City Mission

The Christian non-government organisation of City Mission has its vision of “Spreading the love of God and meeting human needs” to guide its day-to-day activities.

Founded by Larry George, City Mission has been operating in PNG for over 25 years, where they take the most at-risk young men out of settlements and villages and train and educate them, protect women in gender-based violence situations, care for abused, abandoned and orphaned children and also work with young women.

I used to roam the streets looking for anything that I could do to pass time. Then I came across some friends who told me about City Mission and how it plays a bigger role in the lives of young men in Port Moresby.

One day I travelled to Koki and gave my name for enrolment. I was given a specific date to come back for an interview. After a successful interview I secured myself a space and I’m now here at Gereka.

While in grade 12, I applied to Maritime College in Madang and PAU to do Bachelor of Nursing, but I didn’t pursue this because I couldn’t afford the school fees.

One of my brothers told me about City Mission in Moresby, where they could give me a second chance in life… I didn’t want to miss the opportunity, I headed down to the head office at Koki, I was interviewed and brought to the mission office.

I thought there is no more hope for me.

I followed the boys on the street, drinking homebrew and taking marijuana. I was just roaming around. 

Even though my father had a job, I still felt that there was emptiness in my life. It was worthless. I was not satisfied with my life because I really wanted to complete my schooling somehow.

Then I heard people mention the name of this place, City Mission. I wondered, what kind of place is City Mission? 

That was when I came to live with my relatives in Port Moresby. I decided to find out more about City Mission.

“I learnt about how to budget. If I’m marketing something, all the money (is spent) unnecessarily. I went there and they taught us how to budget. Now I’m (going to) start my small business. I’ll start by helping my mother to sell donuts, ice blocks, and water; anything just to start a small business. To build a business like a store you need to start small.”

Jacobeth recently completed secondary school and entered into technical training in order to progress in life.

The training for batch number 11, which ran for a month will end with the graduation at the Mission Farm in Mirigeda outside Port Moresby.

Facilitator, Pastor Joe Hanuma, Business Trainer for City Mission PNG said the purpose of the training is to identify disadvantaged women who are into SME activities, doing market on the roadside or just want to organize their household budgets.

The training, which originated in Switzerland by the City Mission was started in PNG in 2018 with funding by PUMA Energy in Switzerland through partnership of City Mission in Switzerland.

The event featured a ground breaking ceremony at the Hululan Plantation outside of Madang, followed by a ribbon cutting ceremony at Apex Hall in town.

The launch sees City Mission continue to expand beyond Port Moresby where it has operated for 25 years and Lae since 2004.

Present at the ground breaking at Hululan Plantation were Madang MP Bryan Kramer, Founder of City Mission PNG, Larry George, and Australian High Commission representative, Brendan Peace.

The Australian High Commission Social Club, with the generous backing of businesses in Port Moresby and Black Swan International, has rallied behind the event.  

Cheques totaling K35,000 were presented to the Crisis Centre, one for K20,000 raised at the Australian High Commission Social Club Charity Ball through ticket sales, raffles and auctions, and a donation of K15,000 from Black Swan International.

BSP’s Port Moresby and Boroko branches teamed up to deliver the project to City Mission and Haus Ruth,  because of the organisation’s dedication towards helping women and youth in Port Moresby.

Port Moresby branch renovated and repainted Haus Ruth’s kitchen, built  the footpaths and bought new materials for the women to sew curtains for the common hall.

The team also purchased new cooking pots, pans, rice cookers and kitchen utensils.

Branch staff volunteered two weekends to help in cleaning up, painting, and cementing the footpath.