As ChildFund Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) Development Effectiveness Manager, it is my job to monitor our programs and measure the impact of our work. I spend lots of time talking with different members of the communities we work with in rural areas of PNG, including community leaders, teachers, parents and children, to find out how our programs are helping them.
Recently on one of my trips back from visiting communities in Rigo district, I stopped off at a World Food Day event in Kwikila, located just over an hour from Port Moresby.
While at the event I was delighted to spot my old friend, Sindon, conducting awareness-raising about the benefits of rice as both a nutritious food option and also a solution to food security problems and performing demonstrations about operating and maintaining a rice mill machine.
More interesting to me was that he was displaying a number of ChildFund PNG-produced food security pamphlets bearing the ChildFund PNG logo from five or more years ago. The logo format may have changed since then, but Sindon lives on to tell others about the good work ChildFund PNG has done for his community.
Sindon was a beneficiary of a livelihoods program we did in his village, Sivitatana, in Central Province. The program, in part, focused on the benefits of rice cultivation and included rice mill machines being provided to a number of communities after we trained some community members as rice mill operators.
Sindon was one of the operators trained and still maintains and operates this rice mill today, providing milling services to a number of rice farmers. I watched as he demonstrated many facets of operating the machine to onlookers, including the positioning of the machine, safety considerations, engine adjustments, milling blade adjustments for improved rice quality, engine sound indications and maintenance requirements.
Taufik (pictured above) is a 14-year-old boy from Indonesia who is sponsored through ChildFund. He lives in Central Java with his his father, Rosidi, his mother, Sri Rahayu, and and his sister in a rented house. Their home has one bedroom, a living room and a bathroom. Although the house is modest in size, the family lives happily together.
Taufik’s little family grew after they received a cow through ChildFund`s Gifts for Good program (previously called Donations with a Difference). “I love my cow. I can play with him after school,” says Taufik, who is in second grade in junior high school, with his excited smile. “My favourite part is to feed him with grass,” he adds.
Ever since they received their cow, the family has a new task every afternoon to fetch grass from the nearest land. “I am teaching my children on how to be responsible with this activity,” says Sri Rahayu. The children, especially Taufik, are very much enjoying their new duty.
Taufik’s parents both work as street sweepers. They are the ones who keep the city clean. His mother also works as a ChildFund volunteer and believes that through ChildFund she has changed a lot. She has gained confidence from the knowledge she has learned, including basic economics for mothers and how to generate extra income for her family.
“We are thankful for the cow and also the training to breed it that was given to us,” she says. “Now I have several plans for our future because of our cow. Perhaps we will build a market stall or perhaps a small food place, anything which will help us to get more money for the family.”
Taufik’s family is one of 120 families living in Central Java who together received more than 500 animals: cows, ducks and chickens. The families were also provided with training to take care of and breed the livestock, so in the future they can generate an income from their animals. It really is the gift that keeps giving!
