AP Engineering Ltd of Kokopo, ENB, donates to Tembari

Jovy Baltazar, manager of Paradise Business Consultants Ltd or Port Moresby, PNG, turning over a cheque for K7,000 to Alfredo P Hernandez, a Filipino expatriate journalist, who received the donation on behalf of the Tembari children. Donated by Engr Ariel Parro, owner and managing director of AP Engineering Ltd, a construction company in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea, the funds would go towards the building of a 60sqm multi-purpose hall that would classroom, a kitchen and an office. – Picture by Paradise Business Consultants.



By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children

AN ENGINEERING company based in Takubar, Kokopo, East New Britain, PNG, last week donated K7,000 to the Tembari Children’s Care (TCC) to help build a new classroom for its preschoolers.

The cheque from AP Engineering Ltd was turned over to me recently by Ms Jovy Baltazar, who helped me find a sponsor for our classroom project.

By the way, Jovy is the manager of Paradise Business Consultants Ltd of Port Moresby, and APEL is her client.

The owner and managing director of APEL, Engr Ariel Parro, said it was his way of giving back to the Papua New Guinean society.

Engr Parro has been operating his company for more than 10 years now, constructing roads and buildings around the island province of East New Britain, north-east of PNG.

During the school year 2010, TCC had about 45 preschool children of which two classes of more than 15 kids each held classes in two classrooms.

The third class held session under the mango tree just next to the two classrooms.

During the school year that just ended, it rained occasionally, thus forcing the volunteer teacher to halt their session and to send the kids to where they could be sheltered from the rain.

Notably, of these preschoolers, 20 of them graduated to join 43 other Tembari children in elementary and primary school around Port Moresby.

When Jovy visited The Center recently, she saw a group of preschoolers holding classes under the shade of the mango tree.

She told me that she would look for a sponsor who could help The Center build a classroom for these kids.

Finding Engr Ariel Parro later, Jovy made good her promise.

The K7,000 (US$2,500) would be used to buy timber materials, roofing sheets and others.

But of course, the amount would not be enough to build a structure
15m long and 4m, wide for a total area of 60sq meters. And with concrete floor.

Of this space, 12sqm (4m x 3m) would be used for dirty kitchen on the left end of the “building” and the other 12sqm (4m x 3m) on the opposite end would serve as TCC office.

During the past year, I cooked my special Saturday lunch for the 114 children in the open -- under the heat of the sun -- as we had no space, and even up to now, where we could relocate our dirty kitchen.

Hopefully, we could have one decent dirty kitchen once the new structure is built.

The rest of the space at the center of the building with a total of 36sqm would become the third classroom, to double as multi-purpose hall and a dining space for feeding activities.

Last night, I was lucky to talk to Engr Parro on his Blackberry.

He was in Kokopo, a small township on the island province of East New Britain, north-east of PNG, about 45 minutes by air from Port Moresby.

Engr Parro assured me that the K7,000 donation towards the school classroom project was just the start of his long relationship with the Tembari children.

“I would like to meet the children when I come down to Port Moresby next time,” he said.

Eng Parro has led the way towards fulfilling this little project of mine.

There could be some of you who would like to follow him towards making this worthy project a reality.

And I know, too, there are individuals who have the opportunity to help, only that they just don’t know where to look.

Just look towards Tembari, please. You will realize there are lots of things you can do for the children.

Helping to build a new classroom is one. Helping them get education despite their poverty is another.

Our target is K50,000 (US$18,000).

I am appealing to those who are financially well enough to give towards this project so the needed funds could be raised and the building erected ASAP.

This way, the third batch of our preschoolers would have a decent place to conduct their classes, without being bothered of getting soaked by the rain.

It is also a means for you to invest in their future – a bright future at that.


Email the writer: alfredophernandez@thenational.com.pg
Jarahdz500@online.net.pg
freddiephernandez@yahoo.com
On Facebook, please search for Alfredo Hernandez for the pictures of Tembari Children