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Vavine is a farmer from Kore – a small, rural community in Papua New Guinea sometimes referred to as the Valley of Watermelons. When the trucks from Kore arrive in rural marketplaces loaded with fresh fruit, market sellers who make a living transporting fruit and vegetables to the capital of Port Moresby are quick to negotiate a sale.

“I always look forward to selling my watermelons,” says Vavine. “It is the fastest selling produce I have ever sold compared to other vegetables. Every time we go to the markets they are sold out within an hour or two. And we earn a good income from our sales.”

Vavine started planting watermelons on a small scale a few years ago. He was surprised to see how much income they yielded in such a short period of time – especially when compared to crops such as yam, cassava or bananas which can take years to grow. His first watermelons were ready after just three months.

The land around Kore is also very fertile, and is largely uncultivated. Vavine says: “We depend on the weather to cultivate land. Using our traditional knowledge, we plant different crops according to the wet and dry seasons. We planted watermelons just like any other food crop –often integrating them with other crops.

“We never really thought beyond our traditional methods until ChildFund Papua New Guinea and the Nationals Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) started a new project in our community: working with our Community in 2015 through the project.

Francis Mwanu says his former sponsor’s compassion and dedicated support has inspired him to give back to the community in which he grew up.

A few times throughout the year, Francis, who lives and works in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, returns to his home region of Nakuru, about 160 kilometres northwest of Nairobi, bringing clothes and food to children in need.

“Visiting the children – even it’s just for a day – makes them feel good,” Francis says.

“Sometimes we help the communities there raise money to fix things like their water tank.”

When he was three years old Francis was sponsored by Australian Dave Meney through ChildFund’s sponsorship program in Nakuru.

Today, Francis, now 29, works remotely as a virtual assistant with Dave’s West Australian engineering services company, Yenem.

Francis’ job importing goods had come to a sudden halt in 2017 when Dave jumped in and offered him job.

“Seeing and knowing all that Dave and his family have done for me, it has inspired me to visit children’s homes in Nakuru,” Francis says.

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