The Road to School

The road to school for most PNG children is extraordinary. They face many barriers and travel great distances. Inclusive Education works to make that road less difficult to travel.

I was eager to get my idol hands into other projects while waiting for the Provincial Government to move forward with the logistics of the inclusive education training program. The Country Womens Association (CWA) and their work with early childhood education immediately came to mind. I first worked with the CWA when I facilitated a training back in March for the teachers of the 15 Kindergarten Long Ples schools. So, I organized a meeting with the CWA and they were happy to include me into their outreach programs.

My first outreach was along the South Coast in Garim Village. The children of this village gather under a mango tree for school. The two teachers and their helper take advantage of the wide-open space to play games and sing songs with over 40 children. I was told there were three children with hearing impairments in the village; however they did not attend school. When I asked, the teachers were happy to walk me to the children’s houses. When we didn’t find them at their houses, I asked the teachers to walk me to their gardens. The teachers were surprised I would go to so much effort to see the children. When crossing the river to the gardens I was warned of the crocodile that had eaten a dog the night before. Unfortunately no one warned me of the sand flies and I was eaten alive!

Recently, our team traveled up the North Coast to three remote villages in Madang's inland. I had no idea I would be walking for days, climbing up and down mountains and crossing rivers that reached my chest. My heart pours out to the children who walk these great distances along mountainous terrains just to satisfy their hunger for knowledge. The everyday struggle I witnessed of the people of Butelgut, Kamba and Bidimai villages will not be soon forgotten.

Our outreach team targeted a variety of activities including health promotion, screening for disabilities and early childhood education. In an effort to prevent the further spread of cholera in PNG, our team educated the children of the importance of washing their hands before eating. We encouraged the children to brush their teeth by distributing toothbrushes donated by the Rotary Club. To promote child friendly, inclusive schools, I read some children's books I had recently written with stories about children with disabilities and the things they can do. We gathered leaves and shared stories about the different colors, shapes and sizes of our leaves, but regardless of their differences they are still leaves. We gave compliments to all our friends to learn that it is never okay to make fun of children with disabilities.

During our stay in Bidimai Village, we slept in a house made of bamboo above the kindergarten school. One night we were shaken awake by a massive earthquake. Fearful the entire structure would fall to the ground, we jumped up from our mats and headed down to safety. My legs were so sore I barely made it down the makeshift ladder. Without any form of communication, no mobiles, land lines or radios, we were completely unaware of the tsunami warnings issued for Madang. Luckily we were safe in the mountains!

The village elders called me "win meri" saying that I made history. I was the second ‘Western’ woman to ever reach this remote village. The first was an Italian backpacker in 2007. News of the arrival of a specialist in disabilities quickly brought people from the surrounding villages to see me. I identified children with vision, hearing and physical disabilities. Bradly in particular won my heart. He is 3 years old and appeared to have the characteristics of a child with cerebral palsy. Initially he cried when I, the strange white woman, reached out for him. But soon he was reaching out for my balloons and candy as I demonstrated various exercises to strengthen his muscles. As I taught his mother additional exercises to continue at home and ways to encourage his speech, the crowd around us grew. The community was interested to see what Bradly could do. Soon the community was working together to build a chair to help stabilize his body and a set of rails that will help him learn to stand.

On our journey back to Madang we followed the Gum River and took our time to swim and wash. We caught prawns and gathered ferns along the river banks for our dinner that night. We celebrated the end of a successful week with a huge feast and in true PNG custom I was given gifts of bilums and wooden bowls.

Although I prefer the villages to Madang town, I will always appreciate bathing without being fully dressed and the luxury of sitting on a toilet.

I plan to continue working with the Kindergarten outreach program in addition to the teacher training program to promote Inclusive Education. Over a month ago my project proposal was approved by the Education Department; however, things seem to be moving slow. Although I have been told there is money in the budget allocated to a training of trainers project of this scale, I have yet to see any concrete evidence that the project can be implemented across the Province.

Being the social networker that I am, I shared my difficulties over a few drinks with an engineer working with Heli Nuigini, a local helicopter company. He was inspired by my work and shared my story with his boss the next day. Before I knew it I was discussing the inclusive education project over dinner and drinks at the fishing club with a crew of Heli Nuigni engineers and pilots. Networking obviously paid off as it looks like Heli Nuigini is interested in supporting inclusive education efforts in Madang!

The road to school is long with tall mountains to climb and deep rivers to cross. But we push on to pave the way and create new paths to follow along the road to school for PNG's most vulnerable children.