Tembari Children's Care (TCC) Inc

Queen of Tembari 2012 proclaimed

2011-12-05T13:13:00.008+10:00

Phyllis Topogo, 14, proclaimed the Queen of Tembari for 2012.

Ms Topogo is being led by her escort in front of the audience after which she delivered her speech about her desire to help raise funds for the needy children in her province of Oro.

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

A Friend of Tembari

A 14-year-old girl from Ioma 1, Oro province, in the northern side of Papua New Guinea has been named Queen of Tembari for 2012.

Phylis Topogo bested six other “princesses” who represented their respective villages in the recent Oro-Tembari cultural dance presentation held as part of this year’s celebration of Children’s International Day at the Botanical Garden in Port Moresby.

Ms Topogo and the other princesses belonged to their respective sing-sing groups that performed during the event.

Each of the groups presented their village’s traditional dance.

The princess of each dance troupe then spoke to the audience about her desire to help raise funds for the unfortunate children of their province while being evaluated by a panel of three judges.

Hearing all them spoke, the judges decided that Ms Topogo should be the first Queen of Tembari because she was able to convince the audience that she would be able to do the job of fundraising.

Incidentally, Phyllis is a beneficiary of the Tembari Children’s Care (TCC), a day care facility at ATS Oro settlement at 7 Mile outside Port Moresby.

The young girl, who is one of the abandoned children under the care of Tembari, belong to a tribe in Ioma 1, in Oro province.

Penny Sage-embo, Tembari founder and program coordinator, said that Phyllis has been briefed on her role as Queen of Tembari, particularly of her job to help raise funds for the less-privileged children in Oro province during the year 2012.

The other sing-sing dance troupe princess were Alice Sagembo, 20, who represented Tembari; Rebecca Sepora, 15, of Kokoda; Shondie Dumbu, 14, of Ioma 2; Arnet Hivi, 14, of Kivori-Kairuku; Julie Iari, 15, of Central Kaiva; and Brenna Yaugira, 18, of Tufi.

The cultural presentation was sponsored by Tembari as a means to raise funds for its beneficiary children in Oro province, who are orphans, abandoned, unfortunate and neglected.

Tembari is hoping to set up a facility that would cater for those children, according to Tembari founder Penny Sage-embo.

Donations toward the cause are still welcomed. Donors may call Patison Kopada, Tembari administration, on cellphone 72619552 and Penny Sage-embo, Tembari founder, on 71256547.

The Ioma 1 dance troupe in action.

Tembari receives books from Buk Bilong Pikinini

2011-11-27T13:46:00.010+10:00

Expatriate journalist Alfredo P Hernandez receives from Francesca Kupe, office manager of Buk Bilong Pikinini, a "bilum" of children’s books which are part of the 347 pieces of old and new books donated to Tembari Children’s Care (TCC) last Wednesday. – Photo courtesy of Buk Bilong Pikinini.

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

A Friend of Tembari Children

THE Tembari children were proud recipients of books from Buk Bilong Pikinini (Books for Children), a book charity based in Port Moresby.

The donation was turned over to me last Wednesday by Aussie expatriate Diane Popple, children’s book evaluator, and Francesca Kupe, office manager of Buk Bilong Pikinini.

The many boxes that I received contained 347 new and used books collected from different libraries and publishing houses in Australia as well as individual donors.

This donation is very timely because we have a growing number of schoolchildren and preschoolers who, at their young age, needed to be exposed to the joys of reading.

These books would help us start a mini-library which would lend books that our young learners at Tembari would have particular interest in.

Buk Bilong Pikinini aims to focus on early learning (as a key to literacy) through the creation of small libraries in communities based localities such as near settlements, clinics and market places.

“We collect books from private individuals and publishing houses and seek to obtain funding for our libraries through various fundraising efforts as well as through corporate sponsorships,” BBP said on its website.

For the school year 2012, Tembari will have 117 schoolchildren in elementary and primary schools and about 110 young learners at the facility’s preschool.

Ms Popple told me that they heard about Tembari children from a friend of hers, Ms Narelle Levey, who teaches at the Ela Murray International School (EMIS) in Port Moresby.

She said that one of her kids is studying at the school.

Ms Popple said that My Levey had recommended Tembari tobe one of the recipients of book donations that BBP would be making in the next several weeks.

Ms Popple contacted me through email to relay the good news about a bunch of books that would be coming to Tembari.

Thanks a lot, Buk Bilong Pikinini!

Email the blogger: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and aphernandez58@yahoo.com

Oro community sing-sing: Lucky day for German couple

2011-11-27T13:00:00.023+10:00

Ruddy is a member of the Kokoda cultural dance troupe that performed at the Oro community sing-sing show at the Botanical Garden on Saturday. The show was a fundraising effort of the Tembari Children’s Care (TCC) day care facility.

Ruddy (right) performing with her dance troupe. – More pictures by AP HERNANDEZ after the story.

By ALREDO P HERNANDEZ

A Friend of Tembari Children

A GERMAN couple who were on the last day of their tour of Papua New Guinea felt very lucky on Saturday.

“We have been here in PNG for a month, visiting villages that included those along Sepik river in the hope that we could see sing-sing groups there…” said Stefan and Christina Lang.

“But there was none … and we were in Lae for the same thing … but it was not the season for such a cultural show… so we moved around some more until we came back to Port Moresby,” Stefan told me.

The couplewere to leave the city today on their way back home via Manila.

“So, we decided to just visit the Botanical Garden (in Port Moresby) for some more interesting pictures that we could shoot and show back home,” Stefan said.

“But when we were at the gate, we saw a group of children in traditional attire … we asked what was it for and we were told that there would be a sing-sing show going to be held today …”

“We got excited and immediately bought tickets,” Christina said.

The show that the couple encountered was actually the one presented by the children from Oro settlement at 7 Mile outside Port Moresby.

On Saturday, about 80 children from seven ethnic groups in Oro province gathered for a rare presentation of traditional dances at the Botanical Garden.

The children, who belonged to seven villages in their home province of Oro, presented the respective tribal dances of their villages.

The dancers were from Tufi, Oro province; Central Kaiva, Oro province; Kivori-Kairuku, Central province; Central Ioma No. 1, Oro province; Central Ioma No. 2, Oro province; Kokoda, Central province; and Tembari group from Oro province.

Each of sing-sing group had its queen who competed for the title Queen Tembari of 2012.

Tembari referred to a day care facility called Tembari Children’s Care (TCC) which looks after about 200 unfortunate, abandoned and orphan children from the Oro settlement.

A number of those who participated in the dance are actually beneficiaries of Tembari, which is the show sponsor.

The sing-sing was Tembari’s contribution to the celebration of the World Children’s Day this month.

It was also held to raise fund for the unfortunate children back in Oro province.

After the show, the German couple made a token donation towards the fundraising effort.

Tembari is hoping to set up a facility that would cater for those children, according to Tembari co-founder Penny Sage-embo.

For your donations, please contact Patison Kopada, Tembari administrator, on telephone 726-19552 and cellphone 726-19552 and telephone 3422-047.

The Tembari sing-sing group.

The Oro Ioma No. 1 dance troupe

The Oro Ioma No. 2 dance troupe

Dance group from Kivori-Kairuku, Central

Dance group from Tufi, Oro province.

Dance group from Central Kaiva

Email the blogger: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and aphernandez58@yahoo.com

Another milestone for Tembari children

2011-11-20T12:15:00.015+10:00

The graduates of Tembari preschool. Of the 38 who will move to Grade 1 next January, 16 were unable to attend as they did not have the attire required for the occasion, as their guardians were unable to afford it. - Picture by AP HERNANDEZ

Blogger AP Hernandez poses for a picture with the preschool graduates. More photos after story. - Picture by TEMBARI

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children

ON SATURDAY, I felt as if I was a father of a child graduating from the preschool.

But then, I felt being more than just one father, because the 38 Tembari preschool children who hurdled their preschool education to move to Grade 1 next January, were all my children.
I have been taking care of them, alongwith TCC trio, Rishabh, Penny and Hayward; for quite sometime now, looking for people who would provide them food, money, materials, services and above all tender, loving care.

So, on Saturday, the people at Tembari were very proud.

This was because their effort to promote the well being of 100 preschoolers, 38 of whom who just graduated, and another batch 79 older children attending elementary and primary schools, had reached another milestone.

The impression from Mrs Lyneth Turia, school head mistress of Wardstrip Elementary School, about such endeavor was heartwarming.

She said: “Tembari is doing a great job of providing early education to the community’s less-fortunate school-age children and it is my duty to give them an opportunity to advance in their education -- in my school,” she said.

She said that the 38 graduates will get their slots at her school when it opens next January.

In fact, Mrs Turia has been a big fan of Tembari children, whom she began taking in since 2009, when the first batch of preschoolers moved to Grade 1.

This school year, Tembari has 100 preschoolers and 79

When the 38 new Grade 1’s enter Wardstrip next year, Tembari will be having a total of 117 learners.

“For the 2012 school year, Tembari children would be accounting for more than 10% of the total intake of Wardstrip elementary,” she said, adding that the school will have 1,085 places next year.

And for next year, our preschool would take more than 40 new learners – from families with means to educate their children and from those who don’t have, and therefore Tembari would have to look after them.

cost. Somehow we can do more for tembari children, but for more resources we need some more donors.

We are personally appealing to anybody who is able enough to
Since the number of beneficiaries have increased by 38, whose school fees would cost about K3,800 (US$1,700), on top of those who are now in the elementary and primary levels, we should be doubling our efforts to find donors to shoulder the cost. Somehow we can do more for tembari children, but for more resources we need some more donors, as per rishabh (founder) says, We need to do learn some Olympic games to tembari children that they can itentify on global level.

I am personally appealing to anybody who is able enough to fund the education of the Tembari children.

This is an opportunity for you to help these children, by taking a stake in their future.

Help us educate them.

Your input into their learning could shape the kind of persons they would be years from now.

In future, they could be one of those who would be running this nation.

We – you and me – should be concerned.

Wardstrip Elementary School Head Mistress, Lyneth Turia (left), hands over the prize to one of the preschooler's top student.

A mother scrutinizes the report card of her preschooler.

Hayward Sagembo, TCC’s Co-Founder and Director, and Penny Sagembo, TCC’s Co-Founder and Co-President, show off a clay pot dish they prepared for the graduation guests led by Wardstrip Elementary School Head Mistress Lyneth Turia.

