2014 HOPE VOLUNTEER CORPS

It was a pleasure to be involved in the 2014 HOPE Volunteer Corps to Papua New Guinea in early December 2014. We had our largest group of Australian volunteers so far- 21! The group spent their first night together in Port Moresby before dividing into 2 groups- 14 stayed near the capital to help out with HOPE projects in the settlement areas and 7 ventured up to the Highlands to help rebuild the nursing accommodation at the Bokolma clinic. 

HOPE Volunteers shortly after arriving in Port Moresby

FROM LEFT: Holland, Sirilo Salbogi, Dave Vanuku, Pierre Van Zyl, Steve Darvodelski, Katie Mulhearn, Korio, Jesse Lee Charles, Michelle Atkins, Walker Tabua, Rebecca Gelsi, Forest Versele, Tamsyn Hutchison, Frank Snoeks, Mark Timlin, Brett Bennie, Michael Monahan, Olly Grandy, Luke Bennie, Leo Furnez, Sue Park, Ossie To'ope, Alex Chong

The team start work at 9 mile clinic. Scroll through more photos below

The Port Moresby group was led by Alex Hernandez and focused on repainting the 9 mile clinic and fixing up the TB treatment area at the Lawes road clinic. In-between the manual labour there was opportunity to get to know church members, teach life lessons from the Bible, meet the local community, enjoy local food, and have fun (sports and games)! The volunteers were personally impacted and also left a really positive feel. It was a good result to have the planned projects completed and to have everyone return home safely. PNG is beautiful, but also a harsh environment and not a place you want to get sick!

Scroll through more photos below...

The Port Moresby Volunteers sitting with some of the HOPE PNG staff and the Deputy Health Secretary at a 20 year HOPE Anniversary celebration.
BACK: Dr Mark Timlin, Dr Paison Dakulala (Deputy Health Secretary), Brett Bennie, Luke Bennie, Franc Snoeks, Wayne Merry,
MID: Stephen, Joan Timothy, Rebecca Gelsi, Sue Park, Michelle Atkins, Tamsyn Hutchinson, Kopsie
FRONT: Alex Hernandez, Sirilo Salbogi, Jessie Lee Charles

I especially would like to thank Walker and Lara Tabua who hosted us and arranged for volunteers to stay with members of the Port Moresby Church of Christ- which added to the ‘local’ experience. Everyone felt loved and well cared for. Joan Timothy, Country Director of HOPE worldwide (PNG) still did a lot of the organizing, despite being on maternity leave! There were many inspiring lessons from the Fiji volunteers- Alex and Siri, as well as the volunteers from Sydney- Dave and Forest. The theme, ‘Light of the World’ was very fitting and the daily devotionals called us to deeper levels of compassion- to touch peoples lives through serving them, to listen and to get to know people more personally as Jesus did. The lessons are locked away in my head and stored up for a rainy day!

Walker and Lara with the Port Moresby Church of Christ

Gumine in the Central Highlands of PNG

The adventurous 7 who went to the Highlands also had a great time and successfully completed the rebuilding of the Bokolma clinic nurses accommodation and installed solar panels- so they had light at night. As yet there is no mains power supply in Gumine! Dave Vainuku led the team and his morning devotionals started to become popular and even attracted a crowd from the local community. Alex Chong, through his work contacts secured all the solar equipment, which finally arrived up to the Highlands a couple of days after everyone else (it took half a day negotiating with cautious airport customs and another day for Alex’s lost luggage to be found- I got to do this job with Holland, a very patient Papua New Guinean!). 

There was only one Australian woman on the Highlands team, Katie Mulhearn (below), and she was a magnet- attracting the local women to her. She was in high demand for fellowship- everyone wanted to meet her and spend time with her! The only minor upset was with Leo- a twisted ankle from playing rugby with the locals! Back in Port Moresby, Walker also got sick- Malaria and Dysentery (fortunately early treatment at a private clinic and good medicines fixed him up in a few days). 

Again, I want to thank all the volunteers who participated in the 2014 HVC, the Port Moresby Church of Christ who were very hospitable and HOPE worldwide PNG for putting on a great service program as well as celebrating their 20 year anniversary! The balance of work, church activities and meeting the locals was just right and the impact was felt all around. 

To get some feedback from the volunteers of their experience in Papua New Guinea we asked them to answer the following 3 questions:
(1) What was most challenging?
(2) What was most impacting?
(3) What did you take away?

