Photo of the week: A boy holds his baby brother in Bougainville, PNG

ALERT

New job positions vacant!

Uniting Church Overseas Aid seeks International Project Officer.

Click here for more information.

2008 is the international year of sanitation!

UCOA have undertaken to include sanitation in all water projects from now onwards. This means teaching community education on sanitation in villages where we build a water supply. We will also build sanitary toilets / latrines in every village in which we build a water supply.

Ideally, in a PNG village there should be one toilet for every family or maximum for every 20 people. It is important that we build these toilets at least 5 meters away from all houses but no more than 100 meters away, as the villagers are then less inclined to use them.

You can learn more about the international year of sanitation at the following websites:

http://esa.un.org/iys/

http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/jpc/water-of-life.pdf

http://www.oikoumene.org/en/activities/ewn-home.html

New Update Reports

We have recently recieved several update reports on projects from the field.

Zambia - Click here to read the latest report from UCOA's Orphans and Vulnerable Children Project in Mwandi, Zambia.

Vanuatu - Click here to read a project update from UCOA's Eye Care Project in Vanuatu.

Dichpalli - Click here to read the latest report from UCOA's Skills Training Project in Dichpalli, India.

Burma - Click here to read the latest report from ACT - from the aid and development field in Burma.

Appeal for Burma

On the 5th September 08 National Director Kerry Enright presented a cheque for $66,000 to Alistair Gee from Act for Peace. This money will go directly to aid and development in Burma. Click here to read more

Papua New Guinea Inflation goes up to 10.7%

28/08/08 INFLATION has shot up to 10.7%, indicating a general increase in the prices of goods and services over the past three months to June 30.

Figures supplied by the National Statistical Office (NSO) indicated an annual headline inflation (June quarter 2007 to June quarter 2008) increase of 3.2%. The March quarter recorded headline inflation at 7.5%.

The increase surpasses Bank of PNG’s earlier assumptions of an inflation at 9% for the remainder of this year, and would be a cause for concern in which BPNG is likely to further tighten monetary policy, increase its signalling kina facility rate (KFR) and other instruments at its disposal to counter price increases.
The NSO said the CPI (consumer price index) showed 3.7% in the June quarter this year, compared to 3.1% in March.

Click here to read more news

Successful trip for Knox to Milne Bay

 29/7/08

On July 1st 10 students and 4 staff members from Knox Grammar School in Sydney travelled to Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea and stayed in the village of Lelehudi for 5 days.

The trip was very successful, with the team achieving all that they hoped and learning more than they could have imagined.

Click Here to read more on their trip.

AddValue Gifts Appeal

For every dollar you contribute, we can access up to three more dollars from an Australian Government Grant to support projects in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. To find out more about this appeal, click on the image below.

Melghat Mother and Childcare project

Melghat is known for its high death rate amongst infants and children under five. Since this project began in 2003 there have been no deaths from malnutrition in any of the villages supported by the project. 

  Your support is needed to help the project expand to other villages. 

Lent Event 08

Thankyou to all churches who participated in this year's Lent Event. To give a secure online donation to Lent Event click here and fill out the simple form.  

Help us give the water of life

This year Uniting Church Overseas Aid aims to provide safe water and sanitation for 8 more rural villages in the Pacific. This will help around 8,000 people who lack access to safe, clean water.