Janet Tema, Tembari's coordinator for early childhood program, distributes the report cards to her learners.

Volunteer moms preparing lunch for the children after the graduation program on Saturday. - Pictures by AP HERNANDEZ

For feeback, email the blogger: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and aphernandez58@yahoo.com

Oro children in cultural show

2011-11-20T12:12:00.000+10:00

A GROUP of children from Oro settlement at 7 Mile outside Port Moresby will hold a cultural show as their share in the observance of the International Children’s Day.

The cultural presentation will be held at the Botanical Garden’s Picnic Point on November 26.

Numbering about 100, the children will be performing traditional dances of their home villages, which lie along the Kumusi River in Oro province.

The participants, who ages ranged from 18 and below, represented the seven districts of Oro settlement.

During the daylong cultural presentation, the quest for Miss Tembari 2012 will also be held.

Each district will have a contestant to vie for the title, who will be judged according to their performance as cultural dancers and on their replies as to why they would like to be the Queen of Tembari.

Three community leaders from the settlement and three expatriate guests will make up the judging panel.

The title winner will raise funds for the Tembari children during the year of her reign.

The cultural show also aimed to raise funds to build a Tembari Chilren’s Care (TCC) resource centre in Oro province and to support the children’s education.

Donations towards the children’s education will be highly appreciated.

Sponsored by Tembari, the even is part of the day care facility’s community outreach programme.

Gate tickets are available at K15 – adults, and K5 – children.

For more information, please contact Patison Kopada, Tembari administrator, on telephone 726-19552 and cellphone 726-19552 and telephone 3422-047.

Curtain Bros delivers 20TEU container

2011-11-13T13:15:00.005+10:00

Justin McGann walks up the hill to measure the length of the perimeter that borders the property occupied by Tembari Children’s Care at Oro community at 7 Mile outside Port Moresby.

Justin comes down from the hill, still counting the paces he made from the time he started going up the terrain. – Photos by ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ, Port Moresby, PNG.

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children

ON Saturday, a 20TEU container was delivered to Tembari.

It is a donation from Curtains Bros, an engineering giant in Papua New Guinea, with headquarters in Australia, that is involved in massive projects at various PNG LNG sites in the highlands and elsewhere.

The delivery day, Mr Cameron got in touch with us to find out where Tembari is located. And we told him.

Hearing about the place, he said he’s familiar with it. There would be no problem getting there with the goods, he assured us.

The container donation was a response to our earlier appeal for such a facility.

Earlier, Justin McGann, another executive at Curtain Bros, sent an email to say that his company would like to donate one unit, which we could use to store our foodstuff and other facilities like freezers, refrigerators, cooking wares and many others.

Until today, foodstuff donations are kept at a container that used to be a classroom that also doubles as an office, a library/reading space and of course, storage.

The whole place is a mess, with all these things sitting together in a very tight place.

At Tembari, we have been feeing the need for a decent space to work in and this could only come once another container is given to us by some kind donor.
Finally, on Saturday, the thing arrived.

And aside from sending us the container, Curtain Bros would also like to send one of its bulldozers to reclaim some square meters from the hillside that borders our paved premises.

We have started demolishing that portion of the hill so we could get some more space for Tembari premises, in preparation for the construction of a classroom building for our preschool children.

But a few hours bulldozer work had cost us a fortune – courtesy of the contractor who charged us K900 for a five-hour work. And yet the job has remained unfinished.

Mr McGann had earlier visited the Tembari premises to see for himself the extent of earthwork that would be needed once he sent us the “dozer”.

And curious about the perimeter that borders our property that covers more than 3,000sqm, he went up the hill and measured it by walking and counting the steps he made.

An experienced bushman, Mr McGann was accurate almost to the mark when he came down from the hill with his measurement.

And he told us that should we need a surveyor to prepare a map of the property that Tembari occupies, he could organize a team of surveyor quickly – for free.

In PNG, the services of a surveyor cost a fortune and a penny-less charity like Tembari would not be able to afford it.

Curtain Bros is standing by for this. Just holler them.

Thanks, Justin McGann .. thanks Rod Cameron. Thanks Curtain Bros for your generosity.

Email the writer: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and aphernandez58@yahoo.com

Filipino community adopts Tembari children this Christmas

2011-11-13T13:11:00.002+10:00

The sing-sing group of Tembari that will perform at the Christmas part of the Filipino Association of PNG on Sunday, December 4. The children have been invited as FAPNG guests. – Photo by ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ, Port Moresby, PNG.

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children

THAT Christmas is finally here has been confirmed to me by the giant Christmas tree at the parking lot of the Vision City Megamall in Port Moresby.

And of course, the stores that have begun to fill up the first and second floor of the mall have also started dressing up their interiors in time for the Christmas holidays.

And the good news is that the Filipino community has decided to adopt the Tembari children this Christmas.

Already, the Filipino Association of PNG (FAPNG) has launched a campaign to collect old and used clothing and other goodies, which it will give as Christmas presents to the children of the Tembari Children Care (TCC), a day care facility at 7 Mile outside the city.

Starting this Monday, FAPNG will set up donation drop boxes at Vision City Hypermart, SVS supermart BS Mart and at Filipino restaurant The Point.

The goodies would be turned over to Tembari children early next month, shortly before the association holds annual Christmas party on December 4.

The party has to be held earlier as most of FAPNG members are flying home for the holidays.

At its latest meeting, the FAPNG council decided that the Pinoy’s coming Christmas celebration should involve the community instead of enjoying the day among themselves.

This way, the event would have relevance that FAPNG has been trying to achieve – to cheer up unfortunate children who, luckily, belong to Tembari.

And at the party, 10 Tembari children will be invited to meet the Filipino children –face to face. It would be a new experience for the Pinoy kids meeting their Papua New Guinean counterparts.

For its part, the 10 selected children are now practicing some traditional songs and dances that they will present to the Filipino community.

This is the first time ever a sing-song group (cultural group) would feature at the Filipino Christmas function.

I have been informed that FAPNG is considering adopting the Tembari children – for good - as a way of giving back to the community.

One reason is that if the group could focus its attention to the 200 or so less – privilege children of the facility, it would be able to witness whatever transformation they would undergo.

This way, the Filipinos would know if their assistance to Tembari is bearing fruits.

All this boils down to one important thing: That the Filipino community has taken up a big stake in the future of the Tembari children, and it wants to make sure that it is playing a vital part in changing their lives for the better.

By the way, FAPNG is headed by the new president, Rey Angeles, the proponent of the “adopt-the-Timbari Children” project.

An appeal: Christmas goodies for Tembari Children

2011-10-30T13:42:00.005+10:00

Santa Fredo distributing Xmas hampers to 114 Tembari children during a Christmas party last year. Santa Fredo is appealing for donors of Christmas items that he plans to distribute on December 17.

Christmas goodies distributed to 114 Tembari children during a Christmas party last year. Gift items were raised from goodies sent in by generous donors. This Christmas, there will be 200 kids who are looking forward to Chrismas presents.

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children

I AM PERSONALLY appealing to people who are financially able to help on behalf of my children – the Tembari kids.

Christmas is fast-approaching; the holiday season, however, would mean nothing to them. Blame this on their poverty.

In fact, each and every one of our 200 beneficiary children could only survive everyday because of the food and the special care they receive from The Center.

Otherwise, life for them would be miserable, always in the fang of persistent hunger. And outside the premises of The Center, hunger is everywhere.

And the poverty of the Tembari kids makes Christmas irrelevant.

Help me put meaning to the Birth of Jesus on the lives of these unfortunate children because right now, Christmas would just remain a flat, colorless word to them – materially and spiritually.

So, this coming Yuletide season, make it a bit hopeful, joyful and meaningful for them, at least on the material side of things.

Play an invisible Big Santa to them.

Send something that would make them happy – candies, chocolates, foodstuff, toys, clothes, or anything that you think would help them better their everyday life.

Did you see the smiles of your own kids when you gave them their presents last Christmas?

You can have the pleasure of imagining the same when the Tembari children receive your goodwill.

I’m pretty sure coughing up a few kina for Christmas stuffs wouldn’t necessarily make you poor.

If you have some idea about how to cheer up these kids, don’t hesitate to let me know.

I would be more than happy to coordinate and plan with you. My contacts are 324-6712 (office landline at The National newspaper, Editorial Department) and 72231984 (my cell phone number). Or my email addresses at the end of this blog.

My plan is to prepare a plastic bag of goodies (or hamper if you wish) for each of the Tembari children, which we would like to distribute on Saturday, December 17, during my special cooking gig at The Center.

(I wish, I could take their pictures with the goodies! And show them to you…)

This would be a big day for them, I’m pretty sure of this, having experienced the same during my younger days at out school’s Christmas party.

Help me make this a Christmas party for them on December 17, a Saturday, where they could sing carols while clutching in their hands a bag of goodies that you have sent.

It won’t cost you a lot to be a part of this special occasion. But the dividends would be tenfold because the 200 Tembari children will feel you are all Heaven-sent.

Contented children – the privileged ones like yours -- never think this way.

Of course, your other best option this Christmas is to ignore – totally ignore -- and imagine you’re not part of humanity that is about to honor the Holy Infant Jesus.

But to all of you, anyway, Merry Christmas!

Email the blogger: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and aphernandez58@yahoo.com

Curtain Bros (PNG) donates container van

2011-10-23T13:13:00.009+10:00

The Tembari Children’s Care compound. - More pics after the story.

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children

LAST Friday, I got a surprise news from the email: Curtain Bros (PNG) of Port Moresby would like to donate a 20TEU container van to Tembari.

The company is one of the prestigious and dominant groups operating in PNG doing an impressive array of engineering and transport expertise to the resource and construction industries. (visit http://www.curtainbros.com.pg)

With the real state boom in and out of the capital city alongside the booming construction business triggered by the on-going LNG projects, Curtain Bros has become one of the busiest of engineering groups.

Justin McGann, an executive at Curtain Bros, said the container van would help us store our foodstuff and other properties.

I don’t know how the company knew of our storage problems.

But I supposed that Curtain Bros is among the hundreds of companies in my email file receiving weekly updates on Tembari activities through my blog site www.tembari.blogspot.com.

And in one of my blog postings, I appealed for a donation of a container van which we could use as storage.

Curtain Bros had asked where Tembari could be found as it would like to deliver the item as soon as possible.

