14 05 09 Spare that chicken

Spare that chicken!

May 09, 2014 – Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea – Written by Tim Scott NO! You can’t eat that chicken. I am taking it back to my village so I can show them that while I was a student, I actually had a chance to use what I learned about leadership. Not all the training was teacher to student; sometimes it was student to student, and I was able to help.

Andrew received a chicken as a thank you gift from a fellow student at the close of the Vernacular Education in Rural Areas (VERA) course, recently held in Saidor. The cooks wanted to add it to the nine other chickens whose fates had previously been determined.

But this chicken was going to be spared.

Andrew had been putting into practice some of the leadership principles he had learned. He had done it so well that he was recognised by his fellow students as a good leader . . . and he even received a chicken for his efforts. As Andrew said, “Godly leadership is important. It leads by helping others and I want to model what I have learned here, back in my community.”

This was the fourth module offered by VERA on the Rai Coast. Fifteen students studied creative phonics, leadership, curriculum development, inductive Bible study methods, translation and other topics. These teachers from remote community schools had become the students. Now they were ready to return to their schools and put their new skills into practice.

Hundreds of people, some from distant areas, came to see the students graduate. For the Dumong people, it was a good reason to celebrate.

This was the first time anyone from their language group had attended a course like this. They brought along a pig and taro, kaukau (sweet potato) and other foods to help with the feast.

VERA courses held in the remote areas of PNG provide high-level training programs for teachers who have neither the access nor the resources to attend courses taught in more accessible areas.

Julie from the Madi language group said, “VERA has shown me a path to good teaching. I can now use what I have learned in my elementary school.”

For more information on this release, contact ThePNGexperience, PO BOX 413, Ukarumpa, EHP 444, Papua New Guinea Phone: 011 + 675 + 537-3544 ext. 4431 or Email: thePNGexperience@gmail.com Pictures do not always depict actual event, activities or people.

“Yumi stori” is the PNG “Tok Pisin” term for announcement or “Let’s tell a story” or “Let’s talk”. The English spelling conforms to Commonwealth English spelling.