Hearing Awareness Week

A great thank you to KramerAusenco and the Ausenco Foundation.

Buk Bilong Pikinini held an event at our library for the hearing impaired at the Red Cross Special Education Resource Center to celebrate Hearing Awareness Week to raise awareness about the difficulty living with hearing loss and deafness. This is to help eliminate the stigma, isolation, lack of educational opportunities, and the associated health issues to improve the overall quality of life for people with deafness or hearing impairment.

Buk bilong Pikinini has had a library at the RCSERC since 2008. The library was started with a grant from Sir Theo Constantinou and is today a wonderful resource centre thanks to the sponsorship of the Ausenco Foundation and Kramer Ausenco which has provided funding for the library, special needs teaching materials, DVD players, iPads and this year also the assistance of an international volunteer - Rowan Southwell from VSO.

The students gave a demonstration of their extensive sign-language vocabulary and great confidence in reading and signing. The children were also each presented with a bag containing books, literacy materials and small posters to promote signing between the children and their parents.

The Ausenco Foundation’s ongoing funding will enable the children and teachers to continue their learning and the development of a broader disability awareness program across BbP libraries.

A great thank you to all our guests for coming; our wonderful Ambassador Lynda Babao-O'Neill, representatives for the Ausenco Foundation and KramerAusenco CEO Bruce Nicholson and William Natera, Government/Public Relations. We are also grateful for the attendance of Anna K Solomon, Secretary for the Department of Community Development, Jodie McAllister from the Australian High Commission, Michael Lulu from Callan services.

Thank you Vanessa Kerton-Smythe, MadNESS Photography for the beautiful photos.

For more information on the Ausenco Foundation, please visit http://www.ausenco.com/ausenco-foundation

Buk bilong Pikinini's new Executive Officer

We are very proud to introduce Lucinda Gulluman-Kisip as our new Executive Officer. Lucinda has had an extremely busy start to the job with celebrations such as International Environment Day in the libraries, a visit to our Lae libraries and an official visit from the Ambassador of Sweden, H.E. Par Alhberger, to our Koki library.

Lucinda comes with a great background in the development sector and is no stranger to all things Buk bilong Pikinini. Lucinda is looking forward to meeting all the great people who are supporting BbP to maintain and establish libraries across Papua New Guinea.

This is what she said: "I gave up a career in the Science/Mining industry in 2001 to work in the development sector, because I wanted to be able to help PNG people and communities improve services in their communities by taking ownership of development.

My 15 years of working in the Development sector has also ignited an interest in organisational development for NGOs in PNG and particularly in looking at how indigenous NGOs can grow and thrive in PNG.

Working as the Key Partnerships Coordinator under the Australian Government funded Strongim Pipol Strongim Nesen, I was part of a team that worked with BbP to develop it's organisational systems and strategic plans,etc...

Watching BbP grow from strength to strength has provided me with great job satisfaction. Hence, when the opportunity to join BbP presented itself, I jumped at it.

My personal love of reading and promoting reading with my children and other family members, also made this job all the more alluring. Growing up in PNG in the late nineties, I had the opportunity of borrowing books from the Public Library. I'm saddened that this service no longer exists for many Papua New Guinean children today.

I believe that no matter what your background or experience has been, reading or providing books to children is building is a great foundation for the future."

Welcome to Buk bilong Pikinini Lucinda!

Buk bilong Pikinini will produce a reader in partnership with the Department of the Environment

Having produced two great readers about life in traditional villages of PNG, Buk bilong Koki Markets and Our Village: Tatana Island, Buk bilong Pikinini is now planning to produce a number of culturally appropriate books and readers.

The aim of the BbP PNG Reader Program is to raise funds for the organisation while at the same time ensuring that the children are able to find books they can relate to on our library shelves. 

The Minister for Environment and Conservation and Climate Change, Hon. John Pundari, MP, (pictured above left) - made the announcement on Environment Day that BbP will be producing a reader in partnership with his department.

The Minister said: "When you look after the environment, you look after yourself. The results of mankind's actions is now affecting our environment. We must learn to conserve and protect our environment by doing the right thing. Buk bilong Pikinini will be writing books on protecting the environment and the books will be for 4-7 year olds."

We are looking forward to producing books and readers in partnership with our donors which can be used in our libraries but also be used in school classrooms across Papua New Guinea. More on this coming soon ...

Riding high with Hastings Deering

Buk bilong Pikinini children and staff were invited to lunch at Hastings Deering this week. We took this opportunity to thank Hastings Deering for their amazing support for BbP. Hastings Deering has co-sponsored our library at UPNG and has also generously provided BbP with ample storage space for our books since 2010. Children from the UPNG library read and did a phonics demonstration to the 100+ staff and also got the opportunity to ride high in the big tractor.

John Ritchie, Hastings Deering Area Manager for PNG and Solomon Islands, said: “Hastings Deering has a long history in the development of Papua New Guineans through our apprenticeship program, with an average of 40 apprentices at any given time. Buk bilong Pikinini presents an opportunity to further align with our community engagement program and the development of Papua New Guineans. BbP is a unique organization that delivers an opportunity for young children to learn to read and write. We are very proud, even privileged, to be associated with this organization. Our reward is to see the smiling faces of the children, to hear them read and see them write.”

Thank you Hastings Deering!