I really appreciate the company’s gesture.

It’s quite timely because we are accumulating materials donations – from cookware to white goods such as refrigerators and freezers, bags of rice and flour, cartons of tinned fish and cordial drinks – and storing them has become a big problem.

We badly need a secure storage for our food supply and materials and properties.

Just for instance, a few days ago, we received a donation of 67 cartons of foodstuff and such were more than enough to clog up every space available at our little office, which happens to be a renovated container van also.

On top of this are foodstuff delivered by donors just a few days ago.

Sometime last year, on the night immediately after the first delivery of several bags of rice and cartons of fresh milk was made, courtesy of one of our earliest donors, a group of village raskols tried to break into the container van where the foodstuff were stored.

But the container van probed to be a sturdy piece of steel enclosure, and the raskols took off empty handed.

Immediately, we reported the incident to the community leadership, who later identified the culprits and warned them never to touch Tembari again.

But we don’t want to be too trusting.

The container van is the only solution to frustrating future theft.

Since then, I have never stopped wishing for one (container van) for Tembari.

Also, we have started expanding our premises to provide space for future facilities like the food storage out of container van from Curtain Bros.

What I am trying to say is that we are trying to reclaim several square meters of land area from the hillside immediately next to the Tembari center.

We are doing this using a hired bulldozer to scrape the hillside to carve out new area of paved grounds around our premises.

So far, we had done two days of land-scraping through a hired bulldozer, costing us at least K1,000 (US$435) for a four-hour equipment use.

But there’s still a big area to cover, which would mean more kina to bleed on.

I hope Curtain Bros appreciate our needs and spare us one of their earthmoving machines – for free -- to complete the job for us.

But whatever further assistance that Curtain Bros could extend to Tembari on behalf of our beneficiary children, we would greatly appreciate it.

Help from our supporters has always been a big deal.

But the impact of the gesture is greater when it comes from the unexpected -- such as Curtain Bros.

A million thanks to you.

An unfinished portion of ground works at Tembari premises. The earthwork was carried out by a hired bulldozer over two days but the job has not been completed so far. Tembari is reclaiming some paved ground from the hillside as part of its ground-expansion project to accommodate a 19m x 7m classroom building for construction by January 2012.

The front of Tembari compound showing landfill from the earthwork.

Email the blogger for reaction: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and aphernandez58@yahoo.com

Resource developer Vanimo Jaya Ltd donates computer

2011-10-23T12:58:00.008+10:00

Chew Pang Heng (center) with Hayward Sagembo (left), president of Tembari Children's Care (TCC) and Andrew Tiong, RH (PNG) Group general manager for operations. Mr Chew and a group of Malaysian Chinese expatriates belonging to the Methodist Church in Port Moresby visited Tembari sometime ago for a fellowship with the children.

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children

FINALLY after so much delay, Tembari is again able to get a working computer to help Patison, our administrator, and Penny, Tembari’s founder and program coordinator, document statistics on our beneficiary children, whose number boomed to 200, more or less, from 78 at the end of 2009.

As a legally-registered community-based organization (CBO), Tembari has grown in such a way that dealing with its statistics has ceased to be a joke and instead became a nightmare.

And we don’t have a working computer. The one that we were using conked out many weeks ago, leaving us helpless with our statistics work.

Our growth could be described as “by leaps and bounds” in terms of the number of beneficiary children we are looking after these days and in terms of so-called properties that we started accumulating at the start of 2010 to these days that included forks and spoons, plates, glasses, pots and cookware, chairs, books, stationery, foodstuff – from bags of rice to cartons of tinned fish and snack foods -- to the bigger items like refrigerators (we have two units) and freezers (two units), audio visual facilities (two units of DVD players and a flat screen), computer sets (two units) and furniture and fixtures.

This latest figure of our population, which is 200, is threatening to increase a bit more, because the number of unfortunate and less-privileged children in the community seemed to increase every time and the temptation to list them into Tembari system, as far as the management is concerned, is getting irresistible.

But I have always restrained the Tembari management from doing so, telling that “please, let’s keep our population at that … 200 ... because finding new sources of food and funding is now beginning to get difficult”, -- to which a new donor, who learned of my little problem, has seemed to agree with me.

And not mention our paid staff composed of preschool teachers, administrator and volunteer mothers whose records have to be put in black-and-white.

But before I get on with my statistics despair, I would like to thank our computer donor – the Vanimo Jaya Ltd, a resource developer whose operations are based in Vanimo, a far-flung north-western PNG township on the borders of Indonesia’s West Papua province (Irayan Jaya) and Papua New Guinea.

The Port Moresby-based Vanimo Jaya is further divided into three or more business concerns involved in logging, sawmill, real estate, timber exports and heavy equipment-providing.

When its director Chew Pang Heng visited Tembari last month, along with his fellow members in the Methodist Church composed of Malaysian-Chinese expats in Port Moresby for a fellowship with the children, he noticed that our CPU (computer) at the office was not plugged into the power-source.

“What must be the problem?” he inquired and I told him that it (CPU) did not have power, would not boot, and therefore, was practically “dead”.

And I told him the million things that we have to document, among them the children’s individual profiles, school records (both preschool and elementary/primary) and of course our growing number of small and big properties from donors.

I told Mr Chew that the schoolchildren’s statistics alone – names, school marks, ages, sex, and many more -- were killing both Penny and Patison as they could not just do it manually.

And worse, the current school year is ending and a new one is coming.

That means updated stats on the children should be ready by January so that we could present it to potential donors who may be able to pay for their school fees.

Not to mention the communications we have to send out to potential donors and groups seeking to know what Tembari is all about.

Mr Chew had one resolve: “No worries, Alfredo, you’ll get a new one … give me sometime … that’s good as done…”

So, last Thursday, he called me to tell the good news that I could pick up the CPU anytime, which I did last Friday.

We have to organize our records, most important, our financial records.

Because very soon, a volunteer auditor from some prestigious audit group in Port Moresby would start looking into our records – funds, funding sources, properties, spending, disbursement and all – and come up with an official financial statement that would show our financial standing as a CBO receiving donated funds and materials.

The auditor’s concern would be the funds that went into Tembari’s two bank accounts with Bank South Pacific and Westpac Bank.

For all you know, during the last three months, a total of K50,000 (about US$22,000) went into our two bank accounts – a combined donation from the Malaysian Association of PNG (MAPNG) and the Filipino Association of PNG (FAPNG).

The first question seemed to be, as far as the auditor is concerned is: How are we managing our funds?

All this should be put in black and white, and that is through statistics that we could only make a reality with the new computer unit that is now at hand.

I know how important such financial statements are, myself being an accountant many years ago.

And these days, funding sources and funding institutions are more particular with financial statements that charity groups like Tembari would be able to present should it decide to seek funding.

A credible financial statement is a big plus for any fund seekers like Tembari, especially so when it was certified by a chartered (licensed) accountant-auditor.

And to achieve this, all will have to begin with properly organized figures and such could only be processed properly with the use of the computer.

During those days when I was doing accounting jobs – posting and recording figures and preparing the financial statements -- we did everything manually, and computer as they are known today were still unheard of.

And as Tembari moves on, it would be dealing with a lot of statistics, which have to be computer-processed.

Like for instance, this little incident that I encountered yesterday at the supermarket in Port Moresby.

I was shopping around when one of our regular donors – Elaine Blagnaut, a white South African expatriate with RBP Trading in Port Moresby – crossed my path and broke the news to me:

“We’re going to have an early Christmas party for Tembari kids last week of November,” she told me.

I knew immediately why the early Christmas party: They will be flying back to South Africa for the Christmas holidays and that they would like to cheer the children, as they did last year, before going away.

“I need to know how many kids we got now, how many girls, how many boys, their ages, their clothes’ sizes ... and so on and so forth … okay …?”

Yeah. 200 kids. It’s a long list to tabulate.

Thanks Mr Chew for the computer. It will make our job doing the stats a bit easy this time.

Mr Chew (second from left)with Pastor King Ming Wu (left) and Andrew Tiong pose with Tembari children.- Photos by AP HERNANDEZ, Port Moresby, PNG.

Email the blogger: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and aphernandez58@yahoo.com

An opportunity to help

2011-10-23T12:44:00.008+10:00

A purified water dispenser donated by Pure Water Company, along with a weekly supply of 20 containers (19 liters) of purified water. (More pics after the story.)

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children

SOMETIME ago, I was asked by a friend why I was helping the Tembari children.

My answer was simple: I have the opportunity to help, and this opportunity has kept me going until these days.

I know very well that many of you, my dear readers, would want to help the needy like the Tembari children -- who are abandoned, unfortunate and orphans.

But the problem is that you don't have that opportunity to do so.

There could be some reasons: you may be physically ill and in sickbed, you may not have the money or the materials to part with; or that you may be in jail.

But then, in your mind, you wanted to help - only this opportunity did not exist.

In my case, I saw this opportunity about two years ago. And without really thinking so much about it, I just seized it!

That was when I met the Tembari children in December of 2009.

That time, they were only 78 ... I found out to my dismay that they were only eating three times a week.

They were only eating on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

And the food they ate were kaukau (sweet potato), taro, sliced bread, some veggies and cordial drinks - or the variations of them.

In between these three meal days, I really did not know what they ate.

You may be asking why?

The answer is simple: Tembari, as a day care facility, did not have decent funding.

It was practically unknown outside the community where it operated at ATS Oro Settlement, at 7-Mile, outside Port Moresby.

The community volunteer mothers who were running this facility had to chip in money from their own pockets so that the children could eat - even if it was only for three times a week.

So, when I met the children again at the beginning of last year, I promised them that I would look for people who would give them food, money, materials, encouragement and most of all - tender, loving care.

These days, the number of Tembari children has grown from 78 in 2009 to more or less 200.

I am proud to tell you that they are now having meals twice a day - noon snacks and early dinner of rice and tinned fish or tinned meat and veggies -- from Monday to Saturday.

Once in a while a donor would deliver frozen fish – a catch from his company’s commercial fishing boats.

And the children are now washing their hands before every meal and are drinking clean (purified) water and could have it for as long as they want.

A generous donor has seen to it that they have more than enough drinking water every day.

On occasion, some donors would send boxes of new and slightly used clothing which the kids could wear everyday.

And the good news is that 100 of them are attending pre-school education right at Tembari center, and 79 children are attending elementary and primary schools in Port Moresby.

Their school fees had been paid for by generous donors.

