Vincent Kumura

He has helped many orphaned and disadvantaged children, and recently embarked on a WALK 4 CHANGE in Tasmania aiming to raise funds giving these children a fair chance in life.

Vincent Kumura, Director of Kumura Foundation has been leading the way in giving unfortunate children an opportunity to a better education, leaving no one behind.

Over three years ago, Vincent took 46 orphaned and disadvantaged children aged at 6 to 12 from remote Bundi in Madang Province to study at the Gembogl Orphan Resource Centre ACE School in Gembogl, Simbu Province as boarding students.

The local community-based organisation of remote Bundi in Madang Province started from Monday, March 17 to Wednesday, March 19, using a D3 Dozer of Simbu.

Vincent Kumura, the Director of Kumura Foundation, said: “The fine sand road to Upper Bundi from Simbu, along the Mondia Pass Range, has been destroyed by the recent heavy rains, causing deep drains, multiple landslides, slippery road conditions and making traveling by car and delivery of basic services challenging and highly risky.

The event, hosted by a local community-based organisation of Bundi, Kumura Foundation, involved a hearty lunch for 21 elderly members (ages 65 to 90) and a community coffee/milo night at Snow Pass village on Christmas Eve.

During the coffee/milo night, the foundation shared with the villagers their journey and some of the highlights and challenges of their work in 2020. 

“We also played some photo slides and videos of our work to keep the community informed of our journey,” shared foundation CEO, Vincent Kumura.

The unique Bundi Komba Festival will feature exotic cultures such as the Bundi Butterfly Dancers and Wanamo Dog Dancers. However, the road conditions have proven to be quite a challenge. Hence a call for assistance has been made to local authorities.

On October 31, the Kumura Foundation executive team travelled to the remote Bongonogoi village of Emigari, Bundi, to meet with locals and get an update of the ground preparations for the 2020 Bundi Komba Festival, which will be on the first week of April.

The school library is quite run down with few outdated books from the 60s and 70s.

The books were donated by the Western Australia through the Ramu Community Resource Centre Association (RCRCA) and were presented to the school by the Kumura Foundation.

The donated books, in various subject areas, range from encyclopedias to non-fiction and fiction novels.

Brahman Secondary deputy principal Joseph Aviamba said the school has never received decent books of such quantity before and therefore they are very thankful.

The Snow Pass mountain cabin is located at mid-point between the majestic Ramu plains and the lofty ridges of Mt. Wilhelm. It is a major transition point for migrating birds passing up and down.

The cabin is settled at 2,200m on a ridge top bordering three provinces, namely Eastern Highlands, Chimbu and Jiwaka.

The eco-lodge specialises in offering eco-tourism products and services such as trekking, bird watching, star gazing, culture and the rich flora and faunas.

The Kumura Foundation was established to support healthcare, education, Eco-Tourism and other much needed community development projects.

Founder Vincent Kumura said the foundation aims to help improve the livelihood of the poor and disadvantaged people of remote Bundi.

He said this is part of his community service work for the people of remote Bundi.

Kumura was the 2016 Digicel PNG Foundation Men of Honour Community Ingenuity Awardee for the numerous volunteer community services he did for the people of Bundi since 2013.

The patients received medical check-up by the six member medical team from Kundiawa Hospital on October 11-17 at Yandera, Upper Bundi.

Among the patients were two 50-year-olds, one with stage four cervical cancer and the other with chronic Henson disease, who suffered severe abdominal pains and renal issues for six years.

The cancer patient was referred by the visiting medical team for urgent treatment and blood transfusion at the Kundiawa Hospital.

A four-year-old female patient with chronic productive cough was also among the five patients being airlifted.

The glasses will be donated to eye patients for free by Community impact projects director Vincent Kumura this week.

The Men of Honour and the Community Ingenuity Award Winner will continue his community work in the rural areas and will be distributing the glasses during a health outreach program.

The outreach program will be carried out from Oct 10-12 at Snow Pass in Bundi.

The glasses were sent by Dr. Marc Richmond of California and were donated by individuals and organizations in the United States.

Eco-tourism business owner Vincent Kumura described this sector in the tourism industry as a sleeping giant that is now a fast growing industry.

Kumura said large scale tourism organizations or businesses must not dominate every single aspect of the tourism market.

He said this will kill equal participation by locals, discourage specialisation, slow economic growth and increase poverty.

To further develop the industry, Kumura says all stakeholders must work together.