ChildFund PNG partnered with Sivitatana for about 11 years. We phased out our partnership with the community in 2009 as our support was no longer needed. So I took pride in knowing that the competencies that Sindon showed, as I watched on, are a result of ChildFund’s effective development programs that really are producing long-term outcomes for communities in Papua New Guinea.
After his demonstration I had the chance to catch up with Sindon. He too attributes the positive changes in his farming ability to the assistance he received from ChildFund. “With the knowledge I now have about vegetable growing, I do not worry about where I grow my backyard vegetables, like snake beans and tomato, because I am able to make changes to the soil’s fertility and composition to enable vegetables to grow easily.”
In 2012, Sindon and his family planted about half a hectare of rice fields on his land. Just four months later he was already reaping the benefits, from his first harvest he received nearly 50 kilograms of rice. Prior to this, he had planted watermelon, then capsicum and cucumber.
The money that Sindon earns from selling surplus produce is used to support his family, purchasing clothes, medication and groceries, and paying for transport fares to the health centre. But Sindon is not stopping there, he has big plans to venture into full-time commercial vegetable farming.
This is just one example of how ChildFund is working with committed individuals at the grassroots level to change the lives of people for the better.
