Two experienced teachers from the United States of America and New Zealand, flew into with the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) to help isolated communities and support schools along the Sepik River.
While assisting Pacific Island Ministries (PIM), Anne Thomas and Heather Robertson traveled recently from Wewak to Ambunti and up the river.
“We’ll visit hopefully 15 or 20 schools. These are kindergarten through grade two elementary community-run schools supported by PIM,” said Anne.
According to MAF, the visit was for observation, where the pair evaluated the needs of the teachers and how the schools were operating. Most of the teachers at these schools were trained solely by PIM and do not have further qualifications.
“I would like to do it twice a year. Now to visit the teachers and then at the end of January to come train the teachers in what we assessed as a need,” said Anne.
“If it weren’t for PIM there would likely be no elementary schools in the villages we visited. Some of the children in the schools will be the first literate generation in their family,” said Heather.
With this shortened travel time, the women could visit more schools for a longer period and provide more assistance to the local teachers and communities.