All these positive changes in the lives of the Tembari children came to materialize because there have been a number of individuals, corporate entities and groups who continually believed in the merit of what we, at Tembari, are doing for these children.

But just like any organization, big or small, the Tembari Children’s Care (TCC) needs a lot of things to go on and work effectively.

The Tembari day care facility continuously needs funding to support the daily feeding program.

The children need food - like rice, tinned fish, tinned meat and other foodstuff from noodles to flour and more - to help them grow just like other normal but luckier children in Papua New Guinea and across the globe.

Tembari needs materials and facilities that would help us enhance the services that we provide the children every day.

And most important, they need education.

Education is the only key to making them the kind of leaders whom we would like to see running this country many, many years from now.

But first they have to be good citizens, and they could be through good education, which Tembari is trying to start on its own efforts with its 100 preschoolers and 79 elementary and primary pupils.

Through this blog, I am offering you the same opportunity to help the Tembari children, like the very same opportunity I had more than a year ago.

Just like the very same opportunity that the modest number of our donors and supporters had when they first learned about the Tembari children.

When they decided to help, our donors and supporters knew that they were taking a big stake in their future.

That's why they made it a point that their assistance is sustainable and continuing.

Indeed, all of them have become stakeholders in Tembari children's future.

To readers out there, each and every one of you could be one stakeholder yourself.

This is now your opportunity.

I REPEAT: THIS IS NOW YOUR OPPORTUNITY to help the Tembari children.

The help that I do to the kid is not so much, but with you and me together, it could come up bigger and more meaningful.

Tembari children watch a bulk water contractor siphons water to Tembari’s 5,000-liter water tank, a donation from High Energy Co, a fishing company based in Port Moresby. Bulk water is delivered to the day care center every first week of the month.

A volunteer mother assists Tembari children in washing their hands before having lunch.

Penny Sage-embo, Tembari founder and program coordinator and a beneficiary kid display one of the new clothing items donated by the children of The Ella Muray International School (TEMIS) of Port Moresby.

Tembari kids relax while waiting for the rest of the food bowls distributed to other kids during lunch.

A Tembari kid posing while waiting for the plastic container to fill up. The 5,000-liter water tank was a donation from Pure Water Company while the other water tank (background) was donated by RH Foundation.

Email the blogger: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and aphernandez58@yahoo.com

Filipino Association of PNG – always there for Tembari kids

2011-10-16T13:06:00.005+10:00

Filipino comic Chubbylita duels with a guest from the Filipino community during Hatid-Saya 2011 dinner-concert featuring Manila performers Nina, The Soul Siren, Rowell Quizon and Chubbylita. The fundraising concert was spearheaded by the Filipino Association of PNG (FAPNG) headed by Tony Valdez, its president, for the benefit of Tembari children and Friends Foundation. - Photo by AP HERNANDEZ, Port Moresby, PNG/September 23, 2011

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children

LAST WEEK, the Tembari Children’s Care (TCC) received a generous donation of K10,000 (US$4,315) to support its daily feeding activities for about 200 children under its care.

This funding came from the Filipino community in Port Moesby, through the Filipino Association of PNG (FAPNG) headed by Tony Valdez, its president.

The money was raised from the recent two-night Hatid Saya 2011 dinner-concert that featured three known entertainers from Metro Manila’s popular concert circuits, namely everybody’s favorite Nina, The Soul Siren, TV and recording star Rowell Quizon, and of course the ridiculously hilarious Chubbylita.

For all you know, K10,000 is no small money. In Philippine currency, it amounts to more than PHP180,000.00 and in US dollars, it is US$4,315.00.

Surely, the Tembari children are very lucky to receive this kind of assistance; this kind of money doesn’t come easy and doesn’t come to every soup kitchen and day care outfit.

There are some 15 soup kitchens within and outside Port Moresby and I know they have yet to receive this kind of assistance that Tembari is getting now.

The truth of the matter is that at the end of 2009, Tembari and the rest of these soup kitchens – community-based organizations (CBOs) providing meals to unfortunate children within the community they operate – were on the same boat – all of them were penniless and had a hard time providing decent meals to their beneficiary children.

Tembari could only provide meals, at the most, three times a week. And the meals that the kids ate were just kaukau (sweet potato), taro, sliced bread; and if lucky, the kids could have cordial drinks.

And in between these meal days, I did not know what the children ate.

However, at the start of 2010, the picture had changed for the better for Tembari kids, while the rest of their counterparts around Port Moresby did not.

It was at the beginning of last year when generous and kind donors started coming in, thus making a great change in the lives of the children.

They began having regular meals – from Monday to Saturday – of rice and tinned fish, if not tinned meat, and veggies. They have started to drink fresh milk as well.

And lately, with more food donations coming in, the kids, particularly our preschoolers now numbering 100, are having meals twice a day – that is noon time snacks and early dinner -- together with the rest of the older children, who come home in the afternoon from Port Moresby elementary schools they attended to everyday.

And they are now drinking clean water, which they can gulp to their heart’s desire – thanks to generous donor Pure Water company which delivers 20 containers (19 liters) of purified water each week.

Before this, the children did not have much clean water to drink after every meal.

And on their free time, the kids could watch children’s educational show and kiddy movies on DVD. This is the latest service that we provide them.

This has been made possible by support from our donors and benefactors.

Among them is the FAPNG.

For all you know, this had been the third occasion that the Pinoy association had come to help us.

It first began during the last year of Joey Sena’s FAPNG presidency in 2010, when it donated K5,000 raised from the same Hatid-Saya concert marking PNG’s independence, which fell on the month of September.

The Hatid Saya dinner concert has been FAPNG’s fundraising project each year to help charitable groups in Port Moresby and to fund its operations.

Joey has known the Tembari children even before his administration decided to help them financially.

Joey, on behalf of their family business Universal Ventures, donated materials to Tembari, which until now are still being used at the center.

The generous torch has been carried on by Tony Valdes when he assumed the leadership of FAPNG this year.

Early this year when they were planning to stage the yearly Valentine Day concert – also featuring Filipino performers – he and his officers agreed to donate K5,000.

Tony told the FAPNG officers of Tembari administration’s thankless job of providing for the needs of its children, who are abandoned, neglected and orphans – former street children in Oro settlement outside Port Moresby.

Then, FAPNG followed it up last week with a generous donation of K10,000 from the recent Hatid Saya fund-raising concert.

Just like Joey, Tony and two of his work colleagues at HiTRON – Jocelyn and Lourdes – have been, on their own, sending assistance to Tembari kids whenever they learned of their need for something, whether it is food or money.

It was quite funny because sometime last July, Tony had to ask my permission “if they – the FAPNG – could donate the proceeds of the Hatid Saya 2011 concert to Tembari”.

Who could refuse such an offer?

These past two years since I joined Tembari as volunteer worker, I have been looking for people who could give the children food, money and materials.

This has been my self-appointed job for the children.

When I decided to volunteer my time at the start of 2010, I promised the children (there were only 78) that I would look for people who could give them money, food and materials.

I found them as well as the goodies. But I can’t just stop looking.

The number of children has grown to 200, and so their needs for food and other services.

In the case of FAPNG, I did not look for them.

They offered to help.

And that’s really moving.

Thanks Tony… thanks FAPNG 2011-12 officers!!!

For comment, please email the blogger: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and aphernandez58@yahoo.com

A heap of goodies from Pacific Industries

2011-10-16T12:59:00.009+10:00

South African expatriate Elaine Blagnaut hands over to Hayward Sagembo, TCC president, a plastic bag of foodstuff upon their arrival at the center recently, while compatriot Louise Piek, also a supporter, looks on. That day, Elaine dropped off 20 bags of rice and tinned fish to assist the center in its daily feeding program for the 200 beneficiary children. Last Thursday, she hauled off 67 cartons of snack goodies for the children, a donation from Pacific Industries of Port Moresby. – More pictures by AP HERNANDEZ after the story.

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children

LAST Thursday, a mini-truck load of snack goodies was delivered to Tembari, courtesy of Pacific Industries, maker of cordial drink Gold Spot.

The surprise delivery consisted of 67 cartons of munchies, cookies, biscuits, chocolate bars and cordial drinks.

It was coordinated by South African expatriate Elaine Blagnaut, a regular donor, who, sometime last May, told the story of Tembari children to a friend-executive of Pacific Industries Spencer Trusler, also a South African.

Spencer is Pacific Industries sales manager for Papua New Guinea.

When I was at Tembari center last Saturday (I was unable to come yesterday October 15, as something went wrong with my car), I noticed that our stock of snack foods was quite low already, and would only be good for another three days.

It was heartening, really that Elaine has been able to connect soon enough and fill up the gap.

The truth is Pacific Industries has been a regular donor to Tembari children through its general manager Cary Warren and company quality control chemist, Filipino expat and friend John Villalba.

Early last year, Cary committed to a monthly supply of four six-liter cartons of the concentrate flavored drink, popularly known here in PNG as cordial.

But during the last three months, I was unable to drop by at PI offices at 6 Miles to collect the donation, owing to my tight schedule during the pick up days.

Of course, Cary would also advise me about other snack food donations whenever they were available.

In the recent Hatid Saya 2011 dinner-concert in Port Moresby, which raised funds for Tembari children and Friends Foundation, Pacific Industries, through Cary, was one of the many corporate sponsors. Cary bought a table for 10 worth K3,000 (US$1,300).

The Independence month fundraiser was spearheaded by The Filipino Association of Papua New Guinea (FAPNG).

For more than a year now, Elaine has been in loved with the Tembari children that she has made it sure that they don’t miss out on their daily meals.

Whenever she has determined that our rice stock has run low, she would just popped at the center in her 4x4, with bags of rice good for at least 10 days. (The children these days consume at least 15kg of rice a day, from Monday to Saturday, for a total of 90kg (9 bags).

Well, to be exact, Elaine has made it a point that she delivers at least 16 bags (10kg per) every month, plus some other small stuff that she would distribute to the children.

Elaine came to know about Tembari children through her compatriot Andre Potgieter, who is now based in northern PNG.

Then Port Moresby-based, Andre had donated rice regularly. In fact, he was one of the first donors who talked to me about helping Tembari children when I began looking for donors in early 2010.

When he asked me what the children needed, I told him: “We need a lot of rice …”

And he delivered.

But when he was assigned by his company – the RBP Trading -- in Manus in July of 2010 as the company’s business there has flourished, Andre made it sure that somebody took his place.

