Skul Bilong Yumi

It’s a personal journey trying to discover just how one can, as an individual create the change they want to see around them. I must admit if it hadn’t been for my energetic ego in volunteerism while been in High School and university I doubt that I would have ever progressed in my quest to always create change in the various community and environment that I find myself  in from time to time. This following blog is about my project Skul Bilong Yumi.

The basic term “Skul Bilong Yumi” when translated in English depicts the phrase “Our School” which is   in pidgin the local national language of Papua New Guinea. The most obvious reason why I came up with this name was to give the children a sense of ownership over the program and in the process learn to value themselves in the community. By introducing such a program into the community in Konedobu I felt impressed that it would be an avenue to create future leaders who would change change the trend of the present times into improving their livelihood for the future.

Education is core to the development of a country’s betterment or rather still its advancement. But what happens when resources and priorities are shifted away from driving factors such as education. This is an all too familiar scenario in Papua New Guinea. The failure to prioritize resources and the large inequality gap has lead to social issues such as the increasing crime rates; upsurge of domestic violence cases, inequality and not to mention the disturbing HIV/AIDS figures that are rapidly climbing.

Skul Bilong Yumi is a program that aims to establish itself into a community that needs to alleviate itself from many of these social problems. Education isn’t just a solution to the change that’s indispensable but it’s also a key to changing the mindsets of individuals living under limited provisions and conditions that are unfavourable to human standards.