Lands Secretary John Ofoi stresses a point to British
expat Mauricio Diaz, sales and marketing manager of telco Global Technologies, who is Tembari school project manager. Secretary
Ofoi is scrutinizing the documents that Tembari has presented to him towards
acquiring a title to the 3,500 square meter property it occupies at Oro
settlement, 7 Mile outside Port
Moresby. The Secretary has assured Tembari that he
will expedite the processing of its land title application so it could start
building a preschool for its beneficiary children. – Photo by ALFREDO P
HERNANDEZ, Port Moresby,
PNG
By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children
AS they say, “we are getting there …”
And this makes Tembari upbeat on the big prospect that it is
going to have a title soon to the land its preschool center occupies.
It was the so-called turn of events that we at Tembari had
never expected.
In our very first audience with Department of Lands
Secretary John Ofoi last week, he assured me and my colleague Mauricio Diaz, a
British expat-executive at a big IT company in Port Moresby, that all we have
to do is complete the land titling requirements – survey map, sketches, plans, building
plans and all – give them to him. He’ll take care of the rest.
Secretary Ofoi said: I’m taking the short route to award
Tembari a land title … I will avail of the so-called “Ministerial Exemption”
route … through which I could allot you the property for titling and nobody
could ever lay claim over it …”
He said the other process is for our land title application
to undergo scrutiny and evaluation by a lands board made up of people from
different discipline. Depending on the outcome of the board’s evaluation, a
decision to deny or award the title would be made.
It is an exercise that could go the short route or take a
long-winding road.
The good Secretary said he was impressed with what Tembari
is doing for many settlement children whose future was bleak until they where
ushered in to Tembari’s loving arms.
“I’m very particular with groups like Tembari and I want to
help it …”, Sec Ofo said after scrutinizing our documents and learning of the
center’s plan on that piece of 3,500-square meter lot at Oro settlement at 7
Mile, outside Port Moresby.
He became interested in the preschool classroom building we
are to build on property, which we hope could begin sometime this July.
“Tembari will get it (the land title) … and it will enjoy
its use of this land for 99 years,” Secretary Ofoi said.
The title to the property is the very first requisite that the
Australian High Commission said Tembari has to fulfill before it could green
light the start of the preschool building construction.
The Aussie High Comm is the lead donor-sponsor of the school
building project. The other project supporters are Hardware Haus, AzkoNobel,
Malaysian Association of PNG (MAPNG), Filipino Association of PNG (FAPNG), PNG Stones, PNG Concrete Aggregates, AP
Engineering Ltd of East New Britain, Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Eda Ranu and the Lands Department.
Worth K100,000, the preschool building will house four
classrooms for use by about 100 children who are Tembari beneficiaries and
other settlement children with parents who can afford to support them
financially.
Since Tembari is the only government-accredited CBO
(community-based organization) at the settlement operating a preschool, it is
mandated to accommodate preschool children from the community to get an early education
together with Tembari children, who are abandoned, neglected and orphans.
But it is not only the 100 preschool kids that get the
benefit of various services from the Tembari facility.
It is actually looking after about 200 unfortunate
settlement children by providing them meals twice a day, from Monday to
Saturday, sending 78 of them to elementary and primary school in Port Moresby,
offering them other opportunities to learn like watching educational DVDs and
kiddie movies, and cultural development programs such as involving them in
cultural dances and song presentation and sport activities such as volleyball,
football and rugby.
And most of all, the kids are given the tender, loving care
that they are missing owing to the absence of their parents and most important,
a home away from home.
The daily feeding activities are being made possible by
sustained donations from RD Foundation, SVS Mart, High Energy Co, Pure Water
Company, Pacific Industries Ltd, Malaysian Association in PNG (MAPNG), Hugo Canning, Filipino
Association in PNG (FAPNG) and Homeguard Construction Ltd. There are individual donors whose foodstuff donation make the bulk of the monthly supplies but wished not to be unidentified.
The acquisition of a land title to Tembari’s premises is
only the start of many things that would enhance the welfare and development of
our beneficiary children.
So to Lands Secretary John Ofoi: Sir, I salute you for this
gesture to help us provide a better life to our unfortunate beneficiary
children.
The land title that you are going to award to Tembari will
be the key to everything great, as far as our beneficiary children are
concerned.
May your tribe increase.
Email the writer: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg
and alfredophernandez@y7mail.com
It's true,most of the kids are given the tender, loving care that they are missing owing to the absence of their parents and most important, a home away from home.
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