Elaine, the admin executive at RBP Trading, took over the job, until today.

And while she was sending stuff to Tembari on occasion, she also tried to tap her own network of expatriate friends for donations to Tembari.

Her latest “catch” has been Spencer Trusler of Pacific Industries, who made quite an impression with the Tembari children with his fourth delivery last week.

Thanks Elaine … thanks Spencer… thanks Cary … thanks John … thanks Pacific Industries.

Cary Warren (center), general manager of Pacific Industries, one of Tembari donors, gets a comic banter from Filipino funnyman and entertainer Richard Villanueva, while stand-up comic Chubbylita awaits her turn to unleash her own during the recent Hatid-Saya 2011 dinner concert spearheaded by the Filipino Association of PNG in Port Moresby. That night, Cary happened to celebrate his nth birthday at the dinner concert with company colleagues. Cary’s age had been the banter of jokes from the two Filipino comics, with Richard (in photo) making a funny assessment of the expatriate’s facial looks.

Cary gets the laugh of his life while Richard and Chubbylita make fun of him.

Cary, now with his Filipina fiancee, gets some more teasing repartees from the two comics to the delight of the audience, mostly from the Filipino expat community in Port Moresgby. – Pictures by AP HERNANDEZ, Port Moresby, PNG/2011.

Email the blogger: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and aphernandez58@yahoo.com

Hands washing among Tembari children -- no thanks to Colgate-Palmolive

2011-10-16T12:37:00.037+10:00

The Tembari children fall in line to wash their hands before having lunch. The kids were introduced to hands washing early last year as part of Tembari's effort to promote their health and well-being. This picture was taken one Saturday during a feeding session, which is carried out everyday from Monday to Saturday. - More hand washing pictures by AP HERNANDEZ after the story.

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children

LONG before Digicel, through its foundation, and Colgate-Palmolive initiated mass hands washing in Port Moresby last week in an obvious move to boost sales under the veil of “health consciousness and awareness drive”, the Tembari children have already been at it all along.

When I began my special Saturday lunch cooking for the children in January of 2010, the first thing that I did was to acquaint the Tembari kids with basic hygiene, starting from washing hands before every meal.

And this has been the scene just moments before meals were served– a long line of children who awaited their turn to the two basins of water and a cake of soap – which happened to be a “was-was” soap bar, it being cheap.

But before the actual daily-before-meal washing of hands could take place, the children were shown how washing of their hands should be done.

Penny Sage-embo, Tembari’s founder and program coordinator, held a hands washing demonstration with some 100 kids –preschoolers and school children – keenly watching Penny’s hand motions – the proper way to wash hands.

Penny told the kids that washing their hands properly with soap and water will get rid of germs their hands had picked up while they were playing or holding things. Or after using the toilet for that matter.

These germs, the children learned, were the cause of many diseases that could make them ill, like diarrhea and other stomach troubles.

The habit of washing their hands has been instilled among our children ever since.

And with abundant clean water at Tembari stored in its two 5,000-liter tanks – thanks to our generous donors who each delivers the volume once a month – the more I prodded our volunteer mothers to see to it that the children washed their hands properly and thoroughly every before meals.

Aware of the cost of a cake/bar of bath soap that is normally used for washing hands, I wrote to Colgate Palmolive in Port Moresby for some sort of a donation of this product for use of Tembari children, who during that time numbered 110 (they have grown to 200 nowadays).

Sadly, my request for such was turned down, saying something like Tembari children were not in the agenda.

Not to be discouraged, I approached one of the Filipino sales staff of RH Hypermart who handled Colgate-Palmolive account with RH hyper and pushed my request.

You see, RH Hypermart is Colgate-Pamolive’s biggest outlet for its products and maybe, as courtesy to the supermarket, particularly its general manager CC Ang, who personally endorsed such request, the soap company would accommodate the request.

Damn! It was also declined for the same reason earlier given.

My biased opinion is that Tembari children are “non-revenue” as far as the company is concerned and that they wouldn’t help the company generate sales and of course, profit.

So, I approached other donors for a donation of this product and eventually obtained it.

At Tembari, the scene of children washing hands brought back some childhood memories.

Washing my hands was initially introduced to me by my mother (of course), to which I did not pay attention much.

It was one of those things he told me that I ignored in one way or the other.

However, at school the same first-time activity was initiated by our school nurse in the classroom.

This time, with her wearing a speckless white uniform and wearing a white cap in her hair, I found her story about germs and all credible, so I decided to develop the habit.

Besides, our teacher, who was at the same time our class adviser, saw to it that every day our hands looked germ-less.

Otherwise, she would hit them with a stick and would send us to the nearby water tap with small piece of cake soap.

Well, some little story.

The big one is that the Tembari children need a lot of cake soap – any brand for that matter – for their daily hands washing.

Any donation of this item is most welcome.

Don’t bother about clean water to wash their hands with. It’s been taken care of.

Cheers!

Penny Sage-embo, Tembari founder and program coordinator demonstrating how the children should wash their hands with soap and water.

For comment, email the blogger: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and aphernandez58@yahoo.com

Filipino magazine in US features Tembari children

2011-10-16T12:34:00.005+10:00

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children

THE Tembari children are going places!

I was pleasantly surprised when a newly-launched Filipino magazine in Philadelphia, a big city in the state of Pennsylvania, USA, featured a story on Tembari children.

Launched last week, bi-monthly “Pinoy Magazine Worldwide” covers notable activities of Filipinos overseas. “Pinoy” is the other reference to Filipinos.

PMW’s publisher and editor, Freddy Panes, told me in an email that they came across with my blog site www.tembari.blogspot.com recently and decided to carry a condensed story of Tembari’s plan to put up a school building for its 100 preschool children.

Panes said that although Tembari is a Papua New Guinean community-based organization (CBO), it nevertheless involves a Filipino, “who has become a prime mover in the organization,” which, during the last several months, has become a part of public consciousness -- thanks to the media and donors and supporters.

Always an interesting copy, Tembari is looking after 200 unfortunate, abandoned and orphaned children from the Oro settlement outside of Port Moresby by providing them daily meals and preschool and elementary education, among many others.

Initially, the 16-page, full-color magazine printed about 10,000 copies, which have been circulated in Filipino communities in Philadelphia and Canada.

Its second edition coming towards the end of October will print 18,000 for more readers in California and New York where there are big Filipino communities.

Allotting two pages, the magazine carried pictures of Tembari children in action – while playing, having meals, falling in line to wash hands and others.

What is heartening is that it plugged Tembari Children’s Center (TCC) bank account with Australian bank Westpac Bank based in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

This is really great because it would give Filipino-Americans an opportunity to help Tembari through this bank account, which was intended to raise money for its preschool classrooms worth K100,000 (US$43,000).

By the way, Tembari’s Westpac Bank account is Tembari CHILDREN’S CARE CENTER (TCC), Westpac Bank Waigani Branch Port Moresby, Papua, New Guinea Account Number 600191578

“Pinoy Magazine Worldwide” strives to focus on Filipino Diaspora that has become an important part of the Filipino culture.

Truly, it deserves the support of major advertisers in Philadelphia who want to reach bigger number of Filipino-Americans.

And more important, PMW magazine deserves the support of all Fil-Ams, being an important venue for their views concerning Filipinos in their respective communities.

I hope that PMW would, on occasion, feature more activities of the Tembari children to let the world know that in this part of the world, there are children like them who need their help.

As I have said in the past, the future of Tembari children lies in the hands of generous and kind people.

Without them, I and my fellow volunteers won’t be of any help.

The two-page article on Tembari children featured in “Pinoy World Magazine” based in Philadelphia, USA.

For comments, email the blogger: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and aphernandez58@yahoo.com

Chinese from PNG Methodist Church cheer Tembari children

2011-10-09T12:51:00.018+10:00

Andrew Tiong speaks to the Tembari children, saying they brought them “Christian love’.

The members of the Chinese congregation sing Christian songs. – More pictures by AP HERNANDEZ after story.

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children

ON SATURDAY, the Chinese members of the Methodist congregation in Port Moresby visited the Tembari children and offered the day a religious touch.

“We would like to connect with Tembari children and show them ‘Christian love’,” said Andrew Tiong, one of the elders at the congregation.

He said he and about 20 of his brothers and sisters came to Tembari to connect with the children and be a part of their lives.

Simply said, they wanted to support Tembari’s effort in bringing a change in the lives of its wards that are abandoned, orphans and neglected – children whose future rests in the hands of our generous supporters and benefactors.

Seizing the opportunity of being with the children, the group performed some Christian songs to remind those who were present that the Tembari children were loved and that their love for them sprang from the Holy Bible.

Ever grateful as he was, Hayward Sagembo, Tembari Children’s Care president, thanked the delegation, saying that Tembari’s nutrition and education program would succeed because of the continuing support from our benefactors like them.

Sometime ago, a religious group visited Tembari, headed by the Chinese Methodist bishop whose name I could no longer recall, for a look-see of the center and its 200 beneficiary children.

In this group was Pastor King Ming Wu, who said they wanted to find out what they can do for the kids.

Indeed, she was one of the visitors on Saturday.

Happy about her return to Tembari to see the children one more time, Pastor Wu said they felt they could do something for the kids and that they would like to do it.

To our children’s unsophisticated mind, “Christian love” simply meant nice snacks of cup cakes and sweet scones, toys, foodstuff and clothing – a donation that fetched at least K3,000 (US$1,280).

Immediately after the brief ceremony to present the donation, the congregation members treated the kids with colorful snacks – a rarity in their lives.

You can just imagine the frenzy as they queued for the sweet goodies, to the delight of the Chinese delegation, and more so the volunteer mothers.

I had noticed that it was on Saturday that the last few 1kg packets of rice at Tembari’s store were finally cooked for the day’s meal of the children.

This meant that this Monday, there won’t be anything to cook unless Tembari spends from its daily petty cash to buy the grain, which it seldom did.

But as it has been said time and again, “God will provide” – a strong faith that has never failed.

Because among the donations were 200kg of rice good for 13 cooking days.

Well, with about 200 children to feed, we consume at the rate of 15kg of rice a day – from Monday to Saturday for a total of six days.

The Chinese donation would tide us over till the next rice delivery from a regular donor connects.

It was Ivan Lu, a Malaysian expatriate who is the senior executive director at RH (PNG), who brought the Chinese leadership of the Methodist Church to Tembari.

