mightly Owen Stanley Ranges. There are 14 villages located along the Track itself; but there are many more located in the broader catchment area from the Northern Beaches of Buna, Gona, Sananada down to the Sogeri region outside of Port Moresby. The Kokoda Track was the scene for some of the most ferocious fighting during the Pacific War between the Australian troops and Japanese forces. Without the courage, sacrifice, endurance and mateship of the Australian Diggers and Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels, Australia may very well have been invaded 71 years ago. These days, many thousands of tourists make the pilgrimage to cross Kokoda and pay tribute to the sacrifices made by the Diggers. The aim of the Kokoda Track Foundation is to repay the selfless help given to Australia during WWII by the ‘Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels’ of PNG by helping to improve the lives and futures of their descendants. We do this via a holistic approach and by supporting programs in education, health, community development and microbusiness across 40 villages throughout the catchment region.

OUR WORK IN EDUCATION “Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family” Kofi

Annan, former United Nations Secretary General

Education is a fundamental human right. Every child is entitled to it. Sadly, too many children in PNG go without an education or complete small fractions of their schooling due to expensive school fees, lack of teachers, and the closure of many schools throughout the country. Over the past decade the Kokoda Track Foundation has supported a range of education initiatives across 40 elementary, primary and high schools in the Kokoda Track catchment area. Our achievements to date include:

• Supported over 1,400 students on Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel Scholarships, enabling them to access an education;• Supported 40 elementary, primary and high schools with educational resources, curriculum materials, teacher

resources, and stationery every year over the past decade;• Built many new classrooms including Alola Elementary, Naduri Elementary, Efogi 2 Elementary, Enivilogo Elementary

and Buna Elementary schools and conducted ongoing maintenance on run-down buildings;• Delivered 80 classrooms of school furniture to 23 elementary and primary schools along the Track;• Developed an innovative and state-of-the-art elementary teacher training program for the Oro and Central Provinces

and trained over 60 new elementary and primary teachers for the region;• Supported 25 elementary and primary teacher salaries enabling 25 schools to remain open along the Track;• Developed and implemented the Archer Leadership Scholarships and the Bisset Medal that seek to find and foster the

next generation of PNG leaders;• Supported teacher volunteers to undertake placements in the Kokoda Track schools providing professional

development, training, mentoring and support for many struggling schools;• Progressed our Kokoda College initiative: a state-of-the-art training facility to be built in Kokoda village in 2013 that

will train urgently needed elementary and primary teachers for the region.

In 2013, every child along the Kokoda Track now has access to a quality education at a local elementary or primary school. School enrollment numbers have doubled and even tripled in some areas. We are continuing to support these schools as well as expand into more areas in the catchment region that need assistance.

Many vilagers in PNG do not have access to the most basic primary health services, including basic health checks, antibiotics, malaria treatment, inoculations, maternal health, and HIV testing. Villagers living within the catchment area of the Kokoda Track often have to walk for many days to access their nearest health facility or health care provider and preventable diseases are rife throughout the region. We believe that vital to solving the health care crisis in PNG is investing in Community Health Workers (CHWs) - the cornerstone of the rural health system.

Over the years we have supported the training of CHWs via our bonded scholarship program where the graduates return to their home village to operate the local aid post or health centre. We have supported 16 people from the Kokoda Track region to train as CHWs via our scholarship program.

This year we are also funding the salaries of 8 CHWs to operate the remote aid posts along the Track. These CHWs operate the following posts: Naoro 1 & 2, Efogi 1, Naduri, Abuari, Sogeri, and Buna aid posts. We also support them with mentoring and additional training opportunities. Our health workers also conduct regular immunisation and health awareness patrols throughout the Track corridor area. Together they are providing healthcare to around 12,000 villagers who previously had no access to any health care options. The Foundation also supports these aid posts and health centres with the drugs and medical supplies they need to operate and we make

OUR WORK IN HEALTH regular deliveries into the remote region. These supplies include: antibiotics, oral rehydration salts, condoms, malaria treatment and nets, antiseptics, pain killers, and bandages and adhesives.

We also supply the Kokoda Memorial Hospital with drugs, supplies and equipment that the nurses and CHWs need to keep the hospital operating. All too often the Government channels do not get through and the hospital is left to survive with little or no resources. Our funds for these supplies have time and time again kept the hopsital doors open to the community.

We also recently distributed 100 hospital beds to eight health centres and hospitals throughout the catchment region - enabling patients to receive treatment in a comfortable enviornment instead of on the floor.

We also facilitate teams of health professionals to undertake volunteer patrols to our aid posts along the Track. These health workers provide clinical assistance to communities as well as vital training and mentoring of our new health workers and educational sessions with villagers on topics ranging from nutrition and hygiene, to maternal health, to HIV/AIDS awareness.

Our new Brighten a Smile program has also distributed 6,000 toothbrushes and toothpastes to every child living along and around the Kokoda Track. Children participate in daily toothrbushing classes with their teachers and the daily brushing is significantly reducing caries.

