They walk great distances to access basic medical care. The struggles faced by the people of Usino-Bundi are synonymous with the neglect faced by the majority of Papua New Guineans in rural areas.
Community-based organisation, Kumura Foundation, is pushing to change the narrative.
A media team was invited for the first time to cover Kumura Foundation’s Travel2Change rural clinic, which aims to treat over 1,000 patients within the far-flung areas of Upper and Lower Bundi in Madang Province.
In partnership with Mapai Transport, the team made the 11-hour journey by road from Lae to Simbu on Sunday, the 12th of December, where they spent the night at Betty’s Lodge.
On Monday, the group prepared for the first leg of their journey, with director of Kumura Foundation, Vincent Kumura, saying the annual Travel2Change campaign aims to reach the unreached, focusing primarily on health and education.
“We would bring in volunteer medical doctors and grassroots volunteer trek team members of Kumura Foundation, from Bundi, into the unreached areas and we would bring medical health services to their doorstep,” he outlined. “If it means for us to conduct surgery, general clinic or whatever it is that can be done during the campaign, (we will do it).
“We also use that as a platform for our fundraising because that’s the only fundraising we normally do annually, since 2017.”
This year, the theme of the 17-day program is ‘A campaign against malaria’, where the team aims to distribute 1,000 mosquito nets – starting at Snow Pass at Upper Bundi, moving on to Bundi Station and eventually to Lower Bundi.
Representing Mapai Transport was the director’s daughter, Stephanie Luke, who said the company was excited to help with such a worthy cause.
“We’ve decided to help them with logistics from Lae down to the Lower Bundi area,” she stated. “We’ve got someone there, waiting to pick them up and take them to every single clinic they have and it’s something that we should work on and Vincent has come up with a very good foundation to help the needy.”
Owner of Mt Wilhelm’s Betty’s Lodge, Betty Higgins, was proud to see young people getting involved in serving their community, saying she is a life member as she believes in the values of the foundation.
“I would like to appeal to all Bundis, or all Gende people who can speak the Gendeka language, can be able to support and become a member and we all work together to support the foundation so the foundation can go a mile further in whatever they are doing,” said the businesswoman, who also owns a trout farm.
The program will end on the 30th of December.