I remembered Ivan, who is a regular donor, calling me on my cell phone, requesting that I arrange for the Chinese Methodist bishop whose name I could now recall for an audience with the Tembari Children.

To me, it was an auspicious day.

Whenever some group expressed interest in seeing the Tembari children, it would – as always – start a long relationship between the two.

This has always been our experience.

The coming of the Chinese congregation into the world of our children is just one sign that we, at Tembari, are on the right track in our quest to provide them the services that would help shape their future for the better.

Thanks to our benefactors, because their support has made things working for our children.

And to our Chinese visitors, a BIG THANK YOU!

Our kids may belong to the United Church, but Christian love as professed by our Chinese friends from the Methodist Church has transcended beyond religious dogma.

Their quest to reach out to its needy brethren – the Tembari children for that matter -- springs from Bible teachings.

The group poses with some of the Tembari children in front of donated foodstuff and clothing.

A girl (center) reacts happily after receiving a rare treat -- a snack of cup cake, sweetened scone and a bottle of chilled water

Tembari kids showing off their snack foods.

Hayward Sagembo, Tembari president (right), gestures while presenting the program for the children to the members of the Chinese delegation.

Nathan Ho, RH (PNG) Group director (left) discusses something with Andrew Tiong, RGH (Group) PNG general manager for operations, about Tembari assistance, while a congregation member reacts.

Hayward Sagembo (left) gestures as he explained Tembar’s school building project while Chew Pang Heng (center) executive director of resource developer Vanimo Jaya Ltd, looks on.

Pastor King Ming Wu (left) watches while the children line up for some candy treats.

Two Chinese kids (right) help their mom out distribute candies.

A long line of kids await their turn to the candy.

Volunteer mom prepares some veggies for the day’s meal. Seen in the background are boxes of noodles donated by the Chinese visitors.

Two moms carrying a pot of newly-cooked rice.

Tembari boys pose while their buddy (center) plays the guitar.

Children play in the classroom while waiting for lunch to be served. – All pictures by AP HERNANDEZ, Port Moresby, PNG (October 8, 2011)

Email the blogger: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and aphernandez58@yahoo.com

Tembari staff and volunteers train in HIV/AIDS counseling

2011-10-09T12:32:00.003+10:00

The team from Tembari that underwent capacity-building training on HIV/AIDS counseling. Two of the members are not in the picture.

The cake to mark the graduation of Tembari’s volunteer and staff from the counseling course. – Pictures by PENNY SAGE-EMBO

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children

AS A community-based organization (CBO), the Tembari Children’s Care (TCC) actively involves itself in a range of community issues, with looking after the village’s unfortunate children being its primary concern.

And among such issues that plague the ATS Oro Community is the growing concern over HIV/AIDS virus.

There have already been a number of people from the community who died from the virus, and whose orphaned children (a few of them) are now among those under the care of Tembari.

While this deadly virus continues to kill many in Papua New Guinea, many people in the village remained ignorant of what HIV/AIDS issues are all about, or they just couldn’t care less.

Thus, they continued to have unprotected sex just to discover the dreaded truth that they are now living with the virus.

It goes without saying that they are also unaware of the need for voluntary HIV/AIDS testing to find out their health status in relation to the virus.

Still many in PNG who are themselves suspected carriers stayed away from the HIV/AIDS testing process, thus becoming a ticking time bomb.

It is a challenging task to tell the people about HIV/AIDS, much less encouraging them to submit for voluntary testing, says Patison Kopada, Tembari’s administrative officer.

This is despite the fact that there are a number of functioning VCT clinics in Port Moresby – 16 in all, both operated by NGOs and the government --- and in the provinces to look after those potential carriers.

“We were handicapped with the knowledge of how do deal with it,” Kopada said, referring to the villagers continued defiance to practice safe-sex.

But with the initial training that he and 14 other Tembari volunteer parents and staff received during a five-day training, Kopada said they were optimistic they could make a change in people’s attitude towards unprotected sex.

For five days last week, the 15 Tembari workers trained in “capacity building” on HIV/AIDS counseling conducted by AngliCare Stop AIDS, Care and Counseling.

The training components included basic counseling, home-based care, voluntary counseling and testing (VCT).

The Tembari trainees, who received certificates of recognition, will continue to receive refresher lectures from Penny Sage-embo, Tembari founder and project and program coordinator to enhance their knowledge on their new job.

Herself a certified HIV/AIDS counselor with an NGO based in Port Moresby, Sage-embo is more than capable of imparting more knowledge on the subject.

Sage-embo said that Tembari will soon launch the first salvo, so to speak, to attack the HIV/AIDS problem in the community.

“We will organize a small discussion group composed of parents and youths to know from them what they think of the disease.

“From there, we could begin attacking the problem,” Sage-embo said, aware of the fact that it could be an uphill battle for them.

But she said she would point them (the village parents) to some cases involving Tembari children who were orphaned after their parents, or one of their parents, had died of the virus.

Awareness, Sage-embo said, is the only shield that we could provide to the community to protect them from HIV/AIDS.

She is optimistic that there could be a change of attitude among the people.

“They should (change their attitude), otherwise it is them and their families who will suffer later,” Sage-embo stressed.

Indeed, Tembari doesn’t want to see more children from families devastated by HIV/AIDS.

Its trained volunteers and staff, and the cooperation from the community, may be able to lessen the damage, if not totally stop it.

But as in war, there would always be casualties.

The ill-prepared and the stubborn would always be the first to go down, and this is one scenario that keeps popping up every time.

For comments, email the blogger: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and aphernandez58@yahoo.com

K12,000-land survey (would-be) rip-off

2011-10-02T12:51:00.005+10:00

This is the compound that has been occupied by the Tembari Children's Care day care facility since 2003. Tembari is in the process of getting a land title to this property, which measures more or less 3,000sqm, so it could build a semi-permanent school building for its 100 preschoolers. - Picture by AP HERNANDEZ, Port Moresby, October 1, 2011

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children

JUST RECENTLY, we engaged a Papua New Guinean land surveyor to prepare a map covering the piece of property occupied by Tembari Children’s Care day care center facility at ATS Oro settlement.

He came to the center where we – I and a volunteer British expat executive -- discussed with him what we need: a land map showing the exact boundaries that enclosed more or less 3,000sqm of state land for which Tembari is applying a land title with the Lands Department.

Several days later, the fellow informed my colleague - the British guy – through email that for us to get an official land map, we have to come across with a K12,000 fee.

He said: The job would be quite messy as there is a land dispute over that property arising from some settlers’ claim of ownership.

The land surveyor had suggested that once we had decided to begin the actual land survey – which could take at least four to seven days -- we should get the police to maintain law and order at the site.

We immediately doubted his story.

As an entity, Tembari has been occupying the property in question since 2003, and the founder, Penny Sage-embo, who has maintained her home on the same piece of land for about 20 years now, has never heard of any claims over the property from the people in her area.

Meantime, in 2009, the Oro Community Association gave Tembari a clearance to develop the area as a day care facility.

Besides, after registering Tembari as a community based organization (CBO) with the Investment Promotion Authority (IPA), Penny has obtained a 99-year sub-lease over this land from the association, which has in itself a 99-year lease with the Lands Department over the entire Oro settlement.

A while after our British expat volunteer was informed of the K12,000 land surveying fee, he visited the Lands Department to follow up some documents related to Tembari’s land title application.

He did this while mulling over where to get the money to pay the surveyor.

At the Lands Department, a high-ranking officer, who my buddy has been in contact with, told him about a Papua New Guinean guy asking around his office regarding Tembari’s lot.

My buddy asked for his name.

He’s the guy whom we engaged to produce us the land title.

The Lands Department executive recalled: “The fellow has been asking around how much to charge Tembari for the land surveying job … and after talking to some technical staff involved in land titling process, he came up with K12,000,” he said.

Apparently, they are going to split the money among themselves, the Lands Department officer alleged, quoting what he learned from people who tipped him off about the would-be rip-off.

It dawned on us that this bastard has concocted a funny story about a land dispute in order to rob us of K12,000 in surveyor’s fee – money of which we have no way of producing right away.

Immediately, my colleague emailed him to say that Tembari right now is not in a position to meet his K12,000 service fee.

So, at the moment, we are scouting for another land surveying company.

Our need for a proper land title to the said property is really urgent.

The Australian High Commission in Port Moresby, one of our major donors, won’t start with our preschool building project without a proper title to the land.

Obviously, the High Com would like assurance that the school building it is going to put up is secured on the land where it will rise.

And this could only be possible if the property is titled properly.

The preschool building would cost about K100,000, whose funding would be made available on a turn-key basis.

Here, the building materials supplier – the Hardware Haus – would release the knock-down components as it received the cheque from the High Com.

Clearly, the land surveying hitch is going to upset our construction timetable, which is set before the year’s end, assuming the land title is released without delay.

We are hopeful that we could find very soon a refutable land surveyor who would charge us a reasonable fee for a trustworthy job.

Anyway, the job he is going to do is for the benefit of a charity group like Tembari, which, right now, is looking after some 200 abandoned, unfortunate and orphaned children from the settlement.

So, dear readers, if you think you know of a group that is willing to do the job for less than what that highwayman is trying to rob from Tembari, please don’t hesitate to let us know.
We badly need their services.

For feedback, please email the blogger: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and aphernandez58@yahoo.com

Australian High Commission donates freezers and refrigerators

2011-10-02T12:43:00.004+10:00

Ice candy soon … You must be wondering what the Tembari kids are holding up in this picture. Well, they are proudly showing off the protective styrofoam padding of a two-door China-made refrigerator which the Australian High Commission donated on Saturday to the Tembari Children’s Care (TCC), after which it was plugged on -- to everybody’s delight. Actually, the High Com has donated four white goods – two refrigerators and two medium-size freezers costing about K5,000 – all purchased from BMBM Home Centre. Since Tembari has no space at the moment to accommodate them all, only the fridge was delivered on Saturday, according to Linda Ren, Home Center’s manageress. One preschooler said he wanted to have “ice candy” soon. – Photo by ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ, Port Moresby, PNG, October 1, 2011

The new fridge plugged on inside the Tembari office.

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children

IF THE PRESENCE of a refrigerator indicates a boost in the lives of the family members, could the same be said of the Tembari “household”?

You see, the Tembari Children’s Care received on Saturday a refrigerator for its day care center – a generous donation from the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby.

