HOW WE HELP
Network Kokoda has partnered with many villages along the Kokoda Trail to bring several initiatives to life, providing education & leadership, health & medication, fresh food & water, sustainable development and financial support.
1
Popondetta Tuberculosis (TB) Isolation Ward
As a rapid response to an outbreak of a drug-resistant strain of TB, Network Kokoda in partnership with the Oro Province Development Corporation built an eight-bed TB Isolation Ward on the grounds of the Popondetta General Hospital to assist in containing the spread of TB in the region.
Funding was also directed to the training of local nurses and a detailed fit-out of the facility.
2
Agricultural Capacity Building
Network Kokoda has engaged a local agricultural graduate from Popondetta to develop and manage local field projects such as the installation of water systems at the Sogeri Health Centre, the Sogeri Police Station, Bisitaubu Primary School and a number of villages.
A Market Garden has been established at Sogeri and Iaowari High Schools and two fish farms in Menari Village.
3
Koiari Women’s Learning Centre
Over the last six years, Network Kokoda has built the Community Learning Centres at Sogeri. The Centre is in high demand, running short courses for adults covering topics such as crop production and aquaculture farming. In response to requests from local women’s’ groups, Network Kokoda now also runs regular courses in English language, financial literacy, sewing, cooking, agriculture and flower arranging.
To further assist women in the region, Network Kokoda has procured 150 basic birthing kits, including knitted blankets and newborn outfits, to health centres along the Kokoda Trail that previously had no medical equipment to assist in such procedures.
4
Iarowari High School – Fish Farm
Located on the Sogeri Plateau, close to Owers Corner, Iarowari High School started life in 1940 as the World War 11 base for the Australian Army School of Signals. It is now a school for 800 students, trying to achieve accreditation to become an agricultural high school. Network Kokoda has now established a commercial fish farm as the School, providing a consistent source of protein into the diets of 800 Iarowari boarding school students for the first time.
5
Owers Corner Commemorative Centre
One of Network Kokoda’s signature projects is to raise funds to establish a visitor’s centre in conjunction with local landowners at Ower’s Corner at the start of the Kokoda Trail just outside Port Moresby.
We aim to develop this project with a view to recognising our shared military history and by sharing with the villagers some of the financial benefits of wartime tourism across the Kokoda Trail.
With your help we can continue to partner with villages along the Kokoda Trail, bringing smiles to faces and the prospect of a brighter future.