ROTARIANS MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN PORT MORESBY

At our meeting on the 9^th of August we were visited by Adam Hughes, President of the Rotary Club of Port Moresby (RCPM). During the meeting Adam was invited to address the audience and he took the opportunity to tell us how his club is making a difference in Port Moresby.

 

Due to its strategic location, the RCPM is the club that assumes frontline responsibility for the incoming Donations In Kind (DIK) containers. Adam said that the school desks, medical supplies, hospital bed linen, dental equipment, and wheelchairs donated by Rotarians across Australia have helped make a significant difference in the communities throughout Papua New Guinea (PNG).  Without the desks and chairs for the classrooms, Adam said that children would have to sit on the ground to do their school work. This is unfortunately, still a reality for some schools in PNG.  

 

This article about “Desks and Smiles and Rotary in PNG” is an example of the great work of the RCPM in partnership with Rotary clubs in Australia. 

 

Adam then went on to tell us about his crusade to reduce family violence in Port Moresby...

 

Adam then talked of a particular issue that he says is all too prevalent in Port Moresby. He said that the level of violence and abuse against women and children, in the home and in public, is a side of life in the PNG capital that has deeply affected him. As President of the RCPM, he has made it his personal challenge to curb what he has termed a scourge on the community. Although much has been done by different groups to tackle the issue, Adam is looking to take a difference approach. He seeks to bring together all the organisations that have been dealing with family violence and the relevant authorities, and hopes that through the pooling of resources and the coordination and integration of activities, family violence will be able to be eradicated.

 

He believes that the key will be to change the attitudes and mindset of PNG men towards their wives and children. The community’s attitude and response to family violence will also need to be shifted. With that in mind, Adam has looked at how the Australian Federal Police (AFP) can assist and work with the local police, perhaps in a support and advisory capacity.

 

A research conducted by the AFP has found that 60% of crime reported at the local domestic airport over a 12 month period, were related to family violence. The victims in these situations are women with children who after finally working up the courage to leave the family home and to get as far away as possible from their abusive husbands, are stopped at the airport by the latter and subjected to further violence. Armed with this evidence, Adam has come up with a simple idea to protect these women and children while they wait for their flight at the airport. Adam has been negotiating with the AFP, the local police and the National Airport Corporation in Port Moresby to set up a container next to the Police Booth at the airport, which would be fitted out with all the comforts of a departure lounge for fleeing women and children. Local police would then escort the women and children directly to the departure gate when called for boarding. Verbal approval has been received for the project and Adam has already begun discussions for the fit out of the container. This is the first project of its kind in the South Pacific and probably the world and will make a difference in the lives of women and children fleeing their violent husbands and fathers. This simple idea will see the crime rate at the Port Moresby Airport reduce by 60%.