The Digicel PNG Foundation launched its first school project today, the Barakau Primary School and Community Centre.

The Digicel PNG Foundation funded K250,000 towards the complete reconstruction of the new Barakau Primary School and Community Centre. The new facilities consist of 8 new classrooms, a library, a staff room, and a toilet block, and will accomodate at least 280 primary and elementary school children. A newly-installed water tank will ensure that the school has a continous supply of clean water.

 

Taking less than 4 months to complete, the project harnessed the human resources available in the local community, deploying skilled laborers from Barakau village. These were complemented by unemployed youths from the Morata Vocational Centre, who hand-crafted 84 double school desks for the Barakau school, as part of their carpentry training course initiated by the Ginigoada Bisnis Development Foundation and Yumi Lukautim Mosbi Projek.  The MP for Kairuku Hiri, Hon. Mr. Paru Aihi, officially launched the new Barakau Primary School and Community Centre.

Marina van der Vlies, CEO of the Digicel Foundation said: “We are proud to be launching the first Digicel Foundation school project here in Barakau village today. After nearly 4 months of hard work we are very happy with the end result. We hope that this new school will be a new start for the many children in Barakau and the surrounding villages and will help them grow into strong and self supportive young adults. Thank you for the warm support we received from the community and we hope to continue the fruitful relationship with Barakau”.

 

As well as funding construction of primary and elementary schools, the Digicel PNG Foundation has rolled out 6 Mobile Learning Centres (MLCs) in selected marginalized urban and suburban communities in Port Moresby. The MLCs are used as a pre-school, library, resource centre and community learning centre for various kinds of training such as adult literacy, skilled-based training, cooking and sewing for women, and HIV/AIDS awareness, depending on the particular needs, circumstances and skills available in the respective communities. 8 Mile, Moitaka, Badili, Morata 4, 9 Mile and DahCavill Customary School in Laloki have already received a MLC, including educational related materials such as books and a mobile blackboard. The Foundation plans to roll out a total of 25 Mobile Learning Centres throughout PNG over the next 6 months.

 

 

The Digicel Foundation is a non-profit organisation which was established by Digicel in Papua New Guinea in September 2008. The Digicel Foundation distributes and utilises funds on a charitable basis for the sole purpose of building communities and community spirit in PNG. The Foundation is primarily staffed by employees of Digicel who assist communities through their time, expertise and leadership. The Patron of the Digicel Foundation is Denis O’Brien, the Chairman and Founder of the Digicel Group. The Digicel Foundation is the third Foundation to be established by Digicel, and the first in the Pacific region, following the establishment of the Foundation in Jamaica in 2004 and in Haiti in 2007. In Haiti the Foundation succeeded in building 20 primary schools, throughout the country, within a year providing a huge boost for the quality of the education in the country.