Have a look at the responses below and maybe this might motivate you to join a future volunteer corps! To support future volunteer opportunities we will be putting together a short video and organising a fundraiser around ANZAC day in late April 2015. We hope to have a smaller HVC to PNG mid 2015 and a larger group go to Fiji in Dec 2015. Let me know if you are interested!!

Much Love and may 2015 be full of joy, peace and love!

Mark Timlin 
(Country Director HOPE worldwide Australia)

Here is some feedback from the HVC participants:

Franc Snoeks, from Melbourne with nurse Florence
(1) Most challenging: Not being able to explore and move around Port Moresby safely. Lack of resources available to tackle obvious needs i.e. ‘sanitation’ and ‘hygiene’, maintenance and education.
(2) Most impacting: The joy and appreciation of the PNG disciples of us just being there. Their warmth and happiness, even in their abject poverty. Their eagerness to give and share everything they have with us. The fellowship.
(3) What I will take back to Australia: A strong desire to return to encourage and support the PNG churches. Build closer relationships with the kingdom in our region. 

Jessie Charles (from Brisbane)
(1) Most challenging:
o Having limited freedom, where you could go and what you could do.
o Relying on the brothers and sisters to get you to and from places was humbling and a great cultural experience.
o To be among the local community and see some of their strong interactions with each other was a little confronting at the start.
o Leaving my family and my boyfriend.
(2) Most impacting:
o Seeing the brothers and the sisters strength and convictions in their faith.
o Being so content with so little.
o The overwhelming number of people who were open.
o How loving and warm everyone was in welcoming us.
o The other brothers and sisters from Melbourne, Sydney and Fiji.
o The hearts of the people!!
(3) What I will take back to Australia:
o A deep faith and love for God and the relationships I’ve been blessed with.
o To be grateful.
o Tried to fit everyone in my suitcase!

Rebecca Gelsi (from Melbourne)
(1) Most challenging:
I found the lack of independence and control I had here to be very challenging. Relying on others was extremely humbling. 
(2) Most impacting: I have felt my heart soften as I’ve see and experienced the deep love the Papua New Guineans have for God, their families, and their community.
(3) What I will take back to Australia: I’m going to focus on building deep interdependent relationships that draw me and others closer to God. 

Sue Park (on the left, from Sydney with Tamsyn from Melbourne)
(1) Most challenging: 
o The weather – it gets unbearable at times of the day as it is so hot and humid constantly.
(2) Most impacting: 
o Great chance of leadership. Leading singles devo. It was a great chance to learn to become a leader. I felt absolutely communicated and fulfilled.
o Lots of evangelism. We had great opportunities to impact and talk to local people.
(3) What I will take back to Australia:
o Share the photos.
o Share about HOPE Worldwide PNG.
o Share about PNG disciples – pure heart, warmth, faith, devotion, smile, food. 

Mark Timlin (on the left, from Melbourne with Alex Hernandez from Nadi, Fiji)
(1) Most challenging: 
The need for water constantly. The heat was intense and without a water bottle on hand it didn’t take long to feel faint. Also seeing the lack of provision of health services and shelter. To walk around the settlements and to see the squalor that people happily lived in convicted me. Also to see the queues of people waiting to be treated at the Nine Mile Clinic and the reliance they have on free health care the Clinic provides because there is no way they can afford this.

(2) Most impacting: 
The hospitality of the disciplines. We stayed with TJ and Maurine and were treated like royalty. The children in the home were especially warm and respectful. To see Maurine come home from a full days work and still prepare a feast for us was convicting, especially knowing that her health was not that good and she was very tired. Another impacting thing was the love expressed by one of the church members Holland. He works in Customs at the airport and greeted all the volunteers on arrival and made sure we all had a safe departure. On top of that he personally ensured all our equipment for the Highlands Clinic made it through Customs and helped us with the paperwork.

(3) What I will take back to Australia:
To not get overwhelmed when I see problems beyond my ability to solve, but to do my bit and rely on God and the help of others to contribute. I can be quite self reliant and being with a team of volunteers who had my back covered (i.e. made sure I didn’t lose things or forget to eat/drink/put on sunscreen) was really encouraging. It made me realise that investing in relationships is so important because together we can achieve so much more.

