Military wives of servicemen from the Basilisk Naval Base launched the Basilisk Military Wives Association.
In the presence of Commanding Officer Basilisk Commander Buni Dorea and Former Secretary of Department for Community Development and intending candidate for Moresby North West, Anna Kavana Bais.
The Basilisk Military Wives Association will host the 7th Army Wives Convention in June this year.
Commander Buni Dorea, Commanding Officer Basilisk said his unit will assist the association, with transportation and facilities the association will need to conduct its activities. Commander Dorea acknowledged the need for the women to empower themselves through combined activities.
He said, “This is about empowerment, and if we can empower our wife, then we can have a stable home. A sustainable home. That’s what their motto is. Where it will make my job as a military personnel bit easy so there won’t be any disturbance in my work, day to day work so this is a good idea for empowering them.”
The wives association has three sub-groups, women in sports, religion and sustainable business.
The association aims to seek more opportunities for the wives to build sustainable homes through opportunities that the group will provide through the assistance of partners and supporters.
Anna Bais congratulated the women on the launch of the association and the written constitution that they’ve put forward to govern their activities.
She also spoke on domestic violence in the homes, lack of employment opportunities and the hindrance these issues place on the wellbeing of families.
“Drugs and alcohol, poverty, root causes. These are root causes. It needs to be discussed. It must be talked about. We don’t pretend that it’s not there,” said Mrs Bais
Bais encouraged the women to be creative and innovative.
She challenged the women to seek out opportunities for the association to lead them toward being more sustainable and contributing positively back into their homes and communities.