The Scool Uniform Project

Touching young hearts and transforming lives

Every morning during the week days people come to my betelnut table to change their money for bus fare coins. Some of these are parents who change their money and send off their kids to school.

I've noticed many give their children just K2 (K1 = 36 US cents). The K2 that the child gets is to travel to and fro school and that costs about K1. So the child has only K1 for lunch.

Many of these children don't even have breakfast before going to school.

It is with-in this context that they are expected to compete with their peers who may come from better homes. At big city schools like Wardstrip Primary School one can notice the difference. The haves can afford to buy a pie and a can of coke while the have nots buy fried flour balls and wash them down with Port Moresby's finest tap water.

Obviously many of us cannot right these socio-economic disparities on our own.

There this one thing that individuals can do. I am appealing to former students of Primary and Secondary Schools in Port Moresby to donate your old school uniforms to these disadvantaged children. Also, students who've moved from junior to senior level can hand down their old junior school uniforms.

Many of you are familiar with the kids who had bad body odour probably because they wore the same uniform shirt for the whole week. Many may recall students whose uniforms had seen better days.

Gift wrap the old uniform and label type (shirt, blouse, etc...) and size and hand it to the school office. Many teachers are aware of the needy in class and are likely to pass it on.

I suppose former students of schools around PNG can do likewise.

This is about building a sense of community, which is dreadfully lacking in the city and country. Those who feel disenfranchised need to be made aware that the rest of us are concerned about their plight.

This idea was inspired by a meeting I had yesterday with Father John Glynn. Father John is a retired Catholic Priest who founded WeCARE (Women and Children at Risk), a charity that empowers individuals in the community to support vulnerable women and children. He told me about a similar suggestion he had put forward to the folks at Jubilee Catholic Secondary School.

I hope PNG gets behind the sCOOL UNIFORM PROJECT.

It is about giving a sense of dignity to OUR FELLOW YOUNG PAPUA NEW GUINEANS and perhaps a uniform once worn by a lawyer may inspire someone to become one.