NZ Books for Papua New Guinea Literacy Programme

NZ Books for Papua New Guinea Literacy Programme

Half a tonne of books (47 boxes) were sourced by Lorraine Antonovich of Fraser Thomas Ltd (FTL) for shipping to desperately under-stocked school libraries in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

After a recent visit to PNG, Lorraine was moved by the lack of resources available to children in rural areas.  Upon her return to New Zealand, Lorraine worked with Buk Bilong Pikinini, an agency established in 2007 to promote literacy in Papua New Guinea through libraries for children, by approaching local Auckland libraries and charitable groups in the hope of encouraging donations of books that could fill the reading resources gap for the rural children.  Over the next 4 months, Lorraine was overwhelmed by the generosity of the libraries and charitable groups, amassing a large quantity of books which exceeded her expectations.

The books were sent to PNG via the Royal NZ Defence Force (RNZDF) and the Papua New Guinea High Commission, and are currently being distributed to the Children’s Libraries in Port Moresby and Bougainville.

An ongoing campaign is still in place to source books in the Auckland region for the under-privileged children of PNG.