Reference :
V-P-PG-E-00296
Date :
31/10/2022
Caption :
Southern Highlands Province, Wabi primary school. An ICRC staff member and the school head teacher distribute school supplies for the students, including pens and notebooks. Their school was ransacked during the Wabi-Sumi tribal violence that broke out in late 2019. Thanks to rehabilitation work initiated by the ICRC, the school is open again.
Confidentiality level :
public
Publication restrictions :
publication without restrictions
Description :
ICRC website, article 09.12.22:
"From destroyed classrooms to future dreams: how one school in PNG’s Highlands is rebuilding
Patrick Hartwig, ICRC Southern Highlands Province Delegate, with Wabi School’s Head Teacher Kepson Pokia during the distribution of some basic school stationery kits for the students. Pens and notepads were among the donated items.
Classrooms stripped bare. Inside a classroom that was looted during the fighting. Using concrete donated by the ICRC and gravel gathered by the community, the floors of this classroom will be repaired so students can attend classes here once again.
"My books, pens, and everything was burnt down and destroyed and for two years, I was not able to go to school," says Glenda Aldor, 8th grade student at Wabi Primary School.
Wabi School in Papua New Guinea's Highlands was shaken by a tribal fight that broke out in late 2019 and the school had to close for years.
Fighting across the Highlands impacts students' access to education. Sometimes schools are destroyed in fights, sometimes it's too dangerous to make the journey to school and students can't attend.
Now the school has become a place of peace following long negotiations and peace talks between the fighting communities, aided by neighbouring neutral communities who pushed for peace.
In November 2022, community leaders discussed a path forward at the school grounds - between piles of materials the community brought to the school, water tanks installed by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and other classrooms waiting for repair.
The ICRC works in the Highlands to support access to education. We have been working with Wabi School, supporting the rehabilitation of the school through supplying materials for rebuilding, desks, blackboards, sports items and stationery for students."
Original material :
slide
Resolution :
8090x5396
Orientation :
landscape
Colour/B&W :
colour
