April 22nd 2009 - Digicel Foundation launches first Community Learning Centres in Goroka

Goroka: the Digicel PNG Foundation launched two more Community Learning Centres today, teaming-up with Young Womens Christian Association (YWCA) and Gateway Church, both in Goroka, Eastern Highland Province.

These are the 17th and 18th Community Learning Centres launched by the Digicel PNG Foundation throughout the country during  the last 6 months.

The CLC at YWCA will be used as a pre-school to accommodate the nearly 50 pre-school children in need of classroom space. The facility includes a library containing 200 children’s books, kindly donated by Hope Worldwide PNG. The CLC at Gateway Foundation at Kama village will be used as a pre and elementary school providing basic education for the many young children in this area whose parents cannot afford to send their children to school. It will also be used as a centre for women from the community, where they will learn basic life skills such as cooking and sewing as well as literacy.

Vice President of the YWCA , Rosa Karis, said at the launch in Goroka today:
“We are honoured and proud to be the recipients of this Community Learning Centre, the first in Goroka and the first for YWCA in PNG. This educational facility will provide a much needed extra classroom for our pre-school children as well as essential educational resources such as a library with reading books. We thank the Digicel Foundation for this very generous donation and hope we may continue this fruitful relationship with YWCA nationwide.”

YWCA in Goroka runs a women’s hostel providing affordable accommodation for at least 50 women, as well as literacy classes for the illiterate youth and adults from nearby communities. They also run a pre-school and elementary school on the same site which is rapidly growing with already close to 200 children enrolled.

The Digicel PNG Foundation partners with NGOs  that are active in their communities, by funding and providing infrastructure aimed to improve basic education.  The Foundation was delighted to assist the YWCA with a CLC, complementing the wonderful work carried by the group in Goroko in recent years.

The CLC launched today at  Kama village is the second Community Learning Centre launched by the Digicel Foundation in PNG, in partnership with te Gateway Church and Gateway Foundation. The first was launched last year November with the Moitaka community in Port Moresby.

Speaking at the launch, Digicel PNG Foundation CEO Marina van der Vlies said:
“The Digicel Foundation is very happy to be launching the first Community Learning Centres here in Goroka today bringing the total up to 18 centres launched nationwide.

The Foundation’s main focus is on improving basic education through infrastructure. Through the roll out of these Community Learning Centres we hope we can contribute towards a better future for the children and marginalised communities of PNG.”

The Foundation will be rolling out another 8 Community Learning Centres throughout the country with an additional 4 to be launched in Lae, 2 in Goroka and another 2 for Hagen, bringing the total to 26 Community Learning Centres launched nationwide by the end of May 2009.