Story and Photos by Joeri Kalwij

The ‘Friends of Goroka’ initiative started in early 2008 as a fund raiser for children in need of medical care. Former Aero Club president, Mr. Dennis Reynolds started the fundraiser, as over the years the Aero Club received many requests for financial contributions. Members of the Goroka Aero Club have been raising money for many children to have life saving operations in Goroka, or elsewhere. Early 2008 Mr. Reynolds developed the ad hoc fundraising in a more structural form, under the title ‘Friends of Goroka’. As such, the fundraising can continue, even though a lot of generous people have left Goroka in the last few years. ‘Friends of Goroka’ has developed in an honest and efficient fundraising scheme in the community of Goroka. It is an opportunity for every individual or organization to help the ones that need it most: children in need of medical care. The beauty of this initiative is its simplicity; no complex rules and regulations, no overhead, no salaries. Every Kina that is donated will find its way to a patient. 100% of the money donated is spent on medical care that otherwise could not have been provided.

The successful initiative has triggered generous donations –whether these are big or small- from many individual community members, business houses and private companies.

As the ‘ Friends of Goroka’ initiative becomes more visible, more and more donations come in. Earlier this year the Member for Sumka, Mr. Ken Fair-weather and the Member for Obura Wanenara, Mr. John Boito have kindly given K 2,000,- each to the fundraising initiative. They can rest assured that every single Kina will be invested in medical procedures. Also a collaboration with the Goroka Rotary has been established through Miss Wendy McNamara, to diversify charity opportunities in the future.

‘ Friends of Goroka’ has already sent 2 children to PoM hospital for heart surgery, and in November a small boy was flown to PoM hospital to have a CT scan to assess his facial disfiguration in preparation for corrective surgery.

Suitable to the festive season, on Thursday 18th December, Lesley Matthews, Nix Machiah and several other members of the Goroka community spent the morning in the children’s ward of the Goroka Base Hospital with 2,500,- kina worth of Christmas gifts and other small giveaways in the hope to contribute to some Christmas joy during the festive season for the children and their parents. This impressive visit was made possible by the kind assistance of Dr. Apa and the nursing staff . At the same time a sum of K1,000.00 was donated to the Mt Sion Blind Center. This money will be used by the Center to buy food for their Christmas dinner. ‘ Friends of Goroka’ is a success story that only can grow bigger, for one simple reason: helpim yumi yet.

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