Ice candy soon … You must be wondering what the Tembari kids are holding up in this picture. Well, they are proudly showing off the protective styrofoam padding of a two-door China-made refrigerator which the Australian High Commission donated on Saturday to the Tembari Children’s Care (TCC), after which it was plugged on -- to everybody’s delight. Actually, the High Com has donated four white goods – two refrigerators and two medium-size freezers costing about K5,000 – all purchased from BMBM Home Centre. Since Tembari has no space at the moment to accommodate them all, only the fridge was delivered on Saturday, according to Linda Ren, Home Center’s manageress. One preschooler said he wanted to have “ice candy” soon. – Photo by ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ, Port Moresby, PNG, October 1, 2011
The new fridge plugged on inside the Tembari office.By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children
IF THE PRESENCE of a refrigerator indicates a boost in the lives of the family members, could the same be said of the Tembari “household”?
You see, the Tembari Children’s Care received on Saturday a refrigerator for its day care center – a generous donation from the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby.
Actually, the High Com has donated two refrigerators and two freezers.
However, only one of the four items – a fridge – was delivered on Saturday as the center doesn’t have enough space at the moment to accommodate them all.
The coming of the fridge is most welcome.
Across the globe, whether it is in the city or in rural town, the coming of a refrigerator at home –brand-new or not – represents something that usually speaks of relative improvement over the previous state of affairs.
In most cases, it is an improvement as it is property that could only be acquired with so much amount of money.
An acquisition such as this becomes a status symbol, thus giving the new owner something to be proud of before friends and community.
And one thing for sure, Tembari is one proud owner.
As the newly-delivered fridge silently hums at the corner of a makeshift office fashioned from a junk container van, the answer to the question as to whether or not it is an improvement in the lives of the Tembari children is definitely “yes”!
On the whole, it would benefit them because perishable foodstuff such as fresh fish or meat which, from time to time is sent by donors to the center, and fresh veggies could now be conveniently stored in the cold box.
The fillings and spread such as margarine and jam for sandwiches served to our preschoolers at lunch after their morning classes would always taste good.
Until the fridge came, margarine or jams were just kept among other foodstuff that had normally been shoved into the storage shelves, or were just lying idle on the kitchen work tables after being used for the day, to be picked up again the next feeding day.
That’s why in most cases, the sandwich spread like butter, margarine and jam had melted away that they no longer tasted good for the kids.
The children, however, had no choice but to consume the bread; otherwise they would go hungry.
To some of the preschoolers who are familiar with a refrigerator, it is one means to have some of the things they had wanted most in their young life.
One kid was heard as saying that maybe they could now have some “ice candy” from the fridge’s freezer – something which is not really difficult for volunteer mothers to do.
Maybe, ice candy everyday could be an improvement in the kid’s life.
The fridge, a two-door appliance made in China, is the latest important fixture at the Tembari center since it was hooked to the power grid last April.
And of course, it is an added expense in terms of electricity consumption.
With coming of the refrigerator, I don’t know yet how much Esipay -- our prepaid electricity -- we would be buying from now on.
But for now, our power expense for the next few months has already been taken care of by a K900-cash donation from schoolchildren of The Ela Murray International Scchool (TEMIS) in Port Moresby.
The TEMIS children had raised the money to help Tembari pay for its power consumption so the 200 children under its care would continue to enjoy watching DVD children’s programming everyday.
On behalf of the Tembari children, I would like to thank the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby for its generous donation.
The presence of the High Com in the lives of Tembari children is growing by leaps and bounds.
Don’t forget that it is funding the construction of a four-classroom building for about 100 Tembari preschool children.
Aside from this, the HC has a fundraising ball this month to raise some money to support the facility’s twice-a-day feeding program, in which the 200 kids consume an average of 15kg of rice at dinner and lots of tinned fish or meat.
Certainly, the High Commission would like to have a bigger stake in the future of the Tembari children.
Cheers!
For comments, please email the blogger: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and aphernandez58@yahoo.com
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