Brett Bennie (in the middle, from Melbourne)

(1) Most challenging:
o There is so much work to be done and I couldn’t help feeling like I was not doing enough. But learning to trust and that God is in control and all we can do is our best.
o Definitely missed my wife and son.
o Seeing the difference between those who are well off (from a worldly perspective) and those who don’t have much – this showed clearly the selfishness of the world and I can see that in my heart of hearts I am deeply selfish but want to change.
(2) Most impacting:
o Seeing the love and faith of the disciples and the power of spiritual relationships.
o Hanging out with little children who were full of joy (reminded me that I need to be that joyful about my relationship with God).
o The lessons and devos – having my heart massaged by the scriptures every day and sharing with the other disciples.
(3) What I will take back to Australia:
o New friends and relationships and a deep desire to come back to PNG soon.
o Renewed convictions on the importance of the ‘family’ of believers and a desire to have more fellowship with the disciples and be much more involved in building the Kingdom.
o A desire to shine my light and build for the Kingdom rather than for myself – I can’t wait to get back with my wife to work with the teens to help us be lights for God!

Michelle Atkins (on the left, from Melbourne with Kopsi from Port Moresby)
(1) Most challenging:
o The poor living conditions that people live in, including many brothers and sisters in Christ. Often only one or two rooms separated by material. Holes in floor. Many people living in the one room. How hard it must be to have QT, dress, wash, etc. Many did not have much food, let alone a fridge or toilet – yet did not complain.
o The huge gap between rich and poor i.e. limited health services available in PNG compared with much of Australia.
(2) Most impacting:
o love, warmth, serving hearts of PNG disciplines despite hard circumstances.
o We had a great devo on how Jesus touched people – the outcast that nobody else did i.e. the man with leprosy and the bleeding woman. Jesus had so much compassion and love that he reached out and touched people, healed and shared faith. So I decided to imitate Jesus. I spoke to people at Nine Mile Clinic and said more than hello. I was impacted by their loving response. For example: A mother had a 3yr sick boy sitting on her knee. She sat next to me during devo and whilst we sang. We talked. Later on she brought her younger baby to me to have a cuddle. She was so happy and trusting to let me have a cuddle. I was so humbled and privileged, me a complete stranger.
(3) What I will take back to Australia:
o Be quick to repent i.e. no arguing or complaining.
o Be a lot more attentive to the needs of the poor both physically and spiritually.
o Specific prayer – praying and sending stuff to brother and sisters in PNG.

Tamsyn Hutchinson (from Melbourne on the right)
(1) Most challenging:
Experiencing the hottest time of the PNG year and fatigue (although it was awesome whenever we dug deep despite depleted energy so that we could make the most of our time in PNG).
(2) Most impacting:
o The beautiful hearts and incredible faith of our brothers and sisters in PNG, Fiji and around Australia. Feeling so grateful for the friendships we all formed.
o Stories about the way God had worked in the lives of the PNG disciples – the profound challenges so many of them have faced and overcome.
o The Australian sisters were so fortunate to stay with Kopsy, whose faith, wisdom, discipline and love for God is truly inspiring. We stayed at a women’s hostel with amazing local women, whose love and care for each other and the community was very impacting.
(3) What I will take back to Australia:
o I cannot wait to swap stories with my new friends and continue to encourage and support each other in our faith (a disciple’s life is such a blessing).
o A conviction to bring the PNG-way to Australia, to strive to emulate the same warmth, hospitality and generosity… and to smile and laugh as much!

Luke Bennie (on the left, from Melbourne with Sirilo from Nadi, Fiji)
(1) Most challenging:
o The weather was super hot
o Working during the weather was a killer
o Being the youngest volunteer
o Not having internet
(2) Most impacting:
o People from PNG are so friendly and humble
o Everybody is open to hear about Jesus
o The locals didn’t have much to live for but they were all so happy
(3) What I will take back to Australia:
o Being grateful for everything
o Try to be friendly like a PNG local
o Let my light shine

Alex Chong (from Melbourne)
(1) Most challenging:
It’s hard to stick to your plan in the land of the unexpected. You just need to go with the flow and get creative to work things around and see how God put one stone at a time for you to move up.
(2) Most impacting:
Equality is not about having the same material blessing but that our needs are met by God who shows no favouritism. It’s convicting to see gratitude overflow from the people in Gumine when we try to meet their need of having basic lighting, which once again reminded me of what I’ve taken fro granted for the ‘abundance’ that we have in the 1st world.
(3) What I will take back to Australia:
Solar system brightens up the community in Gumine which is one of the most remote areas in the world. Everybody loves to see solar powering lights at night allowing them to see in the darkness. But there is no greater light than God’s light (the word of God) that shines through our hearts transforming us from an empty life to one with purpose.  



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