MAF International Asia Pacific Papua New Guinea

Helping Others to Achieve their Mission Mandy Glass, story & photos by Samuel Cleary, Mathias Glass   Having been brought up in a Western society we expect all the amenities that are available to us are our ‘right’. Being based with MAF in Papua New Guinea means that we have to deal with, among other inconveniences, an unreliable supply of water. MAF PNG has planned all sorts of measures to ensure that staff has access to safe water if the town supply fails. Therefore MAF houses are provided with huge rainwater tanks and most families use a water filter ensure their water is clean and safe for drinking and food preparation. However, for many of our PNG neighbours, Circuit Lumi airstrip. having access to clean water isn‘t so easy. MAF connects with over 60 Christian and humanitarian organisations in PNG. Our flights and other services help to keep them running so that more remote people can receive the help they need. One of these organisations partnering with MAF is WaterAid, an international non-government organisation. To achieve their vision, “giving people in the remote areas of Papua New Guinea access to safe water and improving peoples’ hygiene and sanitation,” they regularly charter our Wewak based Airvan. Samuel Cleary, of WaterAid and a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) adviser based at Wewak, explains:

Airvan parking at Lumi on a market day.

Flying for Life

The WaterAid Papua New Guinea country programme currently works in seven provinces within the country. Papua New Guinea has the lowest level of access to safe and adequate water and sanitation in the Pacific. A total of 4.2 million people in PNG (60% of the population) don’t have access to safe water and 5.6 million don’t have access to adequate sanitation (80% of the population). Over 900 children die every year in PNG from diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation.

WaterAid is an international nongovernmental organisation with country programs located in 26 countries worldwide. WaterAid’s mission is to transform lives by improving access to safe water, improved hygiene and sanitation in the world’s poorest communities. WaterAid works with local partners, who understand local issues, and provide them with the skills and support to help communities set up and manage practical and sustainable projects that meet their real needs. WaterAid also works locally and internationally to change policy and practice and ensure water, hygiene and sanitation’s vital role in reducing poverty is recognised. Rainwater harvesting unit in Maui village, Aitape-Lumi District. Photo Samuel Cleary

WaterAid PNG was able to provide 2,900 people with access to safe water and 7,100 people with access to improved sanitation in 2012/13. WaterAid PNG has also been involved in the task force to develop a national WASH policy for PNG with the aim of increasing access to safe water and adequate sanitation to 70% of the population by 2030.  About 85% of the population of PNG lives in hard to reach rural locations with little or no public services. An example are the communities in the Another Rainwater harvesting unit in Maui village. Torricelli Mountain ranges in East Sepik and Photo Samuel Cleary Sundaun Provinces in the north-west of the country which are only accessible on foot. The Tenkile Conservation Alliance (TCA), one of WaterAid PNG’s local partners, has been working with local communities to improve water and sanitation conditions in the Torricelli Mountains for the past eight years. WaterAid PNG has been helping to develop the capacity of the TCA field staff to implement effective WASH programmes in 50 villages with the aim of extending this to another 100 villages in the coming years.

Flying for Life

The TCA base camp in Lumi, Sundaun Province, can be reached via a 12 hour road trip from Wewak. On many occasions the road is impassable due to the high flood levels of rivers or poor road conditions caused by the high rainfall (2m per year). This delays the planned activities and increases the costs required to operate. To overcome the road transport issue, WaterAid PNG uses the services of Mission Aviation Fellowship to fly to Lumi. MAF provides a consistent, safe and friendly service that allows us to have access to partners like Tenkile Conservation Alliance in a timely manner, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the work WaterAid PNG is undertaking in Papua New Guinea. The service MAF provides helps WaterAid achieve its vision of a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation. TCA and WaterAid PNG are working together to assist communities to have access to 10 litres per person per day, which is equivalent to about 36 people per rainwater harvesting unit. The materials that are provided to the villages include a 9,000L tank, corrugated roofing, nails, taps, fittings and cement for the tank stand and drainage. The communities provide a 10% contribution to the material costs in order to promote ownership of the project. The villagers assist in providing local wood for the shelter and labour to transport materials to the village and construct the cement tank stand, roof catchment and guttering. In 2014/15 TCA and WaterAid PNG will be working together to increase the capacity of the local communities to manage their water and sanitation systems so facilities remain functional, and ensuring the sustainability of the project. A sanitation promotion strategy will be rolled out with the aim of having all households build an upgraded toilet and ensure open defecation is eliminated in all the villages. Each Ventilated Improve Pit (VIP) latrine in Maui village, Aitape-Lumi District. household is responsible for building and investing in their Photo Samuel Cleary own toilet with the use of locally available materials without external investment. For us as MAF, it is a pleasure to have our mission pilots flying organisations like WaterAid, helping to meet some of the most basic human needs in the isolated regions of PNG, and enabling community development by transporting staff and supplies, which helps improve living conditions and enables hundreds of families to develop safe, healthy, and productive communities.