Actually, the High Com has donated two refrigerators and two freezers.

However, only one of the four items – a fridge – was delivered on Saturday as the center doesn’t have enough space at the moment to accommodate them all.

The coming of the fridge is most welcome.

Across the globe, whether it is in the city or in rural town, the coming of a refrigerator at home –brand-new or not – represents something that usually speaks of relative improvement over the previous state of affairs.

In most cases, it is an improvement as it is property that could only be acquired with so much amount of money.

An acquisition such as this becomes a status symbol, thus giving the new owner something to be proud of before friends and community.

And one thing for sure, Tembari is one proud owner.

As the newly-delivered fridge silently hums at the corner of a makeshift office fashioned from a junk container van, the answer to the question as to whether or not it is an improvement in the lives of the Tembari children is definitely “yes”!

On the whole, it would benefit them because perishable foodstuff such as fresh fish or meat which, from time to time is sent by donors to the center, and fresh veggies could now be conveniently stored in the cold box.

The fillings and spread such as margarine and jam for sandwiches served to our preschoolers at lunch after their morning classes would always taste good.

Until the fridge came, margarine or jams were just kept among other foodstuff that had normally been shoved into the storage shelves, or were just lying idle on the kitchen work tables after being used for the day, to be picked up again the next feeding day.

That’s why in most cases, the sandwich spread like butter, margarine and jam had melted away that they no longer tasted good for the kids.

The children, however, had no choice but to consume the bread; otherwise they would go hungry.

To some of the preschoolers who are familiar with a refrigerator, it is one means to have some of the things they had wanted most in their young life.

One kid was heard as saying that maybe they could now have some “ice candy” from the fridge’s freezer – something which is not really difficult for volunteer mothers to do.

Maybe, ice candy everyday could be an improvement in the kid’s life.

The fridge, a two-door appliance made in China, is the latest important fixture at the Tembari center since it was hooked to the power grid last April.

And of course, it is an added expense in terms of electricity consumption.

With coming of the refrigerator, I don’t know yet how much Esipay -- our prepaid electricity -- we would be buying from now on.

But for now, our power expense for the next few months has already been taken care of by a K900-cash donation from schoolchildren of The Ela Murray International Scchool (TEMIS) in Port Moresby.

The TEMIS children had raised the money to help Tembari pay for its power consumption so the 200 children under its care would continue to enjoy watching DVD children’s programming everyday.

On behalf of the Tembari children, I would like to thank the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby for its generous donation.

The presence of the High Com in the lives of Tembari children is growing by leaps and bounds.

Don’t forget that it is funding the construction of a four-classroom building for about 100 Tembari preschool children.

Aside from this, the HC has a fundraising ball this month to raise some money to support the facility’s twice-a-day feeding program, in which the 200 kids consume an average of 15kg of rice at dinner and lots of tinned fish or meat.

Certainly, the High Commission would like to have a bigger stake in the future of the Tembari children.

Cheers!

For comments, please email the blogger: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and aphernandez58@yahoo.com

Songs from The Soul Siren, Nina

2011-09-26T00:07:00.008+10:00

The Soul Siren, Nina dishing out one of her many soulful songs during a concert in Port Moresby on Saturday, September 23, 2011 for the benefit of the Tembari Children and Friends Foundation.

Nina ... haunting

Nina was a sight to behold!!!

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

FOR trying-hard fotogs like me, The Soul Siren, Nina was extremely a refreshing sight to snap on.

And I didn’t even know any of her songs, a natural disaster that normally descends on people who were reared like a pampered tot on songs of the 60s, 70s and 80s.

What I remember was that I could hear a voice oozing fluidly from the soul of a splendid lady, who was now levitating in the soothing strain of notes just two arms-stretch away from me.

Truly, her music was a healing balm to my strained heart.

Back home in the Philippines, it was said that such a voice could only come from a siren, not the one which Filipino legend had said came from beneath the sea, but from someone only the likes of Nina could own.

So on Friday night, 23rd of September, Nina was up there on the makeshift stage of Dynasty Restaurant singing out her soul and giving us – the audience – the goose bumps.

This angel, who has continuously dominated the metropolis’ weekend concert circuits, was in Port Moresby along with two of her equally able singing-and-dancing-joking colleagues – Rowell Quizon and Chubbylita – for a two-night fundraising concert for the unfortunate children of Tembari Children’s Care (TCC) day care facility and for Friend’s Foundation.

They were imported by the Filipino Association of PNG (FAPNG) under its president Tony Valdez, and their coming, as usual, had been considered a big musical treat for the Filipino community in the capital city.

As in the previous Hatid Saya concerts, the venue was jammed, as usual, with more than 300 Pinoys and expatriates whose tables – most of them – were paid for by corporate sponsors at K3,000 a pop.

Those who came on their own burned a hole in their pockets with a cool but nasty K300 – not for the so-so five-course dinner and a bottle of wine – but for the pleasure of being with this lady, if only for the night.

Very rare had Port Moresby Pinoys been able to witness one live performer as enchanting and sensuous as Nina – a miracle seldom seen on Philippine TV.

That’s why that night, the community of music lovers came in full force, knowing that it would be in these hours when their thirst for Filipino love songs would at last find a quencher in her.

Truly, on Friday night, sultry Nina made love with her songs, and the audience – mesmerized as they were - didn’t mind: they were thrilled; some even wished for her to come again – next year maybe.

And as for me, not knowing a tune from her repertoire, I just clicked on and on and on … and on.

With her, I knew my evening was made.

Please come again, Nina!

For comment, please email the blogger: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and aphernandez@yahoo.com

Tembari’s volleyball games: They came, they watched and did not create trouble

2011-09-18T13:03:00.021+10:00

The National color of PNG (upper right) flutters in the wind while two games – played by men and women’s teams – are in progress on Saturday, the second day of Tembari’s 36th Independence Anniversary Volleyball Tournament at Tembari’s compound at ATS Oro settlement at 7 Mile outside of Port Moresby.

Rex Nichoi, chairman of ATS Oro Community, gestures as he praised his people for displaying exemplary discipline and cooperation during the two day volleyball tournament. (More Pictures after story.)

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children

A FIRST in the village, Tembari’s hit volleyball tournament will now become a yearly Independence Week event.

The competition drew 18 men and women’s teams from across the community to vie for the much-coveted Tembari trophies, whose games were watched by hundreds of fans rooting for their respective teams.

There had never been a community-wide sports competition like this at ATS Oro community, a settlement occupied by settlers from Oro and Central provinces at 7 Mile outside of Port Moresby.
And so, when Penny Sagembo, Tembari’s Co-Founder and Co-President, came up with the idea of initiating the games, there was excitement from all quarters of the community of 6,000 people.

Being a CBO (community-based organization duly registered with Investment Promotion Authority), one of Tembari’s community-oriented aspirations is to draw people’s participation.

“Our people are sports-minded, so I have assumed that they will support this first-time ever volleyball event by joining in the competition to celebrate our 36th Independence anniversary,” Penny said, referring to PNG’s Independence Day on Friday, September 16.

“And the highest goal of this event is to instill discipline among the people, by seeing to it that the games are held without untoward incident like fighting and drunkenness,” she continued.

In the past, trouble would surely break out in the middle of a big gathering at the village, Penny noted.

True enough, the eight districts covered by the ATS Oro Community Association fielded 18 teams -- 10 for men and eight for women -- a clear sign that this initiative had gained support from the community.

Tembari fielded its own team of men and women, whose jersey uniforms were sponsored by Malaysian expatriate Chew Pang Heng, executive director of resource developer Vanimo Jaya Ltd.

One individual who was all praises for his people was Rex Nichoi, chairman of the ATS Oro Community Association, because “they have shown remarkable discipline and co-operation”.

“Nobody came drunk … there was no fighting, and every one enjoyed the games,” said Nichoi.

“This is our first experience to see a big event like this where nobody created trouble,” Nichoi said of the people who came to watch the games sponsored by day care centre Tembari Children’s Care (TCC).

Held at the Tembari compound, the two-day competition aimed to forge discipline and co-operation from the local people.

Hayward Sagembo, Tembari president, said one of Tembari’s agenda in the community was “to develop a sense of oneness among our people and the volleyball games had been an effective means to achieve it”.

“Everybody came to watch,” Sagembo said, noting that the teams that played were cheered on by their respective fans and supporters, making the games more exciting.

Penny said: “During the games, the people themselves handled the security concern and prevented those who tried to come drunk … if there was a fight brewing, the people immediately dealt with it and resolve the problem …”

EM TV, a local network, sent a crew to cover the final games, an indication that the Tembari sports event, although a modest village affair, was worth all the coverage for a national broadcast.As a background to the games preparation, Penny asked all of us to seek donors / sponsors for the trophies. Again, we all contacted potential donors. Rishabh and myself emailed to various people seeking donors of trophies, volleyball nets and volleyballs. It was not long before RH Foundation, the charity arm of RH (PNG) Group, responded, saying it will shoulder the cost of all trophies to be awarded

Paint company AzkoNobel also responded and wanted to pay for all the trophies. Informed that RH Foundation had already taken them, AzkoNobel settled for the volleyball nets and balls.

Knowing that such events are prone to petty problems caused by unruly people, Rishabh suggested why don’t we keep an award for the “Best District” – the one whose people were not involved in troubles or mischief during the games?”

We again explored and my three friends from HiTRON, a TV cable provider based in Port Moresby, namely Tony, Lourdes and Jocelyn, came to our rescue and shouldered the cost of the “Best District” award.

On other side, Penny met with the district leaders and enjoined them to instill discipline among their people if they wanted the event to succeed. And that the “most-behaved” district will get the “Best District” award.
So, this was the incentive that had kept all the districts on its toes – keeping their respective members well-disciplined, well-behaved till the games finally closed today, Sunday, September 18.

Hopefully, this much-needed discipline stays on – for good.

The launching of the Tembari volleyball events on Independence Day was ushered in by spectacles of sing-sing (cultural dances and songs) from Oro and Central provinces.

Witnessed by about 2,000 settlement people, Tembari’s first foray into a community-wide sports event was already an indication that similar activities in future would get the same involvement from the community.

As always, the three-day community frenzy would not be possible – a big success at that -- without the co-operation of the people.

Community chairman Rex Nichoi really worked hard going around the community and enjoining the people to simply behave their best and enjoy the games.