OUR WORK IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT & AGRICULTUREThe Foundation works closely with comunity leaders

and partner organisations throughout the catchment

region to help to improve the lives and livelihoods of

the local villages. Over the years we have responded to

a number of pressing needs that have led us to develop

and implement programs in community development and

agriculture. Our work in community development and

agriculture includes:

• Distributed over 4,500 individual solar lights to every family living along and around the Track via our Lighting Up The Track initiative. These lights last for 3 to 4 nights from a full day’s solar charge and are making an extraordinary difference in the lives of remote communities. Children can do their homework after dark, parents can work on small businesses, security is improved, and respiratory problems are reduced;

• Responded to natural disasters in the Oro Province. We have responded to seven seasons of severe flooding in the Oro Province with emergency food and water distribution to communities affected by the floods. Villagers’ food gardens are often completely submerged for many months at a time and our disaster relief support enables them to survive these periods;

• Supported over 30 communities via our agriculture and food security programs. Via our mother seed multiplication nurseries, we import and distribute improved strains of agriculture that are more likely to survive periods of flooding and conduct training and workshops with villages across Oro Province. Over the years we have distributed hundreds of thousands of improved crop strains across the Province;

• Installed an additional six eco-toilets in schools along the Track via our Krappers for Kokoda program. These toilets provide children and teachers with an improved sanitation option and protect local waterways;

• Built the Kou Kou Community Hall. This community hall is now being used by the surrounding villages in Kokoda to support a pre-school, microbusiness workshops, and community meetings.

Our work in community development and agriculture

has helped to improve the lives and livelihoods of many

people in the Central and Oro Provinces over the years.

“As study after study has taught us, there is no tool for development more effective than

the empowerment of women.”

The Kokoda Track Foundation’s Pawa Givim Meri project works with women’s groups along the Kokoda Track, helping them to establish snack stores and catering services to earn an income from the trekking industry. Via this exciting initiative, we are running small business workshops, literacy classes, and cooking classes with the women’s groups along the Track. Currently many of the profits from the trekking industry return to Australia or are made by the men along the Track via portering and guesthouse services. This project works only with women’s groups, empowering them and building their capacity so that they can earn an income from the trekking industry.

This year we are again helping the women to establish shop fronts in their villages where they will sell their healthy and nutritious snacks to trekkers and villagers. We purchase and deliver the staple ingredients the women need (e.g., flour, sugar, salt, oil, spices) and the equipment and training the women require to establish their businesses; but the snacks utilise as much local produce as possible. The ultimate goal is to build these stores into self-sustainable businesses that will one day provide full catering services to trekkers crossing the track. All of the stores and services, including the ingredients, training manuals, and cooking equipment are owned entirely by the women’s associations in the communities. These groups collectively decide what to do with the profits earned and the groups are using their profits for social purposes such as school fees and community needs.

This year we are also implementing our new microlending scheme with the women’s groups where we are providing loans for the purchase of solar lights which the women are then selling within their village. The women are paying back the cost of the solar lights and are using the profits to grow their businesses. They are also conducting simple repairs and maintenance on the lights and charging a fee for their services.

OUR WORK IN MICROBUSINESSIn 2013, the Kokoda Track Foundation is embarking on its most ambitious project to date – the creation and construction of the Kokoda College. The Kokoda College will be a state-of-the-art training facility based in Kou Kou village, PNG. The College will operate a School of Education and a School of Health and will train urgently needed elementary and primary teachers and community health workers for PNG. In fact, the College will have the capacity to train enough teachers and health workers within its first three years of operation to satisfy the needs of the entire Kokoda catchment area. It will then open its doors to the rest of PNG and produce teachers and health workers of the highest quality for the rest of the country.

The Kokoda Track Foundation spent 2012 developing the plans for the construction of the College, sourcing the land, writing the curriculum for the innovative education and health courses, and fundraising for the project. We will be building the College in the second half of 2013 via a large-scale volunteer effort. The College will then open its doors in 2014 and accept its first cohort of teacher and health worker trainees.

The Kokoda College is a game-changer for Papua New Guinea. The current health and education systems in PNG, our nearest neighbour, are in a dire state. The country is in desperate need for teachers and health workers to operate the schools and aid posts that will unlock the poverty cycle that currently entrenches so many. The Kokoda College will make a significant contribution to producing the number of teachers and health workers needed to open and operate the schools and aid posts throughout the Kokoda region.

If you are interested in supporting the Kokoda College or volunteering your time and skills to help us build it then please check out our new website:

www.kokodacollege.com

KOKODA COLLEGE

The Kokoda Track Foundation is an Australian philanthropic organisation which aims to repay the selfless help given to Australia during WWII by the ‘Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels’ of Papua New Guinea by helping to improve the lives and futures of their descendants. It does that by assisting with their education and healthcare, by trying to protect their environment, by helping to foster the growth of an eco-friendly trekking and tourism industry from which they can benefit, by working to keep the

story of Kokoda alive, and by seeking to identify and foster the next generation of PNG leaders.

All donations of $2 or more to the Kokoda Track Foundation are tax deductible in Australia.

Address: Level 2, 189 Kent Street, Sydney NSW 2000Post: PO Box 1674, North Sydney, NSW 2059

Phone: +61 2 9252 2992Email: info@kokodatrackfoundation.org

Website: www.kokodatrackfoundation.org