Caring for Kiriwina Village Birth Attendant's June 29 meeting, women looking resplendant in their VBA costumes.

A total of 104 VBAs attended the meeting on 29 June 2019 at Kavataria Village Community Hall. Almost every village on Kiriwina was represented, which was a great attendance and very encouraging to see how the VBA’s on Kiriwina can work together.

CFK has continued to supply hundreds of birthing kits, muslin wraps, re-usable menstrual pads, underpants, torches and mobile phones for all VBA circuits. 

We are really looking forward to our next training session with these gorgeous women from the 19th September 2019.

Help save the lives of the women and children on Kiriwina

Almost the entire island of Kiriwina, including the small surrounding islands are in desperate need of good clean fresh water. People living on Kiriwina and surrounding islands source water through rain harvesting and wells with water pumps.  Due to a lack of rain, tank water is scarce, and there are not enough wells. Our in-country manager Toks Bwaina reports:

The Kiriwina High School Headmaster informed me that one of the issues faced by the school is water problems. The school has water tanks, however, water is only available after rainy days. At this time of the year, there was little rain and the school used all its water and as a result, the school sent all the students home two weeks earlier than the end of term.

CFK has organised five water pumps to be purchased and installed on Kiriwina, Two of these have been pledged to the Kiriwina High School.

For those living on the north part of Kiriwina Island, people are now sourcing water from naturally formed limestone caves. However, accessing these caves down rocky pathways is difficult and dangerous, especially for women and girls. Toks said:

People living in the centre and southern parts of Kiriwina source water through dug up wells and rain harvesting. The water sources on Kiriwina are not a problem. The problem is how to access these water sources. There were water pumps previously installed by Catholic Church and other donor agencies, however, many of them were broken down due to lack of maintenance. Some villages informed that there were wells bored by a church run organization (funded by the current member for Kiriwina-Goodenough) and pipes were installed into these bore wells without pumps. To date people are not accessing any water and the pipes are rusting away. Some people had to pay to get water from privately owned pumps and water tanks.

The people most affected by this lack of water are pregnant and breast feeding mothers and babies, the elderly, women and girls. Some walk great distances to access drinkable water. Toks explains:

Life is difficult in terms of accessing good and clean water. There are already water sources available on Kiriwina, however to access these water sources is most difficult due to funding issues.

The people of Kiriwina really need and appreciate donors to support and provide clean, fresh and good water for drinking, cooking and washing. CFK is committed to helping the residents on Kiriwina source good water. We have contact with an experienced pump installer on the Island who will manage installation and maintenance of the manual hand pumps and piping. 

Preparations are well advanced for the next Caring For Kiriwina, Village Birth Attendant Training Trip in September. Flights, accommodation, food, training material, training venues are all in the process of being discussed and booked. Exciting!

Caring for Kiriwina Village Birth Training 5 July meeting. CFK's Vanessa Palfreeman, Jodi Lawton and mid-wife extrordinaire Shea Caplice. Midwife Jacqui Andrews attended in spirit.

Other than closing the school when they run out of water, another issue facing the Kiriwina High School is a high absenteeism rate of female students who avoid classes while they are menstruating.  CFK is supplying Dignity Kits to the school, which include hygiene products to help the girls deal with their menstrual cycle without embarrassment and enable them to attend classes regularly.

On arrival, we went straight to Kiriwina High School accompanied by Kavataria Village Birth Attendants and Lepani Ahab. Met with the Headmaster and Deputy Headmaster of Kiriwina High School. I was given a warm welcome by the headmaster and was introduced to the rest of the teaching and ancillary staff. Unfortunately, the students were sent home earlier than their term two break due to water problems. I was given an opportunity to speak to the teachers about the work that CFK does on Kiriwina. I delivered about 50 packets of dignity kits to the teachers of KHS to distribute to the girls on their return to school. The Headmaster informed me that one of the issues faced by the school is water problems.

Toks Bwania, In-Country Manager

Toks Bwaina, CFK In-country Manager (left) meeting with Kiriwina High School Headmaster, Deputy Headmaster and teachers to hand over Dignity kits.

All this life saving work could not have been achieved without the help of the DFAT Friendship Grant and our Volunteers, Sponsors and Donors. We are forever grateful.

Caring for Kiriwina is supported by the Australian Government.

Thanks again to all our donors for your ongoing support!

Thank you Australian Women's Weekly for their wonderful article in the July Issue - please check it out - JULY ISSUE OUT NOW!