Our sponsors – RH Foundation, AzkoNobel, the troika of Tony, Loudes and Jocelyn of HiTron – played a big part in bringing this to reality. We really can’t thank them enough.

(The elimination and the final round games for men and women will continue on Saturday, September 24. Five men's teams will vie for the final rounds. Presentation of awards will follow shortly. Tembari's women's team is now assured of a final round slot, while the men's team has failed to score in any round as opposition proved too much for them to handle.)

Email the blogger: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg
and aphernandez58@yahoo.com

A fiercely-fought game on Saturday. At least 18 teams – 10 for men and eight for women – competed in the tournament.

The much-coveted shields and trophies on display during the game.

A women’s game is in progress (right) as seen from behind the trophies.

The Tembari men’s team, which failed to win any game.

The women’s team, led by Penny Sage-embo, Tembari founder (left standing), had advanced into the finals shortly after this picture was taken.

Shower for Tembari kids

2011-09-18T12:57:00.004+10:00

Very soon, this Tembari kid would enjoy a bath, at least once a day. Tembari is now finding ways to provide him and the rest of about 200 Tembari kids a daily wash, if not three times a week, thanks to the ample water being supplied by donors Pure Water Company and High Energy Co. – Pic by AP HERNANDEZ

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children

“HOW would you like to wash?” I asked a Tembari kid, age 7, last week.

(“Wash” is a common term here in Papua New Guinea to mean taking a bath or shower.)

“Very much …Fredo … but we got no water at home … so I don’t wash …” the boy replied, jerking the hem of his round shirt collar, sniffing at himself. Then, he made a face.

The boy is not alone in this mess.

I knew that almost all of our about 200 beneficiary children at Tembari don’t wash. They just don’t have the means with which to take a bath -- even once a day.

The simplest reason is that there is not much water to talk about at ATS Oro settlement, home to Tembari Children’s Care day care facility; that the locals here would like to believe it is a curse that befell on them from the sky, instead of rain, which they would prefer having.

For wanting to cut its losses, water company Eda Ranu has drastically reduced the volume of water being supplied to the settlement.

Not only that, it weakened the pumping pressure so that less water would reach the settlement’s public tap where the residents access water.

Over the last two years, I have mingled with the Tembari kids at least every Saturday when I do volunteer work at the day care center – cooking for them special lunch is my forte – and have become used to their body odor.

And some smelled badly at that. I felt sad for our girls who were equally mired in this smelly affair.

And even Hayward Sagembo, Co-Founder and Director of Tembari Children’s Care (TCC), has complained.

He told me last week: “They stink … they badly need a wash …”

But this should end one of these days – or shall I say, very soon.

With 15,000 liters of potable water now being supplied to Tembari every month by two donors, we may be able to let our kids, who wanted to wash, just do that – take a bath.

Says Hayward: “I want to install a shower room near the two water tanks so that those who would like to wash can do so anytime …”

He said Tembari has enough water now – an obvious source of envy from settlement people -- which is stored in two 5,000 liter tanks nearby.

One tank, donated by RH Foundation last year is being refilled by a bulk water contractor every four weeks.

The cost of the water – K300 -- is being paid for by fishing company High Energy, which is based in Port Moresby.

The second tank – a recent donation from Pure Water Company, a water purifier concern also based in Port Moresby – is being topped up by the donor every two weeks for a total of 10,000 liters at a cost of K600 a month.

The manager, Helen MacIndoe told me: “I want you to have enough clean water … this is why I decided to deliver twice a month …”

Before the water tank came just recently, Pure Water Company has already been delivering to Tembari 20 containers (19 liters) of purified water every week.

In fact, the first delivery of 20 containers came with an electric-operated hot-cold water dispenser, which Helen said would be a hygienic way to dispense with drinking water to the kids.

Of the generous 20 containers she delivers every week (usually cost per container is K15), Helen said she wanted to make sure the children have enough clean water to drink always.

Although the bulk water her company delivers to Tembary has been treated (with chlorine), Helen would still prefer that the children drink purified water.

“It is chemical-free,” she said, “and just fine for the kids ...”

True enough, the children are now drinking enough amount of water every after meals.

Time was when the children never drunk water after their meals, only fresh milk or cordial drink whichever was available.

Things have really changed the better for the Tembari kids.

And our volunteer mothers who prepare their meals every day – noon snacks and early dinner – have seen to it that the children wash their hands before every meal.

Requiring the kids to wash their hands was my first instruction to the volunteer mothers after I was able to secure a donation of bulk water from Thomas Kuo, manager of High Energy, last year.

Since then, the practice has been ingrained among the kids.

Hopefully, taking a bath would become an everyday affair for our children.

Itis our hope that the Tembari kids could enjoy the simple pleasure of pouring themselves cool water -- from head to foot -- in an act of ridding themselves of germs and skin diseases that have been crawling all over them.

The wash room (bathroom) that we have in mind is simple: A small walled cubicle fitted with a shower tub common in many apartment accommodations around Port Moresby, and with a proper drainage system.

If you think you are able enough to provide us a simple shower tub for our kids’ bathroom – one for girls and the other for boys boys - please don’t hesitate to contact us.

To go with this appeal is a request for a donation of anti-skin germ soap cakes. And bath towels and five 10-liter buckets.

I am quite certain that once our children have started the daily task of cleansing their bodies, we would be consuming a lot of anti-skin germ bar soaps.

So, please … we need your support on this.

Truly, Tembari has entered a phase in which it has become self-sufficient in clean water, a rare feat that is now greatly benefiting the Tembari children.

This won’t be possible without the continuing support of our generous donors – RH Foundation, High Energy Co and Pure Water Company.

In short, the Tembari kids are getting there.

Meantime, we – with help from our benefactors -- could only work our best for their welfare.

For comments, please email the blogger: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and aphernandez58@yahoo.com

A friend-donor calls in

2011-09-18T12:52:00.004+10:00

Jovy Baltazar, manager of Paradise Business Consultants Ltd or Port Moresby, PNG, turns over a cheque for K7,000 (about US$3,000) to Alfredo P Hernandez, a Filipino expatriate journalist, who received the donation on behalf of the Tembari children. Donated by Engr Ariel Parro, owner and managing director of AP Engineering Ltd, a construction company in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea, the funds would go towards the building of a 133sqm multi-purpose hall that would house a classroom, a dirty kitchen and an office. – Picture by Paradise Business Consultants.

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children

A FEW days ago, I friend called to say hello and also to say she got some stuff for the Tembari children.

Do I have time to pick the money? She would like to know.

Jovy G Baltazar, is a Filipino expat manager who first joined my network of supporters early last year to help me find new donors.

Her company – the Paradise Business Consultants – deals with immigration documentations for both corporate and individual clients, and is doing good business from investors and professionals wanting to come to PNG, encouraged by the booming economy.

Indeed, Jovy found one -- from among her clients. He is Engineer Ariel Parro, who owns the AP Engineering Ltd based in Takubar, East New Britain, an island- province north of Papua New Guinea.

Engr Parro learned of my plan to put up a three-classroom building for our preschoolers (then only 60 and now 100) and subsequently sent Jovy a cheque for K7,000 and requested her to deliver it to Tembari.

The money, he said, could start Tembari’s effort to raise funds needed to build the school building.

This amount, along with the K3,000 from the Filipino Association of PNG (FAPNG), was recently made as down payment with the Hardware Haus for the prefabricated knockdown building parts for the project.

This project, hopefully, would take off very soon, thanks to the Australian High Commission in PNG and four corporations who pledged to put up the classroom building which will cost K120,000 (US$51,000)

Our donor-engineer, who has been residing in Takubar for 20 years or so, is a PNG naturalized citizen.

“It’s my way of giving back to the community,” he told me over the phone from Takubar when I first talked to him about my project.

Jovy first visited our center at Tembari early last year to have a look-see.

And this coming Saturday, she would like to make her second visit with some of her Filipino office workers – to introduce them to Tembari kids, and maybe make them new donors and/or supporters.

With the funds Jovy gave me last Thursday, I bought about two cartons of 425g Ox&Palm corned beef for the children’s dinner this week.

A dinner of corned beef dish and rice would be a rare treat for our kids whose number has now grown to about 200.

This dish could come only once in a blue moon. And it is always a happy occasion when something new goes into the meals of our children, such as corned beef.

Dinner at Tembari – from Monday to Saturday -- would be rice and tinned fish cooked in veggies, and cordial drink.

However, our kids don’t mind at all. It is food and they are having it every day; and food is something missing at home, blame it on their families’ poverty.

So, when Jovy told me she has raised some money courtesy of her company for our children’s meal, there was only one thing in my mind: buy our kids corned beef, for a change.

So far, we have been able to stabilize food flow at Tembari.

Right now, we are serving two meals daily – noon snacks and early dinner -- to about 200 kids – 100 preschoolers, 79 schoolchildren and the rest non-school age.

Thanks to Jovy and the rest of our generous donors who see to it that foodstuff continue to arrive at the center.

It is their simple way of making sure that our beneficiary children receive the nutrition they needed everyday to keep them beyond ill-health and above hunger.

After all, they could have realized that sustained generosity in support is the key to making their effort succeed in effecting positive changes in the lives of the Tembari children.

Simply put, they are taking a big stake in their future.

For comments, please email the blogger: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and aphernandez58@yahoo.com

One sunny day in Tembari

2011-09-18T12:23:00.014+10:00

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children

WHEREVER the crowd is, there is business to make.

On Saturday, vendors swooped into Tembari compound to cash in on the big crowd that came to watch a volleyball tournament sponsored by Tembari Children’s Care (TCC).

An assortment of foodstuff was on offer – from boiled banana and sweet potatoes to grilled sausages and stewed chicken feet, the last one being an influence from Malaysian cuisine that has now become more or less a part of the diet of well-off Papua New Guineans.

Indeed, a crowd-drawing event such as the volleyball games Tembari had initiated and where the best teams from the village had been discovered was a magnet for food vendors.

Each one offering the spectators something to keep their jaws busy while the games unfolded.

With life going through a difficult grind, food vending has become one life-saving raft for the many.

I managed to catch some scenes with my camera. Have a look.

A long line of food vendors trying to cash in on the crowd that came to watch the volleyball tournament being held at Tembari compound at the weekend. (All pictures by AP HERNANDEZ, Port Moresby, PNG, September 17, 2011)

Email the blogger: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and aphernandez58@yahoo.com